Ford Motor Co. said Thursday its May sales went up 2.2 percent to 241,126 vehicles, outselling General Motor's 237,364 vehicles, as automakers increasingly resorted to incentives to lure customers into dealer showrooms.
Ford sold 82,844 vehicles to fleet buyers compared with GM's fleet sales of 45,976 vehicles.
But on a retail basis, Ford sold 158,282 vehicles and was easily outsold by GM, which sold 191,388. Ford said its truck sales rose 9.4 percent in May, while SUV sales increased 4.3 percent and car sales slid 10 percent. F-Series truck sales totaled 76,027 last month, up 12.8 percent from May 2016. It marked the best May results in 13 years.
"May marked a standout month for Ford brand SUVs, with a May record 74,910 SUVs sold," Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in a statement.
GM's sales fell slightly in May despite strong SUV sales. The automaker sold 237,364 vehicles in May, with sales of crossovers to individual consumers up 19 percent. Sales rose an impressive 28.5 percent for Buick and 9.2 percent for Cadillac while sales fell 3.8 percent for Chevrolet and 5.2 percent for GMC.
GM has recently launched or is about to launch new versions of the GMC Acadia, GMC Terrain, Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and the Regal TourX. Sales of the Acadia increased 38 percent in May.
"We expect these launches will enable us to continue gaining retail share as we introduce more all-new compact and midsize crossovers than anyone else," GM's vice-president of sales operations Kurt McNeil said in a statement.
However, sales of the company's most popular pickups declined in May. Sales of the Chevrolet Silverado fell 2.7 percent and sales of the GMC Sierra fell 8.2 percent.
As for the other one of big three American automakers -- Fiat Chrysler sales fell one percent to 193,040 vehicles in May compared to the same month a year ago, as sales of its pickups helped it offset a decline in Jeep sales.
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