November 2016: General Motors Co.

[William Maley]

Big November Gains at Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac Keep GM the Fastest Growing Automaker

• November U.S. retail market share highest since 2009
• Year to Date U.S. Retail Share up 0.5 Percentage Points
• November Commercial sales were highest since 2008

DETROIT — General Motors (NYSE: GM) sold 197,609 vehicles in November to individual or “retail” customers in the U.S., up 8 percent from last year. Based on initial estimates, GM once again outperformed all full-line manufacturers, led by strong retail sales gains at Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. GM’s November retail sales performance drove GM’s U.S. retail share to its highest November level since 2009.

Based on initial estimates, GM’s retail market share jumped 0.3 percentage points in November to 16.8 percent.  GM has gained retail market share in 17 of the past 20 months.

GM’s four U.S. brands posted strong retail sales results in November compared to last year.

• Chevrolet — up 5 percent for its best November since 2004
• Buick — up 22 percent for its best November since 2003
• GMC — up 9 percent for its best November since 2001
• Cadillac — up 17 percent for its best November since 2013

GM’s total U.S. sales in November were 252,644 vehicles, up more than 10 percent from last year.   All four brands outperformed the industry in November with Buick, Cadillac and GMC posting double-digit gains.

“GM’s November performance reflects the continued strength of our U.S. business.  We gained profitable retail share, commercial and small business deliveries were strong and we commanded the industry’s best average transaction prices,” said Kurt McNeil, GM’s vice president of U.S. Sales Operations. “We are ahead of plan selling down our 2016 model year inventory and we expect to close out December with more retail share growth. GM is heading into 2017 in a position of strength with the planned launch of key new products, like the all-new Chevrolet Equinox, into the heart of the market.” 

GM’s ATPs, which reflect retail transaction prices after sales incentives, were $35,767 in November, more than $4,000 above the industry average and ahead of last November. 

Through the first 11 months of the year, GM’s U.S. retail sales were up nearly 2 percent compared to last year. GM gained 0.5 percentage points of U.S. retail market share during that timeframe, the largest retail share gain of any full-line automaker. Year to date, Chevrolet U.S. retail sales are up nearly 3 percent and the brand’s retail share has grown 0.5 percentage points to 11.1 percent. Chevrolet continues to be the U.S. industry’s fastest-growing brand.

Year to date, Buick retail deliveries have grown more than 5 percent and Buick has gained 0.1 percentage points of retail share.

GM continues to benefit from a strong U.S. economy and strong retail demand for its products.

“All economic indicators show significantly improved optimism about the U.S. economy including consumer and business sentiment, which continue to drive a very healthy U.S. auto industry,” said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM’s chief economist. “We believe the U.S. auto industry is well-positioned for sales to continue at or near record levels into 2017.”

November 2016 Retail Sales and Business Highlights vs. November 2015 (except as noted)

Chevrolet

• Malibu and Volt were up 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
• Silverado and Colorado were up 5 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
• Suburban, Tahoe, Equinox and Trax were up 6 percent, 12 percent, 7 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
• Malibu had its best November since 1997.
• Silverado had its best November since 2003.
• Colorado had its best November since 2004.
• Trax, Volt and Equinox had their best November ever.
• Tahoe and Suburban had their best November since 2007.
• 17th straight month of year over year gains for Chevrolet full-size utilities.

GMC

• Sierra and Canyon were up 14 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
• Acadia, Yukon and Yukon XL were up 4 percent, 22 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
• Brand ATP was at $43,887, the highest November on record.
• Highest November ever for Denali penetration, at 27.8 percent.
• Best November ever for Canyon and ninth month of year over year increases.
• Yukon and Yukon XL had their best November since 2007.

Buick

• Regal and Encore were up 41 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
• 68 percent of sales were crossovers.
• Best year to date retail performance since 2005.

Cadillac

• Escalade was up 24 percent and had its best month of the year.
• Escalade had its best November since 2007.
• XT5 had its best month since launch with sales up 12 percent over last month and up 27 percent over the SRX last November, the vehicle it replaced.
• Year to date ATP was $53,690, the highest ever in Cadillac history

Average Transaction Prices (ATP)/Incentives (based on JD Power PIN estimates)

• GM’s ATPs, which reflect retail transaction prices after sales incentives, were $35,767 in November, more than $4,000 above the industry average.
• In November, GM’s incentive spending as a percent of ATP was 13.7 percent, above the industry average of 12.4 percent. However, year to date, GM’s incentive spending was 11.7 percent, slightly above the industry average of 11.4 percent and well below the incentive spending of its domestic competitors and many of its global competitors.

