GM Reports 326,300 June Deliveries down 22 percent

[1931Chevy]

http://www.gm.com/company/investor_i...rod/index.html


GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK and Buick Enclave Achieve Industry Mid-Crossover Segment Leadership with Significant Retail and Total Sales Increases

• Daily Rental Sales Down 22 Percent In June; Down Almost 100,000 in First Half of 2007
• All-New Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Boost Full-Size Pickup Total and Retail Sales Increase in First Half of 2007 Compared With A Year Ago

DETROIT – GM dealers in the United States delivered 326,300 vehicles in June, down 24 percent, compared with year-ago monthly sales. The decline was partly attributed to a planned reduction of an additional 13,487 daily rental sale vehicles in the month. GM now has taken more than 92,000 daily rental vehicles out of the sales totals in 2007.

"Given the planned reduction in daily rental sales, we expected June would be a tough comparison to a year ago. Our retail performance for the month was also below the solid running rate we've experienced for the first half of the year which we attribute to a soft industry and lower incentive spending than our competitors. However, we continue to believe that maintaining a disciplined approach to both incentives and daily rental car sales is key to making our marketing strategy work in the long run," said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North American Sales, Service and Marketing.

"We continue our focus on the retail side of the equation and first-half results were solid," LaNeve added. "We are delighted with the continuing success of new products, especially the GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK and Buick Enclave. As with many of our vehicles, these all-new crossovers offer great fuel economy, terrific performance and outstanding value. For example, a year ago we were selling only about 3,000 mid-utility crossover vehicles. This June we blew the doors off the segment with deliveries in excess of 15,000."

Increased sales of the Saturn AURA, as well as the new mid-size crossovers GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK and Buick Enclave, demonstrate GM's strong positioning in the marketplace for fuel-efficient vehicles. The GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK and Buick Enclave had retail sales of more than 12,000 vehicles, pushing a significant retail increase in GM's mid-crossover segment. GM's total sales of more than 15,000 vehicles in this segment pushed monthly performance up more than 377 percent,
compared with the same month last year.

The all-new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks - fuel efficiency leaders in their class - helped the GM full-size pickup segment post a first half 2007 sales increase, compared with the same period a year ago, in a challenging industry environment. The Silverado and Sierra also offer the best warranty coverage and residual values in segment, a winning combination for these products.

"We're seeing increased residual values for our products as a result of staying aligned and disciplined to our North American turnaround and market growth plans. For customers, this means providing industry-leading products in terms of design, segment fuel economy, warranty coverage and performance," LaNeve added. "This translates to a beneficial cost of ownership experience. With new products such as the Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Malibu coming to dealer showrooms later this year, we expect to build on this customer enthusiasm."

[1931Chevy]

The Silverado took a hit this month
Silverado-C/K Pickup 44,955 58,791 -26.4
Chevrolet Fullsize Pickups 49,282 63,782 -25.6

[igor]

Originally Posted by 1931Chevy

The Silverado took a hit this month
Silverado-C/K Pickup 44,955 58,791 -26.4
Chevrolet Fullsize Pickups 49,282 63,782 -25.6

yeah I noticed that .. F-series outsolgthe Chevy and GMC trucks combined ..

However Enclave outsold MKX...

Igor

[paul8488]

Pretty disappointing month. Some lowlights:

Aura below 5000... and behind the out-of-production Ion!
Equinoz (5000) and Torrent (2000) each down over 50%.
TrailBlazer at 8000, compared to 20,000 last year.
Saab the only car brand up.
Buick Lacrosse and Lucerne down down down.
The SRX, even with the improved interior, is down.
Aveo, despite the new sedan model, is down over 2000 from last year.
G6 just over 10,000.

The positive?

Impala at 35,000 (lets not talk about rental percentages).
Outlook, Enclave, and Acadia.
Aveo neck and neck with the Honda Fit (2 more sold this month!), ahead of Rio, behind Yaris and Versa.
Saab cars up (thoughh on small volume, obviously).

