October 2008 Sales: General Motors Corp.

[DBeaSSt]

For Release: November 3, 2008

GM Reports 170,585 Deliveries in October

* U.S. auto industry at lowest monthly SAAR in more than 25 years

DETROIT – General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 170,585 vehicles in October, down 45 percent compared with a year ago. GM truck sales of 97,119 were down 51 percent and car sales of 73,466 were off 34 percent. The steep decline in vehicle sales was largely due to a significant drop in the market’s retail demand as uncertainty over the deepening credit crisis impacted consumer confidence.

“The market has been shrinking for three years, but in October we saw a dramatic decline for the industry and GM,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “We are obviously disappointed in our results which reflect a difficult comparison with a strong year-ago October performance. More importantly, it also reflects an unprecedented credit crunch that is dramatically impacting the entire U.S. economy – from the housing market to big and small companies to banks to family run businesses. The credit freeze has also had a very negative impact on consumers’ confidence and their purchase behavior across America.”

“We outpaced the competition with our sales results in August and September, and fell back with the industry in October. If you adjust for population growth, this is probably the worst industry sales month in the post-WWII era,” LaNeve added. “We believe there is considerable pent-up demand from the last three years, but until the credit markets open up and consumer confidence improves, the entire U.S. economy, and any industry like autos that relies on financing, will suffer.

“We’ll do our part to continue fighting against these significant economic headwinds by bringing consumers the highest quality, most fuel efficient and affordable cars, trucks and crossovers that we can,” he said.

To that end, LaNeve announced that GM’s no-haggle Red Tag Event starts nationwide tomorrow, Nov. 4. The Red Tag Event will provide great deals on most new vehicles in GM’s portfolio by offering a special Red Tag vehicle price and customer cash back. In addition, GM’s recently announced “Financing That Fits” program enables consumers to find financing at affordable rates from GMAC and thousands of other banks, credit unions and financing institutions.

Despite the poor results in October, there were a number of bright spots for individual GM car and truck lines, including:

* Chevrolet Malibu retail sales were up 129 percent. For the month, Malibu total sales reached nearly 11,000 vehicles. For the year, Malibu retail sales have totaled nearly 98,000 cars, up 134 percent from year-ago figures.

* The all-new Pontiac Vibe recorded a 6 percent total sales increase in October. Almost 42,000 Vibes have been sold this year, up 36 percent from the prior year.

* Saab retail sales were up 7.4 percent compared with a year ago, driven by the strong retail performance of the 9-3, which was up more than 16 percent.

* GM sold 44,500 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Avalanche fullsize pickups in October, further solidifying its segment leadership.

* GM hybrids continue to build sales momentum and the company has broken through the 10-thousand vehicle sales mark. A total of 1,496 hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. Hybrid sales included: 372 hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe, 193 GMC Yukon and 230 Cadillac Escalade 2-mode SUVs delivered. There were 325 Chevrolet Malibu, 22 Saturn Aura and 354 Vue hybrids sold in October. GM has sold 10,549 hybrids so far in 2008.

Chevrolet sales in Europe also contributed to the brand’s solid third-quarter results, growing 2.7 percent. Chevrolet is seeing strong growth in emerging markets including Eastern Europe. Chevrolet was up 6.2 percent for the first nine months of the year in Russia. In addition, Opel sales in Russia increased by 39 percent, while Saab increased 90.4 percent.

GM continues to proactively manage inventories to align supplies with market demand. In October, only about 799,000 vehicles were in stock, down about 146,000 vehicles (or about 15 percent) compared with last year. There were about 336,000 cars and 463,000 trucks (including crossovers) in inventory at the end of October.

“These are extraordinary times for the U.S. economy, for consumers and for an auto industry that is running at deep recessionary levels relative to 1999-2006,” LaNeve said. “We are offering the highest quality and best value vehicles to customers in our history – along with great incentives. But we can’t do it alone as GM or the auto industry. It will take a coordinated national effort to turn this economy around.”