Fleet and Commercial

• Automotive Fleet magazine named Malibu “Fleet Car of the Year”.
• GM Fleet sales were up 19 percent versus last November.
• Fleet sales were 22 percent of GM’s sales for the month.
• Commercial deliveries were up 11 percent for the month and it was the best November Commercial sales since 2008.
• Malibu Commercial deliveries were up 170 percent versus last November.
• Small Business deliveries were up 15 percent for the month versus last November, driven by large vans, which were up 93 percent and large pickups, which were up 16 percent versus last November.
• Federal government sales were up 9 percent versus last November.
• Rental sales were up 27 percent versus last November but are down 25 percent CYTD, according to plan.
• GM’s outlook on its daily rental sales mix remains in the 11 percent range of total U.S. sales for 2016 and daily rental sales for the year are expected to be down about 75,000 vehicles.

Industry Sales

• GM estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) for light vehicles in November was approximately 17.9 million units. On a calendar year-to-date basis, GM estimates the light-vehicle SAAR was 17.5 million units.

[A Horse With No Name]

Spectacular performance, glad to see Malibu get the love ti deserves, it is a gorgeous car.

Volt up is a very, very good sign...Cadillac is getting some love....what is not to like?

[Cmicasa the Great]

Hey JDN and Cadillac.. Your cars are awesome!!!! But America clearly loves your minuscule selection of CUV/SUVs more as it does all other luxo maker's SUV/CUVs. Build some more sizes.. and add to the car sales by offering variants.  

Signed.. X  No Brainer

[Cmicasa the Great]

BTW.. anyone check who the combined CTS and ATS is almost exact with that of the MKZ? And the Continental beats the higher priced CT6 but absolutely lost versus the exact same configured (its real Cadillac competitor) XTS

Benz 30,363

Lexus 29,050

BMW 26,189

Buick 18,530

Audi 17,118

Cadillac 15,326

Infiniti 12,112

Acura   11,616

Lincoln   9,429

Volvo  7,723

Genesis 1,306

[Guest Wings4Life(BANNED)]

I see that Conti is sticking it to CT6.

 

Shame. For CT6 I mean.

[Cmicasa the Great]

19 minutes ago, Wings4Life said:

I see that Conti is sticking it to CT6.

 

Shame. For CT6 I mean.

 

It doesn't compete with the CT6 i any real way. It competes directly with the XTS though. Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word.. When U go to work tomorrow tell them they missed the good looks and more prestigious name by a country mile. 

 

[Guest Wings4Life(BANNED)]

9 minutes ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

 

It doesn't compete with the CT6 i any real way. It competes directly with the XTS though. Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word.. When U go to work tomorrow tell them they missed the good looks and more prestigious name by a country mile. 

 

MKS was before XTS, FYI.

And Continental name has great history, far more than a CTS6. 

And yes, they compete directly.

What's next, Camaro is not going to compete with Mustang.....because Mustang is arse raping it in sales?

 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Wings4Life

[Cmicasa the Great]

1 minute ago, Wings4Life said:

MKS was before XTS, FYI.

And Continental name has great history, far more than a CTS. 

And yes, they compete directly.

What's next, Camaro is not going to compete with Mustang.....because Mustang is arse raping it in sales?

WTF does any of that have to do with what I said??? History??? The Continental name has no more cache than CTS at this point.. perhaps less unless U are talking to the limited amount of people who remember Lincoln in general as a luxo make. The last time the Continental was on sale it looked like this.. not so different than now in fact

 

[Guest Wings4Life(BANNED)]

" Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word "

Uhh, the XTS completely copied the MKS.....right down to the AWD twin turbo V6.

 

Keep up please.

 

[Cmicasa the Great]

33 minutes ago, Wings4Life said:

" Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word "

Uhh, the XTS completely copied the MKS.....right down to the AWD twin turbo V6.

 

Keep up please.

 

LMFAO. Do U seriously think that the boys at Cadillac copied the WHALE??? Old Dude U do realize that the XTS was a culmination of the STS and DTS as a hold over until the Omega platform was ready to go, using the Lacrosse as a backbone?

