GM Europe sales up 2.8 pct to 1.16 mln vehicles; GM Daewoo-sourced Chevy up 24%

[Hurricane]

GM Europe sales up 2.8 pct to 1.16 mln vehicles

Wed Jul 9, 2008 9:32am EDT
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors Europe (GME) posted a 2.8 percent gain in sales to a record 1.16 million vehicles in the first half due entirely to growth at its low-cost Chevrolet brand, the European division of GM said on Wednesday.

Its market share remained stable at 9.5 percent.

Demand for German brand Opel and its UK sister Vauxhall declined 1.7 percent to 848,308 vehicles.

Strong results in Central and Eastern Europe, where sales rose 17 percent and 81 percent, respectively, nearly offset a "considerable" market weakening in Spain and Italy, GME explained.

Chevy, which offers in Europe almost entirely rebadged Daewoos from South Korea, saw its sales jump 24 percent to 268,212 units in the first half helped by a surge in deliveries of its new Aveo compact.

Its struggling Swedish brand Saab suffered a 13 percent drop in sales to 39,418 vehicles in January through June.

Despite generally softer demand for gas-guzzlers following a sharp spike in fuel prices, Hummer sales actually rose 29 percent to 1,325 units in the first half.

More here: http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0080709?rpc=44

[jkennedy293]

At least its not all doom and gloom for the General.

[rueben44]

Here is a clue for GM Hummer could be a positive rather than a detriment if they do one thing!

Make them all hybrids. Advertise them driving out of a flooded regions and show Prius's floating in water and then at the end of the ad display the fuel numbers. People with families will want a vehicle that can get them out of flooded or fire region in emergencies. Like New Orleans and the Midwest but they just need better fuel economy numbers. I really think Hummer could do it if they would advertise them as a survival of the fittest type brand with good economy.

[paul8488]

The Matiz is amongst the cheapest new cars in France (don't know about the rest of Europe). The fuel economy isn't class leading but it isn't as unreasonable for a tiny car as people have come to expect with the Aveo in the US. Actually, the Euro Aveo gets better mileage (albeit with smaller engines) than the US one, so it doesn't compare as badly on paper.

[paul8488]

Oh, and I acually like the new 3-door Aveo hatch! I want one!

[AMERICA 123]

Actually there is much more good news to this than this particular article seems to realize or cover.

One of many 'good news things' missing is these numbers are of course in comparison to 2007 which was an excellent record setting year for GME (Europe) - a performance in a tough, extremely competitive market where Toyota Motor Europe basically imploded and Lexus just disappeared - trends which are continuing for 2008 as we speak.

Here is just a bit of that necessary 2007 background from a GM press release:

2007 Sales Highlights

GM sets all-time record with sales of nearly 2.2 million units in Europe

General Motors (GM) set an all-time record in Europe in 2007, selling 2,182,000 cars and light commercial vehicles, up 179,000 units or 8.9 percent from 2006.

The resultant market share of 9.5 percent constituted a growth of 0.3 percentage point.

It was the highest market share for the group since 1999.

GM achieved the highest volume gain in the industry in Europe, outpacing all competitors with 179,000 units above 2006.

The U.K., Russia, Italy, Ukraine and Greece were the main contributors to GM's growth in 2007.

GM sales in Russia were up 95.2 percent in 2007, by far outpacing industry growth in the country (of 33.5 percent).

GM's sales volume there reached 258,835 units and market share was up 3.0 points to 9.6 percent.

2007 GM European Sales Highlights Market Units

U.K...........426,826
Germany...330,590
Italy..........236,871
Spain........170,545
Russia.......258,835
Others......757,835

Total......2,181,502

As this month rolls along, it will become very apparent why there is a 'silence' concerning all of Toyota's 'bad news' and a virtual propaganda blitz against GM that ignores all the good news outside NA.

Many people are going to look more than foolish by 7AUGUST2008.

[AMERICA 123]

Here, from of all places, is some of what Jeff Green at Bloomberg wrote.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...X9g&refer=home

GM's Europe 1st-Half Sales Set Record, Led by Russia (Update2)

By Jeff Green

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. sold a record number of vehicles in Europe in this year's first half on a 60 percent increase in Russia, helping offset its U.S. decline.

