February 2015: General Motors Co.

[William Maley]

GM Truck Sales Climb 36 percent in February

• Pickup sales up 37 percent and large SUVs up 66 percent
• Retail sales of small and compact crossovers up 14 percent combined  
• Chevrolet Colorado now the industry’s fastest-selling pickup truck
• Best February sales for GMC in 13 years

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) dealers in the United States delivered 231,378 vehicles last month. Total sales were up 4 percent compared to a year ago. Retail sales were up 1 percent. Commercial and fleet deliveries were up 12 percent. Sales of trucks, including SUVs, vans and pickups, were up 36 percent year over year.

 

“Our new SUVs and crossovers, combined with the three-pickup strategy we outlined more than a year ago, are dovetailing perfectly with the growing U.S. economy and a stronger job market,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations.

 

“Six months into its launch, the Chevrolet Colorado is the industry’s fastest-selling pickup, regardless of brand or model year,” he added. “The Silverado had another great month, with sales, market share and average transaction prices up sharply. And when you add the GMC Sierra and Canyon to the mix, GM’s year-over-year pickup deliveries increased 37 percent. That follows January’s 42 percent increase and December’s 43 percent increase.”

 

According to J.D. Power PIN data, the average Chevrolet Colorado – Motor Trend magazine’s unanimous choice for 2015 Truck of the Year – spends just 15 days in dealer stock from the day it arrives on the showroom floor.

 

PIN also estimates that the Chevrolet Silverado’s retail market share in the full-size pickup segment was 27.2 percent in February, up 1.5 percentage points from a year ago, at the expense of Ford’s F-Series and FCA’s Ram. Average transaction prices rose by almost $1,700 per unit from a year ago. In addition, strong truck and crossover sales drove the GMC brand to its best February since 2002.

 

Highlights (vs. 2014 except as noted)

 

Chevrolet:

• Chevrolet had its best February since 2008.
• The new Trax small crossover, which began arriving in showrooms in December 2014, saw deliveries of 3,821 units.
• The Camaro, Corvette and Spark were up 3 percent, 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
• Tahoe sales were up 49 percent, Suburban sales more than doubled and the Traverse was up 28 percent for its best-ever February. The Equinox also had its best-ever February sales, with deliveries up 1 percent.
• The Silverado was up 24 percent for its best February since 2007.

GMC:

• The Yukon and Yukon XL were up 43 percent and 85 percent, respectively.
• The Sierra, which has the highest average transaction prices of any pickup line in the industry, was up 6 percent.
• GMC dealers delivered more than 2,500 Canyons, AutoWeek magazine’s “Best of the Best/Truck” for 2015.  It was the vehicle’s best-ever February sales.
• The Acadia was up 4 percent and Terrain was up 17 percent for its best-ever February.
• The Denali series vehicles are now 21 percent of all GMC vehicles, up from 18 percent.

Buick:

• Encore deliveries rose 60 percent for its best February ever. It remains the best-selling vehicle in the small crossover segment.

Cadillac:

• Demand for the new Escalade continues to grow. Sales were up 86 percent for the vehicle’s best February since 2008.

Average Transaction Prices (ATPs):    

• ATPs were $34,700, according to PIN estimates through Feb. 22, up $2,700 per unit compared to a year ago.
• Incentives:
• Incentive spending as a percentage of ATPs was 9.7 percent in February, down 0.9 percentage points month over month, according to PIN estimates, while industry average spending was 9.9 percent of ATPs, up 0.1 points. 

Fleet and Commercial:

• Strong pickup, large SUV and crossover sales drove a 35-percent increase in Commercial deliveries, the 16th consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.
• Strong pickup and SUV sales drove a 25-percent increase in government deliveries.

Industry Sales:

• GM estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) for light vehicles in February was 16.5 million units.
• Trucks, including pickups, SUVs and vans, accounted for 17.3 percent of the retail industry, according to PIN estimates, up 1.6 percentage points.  Crossovers represented 39.2 percent of the market, up 1.2 percentage points, and cars represented 43.5 percent, down 2.8 percentage points.

[Z-06]

Colorado and Canyon are really starting to pump in some solid numbers. Colorado has become the second best seller behind Tacoma and combined the trucks are almost 75% of Tacoma sales volume. The Japanese should be worried.