Seriously think about it. Why the hell would anyone intentionally want to emulate the raging success of the MKS? It peaked in its second year with  17K sales selling for a base price of a measly $38K then. I kno that because at the time I remember thinking that my 5 year old.. at the time.. had saved that much up from her allowance for keeping her room clean. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Would gladly rather own a CTS or ATS myself.....CTS is the hottest car built by either of them actually.

Would take an Acura TLX over an MKZ, and would gladly take a C class over a Continental.

[2QuickZ's]

All in all a darn good month for GM.  Looks like Envision might be steeling Enclave sales, though.  I'm kind of amazed the Trax is selling so well.  It's sales aren't too far off the Renegade and is roughly the same as the HR-V but is a lesser vehicle than both IMO.

[A Horse With No Name]

12 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

.. perhaps less unless U are talking to the limited amount of people who remember Lincoln in general as a luxo make. The last time the Continental was on sale it looked like this.. not so different than now in fact

 

The people who remember the real Lincoln as a Luxury make, the Lincoln from the 1960's, are now sitting in a pile of their own feces gradually coming to grips with the fact that this strange person sitting in front of them calling them "mom" or "dad" is somehow biologically related to them...

The pic above is not of a continental, it is a glorified NYC Taxi painted black and given some different sheet metal.

[Cmicasa the Great]

11 hours ago, 2QuickZ's said:

All in all a darn good month for GM.  Looks like Envision might be steeling Enclave sales, though.  I'm kind of amazed the Trax is selling so well.  It's sales aren't too far off the Renegade and is roughly the same as the HR-V but is a lesser vehicle than both IMO.

The Envision is stealing Enclave sales. GM had to see this coming. This is most like OK though.. considering the Enclave's development costs are depreciated as being developed in 2005-6. The Lambdas are cash cows since 2010.

16 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

The people who remember the real Lincoln as a Luxury make, the Lincoln from the 1960's, are now sitting in a pile of their own feces gradually coming to grips with the fact that this strange person sitting in front of them calling them "mom" or "dad" is somehow biologically related to them...

The pic above is not of a continental, it is a glorified NYC Taxi painted black and given some different sheet metal.

This.

[surreal1272]

13 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

 

It doesn't compete with the CT6 i any real way. It competes directly with the XTS though. Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word.. When U go to work tomorrow tell them they missed the good looks and more prestigious name by a country mile. 

 

Yeah, it really stuck it to the CT6...by a whole 300 units. 

 

And saying Continental name means something  would involve willfully ignoring the boring trash of the last 30+ years. It would be the same if Cadillac tried to bring back the DeVille name. It has been completely tarnished by years of begging a neglected also ran. 

[A Horse With No Name]

6 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Yeah, it really stuck it to the CT6...by a whole 300 units. 

 

And saying Continental name means something  would involve willfully ignoring the boring trash of the last 30+ years. It would be the same if Cadillac tried to bring back the DeVille name. It has been completely tarnished by years of begging a neglected also ran. 

...and even in the mid 1970's, the Deville name still meant something while Continental was in sharp decline.

[surreal1272]

4 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

...and even in the mid 1970's, the Deville name still meant something while Continental was in sharp decline.

Barely because that's when it all went to hell for Lincoln and Cadillac and they have been digging out of that hell ever since. They are getting there though.

[A Horse With No Name]

5 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Barely because that's when it all went to hell for Lincoln and Cadillac and they have been digging out of that hell ever since. They are getting there though.

Yes, both companies are becoming more product focused and investing in some cool stuff....

[ccap41]

14 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

 

It doesn't compete with the CT6 i any real way. It competes directly with the XTS though. Its as if Ford bought an XTS and tried to copy it word for word.. When U go to work tomorrow tell them they missed the good looks and more prestigious name by a country mile. 

 

XTS is the only thing in the Cadillac lineup that looks out of place to me. Everything else looks great and then there's this blob that shows no character to me... It also gives an impression that it sits higher off the ground than it does which looks awkward to me.

[Drew Dowdell]

15 hours ago, Wings4Life said:

I see that Conti is sticking it to CT6.

 

Shame. For CT6 I mean.

Continental Taxis..... 

 

That is all..

7 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

XTS is the only thing in the Cadillac lineup that looks out of place to me. Everything else looks great and then there's this blob that shows no character to me... It also gives an impression that it sits higher off the ground than it does which looks awkward to me.

You're probably seeing the AWD models which do have a slight bump in ride height. The Chrysler 300 AWD and Lacrosse AWD do the same thing. I can pick an AWD XTS verse a FWD XTS out of a lineup a mile away.

