General Motors continues its turnaround by posting a 4.7% increase in sales last month versus last year, bolstered mostly by the 68.6% increase at Saturn and a strong showing from GMC (8.6%) and Pontiac (13.7%). Likewise, Toyota contiues its positive growth with an increase of 10.9% for the brand and 9.7% for the company including Lexus. The gain by Toyota put it ahead of Ford as the No. 2 best-selling automaker in the U.S. last month. Ford, meanwhile, saw sales dip by 10.4%, which it claims is due to an ongoing effort to reduce fleet sales. It claims retail sales were nearly flat, helped by the Edge, new Escape and Expedition, among others. The Chrysler Group, meanwhile, remained flat, despite the monster effort by Jeep, which saw sales of the Wrangler increase by 106%!
Biggest WinnerSaturn 
68.6% at 26,905 (05/06: 15,347)Biggest LoserJaguar 
–44.1% at 1,379 (05/06: 2,374)COMPANIESBMW Group
4.5% at 30,819 (05/06: 28,360)
Chrysler Group
0.2% at 199,393 (05/06: 191,261)
Ford Motor Co
–10.4% at 259,470 (05/06: 278,546)
General Motors
4.7% at 375,682 (05/06: 345,157)
Honda America
–1.4% at 145,367 (05/06: 141,810)
Nissan North America
3.2% at 93,062 (05/06: 86,667)
Toyota Motor Co.
9.7% at 269,023 (05/06: 235,708)
