GM global sales dip in Q1

DETROIT: General Motors Corp said on Wednesday its global sales declined slightly in the first quarter to 2.25 million vehicles on weakness in its home market.

GM officials also estimated that the 0.6 percent sales drop would place them behind Toyota in the race for world-wide sales leadership for the quarter.

However, officials refused to concede that they would lose the race for the year after having narrowly held onto their 76-year-title of world's largest automaker by sales last year by a margin of just a few thousand vehicles.

"We were also behind Toyota in the first quarter last year," Michael DiGiovanni, GM's director of industry and market analysis said in a conference call.

GM saw strong growth abroad with sales outside North America up eight percent as sales records were hit in three of its four regions. Sales outside the United States now make up a record 64 percent of GM's total volume.

Those gains were offset, however, by a 10.2 percent drop in US sales under pressure from a slow economy and a long strike at a key supplier in the United States.

"While the challenges of the US economy continue to put pressure on the automotive industry there, we saw nearly 20 percent growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East and six percent growth in the Asia Pacific region," said John Middlebrook, GM vice president for global sales, service and marketing.

"We're also very pleased to see three percent growth in Europe, where we established a new sales record with 572,000 vehicles sold." GM sales rose by seven percent China, 58 percent in India, and 78 percent in Russia.

Latin America, another key market for GM, appears to have been insulated from the economic difficulties in North America, DiGiovanni said, adding that while inflation is a potential challenge in Asia, growth in China remains very healthy.

Eastern Europe and Russia also promise to be strong markets for GM in foreseeable future despite the strong competition, DiGiovanni said. "The US market is going through a difficult time right now," DiGiovanni told reporters. "Our best thinking is that we'll have a recovery in the second half but nothing is certain."