US auto sales jump

In a further sign of the auto industry's recovery, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota posted double digit gains Tuesday in January US auto sales. "January is a seasonally slow month, but we believe the industry turned in a healthy showing for the month with solid volume gains, reiterating the fourth quarter's positive momentum," said Efraim Levy, an analyst with Standard & Poor's Equity Research.
Total industry sales rose 17 percent to 819,895 vehicles in January, according to Autodata. The seasonally adjusted annualised rose to 12.62 million vehicles from 12.55 in December.
GM, the biggest US automaker, said sales roared 22 percent higher to 178,896 vehicles in January, driven by sharply stronger demand for its cars and trucks. Its share of the key US market rose 0.9 points to 21.8 percent, according to Autodata. That was much better than analysts at automotive website Edmunds.com had forecast, an increase of 11 percent. "The gain was driven by solid retail sales, which were 36 percent higher than a strong January a year ago," said the company, which emerged from a government-financed restructuring under bankruptcy protection in 2009.
Chrysler said sales jumped 23 percent to 70,118 vehicles in January, the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases, as its share grew 0.4 points to 8.6 percent. Chrysler was also forced into a government-backed bankruptcy after auto sales collapsed in late 2008 but said Monday it expects to post a profit this year after trimming losses in 2010.
Ford's 13.3 percent gain to 127,317 vehicles was in line with expectations after the automaker slashed low-margin sales to fleet customers. However its share fell 0.5 points to 15.5 percent, according to Autodata. Ford - which survived the downturn without government help and doubled its profit in 2010 to its highest annual earning in a decade - said retail sales grew by 27 percent in January.
Toyota - which was hit hard by a series of mass recalls that led it to briefly suspend sales and production in the United States at the end of January 2010 - said its sales rose 17.3 percent to 115,856 vehicles from the depressed year-ago levels. Its share was flat at 14.1 percent. Honda posted a 13 percent gain to 76,269 vehicles while its share slipped 0.4 points to 9.3 percent. Nissan's sales rose 15 percent to 71,847 as its share slipped 0.2 points to 8.8 percent. Hyundai's sales rose 22 percent to 37,214 vehicles as its share rose 0.1 points to 4.5 percent.