GM October Sales Down 45.1%; Moves Up Red Tag Sale; Brings Back GarageMate Program

[doh]

Oct 2008 Oct 2007 % Change
All Vehicles 168,719 307,408 -47.1%
Domestic Car 68,102 103,406 -36.6%
Domestic Truck 94,937 195,354 -53.2%
Import Car 5,364 8,332 -38.0%
Import Truck 316 316 -3.7%
Dom+Imp Cars 73,466 111,738 -36.7%
Dom+Imp Trucks 95,253 195,670 -53.1%
Domestic Vehicles 163,039 298,760 -47.4%
Imported Vehicles 5,680 8,648 -36.8% Yr-to-Date Prev Year % Change
All Vehicles 2,581,385 3,241,501 -20.7%
Domestic Car 1,035,513 1,188,628 -13.2%
Domestic Truck 1,467,046 1,969,393 -25.8%
Import Car 75,676 79,125 -4.7%
Import Truck 3,150 4,355 -28.0%
Dom+Imp Cars 1,111,189 1,267,753 -12.7%
Dom+Imp Trucks 1,470,196 1,973,748 -25.8%
Domestic Vehicles 2,502,559 3,158,021 -21.1%
Imported Vehicles 78,826 83,480 -5.9%

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0081103?rpc=44

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

Originally Posted by squat

They can't survive huge losses like this for long. At least if GM was close to Toyota in the % down then I would say ok everyone's hurting. But GM is more than 2x as much down compared to Toyota, people are leaving the GM brand and buying foreign right now. Something has to be done, I don't know what, but something.

It is all about the product and service.

There are still GM dealers that routinely provide poor service to customers. GM is still producing cars that don't have high quality. People have been running to Toyota and Honda and will continue to do so.

Complete a new car survey from GM and mark "completely dissatisfied" in several catagories. You will never hear from GM or the dealer. And they can't figure out what is wrong......

I don't have an answer.

[Extreme4x4]

GM pulled their sales forward, the last two months.

How anyone would be surprised by this months sales, is surprising in itself.

I guess all of this woe, in the industry, explains why Ford retail marketshare was at its highest percentage in over 2 years.

NOBODY should garner anything out of Octobers sales, and they should not be compared with last years............. due to circumstances. The good news, like someone else pointed out, is that next years monthly sales percentages should look pretty good. LOL

[mpsrent]

Even the usual optimistic spin is missing from this media release. Yes inventory is down but so it should be when your sales are down 45%. Somehow I can't buy that as a bright spot.

I suspect we’ve reached the day of reckoning where even sales programs and discount financing can’t stop the negative impact of the economy.

This is getting very ugly.

[jbernie]

Originally Posted by peterj2706

Sorry but the auto guys are in line too, last I heard was 50 Billion, in addition to the billions that they have been receiving since the mid 1990's (for r&d on all the hybrids they've been rolling out). They just want more, Rick's nest egg isn't quite big enough yet to buy that island.....

FYI, the Feds said on Thurs or Friday "no money for you", may change post election, hard to say.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by johnnyl321

Hello JD. Having read Atlas Shrugged just 2 months ago, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. We step back and watch this financial bloodbath unfold before us and realize how it all could have and definitely should have been avoided. Same way as it was then, it is now. Mr. Wagoner will simply continue to sell off everything that isn't nailed down. After that, it's going to be further reduction of employees and salaries. After that, he's going to "retire" and leave the whole mess to someone else. Of course, by then GM will be in the beginning stages of having to declare bankruptcy...but it wasn't their fault. Customers just refuse to buy our vehicles, what could we do??
John Galt was the man who stopped the motor of the world. And like the last line in the book said...."now get the hell out of my way!"

in Atlas Shrugged you get the drift of what GM has become today, much like Taggart Transcontinental. take it a step further and read The Fountainhead and you'll understand my attitude toward GM.

an excerpt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc7oZ...eature=related

[1487]

Originally Posted by sigma

Disaster across the industry. Obviously though, it's just a GM problem caused by Wagoner and Lutz as Ford and Toyota didn't post massive sales declines.

