January 2018: General Motors Co.

[William Maley]

Big January Gains for Chevrolet Crossovers and Trucks Drive GM Sales Increase

• Strong Start for Buick, Driven by Envision, LaCrosse Cadillac Escalade, ATS, XTS and XT5 Retail Sales up Sharply Commercial Deliveries Rise

DETROIT — General Motors (NYSE: GM), which ended 2017 as the automaker with the fastest-growing crossover sales in the United States, today reported a 20 percent year-over-year gain in the segment in January, along with a 7 percent increase in truck deliveries. GM total sales in January totaled 198,548 units, up more than 1 percent.

Demand for Chevrolet trucks and crossovers was very robust, helping the brand increase deliveries by 5 percent year over year:

• Chevrolet was the fastest-growing crossover brand of 2017, and January deliveries were up 40 percent. The all-new Equinox and Traverse, as well as the Trax and Bolt EV, all posted their best-ever January sales.
• Chevrolet’s unique three-truck pickup strategy delivered a 17 percent increase in deliveries, with the Colorado up 25 percent and the Silverado up 15 percent. It was the best January ever for Silverado crew cabs.
• Chevrolet Tahoe deliveries were up 22 percent.

“All of our brands are building momentum in the industry’s hottest and most profitable segments,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations. “Chevrolet led the growth of the small crossover segment with the Trax as well as the mid-pickup segment with the Colorado. Now, we have the all-new Equinox and Traverse delivering higher sales, share and transaction prices.”

Buick and GMC

Buick and GMC were major contributors to GM’s year-over-year growth in crossover sales and total sales. Buick also saw a major acceleration in LaCrosse deliveries, which contributed to a year-over-year sales increase of 4 percent for the brand.

• The GMC Terrain, which is all new for 2018, saw a 14 percent increase.
• The GMC Canyon posted a 5 percent gain.
• Buick Envision sales were up 14 percent for the vehicle’s best January yet.  
• Buick LaCrosse sales more than doubled to 3,006 units.

Buick’s crossover momentum will continue to grow with greater availability of the redesigned Enclave, launched late last year, and the Regal TourX, which began arriving in dealerships in January.

Cadillac

Cadillac was strong in several segments, helping the brand earn a 9 percent increase in retail deliveries.

• Retail sales of the Escalade were up 12 percent year over year, the vehicle gained more than 2 points of retail segment share and ATPs rose by about $2,300.
• In addition, retail deliveries of the Cadillac XT5 crossover rose 9 percent, and the ATS and XTS were up 18 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Other GM Highlights (vs. 2017)

• Retail deliveries were down 2 percent and retail mix of total sales was 76 percent.
• Fleet sales were up 16 percent, with combined Commercial and Government deliveries up 44 percent and daily rental deliveries down 7 percent.
• GM’s incentive spending was 12.8 percent, down 1 point from a year ago, and down 2 points month over month, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates.
• Average transaction prices were up $1,270 year-over-year, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates.

[Robert Hall]

Interesting that the chart says 'Suburban (Chevy)'...I guess that is a remnant from back when GMC's was called Suburban also...which was a quite a while ago...

[G. David Felt]

11 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Interesting that the chart says 'Suburban (Chevy)'...I guess that is a remnant from back when GMC's was called Suburban also...which was a quite a while ago...

Chevrolet always called them Suburban I thought and that has not changed where GMC went with Yukon / Yukon XL formerly known as suburban. I do agree it is weird that they put (Chevy) in quotes.

I am more surprised to see that GM moved 37,000 more auto's than Ford for the month of January.

[Robert Hall]

5 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Chevrolet always called them Suburban I thought and that has not changed where GMC went with Yukon / Yukon XL formerly known as suburban. I do agree it is weird that they put (Chevy) in quotes.

Yeah, since it is under the Chevy category it's obviously a Chevy.   Back when there were was the GMC version it probably would have read Suburban (GMC) under the GMC category.  I guess whoever puts these reports together hasn't updated parts of the spreadsheet in a long time...

