Skip to footer

Auto sales: Chrysler, GM, and Ford bounce back in May

Auto sales soared in May thanks to a strong Memorial Day weekend sales. GM reported its best monthly sales since 2008 despite an ongoing recall crisis, while auto sales for Chrysler shot up 17 percent. 

|
Carlos Barria/Reuters/File
Chevrolet cars are seen at a General Motors dealership in Miami, Florida in 2010. General Motors had its best monthly sales since August 2008, despite its current recall crisis.

Automakers reported new  post-recession records and overall gains in May US auto sales after a strong Memorial Day weekend, showing a comeback in the auto industry since the winter slowdown.

General Motors had its best monthly sales since August 2008, despite having recalled almost 13.8 million vehicles in the US this year. GM reported its best May in  nearly six years and saw 13 percent increase in May compared to last year.

“The momentum we generated in April carried into May, with all four brands performing well in a growing economy and 17 vehicle lines posting double-digit retail sales increases or better,” Kurt McNeil, GM’s US vice president of sales operations, says in the company's report. 

Chrysler Group LLC reported its US auto sales increased by 17 percent last month in its best May since 2007. Chrysler’s Jeep, RAM Truck, and FIAT brands all reported gains.

Ford Motor Company’ US sales were up three percent from a year ago. Ford Fusion and Escape reached their best monthly sales records ever, helping the company’s overall sales, vice president John Felice says in Ford's report. However, Ford truck sales slightly dipped from 88,450 in May 2013 to 87,749.

Nissan Group also saw a jump in US sales. The automaker reported a 17.8 increase in May, setting a record for the month.

Toyota also had its best month in six years. Toyota sold 243,236 vehicles last month, a 12.6 percent increase from May 2013, according to a preview of its report. 

Automakers across the board also saw gains in electric car sales, though the number of vehicles sold is still small. Nissan sold 3,117 Leaf vehicles, an increase of 45.8 percent over the last year. GM’s Chevrolet Spark sales doubled since last May. Ford didn’t disclose sales for its Focus Electric model, though US sales for the Focus were down by 23.7 percent over the prior year.

To pay for these vehicles, buyers are borrowing more than ever. The average amount financed for a new vehicle loan grew to $27,612 and the average monthly payment is $474, according to a Experian Automotive report. The average length of an automotive loan grew to 66 months, while the number of loans with terms of six to seven years grew by 27.6 percent.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Auto sales: Chrysler, GM, and Ford bounce back in May
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0603/Auto-sales-Chrysler-GM-and-Ford-bounce-back-in-May
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe