GM 1Q Global Sales Flat Thanks to North American Drop
By Michelle Krebs April 23, 2008By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp. says its first-quarter 2008 global sales reached 2.25 million vehicles, a drop of less than one percent despite the drag of lagging North American sales.
GM sales of 947,000 units in North America was a roughly 10 percent drop compared with 2007’s first quarter. GM executive director of global market and industry analysis Mike DiGiovanni said the number “exceeded our internal forecasts,†but also says, counter to some industry analysts, GM does not expect U.S. sales to shore up in the second quarter. DiGiovanni said the company does not anticipate a firming U.S. market until at least the second half of the year.
“The second quarter may be weaker than the first quarter,†DiGiovanni said, suggesting a potentially worse number than the 10 percent drop in GM’s first-quarter North American sales.
Already focused on a possible repeat of last year’s down-to-the-wire race with Toyota Motor Corp. for the top spot in global sales, analysts also questioned GM about Toyota’s first-quarter lead, which the Associated Press reported earlier showed Toyota leading with 2.41 million vehicles sold to GM’s 2.25 million. The race is likely to be close again in 2008, and GM expects global sales to increase by about 3.5 percent, to some 73 million vehicles.
GM also focused on the fact that sales were higher in three of its four major sales regions, North America being the exception. And there were some giant gains, including: a 78 percent jump in Russia, 17 percent in China and 31 percent in Brazil. Excluding North America, GM’s first-quarter sales increased 8 percent.
Overall, 64 percent of GM’s first-quarter sales came outside North America – a new record.
DiGiovanni also said that despite an eroding U.S. market, GM’s share is holding steady at 21 percent, where it has settled for more than two years. But there are trouble points:
• Despite the red-hot commodity of the new Malibu, Chevrolet’s North American sales were down 11 percent.
• The presence of the all-new, well-received CTS entry sedan still could not keep Cadillac from going into the red, with a 1 percent decline versus first-quarter 2007.
• The situation at Saturn (minus 16.2 percent) and Hummer (minus 23.3 percent) does not appear to be getting better, despite, in Saturn’s case, a demonstrably new product range.
• No GM division in North America recorded a sales gain.
DiGiovanni was asked about the affect on North American sales of the ongoing strike with large supplier American Axle Manufacturing and Holdings Inc., but he was noncommittal.
He also said GM will become more aggressive in the future about forecasting fuel prices, saying in an implied reference to fullsize pickups and SUVs that GM no longer believes it can “count on†some of the products it relied on in the past for large sales volumes.
He added, however, that he thinks fuel prices have become “unforecastable†because of the multitude of factors – including speculator activity – that now affect the price of gasoline and diesel fuel in the U.S.
Photos:
1. Despite a winner in the volume-selling ’08 Malibu, sales at GM’s Chevrolet division fell 11 percent (courtesy General Motors Corp.)
2. 2009 Cadillac CTS-V (courtesy General Motors Corp.)
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Sales in North America, the U.S. especially, are down because in the short term, we are trying to cope with erratic fuel prices, surging up and down 20-25 cents per gallon weekly-mostly up. The apparent solution for vehicle buyers is to buy a smaller vehicle, because it is expected to give better milage than a pickup or suv. But we really want the truck.
Yet, how most pickup and suv owners use them, is like a car. Gotta have an Avalanche to bring home the Christmas tree or put the boat in the lake one a month, seven passenger seating so the four of us will be comfortable. But that's how we justify a truck. We know that deep down. What we seem to want are the Chinese market RWD Buicks. Brand and badge them any way you want- even Saab and Hummer. Put a 2.5-3.0 inline six or V8 in them and we'll do just fine. Today, with direct injection, six speed transmissions, turbo- and supercharging, we could have high MPG cars that would fit our needs and our wants- big RWD sedans with enough motor and economy.
This might seem incredible to some of you, but we used to tow boats, carry trunkloads of sod, and lash 12-point bucks to the fender or the trunk lid of our six-cylinder 110hp Powerglide Chevrolet Byscanes. Those were cars, not trucks. Bigger than a DTS and better MPG, I'll bet.
I remember when I was in the sixth grade, our class went on a field trip to the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant (coolest assignment an 11-year old motorhead could ask for). They were building the Galaxie and the F-100 there at that time and our guide told us that Ford Trucks were selling so well that now, every eighth vehicle coming down the line was a pickup. We can come full circle. We can build at a 1:8 truck/car ratio profitably. Again.
Hey, Denali XT Group, you feelin' me?
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