Certified Used Vehicles

October 2008 sales for all certified GM brands, including GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, were 33,735 vehicles, down 15 percent from October 2007. Year-to-date sales are 408,451 vehicles, down 7 percent from the same period last year.

GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry’s top-selling certified brand, posted October sales of 29,167 vehicles, down 16 percent from October 2007. Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 783 vehicles, down 11 percent. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 3,051 vehicles, down 6 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 506 vehicles, down 2 percent, and HUMMER Certified Pre- Owned Vehicles sold 228 vehicles, up 75 percent.

“October sales were disappointing for certified GM programs, as consumer uncertainty over the growing credit crisis had a negative impact on consumer confidence and retail demand for both new and used vehicles,” said LaNeve. “Going forward, we will continue offering consumers the tremendous peace of mind and value that comes with a factory-backed, fully inspected and reconditioned, latemodel used vehicle from the GM brands they know and trust.”

GM North America Reports October, 2008 Production; Fourth Quarter Forecast Remains at 875,000 Vehicles

In October, GM North America produced 318,000 vehicles (151,000 cars and 167,000 trucks). This is down 105,000 vehicles or 25 percent compared with October 2007 when the region produced 423,000 vehicles (152,000 cars and 271,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 11,000 vehicles in October 2008 and 18,000 vehicles in October 2007.)

The GM North America fourth-quarter production forecast remains at 875,000 vehicles (407,000 cars and 468,000 trucks) which is down about 16 percent compared with a year ago. GM North America built 1.042 million vehicles (358,000 cars and 684,000 trucks) in the fourth-quarter of 2007.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

Note: In this press release and related comments by General Motors management, we use words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, representing our current judgment about possible future events. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Among other items, such factors might include: market acceptance of our products; shortages of and price increases for fuel; significant changes in the competitive environment and the effect of competition on our markets, including on our pricing policies; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and financing sources and an appropriate level of debt; and changes in general economic conditions. GM’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q provide information about these factors, which may be revised or supplemented in future reports to the SEC on Form 10-Q or 8-K.

Original Release:

http://www.gm.com/corporate/investor_information/sales_prod/

Deliveries:

http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/...ctober_2008.pdf

[Drew Dowdell]

oh man!

[BuddyP]

not good at all.

Also heard Chrystler was down 38%, Ford down 40% and Toyota down 23%

[Robert Hall]

not good at all.

Also heard Chrysler was down 38%, Ford down 40% and Toyota down 23%

Honda down 25.2% also. Saw Ford at 30.2% and Nissan at 33.5% (freep)

Edited November 3, 2008 by moltar

[longtooth]

Adjusted annual sales rates not seen since the 60's.

Millions of potential buyers reining-in their spending.

Could that have anything to do with our free-market economy that has all but collapsed?

I wonder.

[Robert Hall]

Adjusted annual sales rates not seen since the 60's.

Millions of potential buyers reining-in their spending.

Could that have anything to do with our free-market economy that has all but collapsed?

I wonder.

Cause and effect...

[longtooth]

Cause and effect...

The not-so-sought-after side-effect of gutting our Nation's own economy and throwing-in with Globo-Corp.

And I see that the Imports/Transplants sales have slid too, though not as greatly in terms of the percentage value of General Motors. It is going to be a long Winter.

[Robert Hall]

I wonder what kind of numbers the Germans and Koreans will post...

[longtooth]

Indeed. I am curious too as to their #s

Malibu's up.

A very important clue.

Edited November 3, 2008 by longtooth

[smk4565]

Too many brands and too many models to sustain in this economic environment. Incentives can't save GM either, the only way to make it is to have by far the best product in a class to get top market share and sell cars near sticker price (BMW 3-series and Honda Civic are examples). But since GM has delayed most new models and cut R&D they'll just have even more dated models that will need even bigger incentives to sell. They basically need to close Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and GMC and pump every dollar into Chevy, Cadillac (keep Buick and Saturn as is for now) and hope that Chevy and Cadillac can turn profit. Otherwise they are done and bankrupt by 2010.