[Chaz_23]

Horrible. Almost everything's down from last month, except all Saabs, Lucerne, DTS, Aveo, Impala, HHR, Vibe, Enclave.
Acadia and Outlook down already, Acadia significantly; Malibu's worst sales in the year.
In 06, June was the best month!

[igor]

Originally Posted by Chaz_23

Horrible. Almost everything's down from last month, except all Saabs, Lucerne, DTS, Aveo, Impala, HHR, Vibe, Enclave.
Acadia and Outlook down already, Acadia significantly; Malibu's worst sales in the year.

With Malibu and the new rollouts keep in mind the following:

Malibu was 50% fleet last month - Gm is very likely reelingthat percentage in significantly in preparation for the 08 Malibu

With the Otlook and Acadia, keep in mind that they both had a lot of orders on file, so aboe and beyond regular demand, they had a backlog of demand .. all new releases have them - the successful ones at least. There is also a chance of inventory restriction as the plat rolled out the Enclave - I would not ring the death bell on them just yet.

Igor

[paul8488]

There should be a new Cobalt and Vibe on that list, along with a new Aveo wagon. I know GM can't redo all their cars at once, but it's inexcusable that those cars have been forgotten. Saturn should have been turfed and Aura, Vue, and Outlook money should have been spent elsewhere.

Without the Aura the Malibu could be out now. The Vue could be the new Equinox, and the Outlook a Chevrolet. In the very least the Buick 'Super' quasi-facelift cash could have given a much-needed tweak to the Cobalt.

It's nice and all to redo a low-volume brand like Saturn, but why not attack the heavy hitters like the Cobalt and Malibu and Grand Prix instead? Each nameplate outsells Saturn combined. GM has proven over and over and over again that they can't manage all their brands... why won't they suck it up and cut a brand or two to get down to a manageable size?

Sure, the new Malibu and CTS are coming, but how many other GM vehicles need attention? The Cobalt/G5, TrailBlazer, Grand Prix, Vibe, Aveo wagon, Colorado/Canyon, Equinox, Torrent, 9-5, 9-7, Lucerne, Lacrosse, STS, and DTS ALL need attention. I don't think any are scheduled for recussitation anytime soon. The G8 will be great, but it's not here yet. There is no new GM minivan in the works. No true midsize SUV. No new Equinox or Torrent that we know of. No plans for a better Buick sedan next year. No clear plan for the STS / DTS. So many holes... there isn't enough new stuff coming in the next year to offset all the tired old metal GM has in the showrooms. I hate being doom and gloom, but I don't see things getting any better until they can eliminate a brand or two.

[Buick61]

Can we call the Aura a flop and just move on?

[nsap]

Originally Posted by Buick61

Can we call the Aura a flop and just move on?

Yup. It's a FLOP. For God's sake, the ION out-sold it! Sadly its not a product-related flop, its a MARKETING flop. I swear, if GM does not get their **** together in terms of new-product marketing, they might as well not bother with class-leading product like the Aura, Outlook, Acadia, and Enclave. Pathetic.

[Slack]

Originally Posted by paul8488

There should be a new Cobalt and Vibe on that list, along with a new Aveo wagon. I know GM can't redo all their cars at once, but it's inexcusable that those cars have been forgotten. Saturn should have been turfed and Aura, Vue, and Outlook money should have been spent elsewhere.

Without the Aura the Malibu could be out now. The Vue could be the new Equinox, and the Outlook a Chevrolet. In the very least the Buick 'Super' quasi-facelift cash could have given a much-needed tweak to the Cobalt.

It's nice and all to redo a low-volume brand like Saturn, but why not attack the heavy hitters like the Cobalt and Malibu and Grand Prix instead? Each nameplate outsells Saturn combined. GM has proven over and over and over again that they can't manage all their brands... why won't they suck it up and cut a brand or two to get down to a manageable size?

