detroit us newvehicle sales rose 75 in the first quarter as supplies improved and skyhigh prices eased a bit while the global shortage of computer chips started to wane but the average autoloan rate hit 7 during the quarter leaving open the question of whether automakers will offer reduced rates to keep buyers interested through the rest of the year automakers sold 359 million vehicles during the first three months of the year compared with 334 million a year earlier results from companies were mixed some thrived with better chip supplies while others continued to struggle general motors’ gm sales jumped 176 over a weak first quarter last year as buick brand deliveries doubled the company said it picked up 15 points of market share gm’s dealer inventory rose 50 in the quarter to more than 412000 as production increased nissan 7201 sales leaped 173 and honda hmc  which struggled to get chips last year posted an 117 increase affiliated south korean automakers hyundai 005380  with sales up 155 and kia 000270  up 218 combined to outsell stellantis stla  which saw a 91 sales decline toyota tm  still hampered by shortages of chips and other parts posted an 88 sales drop executives said us dealers had only a fiveday supply of vehicles on the ground auto loan rates hit their highest level in 15 years during the quarter but seemed to have leveled off said edmunds executive director of insights jessica caldwell to keep sales rolling automakers may have to offer subsidized loan rates which will cut into huge profits and could reduce high transaction prices she said many customers she said can’t afford new vehicle monthly payments that hit a record average of 730 “any automaker or dealer that can advertise incentives related specifically to interest rates will likely get more attention” she said “this could be a powerful marketing tool that would enable sellers to tap into the significant pentup demand that has been building over the past few years” stellantis caldwell said seems to be struggling with demand citing a 20 decline in jeep brand sales jeep used to own the rugged offroad segment of the market but ford f is gaining ground with the new bronco and gm has a new electric hummer “now it seems like their brand identity is sort of under threat from multiple places” she said in a statement stellantis us sales chief jeff kommor said the company is navigating us market conditions with dealers and “making the necessary adjustments to meet our customers’ expectations” jd power said the average vehicle sales price hit a march record of 45818 up 35 from a year ago but it was down from the overall record of 47362 set in december automakers offered an average of 1558 per vehicle in discounts up almost 500 from march of last year the company said electric vehicle sales rose 48 from january through march to just over 258000 they accounted for 72 of us new vehicle sales last year the ev share of the market was 58 the sales numbers come after a lackluster year in 2022 as automakers couldn’t produce enough to meet demand due to the chip shortage automakers sold only 139 million vehicles far short of what had been normal around 17 million edmunds predicts a better year this year at 148 million but not a full recovery