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GM cars selling with high profit margins, GM rentall car sales down -45% in June

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Ed753 
#1 · (Edited)
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
DETROIT -- A steep drop in sales to rental companies in June magnified General Motors' weak car sales, which sank 15 percent through the first half of the year.

Red-hot demand for full-size pickups wasn't enough to give GM a sales gain for June, as overall deliveries slipped 3 percent. GM said today. Sales were hurt by a 45 percent drop in rental deliveries, which GM said it had planned as it seeks to trim rental sales in favor of more-profitable retail and commercial business.

Sales to retail buyers rose 7 percent. That drove GM to an estimated 16.9 percent retail market share, up from 16.3 percent a year earlier and its best June retail share since 2011, GM said.

GM leaned heavily on its biggest money makers, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, which rose a combined 19 percent. Sales of the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon chipped in a combined 9,090 in incremental volume (the midsize pickups weren't on the market a year earlier).

But other bright spots in GM's sales report were tough to find.

The fall in rental volume hurt GM's SUV sales. Combined sales of the Chevy Suburban and Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade dropped nearly 40 percent from June 2014, when GM was selling down outgoing '14 models while ramping up sales of the redesigned '15s.

The decline in fleet sales among the SUV models ranged from 56 percent to 90 percent, GM spokesman Jim Cain said. That is partly because of tight supplies as GM runs its Arlington, Texas, plant flat out to keep up with demand.

"We are prioritizing retail sales," Cain said in an email.

Buick sales sank 18 percent, with the Encore small crossover the only one of the brand's five nameplates to avoid a double-digit percentage sales drop.

Chevy sales fell 3.9 percent on steep drops for several car lines, including the Impala (down 42 percent), Cruze (down 13 percent) and Sonic (off 19 percent).

Cadillac sales were off 3 percent. Deliveries of its best-selling nameplate, the SRX midsize crossover, rose 24 percent. Sales of other vehicles in the lineup declined, including a 29 percent drop for the CTS sedan.

GMC was the company’s only brand to post a sales increase, up 8 percent from a year earlier.

Kurt McNeil, GM's U.S. vice president of sales operations, said in a statement that consumer optimism about employment and the economy is underpinning sales.

"The second half of the year should be strong too," he said. "That’s especially good news for Chevrolet and GMC brands that have very broad truck and crossover portfolios.”
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Gotta say l would rather see General Motors be the world No1 most profitable No3 in sales, rather than be worlds No1 in sales and No3 in profits, l know which would be the more healthy company with a better future for all employees.

More money to spend reinvest in making better products & grow, stronger lower risk companies get cheaper loans/lower interest rates if they need to borrow money so its a win-win.
 
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#3 ·
Gotta say l would rather see General Motors be the world No1 most profitable No3 in sales, rather than be worlds No1 in sales and No3 in profits, l know which would be the more healthy company with a better future for all employees.
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GM will NEVER be the World's Most Profitable Automaker with its current Management.
Two of the most profitable Automakers ALSO HAVE THE MOST VOLUME ........ It's not an either ,or game.
 
#4 · (Edited)
GM will NEVER be the World's Most Profitable Automaker with its current Management.
Two of the most profitable Automakers ALSO HAVE THE MOST VOLUME ........ It's not an either ,or game.
I wonder what they would both look like if they had crap like Hertz/Avis Opel on their books losing $20 billions in a decade whose majority lions share of their cars are sold in the fleet/rental markets in Europe? Who see GM as nothing more than a sugar daddy, that will jump throw the another $5.2 for development rather than make them stand on their own 2 feet and learn to walk, and pay their keep. You're right GM are a soft touch they will never make any money with Opel, or will Opel ever pay their keep.

Porsche and Audi are certainly propping up the profits of one of them, like the Silverado/GMC props up GM globally.

One is world leader at manipulating the Yen, making billions of $$$ on selling a small Hilux pick-up outside of North America by selling in ALL markets, GM can't be arsed.

If GM cars are now selling with higher profit margins, are getting out of rental cars in the US that's gotta be better from now on, profits could well grow in the future as a result of this, who knows they could be kings of both. It's nice to see high profit yield Cadillac doing very well in China, as the rest of GM has tanked the big falls are worse than Russia's decline last month, VW numbers have absolutely plummeted in China last month.
 
#11 ·
Question answered , to me anyway....why was GM reporting the previous 2013 model fleet Impala total sales grouped together with the new 2014 one ?? If rental sales are off so much , then the net sales attributed to the new 2014 one must be low indeed ! Lets get this settled once and for all , GM , give us the sales year to date of the new model of the Impala . I suspect you know the sales very well , so lets be a man about it and put it on the table , please ??
 
#12 ·
I just ran a "rolling 12" from April to April, looks like GM is backing off on the Limited's, monthly is down to about 4,000 which puts the New Impala at ~ 6,500; which give you a mix of about 38% / 62%.

Which, if the 6,500 new Impala's were all going retail, would be phenomenal, but I'd put that number to be at least 20% fleet, meaning "Impala" Sales Average; 5,300 Fleet; 5,200 Retail. (still a lot better than it was)

And yes, the new Impala is huge, roomier than a Fusion, but a lot of the gained space is in the trunk, so there isn't gobs more seating room in the cabin; I'd take my dad's Impala over our Fusion all day long, but then again, his 2LT Impala is over $130 more a month, than my Titanium Fusion, so it's not apples to apples...........
 
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