GM Reports May Sales of 446,787, Up 6.5 Percent

[coolcaddy]

GM Reports May Sales of 446,787, Up 6.5 Percent
Another Industry Sales Record for GM Trucks - Bested Prior SUV Sales Record by 18 Percent

DETROIT – General Motors dealers sold 446,787 new cars and trucks in May, up 6.5 percent compared to May 2003. This was GM’s best sales performance for the calendar year-to-date. GM’s truck sales (276,746) were up 11 percent and car sales (170,041) were flat compared to year-ago levels (-0.4 percent).

“We had our strongest sales results so far this year, with trucks leading the charge,” said John Smith, group vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “Consumers are weathering the passing storm related to the temporary increase in fuel prices and voting their preferences by purchasing record numbers of pickups and SUVs. A strengthening economy combined with record vehicle affordability allowed consumers to purchase vehicles of their choice. Although we have seen little evidence that rising fuel prices are impacting sales mix, GM is well positioned in this area, offering more fuel-efficient cars and trucks across more vehicle segments than any other manufacturer.”

GM Truck Sales

GM’s industry-leading truck sales established another industry record in May with a double-digit increase compared to year-ago levels. Sales were up in virtually every segment of the truck market, including full-size pickups; full-size, mid-size and small utilities; and full-size vans. GM led the industry once again with 90,531 full-size pickup sales, resulting in a 5 percent increase on the strength of combined Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra sales.

Sales of GM’s sport utility vehicles (131,411) jumped 19 percent, establishing another industry benchmark and achieving its best ever May sales performance. This was the third month this year that SUV deliveries surpassed 100,000 units. Full-size utility deliveries were up 8.5 percent (53,544), paced by strong sales of the Chevrolet Suburban (12,479) and the GMC Yukon (8,347).

GM Car Sales

GM’s car sales were flat compared to year-ago levels. Among GM’s launch vehicles, Chevrolet Aveo sales (4,993) were 28 percent above April, achieving its best sales month to date. Chevrolet Malibu sales (12,110) improved 28 percent over April sales.

Divisional Highlights

Chevrolet – Other Chevrolet launch vehicles also had healthy sales in May. Equinox sales continued to build with 8,945 deliveries, a 38 percent increase compared to April. Colorado, Chevrolet’s new mid-size pickup, had strong sales in May (12,349), up 18 percent from last month and its best sales performance since launch. Sales of the Silverado and Avalanche contributed significantly to GM’s overall truck sales with 71,193 deliveries. Corvette also had strong sales with 3,420 deliveries, up 45.5 percent.

Cadillac – Cadillac continued on pace to surpass 200,000 sales in 2004. Total sales in May were up 36 percent (21,110). Truck sales increased 108 percent, led by Escalade sales (3,849), which improved 40 percent, setting a new May record. Escalade ESV sales improved 59 percent (1,708), its best-ever sales, and Escalade EXT deliveries gained 12 percent (960). SRX had 3,253 deliveries, up 47 percent over April and its best sales month since launch. CTS sales continued strong with 5,579 deliveries, up 25 percent from year-ago levels and a new monthly record.

GMC – GMC maintained its record selling pace in May with strong sales of full-size pickups and full-size utilities. Total sales gained 12 percent compared to last May (56,619). Sierra sales were up 13 percent (19,338). Yukon deliveries (8,347) increased 18 percent and established a new monthly record. Yukon XL deliveries (6,708) were up 23 percent, also setting a new record. Canyon, GMC’s new mid-size pickup, had 2,572 deliveries in May, up 14 percent from last month.

HUMMER – HUMMER sales were 1,982. H2 SUV sales were 1,919. HUMMER June sales will include the 2005 H2 SUT, which began shipping to dealers in late May.

Pontiac – Pontiac’s total sales increased 35 percent (50,263), paced by car sales that were up 41 percent (43,266). Grand Prix deliveries were up 45 percent (12,510), and Grand Am sales improved 61 percent (17,546). Vibe sales increased 43 percent with 7,400 deliveries, setting a new monthly record.

Saturn – With 22,570 deliveries in May, Saturn achieved its fourth consecutive month of sales increases this year. Vue had record May sales with 10,770 deliveries, a 78 percent increase over last year, due in part to the Saturn Vue Redline.

