General Motors Sees First Sales Increase in 21 Months

[Z-06]

[source: Detroit Free Press]

GM Sees First Monthly Sales Increase in 21 Months

By TIM HIGGINS

Oct. 28, 2009

For the first time in 21 months, General Motors is on track to see its first monthly sales increase compared to the same time period a year ago, the company said today.

While official results will be announced next week, all signs point to a good month, according to Mike DiGiovanni, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis.

"We're really having a good October," he said.

DiGiovanni added that about 95% of the sales for the month are coming from the company's four core U.S. brands — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. A year ago, those brands comprised about 85% of the company's sales.

GM is in the process of winding down Pontiac and Saturn and selling off Hummer and Saab after emerging from bankruptcy in July.

"We're clearly getting behind us the brands we're phasing out," he said.

GM sold 168,719 vehicles in October 2008, which was a 45.1% decrease from the same month in 2007, according to Autodata Corp.

[Justin Bimmer]

So without Saturn, Pontiac, Saab, and Hummer they are going to sell MORE cars then they did a year ago?

Very nice!

[CaddyXLR-V]

So without Saturn, Pontiac, Saab, and Hummer they are going to sell MORE cars then they did a year ago?

Very nice!

Very nice? Maybe if you forget how bad their sales were last year. When you hit rock bottom you can only go up from there.

[Drew Dowdell]

Very nice? Maybe if you forget how bad their sales were last year. When you hit rock bottom you can only go up from there.

GM is going to increase market share this month without Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn.

[CaddyXLR-V]

GM is going to increase market share this month without Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn.

I don't see anywhere that marketshare was mentioned, only sales. If GM increases 5% compared to last year, but overall car sales increase by 10%, GM still loses marketshare.

[Drew Dowdell]

I don't see anywhere that marketshare was mentioned, only sales. If GM increases 5% compared to last year, but overall car sales increase by 10%, GM still loses marketshare.

Have at it then

DETROIT — General Motors executives said Wednesday that October would be the company’s third consecutive month of market share gains, proof that consumers were returning to its showrooms after G.M.’s humbling tour through bankruptcy court this summer......G.M.’s improving sales in the United States, which the carmaker said would give it a 21 percent market share in the nation

[CaddyXLR-V]

Have at it then

Ok, I will. GM is increasing it's marketshare from 3 months ago, not from 1 year ago. Wasn't there some kind of event that happened around that time, like GM filing bankruptcy? They are only getting some of their own marketshare back, from before they filed bankruptcy. It was probably also GM's record low for marketshare, which would be rock bottom.

You're trying to find the silver lining in a landfill.

[Drew Dowdell]

Ok, I will. GM is increasing it's marketshare from 3 months ago, not from 1 year ago. Wasn't there some kind of event that happened around that time, like GM filing bankruptcy? They are only getting some of their own marketshare back, from before they filed bankruptcy. It was probably also GM's record low for marketshare, which would be rock bottom.

You're trying to find the silver lining in a landfill.

and you're trying to poop all over any good news that comes out. Would you rather have GM's marketshare go to 15% from 19.1%? It's a move in the right direction.

[CaddyXLR-V]

and you're trying to poop all over any good news that comes out. Would you rather have GM's marketshare go to 15% from 19.1%? It's a move in the right direction.

I really wouldn't care if it went down to 10%.

[Drew Dowdell]

I really wouldn't care if it went down to 10%.

then why bother posting about it? save your wrist energy for other things

[CaddyXLR-V]

then why bother posting about it? save your wrist energy for other things

What fun would it be for this website to be even more one sided than it already is?

[Drew Dowdell]

What fun would it be for this website to be even more one sided than it already is?

You're doing great at being the opposition. When you "don't care" that's when you shouldn't bother.

[CaddyXLR-V]

You're doing great at being the opposition. When you "don't care" that's when you shouldn't bother.

Ok, then I do care, and I am now part of the opposition. The truth is, I would be happy to see GM's sales fall as a result of all their bad decisions.

[Drew Dowdell]

Ok, then I do care, and I am now part of the opposition. The truth is, I would be happy to see GM's sales fall as a result of all their bad decisions.

And that's productive... how? Falling sales will reduce revenue further and likely lead to the liquidation of the company.

[CARBIZ]

Ok, then I do care, and I am now part of the opposition. The truth is, I would be happy to see GM's sales fall as a result of all their bad decisions.

Chock up another vote for the Fall of Western Civilization. The sheer ignorance and animosity out there toward GM in particular, and Detroit in general, astounds me. If only GM's 'bad decisions' were made in a vacuum.

