$865 million from January through March

Courtesy of Associated Press

DETROIT – General Motors Co. rode expense cuts from its bankruptcy and strong sales of redesigned models to its first quarterly net income in nearly three years, drawing the company closer to a stock offering that would repay at least part of its government aid.

The $865 million first-quarter profit is a dramatic reversal from the huge $6 billion loss in the same period last year. The last time the company made a quarterly profit was the second quarter of 2007, when it earned $891 million.

The Detroit automaker said it made money because debt and other expenses were slashed by its stay in bankruptcy court, and because of strong new-model sales. It also generated higher revenue from growth in Asia and South America.

The earnings of $1.66 per share from January through March are stunningly different from the first quarter of last year, when the largest U.S. automaker lost $9.78 per share as it skidded into bankruptcy protection.

First-quarter revenue soared 40 percent to $31.5 billion.

Read the entire story here.

» Nissan leads the Big 7: It outpaces the major players with a 35% sales jump.

» Trucks make a comeback: Their share of U.S. vehicle market climbs in April.

» GM has a good retail story: Excluding fleet, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick sales grew 33 percent last month.

APRIL U.S. AUTO SALES / Staff and wire reports  / Automotive News — May 3, 2010 @ 3:07 p.m. ET

DETROIT — Nissan Motor Co., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler Group led the U.S. industry to a 20 percent sales gain in April as demand continued to recover from last year’s collapse.

Overall sales rose to 982,302 from 819,692 a year earlier. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 11.5 million, the second strongest of the year behind March’s 11.7 million.

Ford said its retail sales rose 32 percent en route to a 25 percent overall gain, its fifth straight month of 20 percent or more. Toyota climbed sharply for the second straight month, again aided by no-interest loans and discount leases aimed at combating its recall crisis. Chrysler’s 25 percent jump marked its first double-digit increase in almost five years. Nissan Motor was up 35 percent, and the Hyundai Group advanced 24 percent.

Numbers in this table are calculated by Automotive News based on actual monthly sales reported by the manufacturers and may differ from numbers reported elsewhere.

Source: Automotive News Data Center

Note: Other includes estimates for Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Lotus

*Includes Mini and Rolls-Royce

**Includes Maybach, Mercedes-Benz and Smart

***Includes Volvo

****Includes Saab through February 2010

†Includes Honda Division and Acura

††Includes Hyundai and Kia

†††Includes Nissan Division and Infiniti

‡The sale of Saab was final on February 23, 2010

‡‡Includes Toyota Division, Lexus and Scion

‡‡‡Includes VW, Audi and Bentley

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