[F14CRAZY]

I've read before that small vehicles, such as the Aveo and Cobalt, don't directly bring in revenue by themselves, but exist so a customer will hopefully "step up" into something that will bring GM money later on, or to satisfy dealers when they don't have a small car to sell . But then again Cobalt sales and transaction prices are way up.

I DO know that traditionally, pickups and SUVs were a good money maker. Even with sales are far down as they are is money still being made? How about like H2's?

How about like the SAABs? Uplanders? ASTRA's? G8's?

 

[MrCritical]

Depends on how much of the profit they give away per vehicle.

Remember, we're talking about GM's profit, not the dealer's.

It's been reported the loss per vehicle on the Solstice/Sky is ten grand. Who gave the okay to go ahead on a vehicle that you lose ten grand on per unit? It would be cheaper to pay customers not to buy it.

I would say GM normally is profitable on full size SUV's and trucks. Corvettes are probably somewhat profitable, and Cadillac cars.

 

[Neanderthal]

Depends on how much of the profit they give away per vehicle.

Remember, we're talking about GM's profit, not the dealer's.

It's been reported the loss per vehicle on the Solstice/Sky is ten grand. Who gave the okay to go ahead on a vehicle that you lose ten grand on per unit? It would be cheaper to pay customers not to buy it.

I would say GM normally is profitable on full size SUV's and trucks. Corvettes are probably somewhat profitable, and Cadillac cars.

:think: 10 grand loss per vehicle? How many do they sell per year?

I'd think they make money on old chassis like Grand Prix, LaCrotch, Impala, etc. Particularly the GP as it's been about the same since about 2004.

I think if I were considering operating with a ten grand loss per vehicle, I'd rather skip development costs and run a contest and give away some $20,000 vehicles like GPs and LaCrotches to traumatized idiots on Dr. Phil or random showroom visitors.

GM execs, they should teach at Harvard where all the other idiots teach.

 

[t-rex]

There are two types of profitable vehicles:

The first are vehicles that customers are willing to pay significantly more to buy than they cost to build. For example, a few years back, Ford was making a minimum $19,000 profit on every Lincoln Navigator sold. Customers seemed not to mind paying $45,000 for a $25,000 vehicle.

The second group are vehicles which have amortized development costs, in other words, the tooling etc have been long paid for. Given the prehistoric age of most of GM's pre-2003/2004 technology, GM should have been raking in shekels hand over fist. The platforms were paid for a decade ago, and most GM powertrains were paid for before Reagan left office...

 

[FISH]

How about like the SAABs? Uplanders? ASTRA's? G8's?

The ol' Aussie $ has fallen 30% in the last 3 months. They must be making a nice profit on every G8 they sell at the moment.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Is my assumption correct too, that a loaded vehicle will give more of a profit because it doesn't cost GM THAT much more to make a loaded model than a base model?

Like an LS Suburban versus a Platinum Escalade?

 

[ifcar]

:think: 10 grand loss per vehicle? How many do they sell per year?

I assume this is factoring in development costs. In other words, the fewer they sell, the more each individual car absorbs in development loss. I don't think it actually costs them $30,000 and up to build a Solstice.

 

[2002 Caddy]

Do the math
GM loses about 1 billion a month and sells about 700,000 vehicles a month...

Lets see negative 1 Billion divided by 700 thousand ...
GM loses about $1400 on every vehicle they sell...

What vehicles does GM make money on? The short answer is none of them.