All I can say is that I am glad I don't have kids and I am 48: by the time Asia calls in their loans and we hand over the keys to Washington (and probably Ottawa, too), I will be sitting in a wheelchair, wearing diapers. It's the young 'uns who love all things Asian that will reap the rewards of the West's selfish ways of the past 2 decades.

I, for one, don't understand why someone who clearly has an axe to grind would bother hanging around a GM site. I tried Toyota Nation for a while, but frankly it sickened me, so I quit.

As Oldsmoboi points out, the negative press harping about GM's problems had as much to do about GM's demise as it's 'mistakes.' Only the West eats its own. You don't hear the Japanese media tearing down their institutions.

[CaddyXLR-V]

Chock up another vote for the Fall of Western Civilization. The sheer ignorance and animosity out there toward GM in particular, and Detroit in general, astounds me. If only GM's 'bad decisions' were made in a vacuum.

All I can say is that I am glad I don't have kids and I am 48: by the time Asia calls in their loans and we hand over the keys to Washington (and probably Ottawa, too), I will be sitting in a wheelchair, wearing diapers. It's the young 'uns who love all things Asian that will reap the rewards of the West's selfish ways of the past 2 decades.

I, for one, don't understand why someone who clearly has an axe to grind would bother hanging around a GM site. I tried Toyota Nation for a while, but frankly it sickened me, so I quit.

As Oldsmoboi points out, the negative press harping about GM's problems had as much to do about GM's demise as it's 'mistakes.' Only the West eats its own. You don't hear the Japanese media tearing down their institutions.

Let's cheer for incompetance then. Let's prop up our businesses who couldn't make a smart business decision to save their lives. That will save our western society, from ignorant people like me. And my next car will probably be European, not Asian. Western Civilization was built on capitalism, and what you are supporting, is almost the opposite.

[Drew Dowdell]

Let's cheer for incompetance then. Let's prop up our businesses who couldn't make a smart business decision to save their lives. That will save our western society, from ignorant people like me. And my next car will probably be European, not Asian. Western Civilization was built on capitalism, and what you are supporting, is almost the opposite.

Carbiz is right on this one. GM made some blunders for sure, but even the good things they did were spun around as huge mistakes. When I read a review about a BMW 3-series, why don't they lead off with a mention of the tin can BMW 2002 or Isetta like nearly EVERY FREAKING CTS review leads off with a reference to the Cimmiron. It took Consumer Report 5 years after Toyota engines started sludging and Toyota automatic transmissions started missing gears before they stopped inflating Toyota's ratings with "prior model reliability". There was virtually zero coverage on the Tundra exploding camshafts, cracking tailgates, and rusting frames, yet a GM recall to tighten SUV seatbelt tensioners gets front page news. Even today, I'm having a fight with the guy from Kicking Tires who is claiming that Cadillac lost the CTS-V challenge even though 6 of the 7 top times were in CTS-Vs because one M3-manual transmission driver in his 20s beat Bob Lutz in his automatic CTS-V.

[CaddyXLR-V]

Carbiz is right on this one. GM made some blunders for sure, but even the good things they did were spun around as huge mistakes. When I read a review about a BMW 3-series, why don't they lead off with a mention of the tin can BMW 2002 or Isetta like nearly EVERY FREAKING CTS review leads off with a reference to the Cimmiron. It took Consumer Report 5 years after Toyota engines started sludging and Toyota automatic transmissions started missing gears before they stopped inflating Toyota's ratings with "prior model reliability". There was virtually zero coverage on the Tundra exploding camshafts, cracking tailgates, and rusting frames, yet a GM recall to tighten SUV seatbelt tensioners gets front page news. Even today, I'm having a fight with the guy from Kicking Tires who is claiming that Cadillac lost the CTS-V challenge even though 6 of the 7 top times were in CTS-Vs because one M3-manual transmission driver in his 20s beat Bob Lutz in his automatic CTS-V.

Well your issues are with the media, and I agree with you somewhat, that sometimes the media doesn't give domestic car companies a fair shot, and then other times the negativity is deserved. But to say I'm ignorant because I won't buy GM anymore, is way off base. I have given GM the benefit of the doubt for almost 10 years. I've seen GM make bad decision, after bad decision, and ignored them, and continued to buy GM. GM finally lost my business because of their decisions, and definately, the closure of the brand I basically grew up with, was the final straw. How does that make me ignorant?

Maybe if GM wasn't handed free sales for being domestic over the past couple of decades, they would have realized a long time ago, that they may have to make better cars than the competition. Imagine if GM actually tried to do that in the 70s and 80s, intead of resting on it's laurels. They probably wouldn't have ever been in the dire situation they have gotten themselves into.

[pow]

Chock up another vote for the Fall of Western Civilization. The sheer ignorance and animosity out there toward GM in particular, and Detroit in general, astounds me. If only GM's 'bad decisions' were made in a vacuum.

