GM Reports 323,453 December Deliveries; 3.87 Million Vehicles Sold in 2007

[AMERICA 123]

Originally Posted by Sphinx002

Ok, I'm not a drink any darn Kool-aid type but Marks comments are incorrect and border on ludicrous.

"But what about actually making money and gaining market share. Losing money and market share every year is ridiculous. When do we hold management accountable?"

GM didn't lose <RETAIL> market share this year. It stabilized. It also stopped almost all of the bleeding as far as losing money (not counting the accounting correction write off). All in a years time. All this in a declining overall market which I see you failed to mention. Commendable.

Your comment seems about the only thing ridiculous to me. Taking numbers out of context is beyond ignorant, it smells of an agenda.

"I don't want to hear excuses about how it was everyone else fault from housing to the weather that sales were again down for 2007. (Just checked toyota again was ahead for 2007 compared to 2006 in the same housing market with the same weather conditions...)."

Toyota was ahead. Yep, congrats for seeing that. They also have been doing things right for quite some time now, compared to GM only turning things around for a few years. Apples and oranges.

It's funny how some can see the negative in anything. Nothing about retail market share going up. Nothing about resale values going up. Nothing about increased overseas gains. Nothing about better operating profitability. Nothing about overwhelming praise by the media for it's new products. typical negative post.

Superlative Post .

For the record, I'm not a GM fan-boy. I've owned more non GM products than GM products, to include: Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Subaru, Acura, BMW, Toyota and Lexus. I started visiting this site initially because I started to see life in a company I thought long dead, now two years later I see more than just a pulse, but a company on a mission. Go GM.

You just spoke for probably more than a few of us (multi brand owner/enthusiasts) and basically covered it all .

Worth mentioning Yen subsidy / Level playing field ISSUES - and the FACT GM IS getting it done anyway .

[Saturn69]

Originally Posted by coaster.n3rd

Someone want to point out to me why there is all this doom & gloom for Saturn?

Because Saturn "takes money from the spoiled/self-centered/egotisitcal/screw-everyone-else brat that is Chevy." I won't buy anything except a Saturn so I don't get it. (well, I would buy a Camaro if I were rich)

[Sphinx002]

Oh and Mark.....your precious Toyota was down for the month of December too. Does that mean that their executives should be held accountable? Is it doom and gloom for them too?

Toyota –0.7% at 189,844 (12/06: 191,087)
Toyota Motor Co. –1.7% at 224,399 (12/06: 228,322)

Subaru also. (Toyota owns a chunk)

Subaru–9.1% at 18,739 (12/06: 20,613)

Those Nissan people should be flogged too

Nissan –2.2% at 76,900 (12/06: 78,663)

Toyota at it again. Can't even do luxury right!

Lexus –7.2% at 34,555 (12/06: 37,235)

The point is that this is a long term fight for a turn around and that doesn't happen overnight, but you'd have to be blind, or just obtuse, to not acknowledge the incredible stride GM has made in such a short time. Are they there yet? Hell no, still have a ton of crap product floating out there but I see a future devoid of Uplanders which makes me smile.

[Glass Half full]

Pretty impressive. In-fact the retail sales are high for the year, which means every sale GM lost is a intentional one, by cutting down on fleet sales. Good to see the Acadia, enclave, and cts do very well. Silverado and sierra sales are up for December, which is awesome considering the housing market crunch.

I dont understand why everyone thinks of the Aura as a sales dud. Its doing ok when you take the number of dealers into account, for a model virtually unknown to public. I am sure 80% of the non-car enthusiastic group has never heard of it, or cant identify it as a Saturn when they see it. I just wish GM updates the G6 soon enough and launches a three prong attack on camcords.

Does anyone know what the global standings are? I heard GM had a strong 4th quarter in Europe and Asia. Was it enough to remain on the lead?

[Glass Half full]

Oh Boy, Looks like the GMI server is about to go toast any moment

[Chaz_23]

GM screwed up when it pushed GM upscale, didn't fix the Ion soon enough, didn't replace the L series soon enough. It changed its mission entirely from the different car company for the "odd" as you say to just another GM brand vying for the Euro-fans market. The dealer experience also changes a from no-pressure to desperate we'll do anything for a deal.

Originally Posted by osv_alero

The whole lack on interest in Saturn with an all new product line seems a little odd. They should jumping up in sales faster than GM can keep up with. Is it advertising? Is it the customer base? Is it new products that are good but not great?

I'm going with the customer base. The original base was a little odd. They don't have cars for the odd anymore. They have great cars for the mainstream. Will the mainstream go to Saturn is the big question.

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by Chaz_23

GM screwed up when it pushed GM upscale, didn't fix the Ion soon enough, didn't replace the L series soon enough. It changed its mission entirely from the different car company for the "odd" as you say to just another GM brand vying for the Euro-fans market. The dealer experience also changes a from no-pressure to desperate we'll do anything for a deal.