Toyota sales may have been down 23%, but they will still make profit this year. GM has to find a way to make profit with sub 20% market share in a shrinking market.

[A Horse With No Name]

G6, CTS and Malibu are all up...but only 330 Solstice Sold? and Astra is under 10K units for the year?

Trucks off 25%?

Wow...Ouch...

Chris

[Lamar]

Too many brands and too many models to sustain in this economic environment. Incentives can't save GM either, the only way to make it is to have by far the best product in a class to get top market share and sell cars near sticker price (BMW 3-series and Honda Civic are examples). But since GM has delayed most new models and cut R&D they'll just have even more dated models that will need even bigger incentives to sell. They basically need to close Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and GMC and pump every dollar into Chevy, Cadillac (keep Buick and Saturn as is for now) and hope that Chevy and Cadillac can turn profit. Otherwise they are done and bankrupt by 2010.

Toyota sales may have been down 23%, but they will still make profit this year. GM has to find a way to make profit with sub 20% market share in a shrinking market.

It's not like once July hit, GM was able to pare down to three brands immediately. It even takes the process of months or even years to phase out a brand, especially one that has been established for so long.

[siegen]

Speechless. 47% decline. It almost leaves me sick to my stomach.

[Robert Hall]

Speechless. 47% decline. It almost leaves me sick to my stomach.

I wonder if the Nov #s will be worse..

[regfootball]

G6, CTS and Malibu are all up...but only 330 Solstice Sold? and Astra is under 10K units for the year?

Trucks off 25%?

Wow...Ouch...

Chris

yet, on Sept 30, the price they would sell me an Astra for was 2500 less than one week later, at the end of the model year.

Saab sales were up, due to aggressive october incentives. Based upon my experience, even though the market was down, the fact that the incentives were taken away, is GM's own fault. They want to sell cars, they need to adjust the pricing to move the metal. Raising them 15% at the end of the model year is not a logical way to do that.

[chevelle454]

Horrible, but like Reg siad there weren't good incentives. I liked the employee pricing, it made people think they are getting good deal and it reduced the annoying price haggling

[gm4life]

I am a little upset but the whole industry took an ass whomping. Honestly with the red-tag sale they should be looking better.

[A Horse With No Name]

GM has good product, and you are right, GM4Life, they should be looking better.

Like Sigen said, this makes me sick to my stomach.

Chris

[Oracle of Delphi]

8 brands, way to many! Let's buy Chrysler and add 3 more! Soon we'll have 11.

[A Horse With No Name]

There feally is no limit to human stupidity, PCS.

Chris

[smk4565]

It's not like once July hit, GM was able to pare down to three brands immediately. It even takes the process of months or even years to phase out a brand, especially one that has been established for so long.

I said over 2 years ago they need to get rid of some brands and strengthen Chevy to take on Honda/Toyota and strengthen Cadillac to take on the Germans and Lexus. It was clear a couple years ago GM didn't have the money to keep 8 brands afloat and that the products they came out with in 04-06 like the G6, STS, LaCrosse, Lucerne, 04 Malibu, etc were an improvement over late 90s to early 2000s GM cars, but they weren't good enough to beat the imports.

Toyota was down 23%, Honda down 25%, Ford down 30%, so everyone got hit, but GM blows them away, so they can't just blame it on bad economy. BMW down 5% and VW down about 7% didn't do so bad. If GM had the product they need, they might have only been down 20%.

The questions GM has to ask itself are:

Do we have anything better than a Civic?

Do we have a car better than the Accord/Camry that can sell 400k units a year?

Do we have a car better than a 3-series?

Do we have a flagship like an S-class?

Do we have a minivan?

Do we have a 40+ or 50 mpg car?

The answer to all of those is no. What they have is product overlap of midsize to full size SUVs and bland sedans that appeal to Avis and Enterprise.

Edited November 4, 2008 by smk4565

[gm4life]

Honestly GM had a great September and with no special pricing in October it is no wonder.

