General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC said September US sales rose more than analysts' estimates as Silverado pickups and Durango sport-utility vehicles gained. Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also said their sales rose more than estimates.
Ford's light-vehicle sales increased nine per cent to 174,860, the company said in a statement. GM deliveries rose 20 per cent to 207,145 cars and light trucks in the US last month, the Detroit-based company said on Monday in a statement. Chrysler sales climbed 27 per cent to 127,334, according to a regulatory filing.
September light-vehicle sales, being released on Monday, probably rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.8 million, the average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That would be the fastest pace since April, when lost output caused by Japan's tsunami crimped supply of parts and finished cars.
"Significant gains in pickups suggests that there is pent- up demand in the small business and work truck area of the business," Alan Baum, an industry consultant at Baum & Associates in West Bloomfield, Michigan, said in a phone interview. "The automotive factors are more important than the economic factors. The long-term demand remains."
Deliveries by Chrysler, the US automaker controlled by Fiat SpA (F), exceeded seven analysts' average estimate for a 20 per cent increase. Sales of the new Durango rose to 4,923 from 47 a year earlier, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company said in the filing. Jeep Compass deliveries rose fourfold to 4,422.
SILVERADO SALES
GM deliveries were expected to increase 19 per cent, the average of eight analysts' estimates. Chevrolet Silverado sales surged 36 per cent to 43,698, and GMC Sierra trucks gained 26 per cent to 13,904.
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"GM had really overproduced on Silverado pickups in particular and have been trying to figure out a way to sell them," Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of auto researcher Edmunds.com, said in a phone interview.
Deliveries last month were projected to rise 5.9 per cent for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, the average of eight analysts' estimates. Sales of F-Series pickups rose 15 per cent.
Volkswagen AG's namesake brand sales climbed 36 per cent to 27,036, according to an e-mailed statement. Deliveries of the Jetta compact sedan surged 40 per cent to 15,023, said Volkswagen, whose US unit is based in Herndon, Virginia.