General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported total U.S. sales of 234,351 vehicles in December, up 5% compared with December 2010. Sales for the calendar year were up 14% year-over- year to more than 2.5 million units. Based preliminary results GM gained market share for what GM said was a slow but steady recovery in 2011 for the U.S. auto market.
Retail deliveries were up 2% in December compared with 2010, and accounted for 81% of the GM sales totals. Deliveries to fleets were up 17%.
GM’s total passenger car sales for the month increased 12%. Crossover sales – surprisingly – decreased 14%. Sales of trucks, which include full-size pickups, vans and SUVs increased 13%.
Chevrolet led all automakers passenger car sales in 2011 and posted its largest year-over-year retail sales increase in 35 years, due in large part to sales of the Cruze compact sedan. Chevrolet compact car sales almost doubled compared with 2010 at almost than 232,000 units.
“We were able to grow all four of our brands and reestablish Chevrolet as a force to be reckoned with in the passenger car business. This gives us a very solid foundation to compete in a market that we expect to keep growing,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations.
GM ended December with about 580,000 units in dealer stock, 67 days at current selling rates, including approximately 180,000 full-size pickup trucks, which represent 73 days of inventory, roughly in line with industry averages.
GM expects full-year 2012 light vehicle sales to be in a range of 13.5 million to 14.0 million units. In previous years, GM’s forecasts were based on total vehicle sales, which included medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, or about 300,000 additional units.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