[Lamar]

I said over 2 years ago they need to get rid of some brands and strengthen Chevy to take on Honda/Toyota and strengthen Cadillac to take on the Germans and Lexus. It was clear a couple years ago GM didn't have the money to keep 8 brands afloat and that the products they came out with in 04-06 like the G6, STS, LaCrosse, Lucerne, 04 Malibu, etc were an improvement over late 90s to early 2000s GM cars, but they weren't good enough to beat the imports.

I'll grant you that, and I'll raise you a guess that GM probably thought they had more time than they had.

Toyota was down 23%, Honda down 25%, Ford down 30%, so everyone got hit, but GM blows them away, so they can't just blame it on bad economy. BMW down 5% and VW down about 7% didn't do so bad. If GM had the product they need, they might have only been down 20%.

Who's to say? BMW and VW aren't nearly as big as GM (here, at least), which is why their drops don't look as bad. Either way, the company most analogous to GM, sizewise, is Toyota, and if America's sweetheart fell 23%, who's to say GM would have beaten them? Even with cars they have now that are better than those offered by Toyota, the mind of the consumer still hasn't changed.

The questions GM has to ask itself are:

Do we have anything better than a Civic?

Do we have a car better than the Accord/Camry that can sell 400k units a year?

Do we have a car better than a 3-series?

Do we have a flagship like an S-class?

Do we have a minivan?

Do we have a 40+ or 50 mpg car?

The answer to all of those is no. What they have is product overlap of midsize to full size SUVs and bland sedans that appeal to Avis and Enterprise.

Financial difficulties suck, so yeah, that's a problem... but not one that we didn't know about. We all know that many of those have been in the pipeline at one time or another but have been delayed or tabled (Cruze, next Cadillac flagship).

BTW, the Chrysler midsizers are the new fleet queens, as the Malibu has stopped being fleeted out as much as before (same can't be said for the G6, however).

BTW again, no one has a 50 mpg car.

BTW a third time, Jetta > Civic IMO.

[regfootball]

Horrible, but like Reg siad there weren't good incentives. I liked the employee pricing, it made people think they are getting good deal and it reduced the annoying price haggling

ford effed with their incentives too. an edge i was keeping an eye on, was about 3 grand lower in september than october.

its their own fault really.

[smk4565]

Financial difficulties suck, so yeah, that's a problem... but not one that we didn't know about. We all know that many of those have been in the pipeline at one time or another but have been delayed or tabled (Cruze, next Cadillac flagship).

BTW, the Chrysler midsizers are the new fleet queens, as the Malibu has stopped being fleeted out as much as before (same can't be said for the G6, however).

BTW again, no one has a 50 mpg car.

BTW a third time, Jetta > Civic IMO.

They've wasted money on Saab and Hummer, they did 4 Lambdas, which before they even came out I thought was a bad idea because they were Tahoe sized, a midsize SUV like the Thetas would have made more sense to do first. They had to stop investing in a few brands in 2005 and plan to have them phased out by 2010 while channeling all dollars to Chevy-Cadillac, but it's too late now.

I agree with you, that GM management thought they had more time than they did; they were wrong. Ford prepared better, they got rid of Aston, Jag and Land Rover (should have sold Volvo too) and have focused narrowed their focus to Ford-Lincoln. I think they've done a pretty good job keeping the Ford and Lincoln lineups fresh and competitive.

Toyota and Honda have 40+ mpg cars now, and will both have a 50+ mpg car in 2009, the new Prius is rumored as high as 80 mpg. I'd agree the Jetta is better than the Civic but it's a higher price point. Jetta TDI gets over 40 mpg as well. GM has no premium small car like a Jetta either.

[Robert Hall]

Toyota and Honda have 40+ mpg cars now, and will both have a 50+ mpg car in 2009, the new Prius is rumored as high as 80 mpg. I'd agree the Jetta is better than the Civic but it's a higher price point. Jetta TDI gets over 40 mpg as well. GM has no premium small car like a Jetta either.

<sarcasm>

Yeah, but GM has 3 ton Hybrid SUVs that might get 20 mpg...

