DETROIT — May was another positive step for the auto industry, with all major carmakers expected to report that sales in the United States increased from a year earlier, but most dealerships still have relatively few shoppers as the market’s recovery remains slow.

A shopper is shown inspecting a 2010 Cadillac SRX on display at a Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac dealership in Raleigh last month.
General Motors said sales by its four active brands rose 31.8 percent and that total sales for the company, including the brands it has discontinued, were up 16.6 percent. May was the eighth consecutive month that sales of the four brands, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC, have increased.

“Each of our brands has new products that are being received well by customers,” Steve Carlisle, G.M.’s vice president of United States sales operations, said in a statement. “In fact, these new vehicles now account for about one in every four retail sales in the U.S. With each brand launching new vehicles in the next few months, we are optimistic about the remainder of the year.”

Year to date, sales of G.M.’s remaining brands are up by 206,994 units, which is nearly twice as many sales as the company lost by shutting down Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn and selling Saab. Newly introduced vehicles account for much of that growth.

“We’re a much leaner and more agile company today and can take advantage of movements in consumer tastes,” Mr. Carlisle said.

Ford Motor, Toyota and other automakers plan to release their May sales results later Wednesday afternoon.

Over all, analysts projected sales were about 15 percent higher than in May 2009, when Chrysler was operating in bankruptcy protection and G.M. was preparing its own Chapter 11 filing.

That turmoil, in the midst of the recession, discouraged many consumers from shopping for a new vehicle. In addition, Chrysler shut down its factories for the duration of its bankruptcy, essentially halting sales to business and government customers last May.

As a result, last month’s numbers look good in comparison, but total sales for the industry were expected to come in below the level seen in March, when Toyota and some rivals significantly raised incentives on many models.

Nearly halfway through 2010, the rate of new-vehicle sales has been below what many analysts predicted for the year, although most of the forecasts call for demand to increase in the second half.

“The consumer feels a whole lot better than a year ago,” George Pipas, Ford’s chief sales analyst, said. “But they’re waiting for something to happen: home prices to go up, unemployment to go down or the job market to improve. Until that happens, we’re going to stay about where we are right now.”

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