Thursday, July 14, 2005

Even higher fuel costs can't slow down GM truck sales!

JOHN K. TEAHEN JR. Automotive News --Posted Date: 7/13/05

Need further proof that America is becoming a nation of truck drivers?
General Motors' sales bonanza last month consisted of 69.1 percent trucks and only 30.9 percent cars. Truck sales were up a rousing 75.7 percent over last year; car sales rose a measly 7.3 percent. Those sales figures don't include Saab.

Looking at individual brands, Chevrolet truck sales jumped 72.7 percent, but its cars barely kept pace with last year, up only 2.0 percent. GMC truck sales zoomed 93.2 percent. GMC doesn't mess with cars.

Did desire trump gasoline price?
Sales of GM's large SUVs were mighty strong last month, raising two questions that we'll get to in a moment.

First of all, look at these year-to-year sales gains: GMC Envoy, 99.3 percent; GMC Yukon, 104.2 percent; Chevrolet Tahoe, 81.5 percent; Chevrolet TrailBlazer, 57.9 percent; Chevrolet Suburban, 48.3 percent; and Cadillac Escalade, 35.0 percent. Some of those vehicles are nearing the end of their life spans and will be replaced early next year.

Now for the questions, which may give marketing people a few sleepless nights: Did buyers say, "To heck with gasoline prices. I want one, and I'm going to buy one"?

Or was their rationale, "At prices like these, I can buy a lot of high-priced gasoline"?

Then and now
It's interesting to compare the first-month sales of GM's GM Employee Discount for Everyone with the first full month sales in the Keep America Rolling campaign that followed the 9/11 terrorist attack and featured 0 percent loans.

Keep America Rolling began in mid-September 2001, shortly after the attack, so October was the first full sales month. By then, Ford and Chrysler and several major imports had adopted the program.

Sales totals for the months are amazingly similar. GM dealerships delivered 544,215 North American cars and light trucks last month, just 1,878 more than in October 2001. June's total was 46.7 percent higher than a year earlier. In October 2001, the increase was 36.0 percent.
Last month, GM's market share rocketed to 32.4 percent, up an astonishing 6.8 percentage points from GM's subdued share last year. In October 2001, GM's North American makes had 31.6 percent share, up 1.6 points from the year before.

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