General Motors pared back its forecast for US vehicle sales on Wednesday and predicted a difficult second quarter for its business as soaring oil prices depress demand for cars and trucks in its biggest market.

The US’s largest carmaker also said that the strike at its supplier, American Axle, which began in February, hit earnings by $800m in the first quarter to the end of March and led to the loss of 100,000 production units in that period.

The company said it was downgrading its forecast for total US vehicle sales from the low 16m range to the “mid-to-high” 15m unit range. Ray Young, GM’s chief financial officer, said: “The second quarter is likely to be a tough quarter for the entire industry”.

The company made the forecast as it reported a first-quarter net loss of $3.3 bn, or $5.74 per share, compared with a net loss of $42m a year ago. Earnings were hit hard by charges relating to GMAC, its financing arm, and supplier group Delphi, which this month failed to emerge from bankruptcy, as well as the American Axle strike.

GM took a $1.45bn partial impairment of its equity investment in GMAC, which has been hurt by losses at its housing finance unit Residential Capital, and a $731m charge for costs relating to Delphi’s bankruptcy and restructuring efforts.

GM saw profits rise in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, and now sells nearly two-thirds of its vehicles outside the US. Its quarterly revenue was down slightly at $42.7bn, nearly all because of a $3.6bn drop in its North America figure, where production was hit by a loss of production due to the strike at American Axle.

While disrupting production, the strike has allowed GM to sell down its inventories – down by 200,000 year-on-year – and resist the temptation to counteract flagging sales by boosting incentives on its vehicles.

“We never wanted to have a strike, but this is helping us to adapt to a changing market,” said Mr Young.

Soaring petrol prices have accelerated the shift among American drivers out of large vehicles, which are among GM’s best-selling and most profitable products.

This week GM said it was eliminating shifts at four North American plants making full-size pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

GM on Wednesday said it was looking at increasing production capacity for its best-selling vehicles, such as its Chevrolet Malibu mid-size car.

The company is also ramping up capacity in emerging market countries, including Mexico, India and Russia, where it is building new assembly plants.

Fritz Henderson, GM’s chief operating officer, said: “Outside North America, the strategy is to take our foot and fix it on the accelerator and jam it to the floor”.

Mr Young said that it was too early to judge whether higher sales on overseas markets would offset lower sales in the US for the full year.