Large wagons help boost GM, Subaru February sales in the US; impact of Toyota recall unclear

Large wagons lift GM, Subaru February sales in US

DETROIT — Toyota’s recalls and East Coast snowstorms slowed U.S. auto sales in February, but General Motors, Ford and Chrysler still reported increases.

General Motors Co.’s February sales rose 11.5 percent thanks to new models and pent-up demand from rental-car companies and other fleet buyers. It was unclear how much the Detroit automaker benefited from Toyota’s safety woes.

Ford Motor Co. said its U.S. sales jumped 43 percent in February thanks to strong demand for its cars. It said it grabbed some sales from Toyota.

Chrysler will report its first year-over-year monthly increase when it releases numbers later Tuesday, according to a person briefed on the figures.

The increase will only be a few hundred vehicles, but the person said it’s a sign that the company is starting to recover in the U.S. market. The person did not want to be identified because sales figures have not been released.

February was the first full month since Toyota’s Jan. 26 decision to halt sales of eight popular models in the U.S. because of safety concerns. Those cars went on sale again as dealers repaired them, but Toyota’s image suffered from the recall of millions of vehicles and congressional hearings on its safety record. Analysts were expecting Toyota to see a double-digit drop in sales for the month despite its big increase in incentive spending to lure buyers.

GM on Tuesday said sales of its Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC brands climbed 32 percent. GM plans to keep those four brands and is phasing out Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer. It has sold Saab.

Susan Docherty, GM’s vice president of sales and marketing, said GM won over some Toyota buyers who left the Japanese carmaker due to safety recall concerns. Chevrolet car sales to individuals were up 10 percent in February, an indication that GM it taking some of Toyota’s core market, she said.

“We feel we’re getting our fair share of the Toyota business,” she said.

Mike DiGiovanni, GM’s top sales analyst, said he expected that trend to continue into the spring.

The industry was expecting to see gains over February 2009, which was one of the weakest months in a very depressed year. Sales over President’s Day weekend — which traditionally kicks off the spring selling season — were robust, according to the auto information site Edmunds.com.

Still, winter storms at the beginning and end of the month hurt sales on the East Coast and in the Midwest. GM said its sales dropped 22 percent in the Northeast region. The corridor from Boston to Washington typically accounts for about a quarter of the automaker’s U.S. sales.

“Three and a half feet of snow on these cars. It took our dealers a bit of time to get all that snow off here and get the customers back into the showrooms,” Docherty said.

DiGiovanni said sales probably would have been 5 percent higher had it not been for snowstorms. That means the gradual economic recovery is continuing despite setbacks in home sales, new home construction and unemployment, he said. Consumer confidence — which is measured by how much buyers spend — took an unexpected dive in February, indicating people are nervous about the economy.

GM said much of the sales increase was due to sales of large new wagons such as the Chevrolet Equinox, which jumped 133 percent, and the Cadillac SRX, which saw sales more than quadruple. Those two models are the size of SUVs but are built on a car frame for better fuel economy.

Sales to rental car companies and other fleet buyers also were strong as companies began buying again after cutbacks last year. Fleet sales generally mean lower profits to automakers than retail sales to individuals.

Retail sales for GM’s four core brands edged up 7 percent.

Surging sales of large wagons also helped Japan’s Subaru, which said its February sales in the U.S. jumped 38 percent to 18,098 led by the Outback and Legacy sedan. Both vehicles got a redesign for the 2010 model year. Sales of its Impreza sedan and Forester SUV were flat.

Most carmakers offered deals to Toyota customers for trading in their vehicles or, in Toyota’s case, raised incentives to lure back buyers. According to Edmunds, incentive spending rose 11 percent from January to $2,588 per vehicle. Toyota’s incentive spending rose 26 percent, to $1,833 per vehicle.

Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. grabbed the most sales from Toyota in February, according to Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and analysis at TrueCar.com, an auto pricing site. Hyundai managed that feat even though it was the only major manufacturer to lower incentive spending between January and February, according to Edmunds.

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report. Dan Strumpf contributed from New York.