Sure, the new Malibu and CTS are coming, but how many other GM vehicles need attention? The Cobalt/G5, TrailBlazer, Grand Prix, Vibe, Aveo wagon, Colorado/Canyon, Equinox, Torrent, 9-5, 9-7, Lucerne, Lacrosse, STS, and DTS ALL need attention. I don't think any are scheduled for recussitation anytime soon. The G8 will be great, but it's not here yet. There is no new GM minivan in the works. No true midsize SUV. No new Equinox or Torrent that we know of. No plans for a better Buick sedan next year. No clear plan for the STS / DTS. So many holes... there isn't enough new stuff coming in the next year to offset all the tired old metal GM has in the showrooms. I hate being doom and gloom, but I don't see things getting any better until they can eliminate a brand or two.

I agree with you. It seems that 3 brands is what most automakers can comfortably sustain. GM has Chevrolet, Ponitac, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Cadillac, Hummer, and Saab. And that's just in the US maket. No one misses Oldsmobile, Plymouth or Eagle. No one is going to miss Buick or Saturn. I know it's more than just flipping a switch and those brands magically disappear. But I think its time GM seriously considered cutting back the fat. People can state all day long that GM needs these brands for whatever reason, but the fact is that GM exist to make money, and they haven't done that in a while. So they have to changes something.

[mystikranger]

Yea, cut GMC and Saturn. We really just need Chevy and Cadillac (maybe Pontiac for the young buyers). We gave them a chance to revitalize Saturn and it's not working out all that well. I'm guessing the whole 2 vs 1 comparison didn't go so well? The Outlook can be cut aswell since Chevy is getting a Lambda.

[throwback]

Originally Posted by Buick61

Can we call the Aura a flop and just move on?

Yes we can. As I have said many times GM is trying to sell 4 mid-size models to the same customer, Aura, Malibu, G6, Lacrosse. Honda and Toyota are selling one each. All of these GM models will not be successful, the market is just not that big.

[AdmiralViscen]

Originally Posted by mystikranger

Yea, cut GMC and Saturn. We really just need Chevy and Cadillac (maybe Pontiac for the young buyers). We gave them a chance to revitalize Saturn and it's not working out all that well. I'm guessing the whole 2 vs 1 comparison didn't go so well? The Outlook can be cut aswell since Chevy is getting a Lambda.

Nonsense.

[Ming]

Originally Posted by nsap

Yup. It's a FLOP. For God's sake, the ION out-sold it! Sadly its not a product-related flop, its a MARKETING flop. I swear, if GM does not get their **** together in terms of new-product marketing, they might as well not bother with class-leading product like the Aura, Outlook, Acadia, and Enclave. Pathetic.

Ditto on Nsap's words.

GM has a serious problem advertising cars like this.

But my physical or e-mailbox always seems filled with some kind of crossover, SUV or pickup mailer. Shows where GM's priorities are. And why even a great product will fail when given poor advertising exposure.

[tgagneguam]

The press release is funny; the spin just doesn't stop. As one example:

Increased sales of the Saturn AURA, as well as the new mid-size crossovers GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK and Buick Enclave, demonstrate GM's strong positioning in the marketplace for fuel-efficient vehicles.

Really? Hmmm, I like these vehicles, and despite their reasonable fuel economy (I think the Lambda's are best in class, in fact), I'm not so sure they're contributing anything to GM's "strong" fuel economy positioning. While I can understand that they don't want to convey a negative image in their press releases, a little candor would be appreciated, too.

And don't fool yourselves, folks: GM would be doing just as poorly with three brands as it is with eight. Hacking divisions isn't the only answer to its dilemma. In fact, having only three divisions, with lots of sales lost to the competition if GMC, Saab, Saturn and others were disintegrated (as Oldsmobile clearly demonstrated: little to no conquest sales), means less revenue stream to address gigantic(!) fixed costs.

Let's think out of the box for once, eh?