GM Sees Cash for Clunker Momentum Continuing; May Increase Production
By Michelle Krebs August 11, 2009General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said Tuesday morning that he sees "positive effect" of the Cash for Clunkers program continuing through August and September and, as a result, GM may ramp up production.
Henderson said at a press conference and Web cast that the automaker's new executive committee meeting Tuesday will decide if production should be increased as the government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) has depleted inventories of many of GM's models.
Edmunds.com forecasts Cash for Clunkers is running out of steam, though the slight overall improvement in the economy may boost vehicle sales in the second half.
LEAVE A COMMENT
Increasing production for a one-off demand spike is the worst thing GM can do. Better to allocate vehicles already on the ground more effectively, by shifting vehicles among the territories.
I can't believe that all GM dealerships are out of cars.
I would guess that the sales rate in the coming weeks (as C4C hysteria dies down) will be a bit higher than it was prior to the C4C spike, so some kind of rampup in production makes sense. However, lets hope that they don't ramp up on the expectation that the on-going SAAR will be as high was it was a week or so ago. That would be madness. They (along with others) have finally got their overall inventories down, don't bulk them up again for sales that aren't likely to happen. As billddrummer mentioned, move the inventory that is there around first before starting to backfill.
ADD A COMMENT