General Motors' first-quarter profit rose nearly eight times above a year ago as US consumers spent big on pickups and SUVs - and the company didn't have to set aside a huge stack of money to pay for recalls.
The Detroit automaker - which owns Holden - says it made $US945 million ($A1.22 billion) as consumers got used to lower petrol prices and decided to buy bigger vehicles.
That's right in GM's sweet spot, with trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Cadillac Escalade large SUV.
Profit margins on the trucks are sizeable, with analysts estimating that GM makes more than $US10,000 per vehicle.
In the US, where GM still makes most of its money, the company sold more than 198,000 pickups, the best first quarter for the vehicles in eight years, according to Ward's Automotive.
The company also sold nearly 55,000 big SUVs, the best January-through-March period in seven years. It's cheaper to fuel a big vehicle.
Gas prices have now been $US3 per gallon or lower for six months. Regular was around $US2.49 Thursday, according to AAA, compared with $US3.67 a year ago.
The increased profit on trucks is "clearly a favourable tailwind," Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said, boosting GM's bottom line by $US500 million during the quarter.
For the quarter, the average price of a Chevy Tahoe SUV rose 8 per cent to more than $US57,000, Kelley Blue Book said. Other truck-based SUVs saw similar or even larger increases.
Although pickup and SUV sales were strong, they were nowhere near the peaks of the previous decade.
Pickup sales last quarter were the best since 2007, when GM sold almost 243,000. Big truck-based SUV sales were the best since 2008 at nearly 107,000.
GM's profit amounted to 56 US cents per share, compared with only $US125 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.
In last year's first quarter, a $US1.3 billion charge for an embarrassing series of recalls - including one for a deadly ignition switch problem - diluted the profit.
The company did take a one-time pretax charge of $US100 million to add to its compensation fund for victims of crashes caused by faulty ignition switches.
It also incurred a $US400 million charge to cut operations in Russia. Excluding the one-time items, GM would have made 86 per share. That fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 95 cents per share.
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