GM sold more Saturns in 2007 than in 2006. How is that "screwing up"?

And given that the Astra is about to show up, the 2008 numbers can only go up.

[suckstobeyou]

something funny just struck me, the SRX is up for the month and the year! MCE did it good

[mpsrent]

6% isn't all that bad in a declining market and with a sincere effort to reduce rental sales. As retail sales are flat, I think GM can be fairly satisfied with 2007 as a whole.

Three areas of concern (not to suggest that there aren't more) that I noticed are: 1) GM has played the rental fleet story as much as they can - there really isn't room for more reductions 2) Saturn - while there was a small increase, car sales are down and the increase can be attributed to one model, the Outlook. A Chevy Lambda can cut into the Outlook. 3) 2008 will be a very tough market that could negatively impact current rebuilding plans.

[91Saturn]

Originally Posted by HoosierRon

GM sold more Saturns in 2007 than in 2006. How is that "screwing up"?

And given that the Astra is about to show up, the 2008 numbers can only go up.

Well, I hope so, too, but keep in mind that Saturn sold 48,000 Ions in '07. Ion sales will be close to zero in '08. Will they sell enough Astras to make up the difference? I've heard that the sales goal for the Astra is 50,000 for '08. If they meet that goal, and everything else is flat, then Saturn sales as a whole will essentially be flat. Now, perhaps the rest of the range will pick up the slack, but the Aura and Sky aren't trending in the right direction. The Vue and Outlook are doing okay, but aren't exactly blowing anyone away either.

I know that some of you folks think that a few of us are very negative about Saturn. The truth is that we're just disappointed. The brand has its best, broadest range of vehicles ever, and they're selling just 240,000 vehicles. There's no way to spin that as a triumph. I mean, come on, they sold 286,000 vehicles with just the freakin' S-Series in 1994.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by HoosierRon

GM sold more Saturns in 2007 than in 2006. How is that "screwing up"?

And given that the Astra is about to show up, the 2008 numbers can only go up.

They only sold more because they had more to sell. The Sky, Aura, and Outlook were new models that replaced nothing. For model year 2006, there were three Saturn models. For model year 2007, there were six. Logically, their sales should have gone up 100% instead of 6.1%.

And the near-term future looks worse. The Relay was canceled (although it always sold very poorly). The Astra will sell half as well as the Ion, best case scenerio-and GM will lose money on every Astra they sell. Other than the Astra, they have no new product for several years. So Aura's pathetic sub-60k yearly sales is probably it's peak-next year will be worse, probably much worse. Same for the Outlook's sub-35k yearly sales. Their 2008 calendar year sales will easily be less than their 2006 sales (probably much less), even though they have more models.

[63GrandSport001]

I really think that GM did really good this year considering everything that has been going on.

Lets look at everything as a whole, the market is down overall with barely over 16 million units sold industry wide a 9 year low.

Now lets look at fleet/retail sales situation at GM, retail market share has stabilized and fleet sales are down which are IMHO a good thing. Next year the economy is going to get worse so if GM can stay level next year with this year then that shows that they are very strong because not even Toyota will be able to match its past performance next year.

[gardnet1]

Even with the wacked out exchange rate on the Euro, GM/Saturn will make far more profit per vehicle with the Astra than they could ever with the overly cheap Ion which was conceived with a rebate hanging out of the ignition.

Plus the engineering is already paid for which just leaves marketing, tech data, training, etc.

[coaster.n3rd]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

And the near-term future looks worse. The Relay was canceled (although it always sold very poorly). The Astra will sell half as well as the Ion, best case scenerio-and GM will lose money on every Astra they sell. Other than the Astra, they have no new product for several years. So Aura's pathetic sub-60k yearly sales is probably it's peak-next year will be worse, probably much worse. Same for the Outlook's sub-35k yearly sales. Their 2008 calendar year sales will easily be less than their 2006 sales (probably much less), even though they have more models.

Outlook sells better than the Relay. Astra is imported over at between 40,000-50,000 units this year. Aura gets an interior refresh next year and upgraded to Epsilon II in 2010 and the Corsa and Zafira will follow shortly after that. Saturn sales will be higher in 2008 considering we did not have a small car to sell the last quarter of 07.

[BerettaZ]

The Saturn turn around is going to take time; the common, non-car person still thinks of Saturn as cheap, small cars - it will take awhile to change this perception, and with a small dealer network, the challenge is even greater. The perception issue is the SAME THING that hurt the turn around of Oldsmobile from old persons car to young, hip, euro intender. Funny how several years after the demise of Olds I know several late 20s/early 30s people that drive Auroras, and myself, an Intrigue. GM needs to stick with it this time and see it through.