Employee pricing discount saves the month, GM beat out all other automakers for percentage of sales decrease comparing Sept ’07 to Sept ’08: GM was expected to announce a sales decline of 24%. Ford reported a decline of 35%, with their expected rate being 25%. Chrysler dropped 33%, Honda dropped 24%, Toyota dropped 32%, and Nissan dropped 37%.
It turns out GM beat the expectations and sales only dropped 15.6%. This was less than the industry overall where sales slumped 20%. As well, GM market share overall increased to 27% which they noted was their highest monthly market share of 2008. Per GM North American VP Mark LaNeve, “September marked the second consecutive month where GM performed extremely well in tough market conditions.”
GM noted particularly that Malibu sales were up 200 percent and that a total of 1957 hybrids were sold in the month. That hybrid sales numbers included 91 of those 70K + 2-Mode Escalades.
__________________
2008 Black/Black GXP, purchased 7/23 right off the train.
Mod#1 blacked-out headlights
Mod#2 GMPP Intake -I like to hear my turbo.
Mod#3 Special Sauce
Mod#4 Solo Street Race
'97 Burb.
"07 Charger R/T, Mama's car
Race #1 Charger 0 /Sol 1
That is pretty spectacular considering the competition.... now if they only hadn't fought higher emmission standards for so long they might be riding this wave instead of bobbing
Hmm.. and GM is cutting all contract employees at the end of this week to save money.
Seems odd. I know my dealership cleared 30+ Acadia's in September, not to mention every G8 GT they could get on the lot. They were moving vehicles like no other... and they were very happy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pontiac builds excitement... Saturn has rethought it's image...
The time has come for the enthusiasts... NASSOA(TM)
Founding Member-Vendor and Marketing Coordinator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Rosamond, CA - Home of Willow Springs Raceway
What shocked me was how Nissan took such a dump considering they were the only company in the black (sales) for the last two months.
__________________
2007 Cool GXP with Darkside Top, 5 spd, Ebony Cloth, Monsoon with Single CD, Sport Pedals, XM, A/C
Mods - Solo Street/Race Exhaust, K&N Drop-in Air Filter, EDAL
I almost traded in my Challenger to pay $39K for a $47K Enclave.
__________________
2008 Black/Black GXP, purchased 7/23 right off the train.
Mod#1 blacked-out headlights
Mod#2 GMPP Intake -I like to hear my turbo.
Mod#3 Special Sauce
Mod#4 Solo Street Race
'97 Burb.
"07 Charger R/T, Mama's car
Race #1 Charger 0 /Sol 1
It is good that GM did better than expectations, but the reality is that the market has shrunk so much that it really doesn't help GM that much. GM needs it's share to hold flat, or increase with the market doing well. Seeing slower losses than other companies in a bad market still leads to oblivion for the General.
I heard on the news today that one of the reasons that GM fared better than the others (in reporting a smaller decline in sales) was that GM focused on fleet sales rather than consumer sales and therefore was less impacted by the credit crunch.
__________________ Carpe Diem
'Mysti' - '08 Mysterious 5-spd GXP, Ebony w/ red stitching, loaded, de-badged, BSR tune, Hahn I/C, K&N drop-in filter, Carolina Custom arm rests/door pockets, DDM ProBeam, splash guards, Pontiac vinyl bra (moded to fit GXP), Kappasphere wind restrictor, stubby antenna, ProClip cell phone holder, yellow calipers.
"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
Location: here or there, depending on one's perspective
Just wait a while for the full quarterly report to come out. If their margins are getting pressured having high sales volume isn't going to be something to cheer too much about. It's surprisingly common how many companies will push for higher sales volume even when they're losing increasing amounts per unit. I will say, though, that they're doing a damn fine job with promoting value; the employee pricing scheme certainly resonates and those companies that aren't doing something nearly as organized are suffering for it.