New Cruze sales off to a strong start

LORDSTOWN — General Motors reported Wednesday the all-new Cruze is off to a strong start.

Cruze’s May retail share was up 2 percentage points to about 9 percent and Cruze’s average price was up substantially from last year, according to J.D. Power PIN data,

In May, the all-new Cruze accounted for 85 percent of the Cruze retail sales compared with 53 percent in April.

Despite low inventory based on the launch and a shutdown after Japanese quakes, Cruze sales in May hit 16,671. Last May just first-generation Cruze sales were 23,752.

GM sold 240,450 vehicles compared with 293,097 last May for an 18 percent decrease.

GM sold 190,613 vehicles in May to individual or “retail” customers, down 13 percent from last May, largely due to two fewer selling days and very tight supplies of new launched products. Based on industry estimates, GM’s retail sales were in line with industry performance.

“The demand has been so strong for our new launch products, there’s no question we could’ve sold more, however, production was impacted at Fairfax, Lordstown and Spring Hill by the Japanese earthquakes,” said Kurt McNeil, GM vice president of Sales Operations. “Current dealer inventories for launch products are about half of what we’d like for launch products, but availability is improving, which sets us up well for the second-half of the year.”

The Lordstown plant was closed for two weeks because of the earthquakes in Japan.