Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co.s U.S. sales rose 11 percent in November as higher demand for pickups and sport-utility vehicles pushed the industry toward matching its fastest sales pace of the year.
Deliveries in the month climbed to 168,739, Detroit-based GM said today in a statement. The largest U.S. automaker was expected to post a 13 percent sales increase by researcher TrueCar.com, and Edmunds.com projected a 12 percent gain.
Industrywide light-vehicle sales may have reached a 12.2 million annual pace in December, the average of eight analysts estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would almost match the 12.3 million rate of October that was the fastest since the U.S. governments cash for clunkers program in 2009.
GMs sales were better than we expected, said Rebecca Lindland, director of strategic review for Lexington, Massachusetts-based research firm IHS Automotive, which forecast GM sales to be 162,000 for the month. They arent blowing the doors out but its a slow, steady recovery.
Chevrolet, which accounts for about 70 percent of GMs sales, boosted deliveries 18 percent to 117,588. Buick sales climbed 36 percent to 11,725 vehicles, led by deliveries of the Enclave SUV, GM said today. GMC sales gained 30 percent to 27,590. Cadillac deliveries rose 21 percent to 11,801.
Sales of the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain SUVs gained 60 percent, while the Cadillac SRX climbed 36 percent, the company said.
GM last year closed Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn and sold Saab to focus on Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Sales of those four remaining brands rose 21 percent.
GM rose 43 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $34.63 at 11:07 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Through yesterday, the shares gained 3.6 percent from their $33 sale price in an initial public offering earlier this month.
The U.S. auto selling rate has stayed above 11 million since March, according to Autodata, based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.