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BUSINESS A25
                                                                                                                                                                        Friday 11 March 2016

Automakers post healthy February US sales gains

This photo shows the front of a 2016 Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty pickup at a Fiat Chrysler deal-    growth, as well as low         and can hurt vehicle re-
ership in Doral, Fla. Industry analysts saw February sales bounce back after a slight decline in  gas prices and low inter-      sale values. The company
January. All automakers reported their monthly sales figures last week. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)      est rates, are outweighing     said its sales to commercial
                                                                                                  stock market volatility in     and government fleets are
]TOM KRISHER                  cent.                           last week.                          consumers’ minds. Buyers       up so far this year, but it has
DEE DURBIN                    General Motors said its         Industry analysts had ex-           are confident, which is key    sold 30,000 fewer vehicles
AP Auto Writers               sales fell 1.5 percent, partly  pected February sales to            for auto sales.                to rental fleets. Around 21
DETROIT (AP) — Automak-       due to a 39-percent cut in      bounce back after a slight          Proof of that confidence       percent of the company’s
ers posted big U.S. sales     rental sales. Volkswagen,       decline in January. One             is everywhere. Sales of the    February sales went to
gains last month as con-      still stinging from its diesel  factor: Super Bowl ads. On          Cadillac Escalade, an SUV      fleets rather than individual
sumers — giddy from Su-       cheating scandal, saw its       Super Bowl Sunday, which            that starts at $73,000, were   buyers.
per Bowl ads — returned to    U.S. sales drop 13 percent.     was Feb. 7, Website visits          up 22 percent over last        It was a different story at
showrooms after a snowy       Consulting firm LMC Au-         per dealership were four            February. Sales of Nissan’s    Ford. Ford’s U.S. sales chief
January.                      tomotive consulting firm        times higher than any oth-          $30,000 Murano SUV nearly      Mark LaNeve said Ford ex-
Ford’s sales rose 20 percent  predicts an 8.1 percent in-     er Sunday in all of 2015, ac-       doubled; so did sales of the   pects heavier fleet sales in
over last February, boosted   crease over a year ago to       cording to Michelle Krebs,          $89,000 Lexus LX SUV. Ford     the first four months of this
in part by higher sales to    1.36 million new vehicles.      a senior analyst with Auto-         said it was the best Febru-    year before they taper off.
rental car fleets. Honda’s    With an annual selling rate     trader.com. Credit appli-           ary for van sales since 1979.  Thirty-six percent of Ford’s
sales were up 13 percent      of 17.7 million cars and        cations also hit single-day         LMC is predicting sales of     U.S. sales went to fleets in
and Fiat Chrysler’s rose 12   trucks, last month would        records last month.                 17.8 million new vehicles      February.
percent. Nissan’s sales rose  be the best February in 16      Ford Chief Economist Em-            this year, up from 17.46       LaNeve defended that
nearly 11 percent and Toy-    years. Automakers report-       ily Kolinski Morris said im-        million last year. But the     percentage, which is un-
ota’s were up 4 percent.      ed monthly sales figures        proving job and income              growth rate is slowing from    usually high. At Toyota,
Hyundai’s sales rose 1 per-                                                                       previous years and many        for example, 16.5 percent
                                                                                                  are expecting a plateau        of February sales went to
                                                                                                  as U.S. demand peaks.          fleets.
                                                                                                  GM said its Chevrolet and      “We like this  business. It’s
                                                                                                  GMC brands saw declines        profitable for us and we
                                                                                                  in February but sales im-      manage it very well,” he
                                                                                                  proved at Cadillac and         said.Ford’s luxury Lincoln
                                                                                                  Buick. GM’s best seller, the   brand saw sales jump 30
                                                                                                  Chevrolet Silverado pick-      percent after sales of its
                                                                                                  up, saw a 5-percent sales      new MKX SUV more than
                                                                                                  decline. GM sold 227,825       doubled over last Febru-
                                                                                                  cars and trucks last month.    ary. Sales of Ford’s best
                                                                                                  GM said it’s trying to lower   seller, the F-Series pickup,
                                                                                                  its reliance on rental sales,  were up 10 percent. Ford
                                                                                                  which are less profitable      sold 217,192 vehicles.

China’s auto sales rise 5.1% in Jan-Feb

JOE McDONALD                  ruary from a year earlier       on China to drive revenue.
AP Business Writer            while sedan sales fell 12.5     Demand rebounded in
BEIJING (AP) — China’s        percent, according to the       September after Beijing
auto sales growth deceler-    CAAM. Chinese brands            cut sales taxes on vehicles
ated to 5.1 percent in Jan-   accounted for 60 percent        with smaller engines.
uary and February as de-      of the SUV market.              China’s auto market has
mand for lower-priced do-     Total vehicle sales, includ-    been cooling since growth
mestic brand SUVs soared      ing trucks and buses, rose      peaked at 45 percent in
but sedan purchases con-      4.4 percent to 4.1 million in   2009. Sales have been
tracted, an industry group    January and February.           dented by measures im-
reported Thursday.            Auto sales suffered an un-      posed by Beijing, Shanghai
Sales of sedans, SUVs and     expectedly sharp contrac-       and other major cities to
minivans in the biggest       tion from June through          curb smog and congestion
auto market by number         August, rattling a global       by limiting new vehicle reg-
of vehicles sold totaled 3.6  industry that is counting       istrations.
million in the two-month
period, according to the
China Association of Auto-
mobile Manufacturers.
Sales for the first two
months are reported to-
gether to factor out the
impact of the Lunar New
Year holiday, a two-week
slowdown that occurs at
different times during that
period each year.
SUV sales soared 54.8 per-
cent in January and Feb-
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