GM October sales up as industry gains

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co posted a 3.5 percent increase in October U.S. auto sales on Wednesday, trailing smaller rivals for a month expected to represent the high point in a slow-moving recovery for the industry.

GM, which is expected to provide pricing details and launch a road show to market a planned IPO to investors as soon as Wednesday, said sales rose 12.8 percent in its four core brands of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

U.S. auto sales sank to the lowest levels in more than a quarter century in 2009 under the severe recession and so far this year have been recovering at a slower pace than the industry or its analysts expected.

Automakers are expected to report the strongest U.S. sales rates of the year in October, but sales overall remain well below pre-recession levels of 2007 and are expected to continue a slow pace of recovery along with the U.S. economy.

GM's total vehicle sales, roughly in line with expectations, are expected to lead the industry in October. A handful of automakers reported U.S. sales on Tuesday, a U.S. election day. Most automakers, including the top five by sales volume, are scheduled to report U.S. sales on Wednesday.

The biggest U.S. automaker also left intact its forecast for U.S. industry sales of 11.5 million vehicles in 2010, up from 10.4 million vehicles last year.

Ford Motor Co , Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> , Honda Motor Co <7267.T>, Chrysler and Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> are scheduled to report October sales on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co <005380.KS> said its U.S. sales rose nearly 38 percent while its Kia Motors <000270.KS> affiliate posted a nearly 39 percent increase.

Volkswagen , Audi , BMW , Subaru and Porsche also reported sales increases in October from a year earlier on Tuesday.

Overall, economists polled by Reuters expect U.S. auto sales at about an 11.85 million vehicle seasonally adjusted annualized rate, well off the 16 million vehicle monthly rates routinely registered in 2007 before the U.S. recession.

GM said it expects the annualized sales rate for October to be about 12.1 million light vehicles.

That would represent the first time the rate had topped 12 million since the Lehman bankruptcy in September 2008, excluding August 2009 when the U.S. government's "cash for clunkers" incentive program boosted results.

(Reporting by David Bailey, Kevin Krolicki, Bernie Woodall and Deepa Seetharaman, editing by Matthew Lewis)