So Far, So Bad: GM sales down 40% in July to date

[ghughes]

Awaiting Mr. La Neve's positive, upbeat and rosy tapdancing assessment.

[guitarlix]

Originally Posted by racy

This is not a cause to bring out the party hats by any means.

Toyota being down 1% compared to last year(2006) which was up 17% over the year prior(2005).

-- IS NOT THE SAME AS --

GM being down 40% compared to last year(2006), which was also down about 25% compared to the year prior(2005).

For all practical purposes, Toyota is still waaaaaay up and GM is still going waaaaaay down. On the sales charts, GM's arrow continues to point steeply downward, while Toyota's points straight up. Nothing is going to change the minds, hearts and pocketbook voting of American buyers about GM's products until GM shows something dramatic and revolutionary - the Volt cannot get here soon enough. New trucks are not going to save GM. The Camaro is not going to save GM. Saturn is not going to save GM. Cadillac is not going to save GM. Incremental change at GM is clearly not working. GM's mini-surge strategy is a failure. What they need to implement is an all out new plan of attack, beginning with a change of leadership. GM needs to fight this war like their life depends on it - because their life does depend on it. The Volt is the only thing on GM's docket worthy of attention.


*** EDIT *** Apologies in advance for the rant nature. I can't help it when month after month, year after year, I read the same story. It literally makes me sick to see GM continue to wither on the vine and waste away. I guess there's an upside to all of this, in that it certainly makes current UAW negotiations more favorable for GM and the rest of the domestics.

No need to apologize. You're correct.

[Bravada]

Awaiting Mr. La Neve's positive, upbeat and rosy tapdancing assessment.

He will launch a new campaign saying:

"Hey you, potential customer! You are buying Toyota - you are stoopid!"

And people will run to GM because they don't want to be stupid - right?

[Chaz_23]

GM has been aiming for lower volumes for a while now. Everyone here has been cheering that. And it's only going to get worse with GP->G8, death of midsize SUVs, less rentals, etc. GM's new cars just aren't getting people to dealerships and they aren't reaching the same volumes as the cars they replace. Probably the same will happen with Ion->Astra, old Malibu-> new Malibu. GM's hybrids are irrelevant and they might as well do away with them and the waste of money those represent.
And it's not going to get any better in years to come. Young people are as enthralled by Toyoduh as their dumb parents.
I for one am worried. It would seem to me that there is a number at which GM can't sustain itself and it's reaching that too fast. Well, as long as they keep selling cars overseas we might be ok.

[Lewie]

Originally Posted by joemac

Ecomony in general? Seems the issue is much more widespread than a few automotive products here or there affecting sales.

The economy is in fantastic shape. The Dow just went from 13k to 14k in like 3 months. Things could not be better. The housing market is not exactly prospering which is keeping people from using equity to buy cars.

[DMC]

Originally Posted by Lewie

The economy is in fantastic shape. The Dow just went from 13k to 14k in like 3 months. Things could not be better. The housing market is not exactly prospering which is keeping people from using equity to buy cars.

The stock market is not the only indicator for the economy. The gains in the Dow are hiding a lot of underlying weakness.

[nsap]

Time to lengthen the bumper-to-bumper warranties and promote the HELL out of it.

[Sundown]

Hmmm...if I was GM I would probably welcome the decline as it is could prove to be most fortuitous for their upcoming bargaining with the UAW. If I were GM I would also be stockpiling vehicles in case of a possible strike (233k trucks for example).

Why would I increase my incentives/warranty to boost sales now? I think I would rather the union see things much worse.

[racy]

Originally Posted by nsap

Time to lengthen the bumper-to-bumper warranties and promote the HELL out of it.

I don't know. At this rate, GM could offer a 10/100K warranty and cut prices 10% across the board, and people would still buy Toyotas, Hondas and Hyundais.

GM's advertising/marketing budget seems to have been money flushed down the tube. Wasn't their marketing/ad budget just at a half billion dollars?

[E. Haskell]

'06 January-June = 2,066,957 sales
'07 January-June = 1,922,762 sales

GM stated that they have reduced fleet sales by about 100,000 units this year.

