DETROIT — General Motors' U.S. sales declined 5.3 percent in February compared with a year ago, according to estimates from the Automotive News Data Center.
That's in line with a forecast from Edmunds.com of a 5.8 percent drop but a steeper fall than the 4.2 percent decline estimated by ALG and 1.3 percent drop forecast by Cox Automotive.
The decline came as GM offered a "Silverado Sell Down" promotion and continues to ramp up production of the redesigned 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups. GM pitched more than $10,000 off select outgoing models of the pickups during the promotion.
Despite the special pickup deals, GM was disciplined on incentives last month, according to a note this week from Emmanuel Rosner, Deutsche Bank's lead auto analyst.
GM's U.S. sales through February are down 6.1 percent, according to estimates from the Automotive News Data Center.
The company's U.S. sales declined 1.6 percent last year, when it began reporting sales quarterly instead of monthly. All of the company's brands reported slight sales declines in 2018, and GM's total deliveries fell to less than 3 million vehicles.
Incentives: $4,538 per vehicle, down 10.3 percent from a year earlier, according to ALG
Average transaction price: $37,454, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, ALG said
Did you know? An estimated 1.4 percent uptick in October 2018 volume marks the only time in the last six months that GM has recorded an increase in monthly deliveries compared with the previous year.
