GM January '17 sales down 3.8%

[PREMiERdrum]

GM US SALES, JANUARY 2017.
GM MEDIA

DETROIT — General Motors (NYSE: GM) U.S. dealers delivered 195,909 cars, trucks and crossovers in January, down 3.8 percent year over year. Retail sales totaled 155,010 units, down 4.9 percent, and the company set a new January record for average transaction prices.

“In early January, we focused on profitability while key competitors sold down their large stocks of deeply discounted, old-model-year pickups,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “We gained considerable sales momentum as we rebuilt our mid-size pickup, SUV and compact crossover inventories from very low levels following record-setting December sales.”

Inventories of most of these products were in the 30 – 50 days’ supply range at the beginning of January.

 

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Real question: Is Alpha a failure, or a complete failure? No Cadillac sedan cracked 1,000 sales. Ouch.

[630land]

Wasn't the Continental supposed to flop, since it isn't a "21st Century Panther"? And "car guys were supposed to flood Caddy dealers" snapping up the ATS/CT#???

 

The only RWD CT6 is the base 4 cylinder model, how is that selling?

Edited February 1, 2017 by 630land

[rmc523]

Lincoln is only 1,513 units behind Cadillac in January.

[fordmantpw]

Wow, the Silvererra keep dropping. Ram is only 2k units behind Silverado.

[Fgts]

Real question: Is Alpha a failure, or a complete failure? No Cadillac sedan cracked 1,000 sales. Ouch.

So you want Cadillac to continue on old platforms?, note you left the XTS out.

[tbone]

I respect Ram. They are a solid competitor, and I'm not surprised they are catching them.

[rmc523]

So you want Cadillac to continue on old platforms?, note you left the XTS out.

 

Your counterpoint only reinforces his point, though. The only Cadillac sedan that didn't drop was the XTS - the model based upon Chevy vehicles.

 

His point was simply that the billions upon billions they spent on Alpha, and now Omega, isn't looking to be worth it. It certainly can't be breaking even when sales have continued to drop almost every single month since Alpha's debut.

[Anbevo]

Go Ram, and take out Silverado! Of course, the C&I Marketing (spin) machine at GM will really pour on the incentives and the lowbrow gutter tactics now to make sure that doesn't happen ..... Meanwhile, F-Series continues to hum.

[grbeck]

Why is the Malibu down by that much? Granted, mid-size sedans aren't a hot segment, but the current Malibu is hardly old, and it's not a bad car.

[630land]

GM spent 12 B to 'rejuvenate' Cadillac, with 'unique' platforms. How is that working?

The Escalade and XT5, based on Chevy trucks are their only hits.

 

Ford was wise to not bother with GRWD or 'shipping Falcons'.

[tbone]

Why is the Malibu down by that much? Granted, mid-size sedans aren't a hot segment, but the current Malibu is hardly old, and it's not a bad car.

Likely just the market adjustment to the continued rise in crossover sales. Just like the Fusion is a nice car but sales continue to fall.

[fuzzymoomoo]

Likely just the market adjustment to the continued rise in crossover sales. Just like the Fusion is a nice car but sales continue to fall.

Fusion is also much older

[tbone]

I was more referring to it as a competent attractive car that is not a POS.

[grbeck]

The level of decline surprises me, because it's not a bad car. In comparison, the Honda Accord is down by 5.9 percent compared to last January, and it's scheduled to be replaced during the 2018 model year by a new version. And Honda doesn't sell large numbers of Accord to fleet customers.

 

Granted, the Malibu doesn't have the name equity of the Accord, but I think that it should be selling better than this.

[Anthony]

Month to month sales don't spell the fate of a specific car. There will be peaks and valleys. Check long term sales, and see if declines span many months....than you've got issues.

[bzcat]

Why is the Malibu down by that much? Granted, mid-size sedans aren't a hot segment, but the current Malibu is hardly old, and it's not a bad car.

 

GM combines the sales of regular and "Limited" version of the same car so there is no way of knowing if sales really dropped (on the new one) or we are just seeing them starve the rental car chains. The 2016 numbers are probably heavily skewed by the old style Malibu Limited.

Edited February 1, 2017 by bzcat

[akirby]

Wow, the Silvererra keep dropping. Ram is only 2k units behind Silverado.

 

My buddy just told me he was trading in his 16 yr old Sierra on a new truck and I asked him if he was getting a Canyorado or a Silvererra........

 

It never gets old.

[rmc523]

Month to month sales don't spell the fate of a specific car. There will be peaks and valleys. Check long term sales, and see if declines span many months....than you've got issues.

 

Yeah, I put together an excel file with charts following the sales numbers all the way back to 2012, and the sales definitely do spike and dip, but GM's numbers always seem to go through more exaggerated spikes and dips than Ford's numbers.

 

That said, Alpha sales have been dropping since their introduction. I'll post a trend graphic later to show what I'm talking about.

[akirby]

That said, Alpha sales have been dropping

 

Like a rock? :happy feet:

[rmc523]

 

Like a rock? :happy feet:

 

Only if they're based on a Chevy......I guess Camaro is tied in there so it works!

[jpvbs]

The XT5 is selling at a significantly slower rate than the SRX that it replaced.

 

The GM mid size trucks do look like they have eaten into their full size sales. I suppose they are selling enough Canyonados that GM is OK with that though.

[atomcat68]

Real question: Is Alpha a failure, or a complete failure? No Cadillac sedan cracked 1,000 sales. Ouch.

 

One did. Unfortunately it is the XTS, the stale product.

 

oops others pointed this out.

Edited February 2, 2017 by atomcat68

[PREMiERdrum]

 

One did. Unfortunately it is the XTS, the stale product.

 

oops others pointed this out.

 

Jesus take the wheel.. I stopped reading down the list once I hit ELR.

 

No intent there... the XTS is the product that they don't want to be around, though it surely has to have the best ROI and of late has been their strongest seller. Go figure.

[Fgts]

 

Your counterpoint only reinforces his point, though. The only Cadillac sedan that didn't drop was the XTS - the model based upon Chevy vehicles.

So do that mean Cadillac have to sale vehicles only based on Chebbies?. Lexus bestsellers are based on the Camry and Highlander didn't stop them to offer $90k cars, Benz have a full commercial lineup across the world but here it's "Luxury", BMW is mostly 2-4 Series but you have the 7-Series. Putting your best is what luxury is about while having a model(s) carry the the load, not stressing mid-America "luxury" isn't what this game about. The XTS go a total reprieve from Detroit so it looks like it will be Caddy's fleet car.

 

His point was simply that the billions upon billions they spent on Alpha, and now Omega, isn't looking to be worth it. It certainly can't be breaking even when sales have continued to drop almost every single month since Alpha's debut.

You don't know what GM may do with the platform(s). The Camaro just being on the "Cadillac" platform alone indicates GM will share it's platforms across the company to cut cost. In fact which luxury sedan or sports car had a year-to-year gain in the past 5 years?.