GM did considerably better than Toyota and Ford last month and did considerably worse this month. No one is doing well and GM didnt offer any radical incentives last month. Without 0% Toyota would have probably been down 35% or so last month. Naturally Hyundai, Nissan and Ford are offering huge incentives as well so its going to be tough for GM to get any attention without its own big incentive program. People asking for the cruze and Volt are missing the point. Its ridiculous to suggest these results are due to GM not offering fuel efficient cars. In case folks missed it gas prices are WAY down and Gm's midsize cars are the most efficient in the class. The Cruze would do nothing in this market.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by Extreme4x4

GM pulled their sales forward, the last two months.

How anyone would be surprised by this months sales, is surprising in itself.

I guess all of this woe, in the industry, explains why Ford retail marketshare was at its highest percentage in over 2 years.

NOBODY should garner anything out of Octobers sales, and they should not be compared with last years............. due to circumstances. The good news, like someone else pointed out, is that next years monthly sales percentages should look pretty good. LOL

when announcing GMS for everyone, LaNaive made a point of stating they were doing it to "build momentum". yeah right there bozo.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by 1487

GM did considerably better than Toyota and Ford last month and did considerably worse this month. No one is doing well and GM didnt offer any radical incentives last month. Without 0% Toyota would have probably been down 35% or so last month. Naturally Hyundai, Nissan and Ford are offering huge incentives as well so its going to be tough for GM to get any attention without its own big incentive program. People asking for the cruze and Volt are missing the point. Its ridiculous to suggest these results are due to GM not offering fuel efficient cars. In case folks missed it gas prices are WAY down and Gm's midsize cars are the most efficient in the class. The Cruze would do nothing in this market.

where were you when Manson was on trial? you can defend anything.

[john1701a]

Originally Posted by TJ95GAGT

It helps having real hybrid MPG gains on a car with a Hybrid badge.

372 Tahoe
230 Escalade
193 Yukon

354 Vue
325 Malibu
22 Aura

When should we be expecting mainstream volume, enough to sustain the business investment in each new technology?

For example/comparison:

11,804 Prius
2,792 Camry
1,022 Highlander
615 RX400h

[Member17739]

Originally Posted by blaksabb

How did you do that?

MSRP was $37300, my price out of door $27100. GM employee pricing(even though I don't have any family working for GM), $7868 in rebates and $1K from my GM card. You do have to be current lessee to qualify for some of the rebates. GMAC wrote off 3 lease payments on my previous car too, which is an additional $1100 rebate for me. If we account for getting out of the 3 lease payments my price was $26000. I was skeptical about the price too, until they had the purchase agreement in front of me.

[mrgto]

I'll buy a G8 GT tomorrow if I get a huge incentive to buy one. I'm eligible for supplier pricing and I have $2K in GM Card points. I own a '03 Cavalier and a '08 Vue Redline.

[MadeInUSA]

I just took a peak at the Toyota website. To be honest, even I would consider an Corrola over a Cobalt. The Cobalt just screams Cheap, especially on the outside. Most cheapness seems to emanate from the roofline, doorframes, its the same issue with the 4 door Astra. The Corolla has more class to it, hence the superb sales results. I am stunned at howmany Cobalts theyre selling despite its cheap looks. It must be a lot of fleet.

GM cant afford to hold off on the Cruze, they need it today!

[mrgto]

Originally Posted by Member17739

It's no wonder I got $12K off of my 09 CTS I got a few days ago.

HOW?!

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted by 1999 White C5 Coupe

It is all about the product and service.

There are still GM dealers that routinely provide poor service to customers. GM is still producing cars that don't have high quality. People have been running to Toyota and Honda and will continue to do so.

Complete a new car survey from GM and mark "completely dissatisfied" in several catagories. You will never hear from GM or the dealer. And they can't figure out what is wrong......

I don't have an answer.

I marked one of the service survey's as dissatisfied in one of the categories once and the dealer did call me. They called me to chew me out for making them look bad and reducing their "goodwill" money from GM. Gee, do you think I'll ever go back there again?

These sales are pretty bad. I think they definitely pulled a few sales ahead the last couple of months and overall aren't really any better off than anyone else, probably worse.