"Our performance is being driven by the outstanding products in our core Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick brands. While still challenging, the market is firming and GM sales are still tracking ahead of what we projected in our reinvention plan," said Mark LaNeve, vice president, U.S. sales. "In July we are projecting our retail market share to exceed our year-ago performance. From great new products, like our Cadillac SRX and CTS Sport Wagon, Chevrolet Camaro and Equinox, to attractive financing and new leasing opportunities and to the Cash-for-Clunkers program that helps reduce the cost to buy a new vehicle - customers have unprecedented opportunities to get into a new GM car or truck. We anticipate an additional sales lift in August if Congress approves more funding for the wildly-popular Cash-For-Clunkers economic recovery program."
Compared with last July, GM overall sales declined 45,741 vehicles driven largely by a planned reduction in fleet sales of 30,423 vehicles (down 47 percent). This drop in fleet sales was a direct result of a strategic decision to tightly control production and inventories that better enable GM dealers to reduce their stock of vehicles to align with market demand. Retail sales of 155,569 vehicles were down 9 percent. GM total truck sales in July were down 18 percent, and car sales of 83,736 were off 21 percent compared with a year ago. However, when compared with a year ago, GM total crossover sales of 39,937 were up 6 percent, driven by the strong performance of Chevrolet Traverse which contributed more than 6,600 sales.
When compared with June's retail performance, there were several product highlights in GM's core brands to note:
- Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt, Impala and Malibu contributed to a Chevrolet car retail increase of 8 percent. Chevrolet truck sales increased 27 percent, led by increases by Silverado, Suburban, Avalanche, Colorado, HHR and Equinox.
- GMC sales increased 8 percent, led by Sierra, Canyon and Yukon XL.
- Cadillac Escalade ESV sales increased 32 percent while Escalade sales increased 3 percent.
"Assuming the Cash-For-Clunkers program stays in place, we look to continue this positive momentum in August," LaNeve said. "We offer twice as many vehicles that qualify for the Cash-For-Clunkers program than any other manufacturer - vehicles such as Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt, Malibu, HHR, Silverado and GMC Sierra. Additionally, we have the best selection of crossovers in the industry with Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and the all-new GMC Terrain, Chevrolet Equinox and Cadillac SRX. Clearly, GM dealers have the cars and trucks that customers demand."
A total of 1,487 GM hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. So far, in 2009, GM has delivered 9,836 hybrid vehicles.
Non-core brand sales declined when compared with June as Pontiac dipped 7 percent; Saturn was down 21 percent, and HUMMER and Saab declined 26 percent.
GM inventories dropped compared with a year ago, and dipped below the half-million mark as planned, to historically low levels. In July, GM dealers had an average 76 day supply of vehicles. At the end of July, about 466,000 vehicles were in stock, down about 281,000 vehicles (or 38 percent) compared with last year, and down approximately 20 percent compared with June. There were about 202,000 cars and 264,000 trucks (including crossovers) in inventory at the end of July.
In July, GM North America produced 102,000 vehicles (39,000 cars and 63,000 trucks). This is down 136,000 vehicles or 57 percent compared with July 2008 when the region produced 238,000 vehicles (116,000 cars and 122,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 11,000 vehicles in July 2009 and 14,000 vehicles in July 2008.)
The region's 2009 third-quarter production forecast is initially set at 535,000 vehicles (210,000 cars and 325,000 trucks), which is down about 42 percent compared with a year ago. GM North America built 915,000 vehicles (436,000 cars and 479,000 trucks) in the third-quarter of 2008. However, Q3 2009 production volumes have substantially increased versus Q1 and Q2 2009 production volumes of 371,000 (up 44 percent) and 395,000 (up 35 percent), respectively.
|
*S/D Curr: 26 *S/D Prev: 26 |
July |
(Calendar Year-to-Date) | |||||
|
2009 |
2008 |
% Chg Volume |
%Chg per S/D |
2009 |
2008 |
%Chg Volume | |
|
Vehicle Total |
189,443 |
235,184 |
-19.4 |
-19.4 |
1,143,799 |
1,840,126 |
-37.8 |
|
Car Total |
83,376 |
105,335 |
-20.8 |
-20.8 |
485,906 |
794,842 |
-38.9 |
|
Light Truck Total |
104,780 |
128,005 |
-18.1 |
-18.1 |
649,768 |
1,027,733 |
-36.8 |
|
Light Vehicle Total |
188,156 |
233,340 |
-19.4 |
-19.4 |
1,135,674 |
1,822,575 |
-37.7 |
|
Truck Total |
106,067 |
129,849 |
-18.3 |
-18.3 |
657,893 |
1,045,284 |
-37.1 |
|
GM Vehicle Deliveries by Marketing Division | |||||||
|
2009 |
2008 |
%Chg Volume |
%Chg per S/D |
2009 |
2008 |
%Chg Volume | |
|
Buick Total |
7,099 |
10,013 |
-29.1 |
-29.1 |
54,322 |
81,176 |
-33.1 |
|
Cadillac Total |
6,171 |
13,022 |
-52.6 |
-52.6 |
54,754 |
101,731 |
-46.2 |
|
Chevrolet Total |
124,948 |
137,823 |
-9.3 |
-9.3 |
721,880 |
1,102,488 |
-34.5 |
|
GMC Total |
21,860 |
27,447 |
-20.4 |
-20.4 |
140,331 |
224,667 |
-37.5 |
|
HUMMER Total |
799 |
1,877 |
-57.4 |
-57.4 |
6,990 |
18,035 |
-61.2 |
|
Pontiac Total |
22,024 |
25,373 |
-13.2 |
-13.2 |
110,818 |
178,127 |
-37.8 |
|
Saab Total |
574 |
2,026 |
-71.7 |
-71.7 |
5,960 |
14,094 |
-57.7 |
|
Saturn Total |
5,968 |
17,603 |
-66.1 |
-66.1 |
48,744 |
119,808 |
-59.3 |
|
GM Vehicle Total |
189,443 |
235,184 |
-19.4 |
-19.4 |
1,143,799 |
1,840,126 |
-37.8 |