Edited February 1, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[G. David Felt]

Just now, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Yeah, since it is under the Chevy category it's obviously a Chevy.   Back when there were was the GMC version it would have read Suburban (GMC) under the GMC category probably.  I guess whoever puts these reports together hasn't updated parts of the spreadsheet in a long time...

So true, someone in accounting needs to get with the times. As I updated my comment, I just realized how many more auto's GM sold compared to Ford. WOW.

[Robert Hall]

1 minute ago, dfelt said:

So true, someone in accounting needs to get with the times. As I updated my comment, I just realized how many more auto's GM sold compared to Ford. WOW.

Yeah, the numbers are pretty interesting..surprising to see some CUVs down or flat in a CUV/SUV market...

Edited February 1, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[frogger]

Man the Cruze came down with an STI or something.. but then Jan 2017 seemed unusually high.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by frogger

[smk4565]

Just doing quick math in my head, it looks like the Equinox outsold the Spark, Sonic, Cruze, Malibu and Impala combined.   This is probably why Ford wants to drop down to 2 or 3 car models.  You could argue Chevy could replace those 5 cars with 2, and it will probably happen.  

[balthazar]

Looks like the SIlverado outsold the Equinox, Tahoe & Trax combined. You could argue Chevy could replace those 3 CUVs with 1 pickup, and it will probably happen.

[ccap41]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

Looks like the SIlverado outsold the Equinox, Tahoe & Trax combined. You could argue Chevy could replace those 3 CUVs with 1 pickup, and it will probably happen.

Aren't all half tons like that?

Without looking at the numbers I'd assume the F150 outsells the Escape, Edge, Explorer, and Expedition combined. Ram 1500 probably outsells all of the Jeep and Dodge SUVs. 

[Robert Hall]

Trucks outsell SUVs and CUVs..nothing new.  Different market niches..

[ccap41]

The Silverado outsold all of Cadillac. Time to cancel Cadillac and just make one truck. 

[G. David Felt]

28 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

The Silverado outsold all of Cadillac. Time to cancel Cadillac and just make one truck. 

Yup same with Lincoln, time to kill the whole product line since Ford outsells it with just the F150!  

[ccap41]

5 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Yup same with Lincoln, time to kill the whole product line since Ford outsells it with just the F150!  

Exactly! Everything is DOOOOMED!

Camrys, F150s, Silverados, and Civics is all we get. 

Ford also outsells Lincoln with the Flex though.. 

(sarcasm because I didn't look at any numbers)

 

[frogger]

4 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Exactly! Everything is DOOOOMED!

Camrys, F150s, Silverados, and Civics is all we get. 

Ford also outsells Lincoln with the Flex though.. 

(sarcasm because I didn't look at any numbers)

 

Don't forget to add a CUV lol

 

 

[ccap41]

2 minutes ago, frogger said:

Don't forget to add a CUV lol

 

 

Nope, the trucks out sell them. lol CONSOLIDATE! 

I guess Honda's might actually be a CR-V instead of the Civic. I don't know the numbers though to see which sold the most. 

[Robert Hall]

Nooo..no consolidation, we need more niches, more models, more variations...IDIC (infinite diversity, infinite configurations). 

[frogger]

It would be nice with these flexible platforms like MQB, TNGA etc we got lots of variations, but so far it seems we just get more CUV variations.... xs, s, m, l, xl CUV from every mfg soon.

 

 

 

[A Horse With No Name]

On 2/2/2018 at 10:46 AM, dfelt said:

Yup same with Lincoln, time to kill the whole product line since Ford outsells it with just the F150!  

If only...

[balthazar]

Hilarity aside, there absolutely are too many thin slices of the same 'sedan apple', the same 'CUV apple'.
Time to consolidate to some degree. The idea a brand has any legitimate need to offer a tweaked version of a given segment in 10" intervals is not sustainable. X1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7?? They're not filling market segments, they're filling numerical gaps in their naming 'systems'.

[ccap41]

I couldn't agree more. I think I said that a year ago when sales were sky high across the board and niche vehicles like the 435i Gran Coupe or some sh!t was introduced and I just can't imagine there being enough sales to sustain such vehicles. Along with the coupe versions of the same CUV (X3/X4).