GM: Sales fall 8.3% in March, 7% in Q1

DETROIT — Scheduled downtime for General Motors' SUV plant in Texas and a slowing retail market are keeping the automaker's monthly sales in the red.

GM's U.S. light-duty vehicle sales last month declined 8.3%compared with March 2018 to less than 272,000 units, according to estimates from the Automotive News Data Center.

The March decline marks the automaker's fourth-consecutive drop since an estimated 1.4% uptick in November 2018.

GM, which switched to quarterly reporting last year, on Tuesday reported sales for the first three months of the year declined 7% compared with 2018.

The automaker reported more than 80% of its sales for the quarter were pickups, SUVs and crossovers. Car sales plunged 21% in the quarter, while crossovers increased 2.5 percent and combined pickup/SUV/van sales dropped 8.8%.

For March and the entire quarter, each of GM's brands posted losses.

GM previously forecast that the first half of the year — particularly the first quarter — was going to be challenging.

The automaker, according to CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, expected a 25,000-unit loss in full-size SUV production — primarily in the first quarter — due to downtime at its Arlington Assembly plant for retooling for the next generations of the vehicles in 2020.

Each of the company's large SUV nameplates, which are produced at the plant, experienced declines in the first quarter, including double-digit losses for the Chevrolet Tahoe (12%) and Suburban (25%) and Cadillac Escalade, including ESV (16%). The GMC Yukon, including Yukon XL, dropped 0.4%.

Brands: Buick -22%, Cadillac -7.8%, Chevrolet -7.9% and GMC -3.5%

Notable nameplates: Buick Enclave, +25%; Buick Envision ,-18%; Cadillac CT6, -12%; Cadillac Escalade, -20%; Chevrolet Bolt, +30%; Chevrolet Corvette, -16%; Chevrolet Volt, -26%; Chevrolet Equinox, +17%; Chevrolet Silverado, -18%; GMC Acadia, +17%; GMC Sierra, -3.9%

Incentives: $4,614 per vehicle, down 19% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Average transaction price: $35,911, up 3.3% from a year earlier, according to ALG.

Inventory: GM reported inventory was at a "healthy" 818,967 units heading into the second quarter.

Quote: "After a slow start to the year, the retail SAAR has risen each month since January," said Elaine Buckberg, GM chief economist. "Consumer sentiment continued to recover in March and the other key drivers of auto sales like employment, wage growth and household balance sheets are healthy."

Did you know? Fiat Chrysler's light-duty Ram Trucks outsold the Chevrolet Silverado in the first quarter: 120,026 (+15%) vs. 114,313 (-16%).