Buick - Buick truck sales were up 53 percent over last year. Rendezvous sales improved 23.5 percent with 7,547 deliveries, a new monthly record. Rainier sales (1,806) were up 32 percent over April. LeSabre had 12,355 deliveries, an 11 percent gain over last May.

more, including sales breakdown by model

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

John Smith?

[GM_Guy81]

well, all of that is GOOD news!!!

[awalbert88]

It's good to see overall sales up, but the car numbers are a little disappointing. I think we'd all like to see something other than trucks taking the sales lead for a change. While perhaps not as profitable per unit, cars still make up a very important volume of the vehicles on the road.

[tgagneguam]

Originally posted by Smaart Aas Saabr@Jun 2 2004, 11:05 PM
John Smith?

Yes, he was the head of Cadillac right up til the "renaissance" began (i.e., he laid the foundation), which would also mean he was the previous head of Cadillac right before Mark LaNeve. Now, as mentioned in the article, he is group vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing, which I also believe would place him right beneath Gary Cowger in GM's rather extensive hierarchy.

Those numbers are overall good, and certainly better than what the experts (i.e., industry experts at Merill Lynch, for example) were predicting.

Hmm, the Grand Am's performance this month means it's now selling at a rate of over 200,000/year; methinks the G6 will have a hard time consistently and significantly superceding those numbers, particularly since Orion has a capacity of 200,000 units. Granted, looking at 5-month sales, the picture becomes a little brighter (the GA is then set to sell about 165,000 units for the year, if nothing else were to change). It'll be interesting to see what happens, nonetheless.

Hey, Saab sold one 9-2X thus far!

[paul8488]

Originally posted by tgagneguam@Jun 3 2004, 11:31 AM
Hmm, the Grand Am's performance this month means it's now selling at a rate of over 200,000/year; methinks the G6 will have a hard time consistently and significantly superceding those numbers, particularly since Orion has a capacity of 200,000 units. Granted, looking at 5-month sales, the picture becomes a little brighter (the GA is then set to sell about 165,000 units for the year, if nothing else were to change). It'll be interesting to see what happens, nonetheless.

Hey, Saab sold one 9-2X thus far!

interesting thoughts. looks to me like the G6 should cover all the grand am's bases (once every model and option is in production) and a few new ones (high-performance V6, 6-speed, convertible). do you figure it'll be priced higher than the grand am and therefore appeal to fewer buyers? wouldn't it be wonderful if the base ecotec version slotted in (price-wise) under the current 4-cyl grand am? it'd go a long way to reaching towards that 200,000 car a year mark. though maybe GM feels it's an upmarket car (à la cobalt) and will price it accordingly.

and yeah, i noticed the 9-2x sale! it's too bad the 9-3 isn't selling better. and that the malibu isn't selling at the levels the old one did last year. colorado is selling fewer than the old S-10 too. hopefully they maintain the improving sales pace... but i was hoping to see the new replacements way outselling the outgoing models by now.

[tgagneguam]

Originally posted by paul8488@Jun 3 2004, 12:12 PM
interesting thoughts. looks to me like the G6 should cover all the grand am's bases (once every model and option is in production) and a few new ones (high-performance V6, 6-speed, convertible). do you figure it'll be priced higher than the grand am and therefore appeal to fewer buyers? wouldn't it be wonderful if the base ecotec version slotted in (price-wise) under the current 4-cyl grand am? it'd go a long way to reaching towards that 200,000 car a year mark. though maybe GM feels it's an upmarket car (à la cobalt) and will price it accordingly.

and yeah, i noticed the 9-2x sale! it's too bad the 9-3 isn't selling better. and that the malibu isn't selling at the levels the old one did last year. colorado is selling fewer than the old S-10 too. hopefully they maintain the improving sales pace... but i was hoping to see the new replacements way outselling the outgoing models by now.

"...interesting thoughts. looks to me like the G6 should cover all the grand am's bases (once every model and option is in production) and a few new ones (high-performance V6, 6-speed, convertible)." Right, and I think that that may be how the G6 makes the 200,000 unit/year mark, assuming of course it's priced correctly.