</sarcasm>

Edited November 4, 2008 by moltar

[smk4565]

Cadillac is in real trouble, CTS was down 39% and at 3,997 units sold was their best performer. (the more expensive 5-series sold 3,958) STS and DTS combined sold 2,222, down over 67& from last year. The STS and DTS are dated and uncompetitive, Escalade sales are way down, the brand basically relies on the CTS now, which is on pace for under 60,000 sales this year. Cadillac is tanking fast with no product coming soon to save them. My guess is Cadillac's lineup starts to look a lot like Acura's with cars as cheap as $27,995 and it will spell the end for Buick. Cadillac will get an Epsilon2 sedan, Theta and Lambda SUV, making them a front drive tier 2 to tier 3 luxury brand and the CTS at $40-50k will be the flagship, just like the RL or S80 are for Acura and Volvo.

[GXT]

Toyota and Honda have 40+ mpg cars now, and will both have a 50+ mpg car in 2009, the new Prius is rumored as high as 80 mpg. I'd agree the Jetta is better than the Civic but it's a higher price point. Jetta TDI gets over 40 mpg as well. GM has no premium small car like a Jetta either.

We better kill this 80MPG rumour right now so to as avoid the head-smacking "Prius sucks... it only gets 50MPG" reaction later. The new Prius will not get 80 MPG. It will probably be very similar to the current model. My opinion is based a slightly improved hybrid drive offset by a bigger engine. Also, the 80 MPG rumours seem to stem from years past when Toyota was talking about using a Li-Ion battery.

But yes, GM's hybrid offerings are not very competitive. The two-modes seem to show good results but are very expensive. The cheap (yes, I intentionally didn't write "inexpensive") assist systems in the rest of GM's hybrids are good for only a couple of MPG. In real-world tests they often don't do as well as competitor's non-hybrid 4cyls.

For comparison:

Vue Hybrid: 25/32 $28,625

Escape Hybrid: 34/31 $29,305

[smk4565]

The 80 mpg prius rumor was with nickel batteries, but I don't believe it. 50-55 mpg I'd believe, but the Insight is supposed to get over 60 mpg. Fusion hybrid at 38 mpg city really blows away the Malibu Hybrid at 27 mpg or whatever it gets. GM is missing some markets like minivan, "green" vehicles, compact luxury car, yet they have a lot of redundant full size SUVs and front drive mid-sizers.

[A Horse With No Name]

I (obvously) am a fan of the Jetta TDI, but $ for $ your operating costs will still be less with a Cobalt.

...and if your going to spend a little more on a "midsize car" the malibu competes nicely with the Jetta, IMHO.

The Accord 2 door is a good one to watch, to see how it sells IMHO. It is a nice product...I kinda didn't notice it/like it much until Drew/Oldsmoboi started talking about it.

But I'd still rather have a TDI Jetta or a Bu than a 2 door Accord.

Chris

[regfootball]

the accord and camry only sell on reputation these days. they are me too products with no superior advantages over anything else.

[smk4565]

the accord and camry only sell on reputation these days. they are me too products with no superior advantages over anything else.

The Accord has been a Car and Driver 10 best for 20+ years in a row, it is a good car, with great resale value. Personally I wouldn't buy one, but it fits the needs of many buyers and is better executed than most other, if not all, family sedans.

The other question is why don't GM cars have a solid reputation to sell on? GM spent too many years selling the discount, rather than building a reputation of superior product, now they are kind of screwed.

[Robert Hall]

The Accord has been a Car and Driver 10 best for 20+ years in a row, it is a good car, with great resale value. Personally I wouldn't buy one, but it fits the needs of many buyers and is better executed than most other, if not all, family sedans.

The other question is why don't GM cars have a solid reputation to sell on? GM spent too many years selling the discount, rather than building a reputation of superior product, now they are kind of screwed.

Yes, sadly, too many years of Wal-Mart style 'low prices everyday' peddling substandard cars with cheap interior plastics and bland, look-alike exteriors, and outdated transmissions, engines, etc put GM behind over the last 25+ years.. it's only in recent years that they've developed truly competitive, world class product in the mainstream segments..