 

GM's sedan quandary continues with NOT ONE sedan in green and almost all posting double digit losses. May be GM should just abandon making sedans, like it typically does for a declining segment. What's going on with the Sonic?

 

If it wasn't for GMC and Chevy trucks, GM would have seen the dark side like Ford did.

[Drew Dowdell]

What's going on with the Sonic?

I point you to the line item label "Trax"

[smk4565]

I love how when gas prices drop trucks sales boom as if gas isn't going to go back up to $4.  My how the American consumer quickly forgets.

 

Cadillac would be out of business without the Escalade, yet alpha numeric names are what people want and what sells according to DeNeschyn. 

[Cmicasa the Great]

 

What's going on with the Sonic?

I point you to the line item label "Trax"

 

 

 

 

This.. as I pointed out last month. Trax should have been called SONIC TRX or something, after all it is basically a tall Sonic.

[Cory Wolfe]

A lot of GM's vehicles are really hurting for sales so far. Very few bright spots, but they're big enough to offset all the losses, and then some.

 

Cadillac, of course, is still in need a miracle. Even those who always pine for prestige and profit per unit over volume have to admit this is becoming a problem. Then, you have Buick with 3 of its 5 models seeing double digit losses. Chevrolet also has double digit losses across the majority of its car line-up. Really, the only bright spots are seen in GM's truck and crossover lineup. Perhaps part of that is due to the hellish winter we've had so far... But, perusing other sales numbers sees other brands doing just fine. 

[ZL-1]

I love how when gas prices drop trucks sales boom as if gas isn't going to go back up to $4.  My how the American consumer quickly forgets.

 

Cadillac would be out of business without the Escalade, yet alpha numeric names are what people want and what sells according to DeNeschyn. 

The Escalade has earned a name on its own. If the previous STS was called Fleetwood or DeVille it would still have sold poorly... Cadillac's problem is mostly branding these days, at least in the US as product is there for the most part.

 

Agreed on the US consumer forgetting about every little bit of fuel efficiency concerns when gas prices go down...

Edited March 4, 2015 by ZL-1

[G. David Felt]

We are importing no oil now so why not enjoy our auto's and move over to even cheaper CNG. No reason to follow Europe with the stupid tax on engine size and a caste system that promises to keep people in a certain role of life. Yes Americans when feeling good will buy bigger stuff, but no problem we continue to grow and drive a solid portion of the worlds economy.

[Drew Dowdell]

We are importing no oil now so why not enjoy our auto's and move over to even cheaper CNG. No reason to follow Europe with the stupid tax on engine size and a caste system that promises to keep people in a certain role of life. Yes Americans when feeling good will buy bigger stuff, but no problem we continue to grow and drive a solid portion of the worlds economy.

 

Well.. no... our NET imports/exports are more on the export side... but that just means there is more oil flowing out of country and into the country.... but we're still importing oil.

[Z-06]

We are importing no oil now so why not enjoy our auto's and move over to even cheaper CNG. No reason to follow Europe with the stupid tax on engine size and a caste system that promises to keep people in a certain role of life. Yes Americans when feeling good will buy bigger stuff, but no problem we continue to grow and drive a solid portion of the worlds economy.

 

It's not as simplistic.

 

As far as SMK's comments are concerned, it is more of a tunnel vision view based on GM's sales. If you look at Toyota's sales, the Corolla and Camry are YTD have gained than the trucks sales have. That tells that customers have not made the shift to bigger vehicles despite the prices of gas being lower. In fact Autoblog had an article stating that customers are not making shift. It's always easier to blame a consumer without looking at the root cause.

[A Horse With No Name]

GM needs to do better marketing their vehicles, period.  We just bought a car (Jetta SE TDI) and looked around a good bit before we bought.  Our four finalists were Cruze, Volt, jetta TDI and GTI.  in the end wt was a TDI Vs Volt battle....Volt would have won if my six foot plus son had fit in the back seat better.

 

We really loved the Volt.

 

GM is building stuff that is as good as or better than anyone else dollar for dollar.  The Impala is probably the nicest car dolalr for dollar on the planet....by far.

 

Not sure why these vehicles are not selling better than they are.  if anyone can tell me....I would love to know.