"...and that the malibu isn't selling at the levels the old one did last year." With respect to the 'Bu, this has been debated before on this site, but the points bear repeating. When thinking of the 'Bu sales figures, I assume several things: 2003 'Bu sold to both fleet and retail customers, the 2004 Classic covers fleet 100%, and the 2004 'Bu covers retail sales 100%. GM sales experts can comment on those assumptions, I suppose.

The 2003 Malibu sold 65,259 sales through May 2003, which represents a 156,622 annualized rate. There was [obviously] no Classic for Chevy in 2003.

The 2004 Classic has sold 46,482 units through May (annualized rate: 111,557 units). The 2004 Malibu has sold 50,561 units through May 2004 (annualized rate: 121,346 units).

At the end of this year, Chevy should be ahead by over 76,000 units with respect to "Malibu's." I definitely think that that's an appropriate argument, as reluctant as I was in the past to admit that.

"...hopefully they maintain the improving sales pace..." With respect to vehicles like the Colorado, Canyon, XLR, SRX(!), it seems like that may be the case, as much as that was hard for me to appreciate in the past, too.

[MelvinJ]

Originally posted by tgagneguam@Jun 3 2004, 12:43 PM
"...and that the malibu isn't selling at the levels the old one did last year." With respect to the 'Bu, this has been debated before on this site, but the points bear repeating. When thinking of the 'Bu sales figures, I assume several things: 2003 'Bu sold to both fleet and retail customers, the 2004 Classic covers fleet 100%, and the 2004 'Bu covers retail sales 100%. GM sales experts can comment on those assumptions, I suppose.

The 2003 Malibu sold 65,259 sales through May 2003, which represents a 156,622 annualized rate. There was [obviously] no Classic for Chevy in 2003.

The 2004 Classic has sold 46,482 units through May (annualized rate: 111,557 units). The 2004 Malibu has sold 50,561 units through May 2004 (annualized rate: 121,346 units).

At the end of this year, Chevy should be ahead by over 76,000 units with respect to "Malibu's." I definitely think that that's an appropriate argument, as reluctant as I was in the past to admit that.

Right. AFAIK, the new Malibu isn't being sold to fleets, at least not to any significant degree. All of the Classic sales are fleet, and if the last year's Malibu sales included anywhere near that number of fleet sales, the new Malibu is doing extremely well in comparison. It's rebates have been fairly modest (for a domestic) for most of the time (around $1500 until this announcement yesterday), compared with at least $3000 on the hood of the old Malibu at all times.

I'll take retail sales over fleet any day.

[Ming]

Pontiac – Pontiac’s total sales increased 35 percent (50,263), paced by car sales that were up 41 percent (43,266). Grand Prix deliveries were up 45 percent (12,510), and Grand Am sales improved 61 percent (17,546). Vibe sales increased 43 percent with 7,400 deliveries, setting a new monthly record.

And to think some people actually have suggested nixing the Pontiac brand over Oldsmobile or Chevy cars. Malibu sales....down!

Go Pontiac!

[tgagneguam]

Originally posted by MelvinJ@Jun 3 2004, 01:06 PM
"...I'll take retail sales over fleet any day."

Moi aussi.

[Askani]

Originally posted by Ming@Jun 3 2004, 01:55 PM

And to think some people actually have suggested nixing the Pontiac brand over Oldsmobile or Chevy cars. Malibu sales....down!

Go Pontiac!

Before we start throwing fireworks for the Grand Am. Notice that last year Grand Am and Alero sales were more than this years Grand Am and Alero sales (especially since Alero only sold about 700 units). It seems pretty clear to me that the Grand Am is simply picking up the slack from the Alero. Hopefully the G6 will be able to maintain the pace that both models extablished these last few years.

[paul8488]

Originally posted by Askani@Jun 3 2004, 05:33 PM
It seems pretty clear to me that the Grand Am is simply picking up the slack from the Alero. Hopefully the G6 will be able to maintain the pace that both models extablished these last few years.

you might be right, but that's good news in itself! alero buyers didn't sidle off to the altima and mazda6 then. and yet it kinda makes the case for canning oldsmobile a little stronger! now that i think of it, the G6 is a nice compromise between the late alero and current grand am styling. classy and understated (olds), but at the same time aggressive and athletic (pontiac).