GM reports 2.2% decrease in third-quarter sales, but EVs make gains

DETROIT — Increases in sales of electric vehicles and small crossovers helped General Motors report slightly better-than-expected sales during the third quarter.

The Detroit automaker reported a 2.2% drop in third-quarter sales compared with a year earlier, slipping to 659,601 vehicles sold. Auto industry forecasters such as Cox Automotive and Edmunds had expected GM’s sales to be down by more than 3% during that time.

GM’s third-quarter sales are expected to be in line with the overall industry. Cox Automotive and Edmunds project third-quarter sales industrywide will be down roughly 2% compared to a year earlier.

GM’s sales were assisted by a roughly 60% year-over-year increase in EVs during the quarter, to roughly 32,100 units sold. Still, EVs made up only 4.9% of the company’s total third-quarter sales.

While GM has withdrawn most of its previously announced electric vehicle targets, the automaker believes its EV sales momentum is finally building thanks to an expanding lineup of all-electric vehicles — spanning a price range of roughly $35,000 to more than $300,000.

“We are definitely outstripping the industry in terms of growth, in terms of EVs,” Rory Harvey, GM president of global markets, including North America, told CNBC last month. “We have the most comprehensive EV lineup out of any manufacturer in the industry, in the U.S., at the moment.”

Sales of small crossovers such as the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Envista and Envision also experienced notable increases compared with a year earlier, GM reported.

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