- GM earlier this month reported record first-half sales in China and a 16 percent drop in the U.S.

- The Detroit-based company said last week that its worldwide sales were little changed in the second quarter, after reporting in April that its first-quarter total fell less than 1 percent. Toyota beat GM < worldwide> by 159,000 vehicles in the first three months.

( This ^^ means USA volume losses are being largely made up outside NA.)

``GM is largely successful everywhere else in the world, they are just facing ugly, ugly results in the U.S.,'' said Pete Hastings, a fixed-income analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. in Memphis, Tennessee. ``We're so U.S.-centric we sometimes forget they are successful nearly everywhere else.''

Europe, China

The first-half gains in Europe were aided by a 24 percent increase for Chevrolet on demand for the Aveo small car and Captiva SUV. Sales in Russia climbed to 181,138 vehicles.

Sales in China for the period rose 13 percent to 590,126, GM said on July 7.

Michael DiGiovanni, the company's chief sales analyst, said on July 1 that preliminary results indicate GM set records for the second quarter in all regions outside of the U.S., as well as in the countries of Brazil and India.

Starts to give you an idea of how off the mark so many people are about how GM is really doing.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by AMERICA 123

Actually there is much more good news to this than this particular article seems to realize or cover.

One of many 'good news things' missing is these numbers are of course in comparison to 2007 which was an excellent record setting year for GME (Europe) - a performance in a tough, extremely competitive market where Toyota Motor Europe basically imploded and Lexus just disappeared - trends which are continuing for 2008 as we speak.

Here is just a bit of that necessary 2007 background from a GM press release:

As this month rolls along, it will become very apparent why there is a 'silence' concerning all of Toyota's 'bad news' and a virtual propaganda blitz against GM that ignores all the good news outside NA.

Many people are going to look more than foolish by 7AUGUST2008.

What happens on that date?

[Kennyboy]

At least General Motors is making some leadway in other regions besides America.

[AMERICA 123]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

What happens on that date?

Hello Hurricane, - first, thanks for starting this thread - and also for the Title add - are you aware this is a record volume for GME ?

I ask, because I'd have that in the Title somehow.

Second, to answer your question........... most 'directly'....... there will be much more 'data' out by then concerning many things that matter.

There is more to it than that, but that will suffice for now.

That date is meant to be an 'in betweener'.

The whole month of August ( as well as July) is shaping up to be significant - in more ways than one.

[nimrod]

GMs main brand in europe, Opel, is stuggling, which is not good news.

[nadepalma]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

Chevy, which offers in Europe almost entirely rebadged Daewoos from South Korea, saw its sales jump 24 percent to 268,212 units in the first half helped by a surge in deliveries of its new Aveo compact.

This line is getting tiresome. The further Daewoo is incorporated into GM and new products are based on all-new platforms (the Cruze will be the first, followed by the Gamma platform that will underpin the next Aveo/Gentra, and Epsilon II replaceing the Epica/Tosca), the less I hope we hear this line. At some point, Daewoo needs to just be considered an extension of GM like Holden, Opel, and Vauxhall are.

I remember reading an article on GMI awhile ago that said GM was considering either selling the Chevy brand in South Korea or replacing the Daewoo brand with the Chevrolet brand in that market. Does anyone know if anything further came of that?

[nadepalma]

Here is a bit more on this subject, but also says that Chevy is the number 1 selling brand in Russia as well!

Take a look: AutoObserver

[Rick_VT]

It really sux how much crap some people put on Daweoo on here, if it wasnt for them GM would be in a worse of spot, yes there quality isnt as good as others, but there slowly being integrated in the GM world and given the amount of numbers there selling they will help GM massively spread the costs of the small platforms they are developing

[Ming]

Originally Posted by Rick_VT

It really sux how much crap some people put on Daweoo on here, if it wasnt for them GM would be in a worse of spot, yes there quality isnt as good as others, but there slowly being integrated in the GM world and given the amount of numbers there selling they will help GM massively spread the costs of the small platforms they are developing

This is just anecdotal, but the GM Daewoo built car I drive has had zero problems in over a year and 12,000+ miles since I bought it, which is better than any of the other GM cars I've bought...