If you discount those fleet sales, GM is actually down about 2.1% for the year. Also, incentives are lower (more profitable sales), resale values are better and worldwide sales are up.

Here is how some of the other guys are doing:

Hyundai - up 1%
Honda - up 2%
Ford - down 13% (but with lower fleet and incentives like GM)
Nissan - up 2.6%
VW - down 1%
Chrysler - down 1%

[nsap]

Originally Posted by racy

I don't know. At this rate, GM could offer a 10/100K warranty and cut prices 10% across the board, and people would still buy Toyotas, Hondas and Hyundais.

I think the warranty would convert a lot of people. You always see people commenting about how they won't buy GM until they have a bigger warranty.

[geozinger]

Originally Posted by Sundown

Hmmm...if I was GM I would probably welcome the decline as it is could prove to be most fortuitous for their upcoming bargaining with the UAW. If I were GM I would also be stockpiling vehicles in case of a possible strike (233k trucks for example).

Why would I increase my incentives/warranty to boost sales now? I think I would rather the union see things much worse.

^^^ bolded part^^^

We have a winner! I think a lot of the bad news we're seeing is a combination of the upcoming union negotiations, reduced fleet sales and general weakness in the economy. Dow Jones be damned! We would be better measuring the US economy's strength with tea leaves and chicken bones...

Sundown makes a lot of sense in this post. If I were GM, I wouldn't want too rosy a picture right now either. Remember what happened to DCX last time around? They got stuck with a different deal than GM and Ford because they 'were doing better' to paraphrase union officials at the time.

[NOVASSCR]

Originally Posted by Lewie

The economy is in fantastic shape. The Dow just went from 13k to 14k in like 3 months. Things could not be better. The housing market is not exactly prospering which is keeping people from using equity to buy cars.

So what does the DOW have to do with the overall economy. Have you bought groceries, gas, paid utilities, or taxes lately ?

[sigma]

Originally Posted by racy

This is not a cause to bring out the party hats by any means.

Toyota being down 1% compared to last year(2006) which was up 17% over the year prior(2005).

-- IS NOT THE SAME AS --

GM being down 40% compared to last year(2006), which was also down about 25% compared to the year prior(2005).

For all practical purposes, Toyota is still waaaaaay up and GM is still going waaaaaay down. On the sales charts, GM's arrow continues to point steeply downward, while Toyota's points straight up. Nothing is going to change the minds, hearts and pocketbook voting of American buyers about GM's products until GM shows something dramatic and revolutionary - the Volt cannot get here soon enough. New trucks are not going to save GM. The Camaro is not going to save GM. Saturn is not going to save GM. Cadillac is not going to save GM. Incremental change at GM is clearly not working. GM's mini-surge strategy is a failure. What they need to implement is an all out new plan of attack, beginning with a change of leadership. GM needs to fight this war like their life depends on it - because their life does depend on it. The Volt is the only thing on GM's docket worthy of attention.


*** EDIT *** Apologies in advance for the rant nature. I can't help it when month after month, year after year, I read the same story. It literally makes me sick to see GM continue to wither on the vine and waste away. I guess there's an upside to all of this, in that it certainly makes current UAW negotiations more favorable for GM and the rest of the domestics.

Um... where to begin. July of 2005 was Employee Pricing. GM had close to 35% marketshare for that month. Comparing July of 2005 to July of 2007 is bogus. Also sales are down ebcause GM continues to reduce rental and fleet sales. Anyone here want to argue that's not good?

GM is taking its medicine right now. The company will be stronger for this in the long run. Focusing on month to month sales goals instead of product is how GM got in this much trouble in the first place.

[sigma]

Originally Posted by Lewie

The economy is in fantastic shape. The Dow just went from 13k to 14k in like 3 months. Things could not be better. The housing market is not exactly prospering which is keeping people from using equity to buy cars.

The stock market it not an acurate indicator of economic strength. Look at the NASDAQ... It went from 7000 in 2000 and is currently trading around 2500. If you used that market index, this country would be in a depression right now.