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

[sigma]

Originally Posted by 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%

Important caveat for those numbers. GM had a pretty good February and March where sales increased for at least one of those months compared to last month. When the bottom started falling out of the housing market in the late spring (when it started becoming very apparent) things started slowing down for GM.

The economy is slowing down and its hurting everyone. But its not as bad as it looks. Thanks Haskell for the data.

[GM-Joe]

the market is up for now, as well as gas, but that's about it

[johnny smallblock]

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.

I looked several times and didn't see one of those sarcastic smiley faces. You must have forgotten to put one in.

The alternative is that you believe a scaled average of the stock price of 30 companies is a great indication of the economic health of an entire nation. As opposed to, you know, how those 30 companies are doing. I'm sure you don't mean that. That would be foolish.

[sigma]

Originally Posted by johnny smallblock

I looked several times and didn't see one of those sarcastic smiley faces. You must have forgotten to put one in.

The alternative is that you believe a scaled average of the stock price of 30 companies is a great indication of the economic health of an entire nation. As opposed to, you know, how those 30 companies are doing. I'm sure you don't mean that. That would be foolish.

No. I think he graduated from the George W. Bush school of economics.

[UPLANDER1]

FYI

The Oshawa car plant (# 1) built a total of 28,877 Impalas last month and 37,229 were sold in North America. In fact #1 produced a total of 30,905 units and sold 39,936 Impalas and Monte Carlos. Plant #2 produced 16,137 Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick LaCrosse models and sold 17,357. A very successful month.

[ejj29]

Originally Posted by Old Dood

True. It is not good all over. The Stock Market is not a good indicator anymore.

We ourselves were having a bad month too. July is always a down month for us but this one is real bad...until...we had a new customer open up and gave us a very needed shot in the Arm...or is it the Ass? Either way...we bent over and took our medicine...hehe!

it's not the stock market , the housing the market or what ever. gm needs to make cars people want. we do have the best suv and trucks on the planet. but at $3.50 a gallon poeple can not afford them. let's make cars that eveyone needs and all the other stuff would go away. we would not have to worry about the japan big 3 or pension or what ever gm excuse is this month is(next month it will the strike with union by the way). just make good cars and we would not say we need to weather the storm!!!!!

[Vmax2008]

Originally Posted by New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66

I don't see the big cause for alarm. Isn't this about the time last year that GM started to rely more on retail sales, and less on fleet. So year-to-year comparisons will be misleading.

from the article:

even as auto makers sell about as many cars to fleet customers, such as rental car firms, as they did a year ago.

This is a retail problem.

[Vmax2008]

Originally Posted by Tequilujan

I'm sure the drastic sales decline is also due to the decrease in fleet sales.

Nope. From the article:

even as auto makers sell about as many cars to fleet customers, such as rental car firms, as they did a year ago.

I honestly don't know how GM can fix this. Maybe apply their overseas strategy to the US market?

[PeterPuck]

Originally Posted by Chaz_23

GM's new cars just aren't getting people to dealerships and they aren't reaching the same volumes as the cars they replace.

That's partly because they keep starting brand new car lines instead of staying with the familiar names. If the Cobalt had been the Cavalier, I think it would have caught on much quicker. People loved their Cavaliers, Electras, LeSabres, Ventures, and RendezVous', and now all that equity has been lost.

[dagr382]

Originally Posted by 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%

To every cloud the silver lining!

[yoblues]

Originally Posted by Old Dood

True. It is not good all over. The Stock Market is not a good indicator anymore.

We ourselves were having a bad month too. July is always a down month for us but this one is real bad...until...we had a new customer open up and gave us a very needed shot in the Arm...or is it the Ass? Either way...we bent over and took our medicine...hehe!

Our stock market used to be an indicator of how our economy and the average American was doing but it's now so tied to the global economy it is no longer an indicator of what is going on in the average American household. That's why Bush and his people are pulling the hair out of thier heads. They don't get why the average person is not jumping up and down because the stock market is roaring? When your in that really rich crowd you really have no idea what the price of milk is. Just ask Daddy Bush.

[racy]

Originally Posted by sigma

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.

Your second statement regarding focus on product, I agree with. Whether or not the the medicine is good enough for their ailment remainds to be seen. At this point, I think amputation might be in order.

The first statement regarding 2005 employee pricing however, I still don't agree with. 2005 was an anomoly year precicely because of employee pricing. The slide didn't start in 2005 - it started in 2003. Marketshare trending downward started decades earlier, but the freefall started just after the turn of the century. The employee pricing scheme was a "hail Mary" publicity stunt used as a diversion tactic. We know that, GM knows that, shareholders know that and the consumers know that.

[stevecmh]

ouch why so bad.. that must hurt

[ChevroletRevived]

NSAP is right about warranties. I think that could help sales a lot, better then rebates. Then there's marketing! GM needs to do better, smarter and more advertising to get the word out about new products and the new GM.

[4gm]

Originally Posted by PeterPuck

That's partly because they keep starting brand new car lines instead of staying with the familiar names. If the Cobalt had been the Cavalier, I think it would have caught on much quicker. People loved their Cavaliers, Electras, LeSabres, Ventures, and RendezVous', and now all that equity has been lost.

I agree. GM's reasoning was stupid. They said people associated the name Cavalier with a cheap car. That's because it was a cheap car! If they built a great new compact car and named it Cavalier new buyers would start to associate the Cavalier name with something positive.

Old names = cars that everbody knew.

New names = cars that nobody knows. How can a car buyer put a G6 or Cobalt on their list of cars to consider if they don't know it exists?

GM didn't learn its lesson with Oldsmobile.