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The American carmakers reported strong sales figures for May 2014.
Chrysler said sales were up 17%, driven by its Jeep brand which saw sales jump 58% after it introduced new models.
GM reported a 12.6% rise in sales compared with the same period last year.
Ford posted a better-than-expected 3% increase in sales, helped by increasing demand for sports utility vehicles (SUVs) as well as its Fusion sedan.
The carmaker saw its truck sales drop 4% as it cut back on incentives in preparation for the launch of its new F-150 pick-up truck, which is the best-selling vehicle in North America.
The American carmakers reported strong sales figures for May 2014
Ford also said it was shutting down some truck plants for a total of 13 weeks in an effort to plan for the launch and manage inventory of the new truck, which features a lighter body for better fuel mileage.
May is traditionally a strong month for car sales in the US.
This May in particular was helped by an extra weekend, which saw particularly strong sales.
GM shares rose more than 3% on the news, before falling later in the day.
The company appears not to be suffering from a mishandled recall, which resulted in a $35 million fine for the company last month.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Board (NHTSA) said it was the single highest civil penalty ever levied as a result of a recall investigation.
Foreign car makers also saw strong US sales, with Japanese car makers Toyota and Nissan reporting double-digit sales increases.
Of the major car manufacturers, only Volkswagen saw its sales fall.
Demand for Volkswagen vehicles slumped 15%, partially as a result of a pause before the launch of a new Golf compact car.
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GM has reported a fall in car sales in December in what was a disappointing month for US car makers.
GM stocks fell 2.4% after it reported a 6.3% fall in sales compared with December 2012.
Ford and Chrysler both reported rising sales, but not the increases that industry analysts were expecting.
Chrysler sold 161,000 cars and trucks in December, up 5.7% on the same period in 2012 and Ford reported a 1.8% rise in December sales.
Analysts said that poor weather in parts of the US kept customers away from dealerships in December.
“At the very beginning of the month the pace of buying was slow because there were so many storms around the country,” said Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs.
“Now what we’re seeing is some of the automakers are stretching their December deals into January.”
2013 is expected to be the best year for US auto market since 2007, with total annual sales of about 15.6 million
Kurt McNeil, vice president, of US sales for GM, said: “December started a little slow but sales were stronger later in the month, especially in the week between Christmas and New Year.”
Meanwhile Ford said that a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving late in November may have brought forward sales that would have fallen in December.
For Chrysler the Jeep brand continued to be a strong performer with a 34% rise in sales last month.
With a 9% rise in annual sales, 2013 was the strongest year for Chrysler since 2007.
“Our Jeep and Ram truck brands had a strong finish led by the all new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the Ram pickup truck,” said Reid Bigland, head of US sales.
Overall, sales in 2013 were strong for the big three Detroit car manufacturers, who were helped along by strong sales of their truck offerings.
Truck sales tend to increase in relation to home sales, which were strong for much of the year as the US economic recovery spurred long-delayed housing activity.
“Trucks on the road are even older than cars on the road,” said Michelle Krebs.
However, Toyota, the third biggest player in the US market, didn’t do as well as the US manufacturers.
Toyota saw sales in December decline by 1.7% from a year ago to 190,843.
Analysts had been expecting Toyota to report rising sales.
However, 2013 is expected to be the best year for US auto market since 2007, with total annual sales of about 15.6 million.
That would be a strong recovery from 2009 when sales fell to 10.4 million during the depths of the recession.
Fiat shares have jumped more than 15 percent following the announcement of its plan to buy the remaining 41% of Chrysler it does not own.
The Italian car maker has owned a majority stake in Chrysler since 2009.
The new agreement ends long negotiations with the current owners, Veba, the healthcare trust affiliated to the United Auto Workers’ union (UAW).
Fiat has owned a majority stake in Chrysler since 2009
The move will create the world’s seventh-largest car company.
Chrysler and Fiat will pay the trust an initial $3.65 billion.
Once the deal is signed off, Chrysler will pay Fiat another $700 million.
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Fiat has agreed to buy the remaining 41% of Chrysler it does not own in a move that will create the world’s seventh-largest car company.
The Italian motors giant has owned a majority stake in the US company since 2009.
The agreement ends drawn-out negotiations with the current owners, Veba, the healthcare trust affiliated to the United Auto Workers’ union.
Chrysler and Fiat will pay the trust an initial $3.65 billion.
Once the deal is signed off, Chrysler will pay Fiat another $700 million.
Fiat has owned a majority stake in Chrysler since 2009
Fiat’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, plans to widen the company’s global reach.
The Veba trust looks after medical benefits for retired Chrysler workers.