[A Horse With No Name]

13 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

XTS is the only thing in the Cadillac lineup that looks out of place to me. Everything else looks great and then there's this blob that shows no character to me... It also gives an impression that it sits higher off the ground than it does which looks awkward to me.

I do agree that the Cadillac lineup looks fantastic.

[surreal1272]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Continental Taxis..... 

 

That is all..

You're probably seeing the AWD models which do have a slight bump in ride height. The Chrysler 300 AWD and Lacrosse AWD do the same thing. I can pick an AWD XTS verse a FWD XTS out of a lineup a mile away.

Kind of like how the Mustang was "sticking it" to the Camaro for most of year, i.e. more than 30% fleet/rental to do so. 

[ccap41]

20 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

 

You're probably seeing the AWD models which do have a slight bump in ride height. The Chrysler 300 AWD and Lacrosse AWD do the same thing. I can pick an AWD XTS verse a FWD XTS out of a lineup a mile away.

OMG I didn't know that. I actually feel way better about that knowing it isn't just my eyes thinking the car sits higher than it actually does. I mean it still looks funny but at least it isn't a mind game.

Do you know what kind of height difference they have?

[Drew Dowdell]

14 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

OMG I didn't know that. I actually feel way better about that knowing it isn't just my eyes thinking the car sits higher than it actually does. I mean it still looks funny but at least it isn't a mind game.

Do you know what kind of height difference they have?

No I don't know the exact number, but I do know that I can see the difference in ride height.

[surreal1272]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

No I don't know the exact number, but I do know that I can see the difference in ride height.

I don't know about the newer model cars but the Magnum AWD was about an inch higher than the RWD only models. 

[Drew Dowdell]

3 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

I don't know about the newer model cars but the Magnum AWD was about an inch higher than the RWD only models. 

That sounds reasonable for the lx cars.

[A Horse With No Name]

20 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

That sounds reasonable for the lx cars.

Agreed, although I do not find the extra height of AWD cars to be an issue visually.

Edited December 2, 2016 by A Horse With No Name

[surreal1272]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

That sounds reasonable for the lx cars.

Honestly I could not tell the difference if you were to put an AWD model right next to my old Magnum. Very subtle. 

[Drew Dowdell]

9 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Honestly I could not tell the difference if you were to put an AWD model right next to my old Magnum. Very subtle. 

That's funny because the ride height is one of the first things I notice when I'm admiring a 300. I really like the car, so it catches my eye, and my brain immediately processes "AWD or RWD?".

[surreal1272]

49 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

That's funny because the ride height is one of the first things I notice when I'm admiring a 300. I really like the car, so it catches my eye, and my brain immediately processes "AWD or RWD?".

I may depend on the wheel size that makes more noticeable or not. I had 18" Hemi wheels on mine so it was a little taller than the standard SXT models. 

[Drew Dowdell]

On 12/1/2016 at 6:58 PM, Wings4Life said:

I see that Conti is sticking it to CT6.

 

Shame. For CT6 I mean.

Not hard to do at a $10,000 discount to the Cadillac.   

[Paolino]

On 12/1/2016 at 9:53 AM, William Maley said:

Buick

 

• Regal and Encore were up 41 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
• 68 percent of sales were crossovers.
• Best year to date retail performance since 2005.

I would imagine the Regal is getting discounted heavily as the next gen is arriving and the Regal hasn't been a huge seller.  Similarly I imagine the Encore is getting some discounting since the refresh is coming in.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, Paolino said:

I would imagine the Regal is getting discounted heavily as the next gen is arriving and the Regal hasn't been a huge seller.  Similarly I imagine the Encore is getting some discounting since the refresh is coming in.

Regal didn't have anywhere to go but up.  You're probably right about the Encore.... I haven't seen a refreshed one on the streets yet, I would have thought they'd be out already. The dealer where I bought mine does have 3 in stock though. 

[Paolino]

On 12/27/2016 at 1:34 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

Regal didn't have anywhere to go but up.  You're probably right about the Encore.... I haven't seen a refreshed one on the streets yet, I would have thought they'd be out already. The dealer where I bought mine does have 3 in stock though. 

I haven't seen a new LaCrosse, a refreshed Encore, the Envision, nor a Cascada yet.  I thought I'd see at least the LaCrosse and Cascada by now.

[ccap41]

I've only seen one Envision and it was driving. My local GM dealer has plenty of the Cascada and LaX though.

The LaX is a very attractive looking vehicle.