Dealers for the four remaining brands at General Motors – Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC – sold more than 222,000 vehicles in May, up 32% from the year earlier when GM was bankrupt. Retail retail sales were up 11%.

This is the fifth consecutive month of double-digit increases, but if you look at the sales total of the previous eight brands, GM’s turn around is running at a sales increase of only 17%. How this tracks with the industry won’t be clear until late today when final May sales numbers are available, but preliminary estimates show an increase of about 19%.

GM’s fleet sales are running at about, gulp,  37% of the total, which works against the profitability the  taxpayer-owned company needs to achieve so that it can go public again.  GM  executives say the plan is to trim fleet to 25% by the end of the year. Incentives at an average of $2,250 per vehicle are up $200 a unit from April. Toyota’s aggressive incentive programs appear to be damping attempts by makers to raise prices now that inventory levels are under control due to the massive cutbacks invoked last year.

Year-to-date sales for GM’s four brands have risen 31% to 874,749 units – an increase of 206,994 units compared to a year ago.

GM’s newest products are doing particularly well. Year-to-date, combined sales of the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Camaro, Buick LaCrosse and Regal, GMC Terrain and Cadillac SRX and CTS Wagon are up 323%.

Chevrolet dealers reported sales of 167,235 – 31% higher than May, 2009. Retail sales for the brand were 19% higher for the month. Retail sales for Chevrolet’s popular full-size pickups, Silverado and Avalanche, increased 14%, while retail sales for the Suburban rose 73%. The Chevrolet Silverado, Equinox, Traverse, Avalanche, Malibu and Camaro all posted year-over-year retail sales increases of 10% or more.

Buick sales rose 37% for the month to 12,582 – the eighth consecutive month of double-digit year-over-year sales increases led by the LaCrosse and Enclave. Retail sales for Buick rose 46% during May. Buick LaCrosse retail sales increased 191% for the month. Year-to-date sales of the LaCrosse have increased 162%.

GMC sales of 30,160 were 26% higher than last year, while retail sales for the brand were up 37%. Retail sales of the GMC Terrain continued to gain momentum, with sales increasing 350% for the year-to-date (read more).

Cadillac sales increased 54% to 12,328, while retail sales improved 43% for the month. CTS retail sales improved 7% for the month, and year-to-date sales of the SRX are 439% higher than a year ago.

Month-end dealer inventory in the U.S. stood at about 408,000 units, which is about 22,000 lower compared to April 2010, and about 267,000 lower than May 2009.

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