The alliance between the two companies came amid the major restructuring of the US car industry following the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
The link-up gave Fiat access to the vast US car market, while Chrysler was able to benefit from the Italian firm’s expertise in developing small, fuel efficient vehicles.
Recently, Chrysler reported a 22% rise in third-quarter profits to $464 million, with net revenue up 13.5% to $17.6 billion.
Chrysler said its results had been helped by strong sales of its Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Ram 1500 pickup.
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Chrysler has finally agreed to voluntarily recall 2.7 million Jeeps that could be at risk of fuel tank fires, after initially refusing a government request to do so.
Chrysler said it had resolved its differences with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The recall affects Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993-2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002-07.
Chrysler maintains that the vehicles are not defective, but said it regards safety as a “paramount concern”.
The company said dealers would inspect the vehicles and, if necessary, provides an upgrade to the rear structure to better manage low-speed crashes.
Chrysler has finally agreed to voluntarily recall 2.7 million Jeeps that could be at risk of fuel tank fires
Earlier this month, the NHTSA asked Chrysler to voluntarily recall the Grand Cherokees and Libertys, saying that if hit from the rear, the fuel tanks could leak fuel and cause fires.
It said the location of the tanks behind the axle and their height above the road was a design defect.
The agency said it had evidence of at least 37 rear-impact crashes and fires, causing 51 deaths.
At the time, Chrysler said it did not intend to recall the vehicles.
But in a statement on Tuesday, the company said: “Chrysler Group’s analysis of the data confirms that these vehicles are not defective and are among the safest in the peer group.
“Nonetheless, Chrysler Group recognizes that this matter has raised concerns for its customers and wants to take further steps, in co-ordination with NHTSA, to provide additional measures to supplement the safety of its vehicles.”
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Chrysler gave all 55,000 of its employees the day off work on Election Day and urged them to go vote – a move that is likely to help President Barack Obama, since most employees are members of the heavily Democratic United Autoworkers union.
The automaker, which received a $6.6 billion government bailout under Obama’s presidency, has been at odds with Republican Mitt Romney after he accused the company of shipping jobs to China.
Voting has now opened in all 50 states and millions of Americans are standing in long lines to cast their ballots. Hawaii, which opened their polls at noon Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. local time), was the last to begin.
It’s impossible to tell yet what voter turnout for the pivotal presidential election will be – but throngs of Americans are already showing up. In Florida, some voters are reporting waiting in line for up to three and a half hours. Waits in other states were more than an hour before 10:00 a.m. and likely to grow only longer as the day progressed.
Thousands of voters turned out before dawn, hoping to cast their ballots before heading to work. Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. in Ohio, which is perhaps the most important state in this year’s neck-and-neck election. In Virginia and New Hampshire – two other pivotal states – voters began lining up before 6:00 a.m.
Chrysler gave all 55,000 of its employees the day off work on Election Day and urged them to go vote
Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s vice president for product design, announced on Twitter that the company was shutting down for the day.
“Chrysler gave its entire work force the day off to Vote Today! Let’s go! #America,” he wrote.
Mitt Romney ran an ad in Ohio last month claiming that Chrysler was planning to build its Jeep SUVs in China. The company strenuously denied those claims and Ralph Giles even tweeted: “You are full of s***!” when Donald Trump repeated Mitt Romney’s allegation.
Ralph Gilles pointed out that all UAW workers already had the day off – a perk the union has negotiated for the last 15 years. Chrysler, which is owned by Italian car company Fiat, only extended the policy to its non-union employees.
Mitt Romney and his wife Ann showed up together at their local polling station in Belmont, Massachusetts, outside Boston, to cast their ballots early Tuesday. Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was seen at the polls in Wisconsin with his family.
New car sales in the US posted the best month in more than four years, with Toyota Motor showing the biggest rise.
Toyota saw sales rise 42% in September. Honda reported a jump of 31%, while Chrysler sales increased 12%.
Analysts said buyers in the US were taking advantage of low interest rates and cheap financing.
The US car industry’s recovery has been a boon to the US economy in recent months.
Industry-wide sales were up 12.8% in September compared to a year earlier, to 1.19 million cars and light trucks.
Calculated on an annualized basis that is 14.94 million vehicles, the highest rate since March 2008 according to Autodata.
Analysts said the increased demand for passenger vehicles comes after consumers in the US delayed buying new cars during the recession which went on till 2009.
That pushed the age of vehicles on the road up, and now those consumers are looking for replacement cars.
“I think in general with the economy chugging along at about 1.5% to 2% that we are gradually seeing people come back,” said Ford chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick.
Japanese carmakers continue to show the biggest gains as they rebound from a supply shortage caused by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
