GM March Retail - Down 17% - Fleet Down 5%

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GM Reports 365,375 Deliveries in March



DETROIT - General Motors dealers in the United States sold 365,375 new cars and trucks in March, down 14 percent compared to year-ago levels. Total car sales were down 22 percent, and truck sales were down 9 percent.

GM's retail sales in March were down 17 percent compared to strong year-ago deliveries. Fleet sales were down 5%.

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http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayS...74&docid=24824

[MNdudeswitz]

ouch!

[alerogl2]

this does hurt, but I am glad GM is cutting discounts and selling more premium models. Lets give their new plan a few months b4 becoming too negative.

[andretti]

This is very bad news. Retail is down 17% that is what they are trying to increase with the value pricing. Fleet is only down 5% so the mix is getting worse (fleet vs retail) not better.

[Motownr]

Anyone notice how Chrysler Group is pouring on the incentives?

Talk about going for the throat!!

What a turnaround from when GM tried to do it to them.

[vdoh182]

The trucks being down 9 really isnt that bad b/c the new ones are selling stong w/o incentives and the incentives are lower on the old ones, so they are making profit, also i think a lot of people are holding back from buying new pickups choosing to wait for the new ones. Also, the new crossover should boost ruck sales as well.
Car sales down 22% is horrible however, im not sure GM has any kind of sedan strategy, Pontiac is a disaster, the malibu was delayed, the G6 interior is awash in black plastic, the cobalt was oudated in a year with no releif in sight, saturn has the Aura coming but will still have the POS ion for a while.

[Buickman]

Well it's official March 2006 - GM declines in North America by 14% vs. last year. Market share 23% Of course we hear from management the usual "spin". Meanwhile Toyota enjoys their best month on record. Need I say more? What's next Rick...you're running out of things to sell you RAT!

I would have some respect for Red Ink Rick if he had said it like it is rather than avoiding making the necessary corrections in marketing to drive sales. Instead he played the small investors into thinking he sincerely wanted to improve. These people are not that sequentially stupid as to lose so much share so consistently. They know exactly what they are doing and that is why the Board supports such dismal failure. Imagine Al Davis of the Raiders on GM's Board. Do you think he would allow a mantra of "Just lose baby"?

Buickman
Founder
www.GeneralWatch.com

[mkaresh]

GM's incentives are way down. There are no rebates on many models, a huge change from the past. They did cust prices a bit, but in most cases the cut in invoice was only about $500. Dealer margins got squeezed. End result: they're probably making more money (or at least losing less) on fewer sales. If not, expect incentives to return.

[importedtuna]

Its not like GM is intentionally pursuing fleet sales at a low profit here. It just means their retail sales dropped further, not that they are relying on fleet. Either way its pretty bad news though.

[GMFreak8]

It's not really bad news. They're relying less on low profit fleet sales, aren't pouring on incentives, and the newly redesigned models are doing good. When you compare year ago levels, especially when we hit the summer months this year it's going to look like GM is doing terrible, but it's only because of the huge contrast between the incentives last year and the incentives this year. I'd rather have GM pulling away from the incentives, relying less on fleet sales, and riding this out than have them continually go after record sales and more marketshare while sacrificing profits all along.

[Aromanances]

Look at Buick. The Discontinued stuff off 98%. Well yeh! Why is it counted like that???? Does this make sales look worse than they are? I don't get why things are done this way. Is it because the Lacrosse and Lucerne have different names even though they replace the cars that are no longer made and shown as sales disasters in the numbers? How do this down 98% affect the bottom line?

[88montess]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

GM's incentives are way down. There are no rebates on many models, a huge change from the past. They did cust prices a bit, but in most cases the cut in invoice was only about $500. Dealer margins got squeezed. End result: they're probably making more money (or at least losing less) on fewer sales. If not, expect incentives to return.

I agree the question is not are they selling more then last year but are they making more money Porshe can make millions on a few thousand cars, if GM steamlines right I don't care if were the #1 seller but that we continue to make better quality with each new car and that the company makes money.

As a salesman incentive spending has been down all year and for the year only a slight drop in sales for the quater.

[KMecham]

Quote from above article:

"Consumers and dealers continue to respond very favorably to the new Chevrolet Impala. Retail sales in March were 16 percent greater than February and the sales mix has been very favorable, with strong demand for the SS version. Additionally, dealer orders for Impala have exceeded expectations. HHR also posted solid sales results in March, with retail sales up 4 percent compared to February, despite lean dealer inventories."

I am seeing more new Impalas in this area (southern Idaho). We have had ours for 3 weeks now and I am still impressed each time I drive it. Many may be quick to bash the use of the 'old' W-body platform, but after 3 weeks of ownership I can say this is the best large car from GM, or anyone for that matter I have driven. (Much more pleasant than my friends 05 Camry, I think it will hold its own against the 07 too.)

The milage is great with the 3500 VVT, who needs more than 4 gears? On a 120 mile stretch of highway at 65 MPH I got 33.2 MPG (yes I actually filled up before and after just to check this). Freeway driving at 75 to 80 MPH I still get 29.6 MPG. Oh, and just like MING, I like the no cost E85 option.

After reading the above quote it seems I am not the only one that likes this car. GM will easily sell the 250000 they plan to make this year. For March they sold 24,071 units. They could sell about 290,000 units this year at that rate. Hopefully this will prevent the need for incentives in the future.

[Buickman]

Marketing Madness
Jim Dollinger
Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Did you hear about the customer who went into a Mid-Michigan GM dealership? He qualified for the following:

AARP
GM discount
Recent College Grad
Active Military
Olds Owner
Resident of North Central Region (East of the Lake)
GM Cardholder
Father who was UAW Retiree
Owned Import
Took Overnight Test Drive
Incremental Allowance
Bonus Cash
Matching Downpayment
Value Certificate
Utility Voucher

Needless to say, the car was FREE. He passed, saying he'd prefer to pay for a Toyota. The sales manager came in for the close and offered Two On Us. Didn't work, the car was already FREE. As a last ditch effort, the manager offered to remove the emblems. Customer left saying he'd get back in touch.

Who is John Galt?


Buickman
Founder
www.GeneralWatch.com

[OhioGM]

Originally Posted by Buickman

Marketing Madness
Jim Dollinger
Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Did you hear about the customer who went into a Mid-Michigan GM dealership? He qualified for the following:

AARP
GM discount
Recent College Grad
Active Military
Olds Owner
Resident of North Central Region (East of the Lake)
GM Cardholder
Father who was UAW Retiree
Owned Import
Took Overnight Test Drive
Incremental Allowance
Bonus Cash
Matching Downpayment
Value Certificate
Utility Voucher

Needless to say, the car was FREE. He passed, saying he'd prefer to pay for a Toyota. The sales manager came in for the close and offered Two On Us. Didn't work, the car was already FREE. As a last ditch effort, the manager offered to remove the emblems. Customer left saying he'd get back in touch.

Who is John Galt?


Buickman
Founder
www.GeneralWatch.com

You forgot one. He was also a Consumer Reports Editor-He doesn't like American Cars to begin with, so is it worth reporting?