GM December Sales Mark Best Retail Month of 2012

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Sales increase 5-percent during the last month of the year.
www.GMInsideNews.com
January 3, 2013
By: Nick Saporito

Today General Motors announced that December marked their best retail sales month of 2012. According to the automaker, sales increased five-percent last month overall, however retail sales were up a fairly impressive 38-percent.

All of GM's brands outside of GMC saw overall increases in retails sales for 2012, however the all four brands had net increases in overall sales for the year.

“All four GM brands increased their sales year over year in December and we were strong across the board in cars, crossovers and pickup trucks,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “We also achieved an important fuel economy milestone. In December, GM became the first U.S. automaker to sell more than 1 million vehicles in a single year that get an EPA-estimated 30 mpg or better on the highway.”

GM also outlined a massive inventory reduction on full-size trucks last month. According to GM their inventory of full-size trucks has been reduced to an 80-day supply versus November's staggering 139 day supply. Overall inventory rests at a 76 day supply.

Click here to view the entire sales chart from December.

Highlights:

• Buick Verano sold 4,820 units in December
• Buick Regal continues to be off by about 50% over last year, selling 1,526 units
• Malibu sales were off 10% last month
• Cadillac sold 2,979 ATS's in December
• GM ended 2012 selling 23,461 Volts in 2012, up from 7,176 in 2011

[mchicha]

That is great;
If you take Equinox, Captiva and Terrain, you have best sales in class probably.

[Vochoa]

A rising tide lifts all boats

[MechEng]

Wow 2633 Volts delivered in the US in December despite only building 2400 in November and 1500 in December (for global use). They are now keeping inventory very tight on the Volt.

[LetsRace]

Nicely done GM! Volt year over year numbers are impressive and I hate to see the regal like that.

[Perian]

Malibu is horrendous, but GM seems to have a plan - only 1450 were built in December, and they have cut the incentive for January.

Looks like they are trying to prevent a fleet queen/fire sale/resale value situation.

[Bigbee60]

Lots of good news in there, but also some real issues to address. CTS is trending downward and the ATS will barely fill the gap. Cadillac needs some last year of the current CTS special editions to keep transaction prices up and the CTS at reasonable volume. Dropping 45K sales of the Colorado/Canyon while they take their time with a new model to come in 2015 model year is madness. I know they wanted out of Shreveport and didn't want to extend the plant another year, but they won't make up those sales with the new Silverado/Sierra as the changeover will keep volume flat at best for 2014. I won't beat the Malibu dead horse again except to say that the 2012 numbers included some real deals on the old car and 2013 will need the same on the new car to keep pace.

On the good side, Sonic at 80K annual units and Spark selling at a 30K unit annual pace really get Chevy into the minds of young buyers. The Cruze also stayed at a high sales level, but I see more and more in daily rental fleets, so I think the fleet mix is up in 2012. The Cruze needs the diesel now, the plug-in soon, and the MCE even sooner. And why not fill out the range with a coupe and wagon in the MCE to spread the love. The Volt numbers are impressive given it's in the generation that early adopters only buy technology (geeks like me). I hope they can get the Voltec powertrain into more vehicles - a CUV would seem to be a lights out choice, but only here on GMI do we seem to think that way. Verano had a strong year, but Buick needs a Regal sized car that sells in the same range as the Enclave and Lacrosse. 50K+ units a year should be doable with something that makes the car unique.

[FenwickHockey65]

Proud to have helped with the sales increase this month and this year.

[CoolNate32]

Practically giving away the brand new Malibu and its still not selling.


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[dslay04]

Wow. 18k Sales for Cadillac. That's what I"m talking about. Just wait until the new CTS & Escalade come on line. I think the ELR is good for 1000 sales per month as well

[dslay04]

Also 50k Silverado sales isn't a bad number either.

[krusshall]

For once, please do not start the same old Regal/Malibu BS/sky is falling BS.

[calgaryhhr]

Nicely done GM! Volt year over year numbers are impressive and I hate to see the regal like that.

I hate to see the Regal selling the way it is as well. GM really needs to figure out what to do with the Regal. I think the Regal has too much competition with the Verano and now the new ATS. I still believe that the Regal should be expanded to include a coupe (GM doesn't have a mid size coupe in it's lineup) and a wagon (another vehicle that GM is missing.) Maybe with a coupe and a wagon GM can attract a few more people to look at the premium mid-size offering.

I can't see the Regal sticking around much longer if it is only doing between 1,500 and 2,000 units per month.

[FenwickHockey65]

I think Regal's problem is it starts too close to LaCrosse. Ideally it would be priced smack-dab between Verano and LaCrosse but...

[AMcA]

3,000 ATSs is a good start. But remember: the 3-series sold 100,000 in 2011. On an old, going out the door model.