Will Stengel
President & Chief Operating Officer at Genuine Parts
Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone. I also like to thank the global GPC team as well as our supplier partners for their ongoing commitment to serving our customers. We appreciate all the hard work to take care of our customers every day with solutions that help keep the world moving. We do this with focus on our foundational priorities, including talent and culture, sales effectiveness, technology, supply chain, and emerging technology, all complemented by disciplined M&A strategy. We work together as one GPC team to create customer success and shareholder value.
On behalf of the entire GPC team, we would like to congratulate Kevin Herron on his well deserved retirement after an amazing 34-year career at the company. Kevin earned success in all of this roles over the years, including the last five years as President of the US Automotive business. He embodies our GPC values and he has been an inspirational leader and mentor to many around the world. We are deeply grateful for his significant contributions to Genuine Parts Company and wish him the very best in his retirement.
With Kevin's retirement, we also want to congratulate Randy Breaux on his promotion to Group President, GPC North America effective July 1. In the new role, Randy will oversee both the automotive and industrial businesses across North America, while assuming day to day responsibility as President of the US Automotive Group. Randy is a proven leader with a track record of performance, his relevant expertise across distribution industries, familiarity with GPC teammates and stakeholders and success at Motion, make him the ideal candidate for the role. This transition represents the depth of our leadership team and our talent strategies as we continue to leverage the power of One GPC.
Now turning to our two business segments. Total sales for Global Industrial were $2.3 billion, an increase of $125 million or 5.9%. Comparable sales growth increased 6.0% in the second quarter versus last year. The cadence through the quarter was relatively consistent with April being the strongest month followed by mid-single-digit growth in both May and June. The sales growth at Motion was broad based, again in the second quarter, with all product categories and major industries served posting positive gains from the prior year.
During the quarter, we saw strength from industries, such as food products, iron and steel, chemicals, mining, and oil and gas. In addition, Motion continues to make excellent progress with its initiatives including inside and outside sales, pricing, e-commerce, growth focused tech, and supply chain strategies that are all helping to win profitable market share. As an example, Motion has seen a nearly two-fold increase in average daily sales across its e-commerce platform, since 2021, which now represent nearly 30% of total Motion daily sales. In Asia-Pac, our Motion business also delivered strong performance in the second quarter with double-digit sales and profit growth. Customer centric initiatives across talent and culture, inventory availability, and operational excellence are delivering positive results.
Industrial segment profit in the second quarter was $283 million or 12.5% of sales, representing 190 basis point increase from the same period last year. The profit improvement in industrial was driven by excellent operating rigor in both North America and Australasia and a disciplined execution of strategic initiatives. In addition, the Motion North America team continues to realize synergies related to the KDG acquisition. The team is substantially complete with the branch consolidation and merger efforts well ahead of initial plans and we expect to exceed our three-year $50 million synergy commitment by the end of this year, also well-ahead of initial plans.
Turning to Global Automotive. Total sales in the second quarter were $3.7 billion, an increase of $188 million or 5.4% versus the same period in 2022. Similar to the first quarter, total automotive sales benefited from our global diversification, as our businesses outside the US posted mid-single-digit to double-digit growth in local currency. On a comparable basis, Global Automotive sales increased 4.3%, ranging from low-single digit growth in the US to low-double-digit growth in Europe. We saw Global Automotive sales inflation moderate from high-single-digit growth in the first quarter to low-to mid-single-digit growth in the second quarter. We remain encouraged by favorable fundamentals and solid team execution, which we believe will continue to drive profitable growth.
Global Automotive segment profit in the second quarter was $329 million, up 2.1% versus the same period in 2022 and segment operating margin was 9.0% compared to 9.3% in 2022. As expected, Automotive's margin showed an improvement versus the first quarter. The improvement in the second quarter reflects the impact of the cost actions implemented at US automotive and we expect to see an increased benefit of these actions in the second half of the year.
Now let's turn to an overview of our Automotive business performance by geography. In US, Automotive sales grew approximately 2%, with comparable sales growth up 1% for the second quarter. April and May were the stronger months, while trends lagged in June, particularly as we headed into the July 4th holiday weekend. That said, we're encouraged by the early trends thus far in July. Growth was relatively consistent across all regions, with the East and West regions recovering in the second quarter after the slow start to the year, due to the impact from weather. More broadly, we offset sluggish categories in heating, cooling, exhaust and ride control, with strength in various core categories such as filters, batteries and fluids, all of which had growth above the US average. Sales to both commercial and retail customers were positive, with commercial growth outpacing retail. Our commercial business saw sales increases across most customer segments, with fleet and government outperforming again this quarter with high single-digit growth.
In Canada, sales grew approximately 6% in local currency during the second quarter, with comparable sales growth of approximately 6%. Our Canadian performance reflects strong growth in several categories like heating and cooling, paint and body, and tools and equipment, all of which were up double digits. Our automotive and heavy duty businesses performed well, both posting mid-single-digit growth in the second quarter. Our Canadian team executed well in the quarter, especially given the destructive wildfires across the country. And we continue to see attractive opportunities for long term growth due to our leading market position, solid industry fundamentals and share gain initiatives.
In Europe, our Automotive team delivered another exceptional quarter, with total sales growth of approximately 15% in local currency and comparable sales growth of approximately 11%. We continue to drive strong growth in market share gains across our European markets due to the ongoing execution of our key initiatives. For the second quarter, we delivered mid single digit to double digit growth across each of our geographies as our teams continue to win business with key accounts, drive higher share of wallet with existing accounts and expand the NAPA brand in the region. The team is on track to deliver EUR400 million in sales of NAPA branded products in 2023. In addition, we continue to strategically rollout our next drive offering across our European markets that position our team to lead the industry in the growing EV aftermarket. Recent bolt-on acquisitions in Europe were tracking ahead of growth and synergy plans as we leverage our scale, integrate with discipline, and expand margins. For example, comparable growth in our Iberian markets was approximately 25% during the second quarter, significantly ahead of our initial expectations.
In Asia-Pac Automotive business, sales in the second quarter increased approximately 9% in local currency with comparable sales growth of approximately 7%. Both commercial and retail sales performed well with retail outpacing commercial in the second quarter. The team continues to strategically invest in the business to extend its customer value proposition. For example, the recent opening of distribution centers in Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia will drive long-term profitable growth and productivity.
We complement organic growth with strategic acquisitions to capture share in our fragmented markets and create shareholder value. We completed several bolt-on acquisitions, primarily consisting of small automotive store groups that increase local market density in existing geographies. Our acquisition pipeline remains active and we will remain disciplined to pursue transactions that extend our leadership position and create long-term value.
In closing, the global GPC team delivered strong second quarter results and we remain confident in our plans for continued growth through the balance of the year, despite a dynamic environment. Our company is benefiting from our strategic business mix and global geographic diversification. Our teams remain focused to execute our strategic initiatives that deliver customer solutions and create value. We're committed to investments in our people, customer solutions, technology, supply-chain and emerging technology that will continue to enhance our capabilities and leadership positions. Thank you again to the entire GPC team for the hard work and excellent performance.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Bert.
