Silverado remains the best seller at GM, but now the revived company has a credible lineup of fuel efficient cars and crossovers.
General Motors dealers in the United States sold 221,192 vehicles in May, including a 9% increase in retail sales compared to May 2010. A sharp -16% decline in fleet sales decreased results so that total sales declined 1% compared to last year. Nonetheless, fleet sales at GM are 31.7% of sales. GM wants to decrease that to 25% by year end. Sales for GM’s brands were led by relatively fuel-efficient passenger cars and crossover models. Full size pickup sales were down.
“GM will increase both retail and total share,” claimed Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations when final May results are available late today. At this moment it looks like the there will be a large drop in retail sales to about 9 million units on an annual basis (SAAR), 12 million total. It is likely that Japanese automaker share numbers will decline sharply when they are announced.
Combined retail sales for GM vehicles launched since June 2009 when it was in bankruptcy – Chevrolet Equinox, Silverado HD, Cruze, Camaro Convertible and Volt; Buick LaCrosse and Regal; GMC Sierra HD and Terrain; and Cadillac SRX, CTS Wagon and CTS Coupe – increased 65% during May and are up 74% for 2011.
For the month, Chevrolet Cruze had its best retail sales since its launch two years ago as Chevrolet dealers reported 18,996 retail deliveries – although the aging Malibu midsize sedan easily outsold it at 25,600, a 28% year-over-year increase. The GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Equinox, GM’s compact crossovers, saw a combined retail sales increase of 58% during the month. Passenger car and crossover retail sales also rose substantially, up 32% and 17%, respectively.
The weaknesses at GM remain in its sales of traditional trucks, with a 110 days supply of full size pickups; it’s heavy use of incentives, which remain higher than the industry average, but are lower than the levels that drove it into bankruptcy; and gaps in updating the product line because of delayed programs at the end of the last decade when cash was short.
