GM April 2008 Sales: Down 16.3%

[Chaz_23]

CTS down from March. That's not good.
Impala, Aura, G6, and all Lambdas down as well.
HHR 4 months of continuous decline.

[j_granlund]

Nice to see that the Solstice is up.

[Bravada]

How the HHR is not posting a double-digit increase is beyond me. It should be one of GM's volume leaders. Is it even advertised???

I hate this car/truck breakdown (thank you Congress) - Buick "trucks"? It's Buick "Enclave"!

[USA Patriot]

Report says retail car sales up 6%
Does anyone know how much their retail trucks went down/up?

Did GM's retail market share remain steady with last April?

[Buickman]

wondering...what if they had listened & implemented Return to Greatness? could the results have been worse? let's keep culling our dealers, aggravating our employees, alienating our retirees, starving our salespeople, and confusing our customers. then we can continue hearing prognostications of a "turnaround".

[drew770]

One problem is GM is just synonymous with trucks, suvs and non fuel efficient cars. Every tv commerical is a truck and never the Aveo or HHR. That's why sales is soft for both vehicles.

[377Z]

Originally Posted by montrealvue

Hopefully GM will be able to push up the Volt and two-mode releases. GM needs to cut alot of trucks from the line up and consider a much broader range of more fuel efficent vehicles if they want to weather this one. Offering crossovers that get 20 mpg combined and less won't cut it.

Who's the dude in the avatar? I remember him from the Caravan/Voyager ads when they were first launched.

I guess back then making a van handle like a car was magical.

[johnny smallblock]

Escalade -23.8
Escalade ESV -21.3
Escalade EXT -38.6

Colorado -22.1
Suburban -29.4
Tahoe -27.1
Trailblazer -36.7
Avalanche -34.0
Silverado -20.8

Canyon -26.6
Envoy -32.0
Sierra -11.2
Yukon -31.3
Yukon XL -33.0

H2 -26.8
H3 -30.1

White-Hot Hell!!! Those numbers are through the floor. and I don't think it's going to stop. I'm glad GM at least got one good year of full-size truck sales in before this collapse. Wouldn't want to be Ford and Dodge right now.

Originally Posted by Ach

Can GM and Ford survive without selling full-sized pickups in large numbers? I wonder where the bottom is for those sales numbers.

Trucks as mainstream vehicles are done. They're back to being a niche market for contractors, farmers and people from Texas. By next year, GM will be probably sell 500K full size pick-ups.



Gas will never be $2 a gallon again. Gas will never be $3 a gallon again. After this year, there's a good chance it will never be less then $4 again. Think about that.

[boblutzfan]

Originally Posted by johnny smallblock

White-Hot Hell!!! Those numbers are through the floor. and I don't think it's going to stop. I'm glad GM at least got one good year of full-size truck sales in before this collapse. Wouldn't want to be Ford and Dodge right now.

Trucks as mainstream vehicles are done. They're back to being a niche market for contractors, farmers and people from Texas. By next year, GM will be probably sell 500K full size pick-ups.

Gas will never be $2 a gallon again. Gas will never be $3 a gallon again. After this year, there's a good chance it will never be less then $4 again. Think about that.

I wouldn't want to be Dodge...but Ford has Mazda which posted a surprising gain in sales last month. In addition - the redesigned Taurus and coming Flex will be heavy hitters for Ford.

Saddly - the newly redesigned Dodge/Chrysler minivans are duds. Sales are down nearly 30% over last year. The market here in the US is now searching for high quality fuel efficient SEDANS!!! Premium CUVs will remain the SUV alternative - but it looks like families are returning to sedans in droves. Thank God GM has the new Malibu, Aura and G6...Imagine where we would be if GM hadn't started the EPI and EPII revolution when it did. Now an updated G6 can not get here fast enough.

[BrickTamland]

I am thinking CUVs will be a fad more temporary than regular SUVs. The heyday of the SUV began in 1991 (Explorer) and pretty much jumped the shark by 2004. The CUV market started in 2001 (Highlander) and I predict it will start to suffer big declines by 2010, if not sooner. The CUVs just do not return very good mileage. They are marginally lighter than their traditional SUV brethren. Compact SUVs/CUVs and hybrid models will probably remain popular, but I think the likes of 15/22 mpg Edges and others will suffer soon.

[SierraGS]

Anyone notice the G8 numbers?

G8 - 2,126

Granted not big numbers, but consider the inventory is still being rolled out and this is an all new car for Pontiac and one few outside enthusiast circles know about - and gas prices are over $3 a gallon which do not help all new high performance sedans.

GM may have a hit on its hands, we should know by Labor Day when the inventory/awareness is better.

By the way the G8 outsold the G5 (2,030)and Cobalt sales were up as were smaller cars in general, so it's looking promising for the G8.

[jbernie]

Maybe... just maybe... the US is starting to make that shift to sedans from trucks/suvs.

Not that this in itself will be a great boon for GM, but maybe we can get the pickup truck back to its primary role as opposed to being a shopping cart and school bus.

Cadillac will definately be in need of some cars given the way their truck sales are going. The BLS will certainly need to be a strong 3 series competitor whenever it decided to show up.

If we consider what a lot of people pay for their trucks/suvs, there are some very nice sedans out there (the market as a whole) and the general cost of running them is better given the better fuel economy.

[Steel4ring]

It is time to discontinue the Trailblazer and Envoy....that midsize BOF market seems to be hit the hardest.

While still down, at least a market exist for the 900's........the midsizers have just about dried up in sales, especially with the Lambdas out.

[Bravada]

It is time to discontinue the Trailblazer and Envoy....that midsize BOF market seems to be hit the hardest.

Not really - the thing that they are selling AT ALL with the Lambdas around, the market as it is and their state of despair, proves GM needs to go the Panther route and milk every last drop of them.

Anyone notice the G8 numbers?

G8 - 2,126

Granted not big numbers, but consider the inventory is still being rolled out and this is an all new car for Pontiac and one few outside enthusiast circles know about - and gas prices are over $3 a gallon which do not help all new high performance sedans.

GM may have a hit on its hands, we should know by Labor Day when the inventory/awareness is better.

By the way the G8 outsold the G5 (2,030)and Cobalt sales were up as were smaller cars in general, so it's looking promising for the G8.

Just think how it could've been if GM made them in the US and didn't have to bother with production constraints and marginal profits on each unit sold. Pontiac would have been GM's growth brand (which they probably are anyway, given the G6's still strong sales, the Vibe's and G8's success). Pontiac is GM's most underestimated brand.

[AmericanRevolution]

Originally Posted by Ambalanche

I just can't wait to see what the rise in Cobalt sales is going to be like for May since they are dumping $3000.00 on the hood! Shouldn't this sell all by itself since they can now say it gets 36MPG?? I mean come on! It's not that old or bad of a car! GAS IS $3.50 PER GALLON NOW!! This car should be able to sell without rebates, or at least without 3K on the hood!

End of rant, back to your regularly scheduled thread.

$3.50? Dang you're lucky man!