General Motors got help from its newest Buick and Cadillac models to rise 6.4% in March, compared to sales a year earlier.
It was the big car company's best March in five years. GM credited a rising economy and its new models.
Buick was up 37.4%. Standouts were the redesigned Enclave big SUV and new-to-the-lineup Encore, a very small crossover SUV.
Cadillac
jumped 49.5%. Stars were its newest models, ATS small sedan and XTS big
sedan. Those sales all were pure gains because the models weren't on
sale a year ago.
Though Cadillac is well-known for its big
Escalade SUVs, those are a handful of sales. The brand's top SUV, as
always, was the SRX crossover. It also was the brand's top-selling model
of any kind, but was up just 5.4% from a year earlier.
At
Chevrolet, the Malibu midsize sedan plunged 22.4%. GM had been counting
on Malibu to be a strong contender in the big midsize market. GM is
hustling through an update hoping to make the car more competitive.
Traverse big crossover SUV was up 54%.
GMC, which sells only trucks, had a strong showing from the Acadia big crossover SUV, which was up 77.1%.
Enclave, Traverse and Acadia, similar mechanically, all were updated for 2013.
Courtesy of USA Today
