The vehicles are offered for sale at a GM dealership on June 20, 2024 in Lincolnwood, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
DETROIT – General Motors reported its best quarterly sales in more than three years, including notable increases in full-size pickups and fully electric vehicles.
The Detroit automaker on Tuesday reported second-quarter sales of 696,086, up 0.6% from a year earlier and its highest quarterly units sold since the fourth quarter of 2020.
Deliveries of electric vehicles rose 40% compared with a year earlier to 21,930 units. Still, EVs accounted for just 3.2% of its total second-quarter sales.
GM's full-size pickup truck sales were about 229,000 during the second quarter, up 6% from a year ago and the best quarterly sales since 2021.
However, GM's total sales for the first half of the year fell 0.4% compared with a year earlier, to about 1.3 million vehicles.
GM's second-quarter sales are expected to slightly outperform the broader industry. Auto industry analysts such as Cox Automotive and Edmunds expect second-quarter sales across the industry, including through July 1, to be roughly flat with a year ago amid a slowdown in retail demand.
An unknown outlier in the second quarter is the impact on sales of cyberattacks on dealership software provider CDK Global. The June 19 ransomware attack forced CDK, a market leader, to shut down its dealer management system, affecting nearly half of all North American dealerships.
“CDK's cyberattacks have severely impacted sales during the second half of June, impacting what is arguably one of the most lucrative and active times of the month and quarter for dealers,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' chief information officer.
In a statement, GM said its “dealers using the CDK platform are working to meet strong customer demand under challenging circumstances. Some deliveries may be delayed until the third quarter.”
Dealers, including the largest publicly traded dealers in the sector, have been forced to delay sales or find workarounds to sell vehicles since the attacks occurred.
All six major publicly traded franchise dealer groups have disclosed their exposure to the CDK problem. Five of the six: Asbury Automotive Group, AutoNation Inc., Group 1 Automotive Inc., Lithia Engines Inc. and Automotive Sonic Inc. — use CDK as their primary dealer management systems provider, according to Automotive News.
“The good news is that unlike other black swan events the industry has faced in the past, sales should not be severely lost or delayed, but rather postponed until the third quarter,” Caldwell said.
Separately on Tuesday, Toyota reported second-quarter sales. The company's U.S. sales totaled 621,549 vehicles during the period, up 9.2% from a year earlier.
Hyundai sold 214,719 vehicles in the second quarter, up 2.2% year-on-year.
