GM's (NYSE:GM) January Sales Up 23 Percent Over 2009

January sales for General Motors (NYSE:GM) jumped 23 percent over January 2009, giving the company a nice start to the calendar year.

Top sellers for the first month of the year were Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, the core brands of the automaker.

Sales were over double of what analysts had bee looking for, with most looking at an average of about 10 percent sales growth for the month.

Don Johnson, vice president of GM's U.S. sales operations, said, "January was a good month and signaled a solid start to the new year for each of our divisions."

While this is good news, in contrast to last year, it's unclear if this is sustainable, as obviously sales came from people getting back taxes. Once that is cleared, we'll be able to see more clearly what the year will be like without the windfall season.

Still, it shows consumers were willing to spend even in continual weak and uncertain economic conditions.

Most of sales came from consumers, confirming I believe that it was tax-refund driven. Fleet sales for the month dropped by 7 percent in January.

General Motors was trading at $36.70, up $0.21, or 0.58 percent, as of 12:33 PM EST.