US auto sales power ahead in February

DETROIT (AP) — Americans want new cars and trucks, and they’re not letting higher gas prices or political dysfunction stand in their way.

New car and truck sales were up four percent in February as rising home construction and cheap financing kept the US auto recovery on track. While the pace of growth is slowing, industry analysts expect more gains in the coming months, saying there’s little that could derail demand for new cars.

Car buyers have already shrugged off higher Social Security taxes, which cut their take-home pay starting in January. Gas prices — which rose 36 cents to $3.78 per gallon in February — didn’t change their habits, either. And they ignored the debate over automatic spending cuts that were due to take effect Friday.

“Quite frankly, we think most of America is getting a little tired of hearing about some of the dysfunction,” said Kurt McNeil, General Motors Co.’s US sales chief. “We think the fundamentals are strong and that’s what’s important, and that’s what’s driving the economy.”

February sales hit an annualized rate of 15.4 million cars and trucks. That’s still short of the recent peak of close to 17 million in 2005, but it’s quite healthy compared with the anemic 10.4 million recorded during the recession in 2009.

The industry isn’t likely to see the double-digit monthly gains it saw last year, when Japanese automakers came roaring back after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Instead, auto companies are settling in for a period of slower but sustained growth.

“All of the automakers are in good, strong positions, so it’s harder to get those share gains,” said Lacey Plache, chief economist with the auto buying site Edmunds.com.

Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, a Detroit forecasting firm, raised his full-year sales forecast Friday from 15.1 million to 15.2 million. He said US spending cuts could impact auto sales toward the end of the year, but he doesn’t expect that to happen.

“Beyond that or some other external shock, I think it’s full-speed ahead,” Schuster said.

Truck sales boomed in February as more new homes were built. McNeil said GM’s pickup sales to small businesses were up 40 percent from a year ago, which is a strong signal of confidence in the underlying economy.

“This is probably the beginning of the strong comeback of trucks that we’re going to see for the rest of year,” said Jesse Toprak, a senior industry analyst with the car buying site TrueCar.com.

To keep up that momentum, GM announced that it will offer free scheduled maintenance for two years or 24,000 miles on its full-size Chevrolet and GMC trucks. The offer runs through April.

GM’s sales rose seven percent to their highest February level since 2008. Chevrolet Silverado pickup sales jumped 29 percent, which helped make up for faltering sales of cars like the Chevrolet Malibu and Cruze.