Mitsubishi reports strong May sales

Mitsubishi’s sales continued to surge in May. The automaker reported a nearly 60 percent increase in sales compared to May 2010. That’s Mitsubishi’s highest May sales total in three years. The upswing is also being reflected at the plant in Normal.

“Sales for vehicles that we make here are up again significantly for the month,” says spokesman Dan Irvin. “We’ve sold almost three times more vehicles this May compared to a year ago.”

Irvin says the year-to-date sales have just about doubled for vehicles made at the plant in Normal. He says they’ve sold nearly 16,800 this year compared to about 8,500 last year at this time.

The Galant led the company with a 166 percent increase in sales in May compared to last year. The Lancer was up 1.5 percent, Lancer Evolution was up 8.6 percent and Endeavor sales improved more than 43 percent last month.

“You have to equate this to a gain in market share too because when you look at the rest of the industry’s sales for May, it’s a mixed bag,” Irvin said.

General Motors reported sales down 1 percent in May compared to last year. Ford sales fell fractionally while Toyota fell 33 percent.