All I can say is that I am glad I don't have kids and I am 48: by the time Asia calls in their loans and we hand over the keys to Washington (and probably Ottawa, too), I will be sitting in a wheelchair, wearing diapers. It's the young 'uns who love all things Asian that will reap the rewards of the West's selfish ways of the past 2 decades.

I, for one, don't understand why someone who clearly has an axe to grind would bother hanging around a GM site. I tried Toyota Nation for a while, but frankly it sickened me, so I quit.

As Oldsmoboi points out, the negative press harping about GM's problems had as much to do about GM's demise as it's 'mistakes.' Only the West eats its own. You don't hear the Japanese media tearing down their institutions.

The protectionist, mercantilist Japanese economy has never exactly prospered, has it? Their recession has gone on forever. No American would choose to have the same limited consumer choice and freedom.

If the US government were more like Japan's government, GM and Chrysler would have been dead long ago. The success of some Asian industries came from the government picking winners among domestic players, withdrawing support from those that are revealed failures, so that resources don't get bottled up in unproductive companies.

[Drew Dowdell]

The protectionist, mercantilist Japanese economy has never exactly prospered, has it? Their recession has gone on forever. No American would choose to have the same limited consumer choice and freedom.

That has a lot more to do with monetary policy than protectionism specifically.

[CARBIZ]

Well, the reasons GM (and America) are in this mess certainly cannot be summed up in a short essay. I'm a big picture sort of guy, and when I look back over the past 35 years (the end of Vietnam, Watergate, the 2 oil shocks, CAFE ratings, unleaded fuel, pollution controls, etc.) that all came crashing down, it is easy to see why America (and to an extent Canada) is where it is today.

Asians are determined and homogenist. They don't get bogged down and distracted by issues about the past and reparations, boo-hoo and all that. The government issues policy and it is followed. Japan is supposedly a democracy, but their government (despite scandals upon scandals) has been largely dominated by one party for decades. In China - well, the prisons over there are full of people who have tried to oppose the government's edicts. Makes you wonder, no?

I would also challenge assertions about GM's inferior products, but then I am less prone to putting historical facts under the lens of revisionist history. I drove an auto parts truck as my first out of highschool job and visited all the service stations in '81/'82 and worked as a car jockey at a major posh hotel, so I hung around the car guys who worked in the trenches, not the pampered writers in CR and R&T: fat cat, middle-aged white guys whose appetite is bigger than their penis. Perhaps because I lived through the messes as mentioned above, I can put GM's foibles in a more balanced light. GM's troubles do mirror America's. Look at the bookstores today: the media is absoultely gushing over the fall of America and the rise of Asia. Do they realize what they are saying? For one, their books won't sell anymore once we are all forced to speak Chinese (or Japanese!)

The trouble with Capitalism, is that it assumes a level playing field and the altruism of human nature - neither of which is true in the real world. Government must reign capitalists in. Alexander Hamilton understood that. Japan Inc does not practice free trade, either within its own borders or with its so-called trading partners. The fact that China is holding nearly a trillion dollars in US Treasury bills (because there simply is not enough 2-way trade with the U.S. to spend this money) should scare the crap out of you.

But I doubt I could have a debate with a person who prefers to stomp off to his room in a huff because his favorite 'brand' was cancelled. What has 'brand' got to do with it? They are just myths dreamed up in some Madison Avenue back room to hoodwink consumers into spending more than they should - and tell them what they want to buy. I've owned 3 Dodges and 3 Chevrolets. I'd buy a Cadillac tomorrow if I could afford it, or even a Lincoln. GM and Ford offer quite enough 'choice' for any consumer, but then this is all about 'you' isn't it? The 'me' generation is goign to reap what it has sewn.

That is why Japan Inc is going to own your house in 10 years.

[Drew Dowdell]

Japan Inc does not practice free trade

[Robert Hall]

Think I'm going to go for some sushi tonight.

[Camino LS6]

Interesting debate.

[A Horse With No Name]

GM is going to increase market share this month without Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn.

Sweet!

Really pulling for the new GM.

Chris

[A Horse With No Name]

The trouble with Capitalism, is that it assumes a level playing field and the altruism of human nature - neither of which is true in the real world. Government must reign capitalists in. Alexander Hamilton understood that. Japan Inc does not practice free trade, either within its own borders or with its so-called trading partners. The fact that China is holding nearly a trillion dollars in US Treasury bills (because there simply is not enough 2-way trade with the U.S. to spend this money) should scare the crap out of you.

GM and Ford offer quite enough 'choice' for any consumer, but then this is all about 'you' isn't it? The 'me' generation is goign to reap what it has sewn.

That is why Japan Inc is going to own your house in 10 years.

+1

Chris