Chevrolet Cobalt second only to best-selling Impala
The Tribune-Chronicle reports that sales for the Chevrolet Cobalt through the first quarter of 2006 were nearly double that of the same period last year. The increase was seen on a month-to-month comparison as well. So far, over 52,000 Cobalts have been delivered this year.
The Impala still remains the General’s best-selling vehicle, delivering slightly over 24,000 vehicles last month. But unlike the Cobalt, the figure represented a 4-percent drop compared to March 2005.
Sales for the GMC Yukon, the Cadillac Escalade, and the Pontiac Pursuit (sold only in Canada) can be found in the Tribune-Chronicle’s report. Overall, GM saw deliveries down from last year as reported earlier on Autoblog.
[Source: Tribune-Chronicle]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
D 6:26PM (4/05/2006)
Do these sales numbers include fleet vehicle sales? Because if they do, thats an unfair comparison to other cars that may easily sell more when its only the general public buying. Everyone I know (and Im a 20 year old college student) would have a Scion, Toyota, Honda, or Subaru at the top of their lists, with the big 3 nowhere on the radar. Theres absolutely no reason to buy a Cobalt or Malibu when theres the Scion TC, Honda Civic, and Subaru Impreza all within the same pricepoint. GM needs to take their heads out of the sand and build something that would set them apart from the rest (RWD/AWD). If something like the Cobalt was RWD I would have no problem with parting my money with GM. But as it stands, I see no reason to buy a Cobalt over a Civic or Impreza.
On a parting note, look at Saab. Its turbo V6 makes a 10 Best Engine list, but it turns the wrong damn wheels in the car. I dont car if FWD saves money in manafacturing, theres no point if no one wants to buy the product. After the BMW 3 series being one of the best cars for over 20 years, you would think American car makers would get a clue.
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bernie 6:36PM (4/05/2006)
H.L. Mencken was right...
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
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Cervus 6:56PM (4/05/2006)
I dunno. There are some days when I see a half dozen Cobalts on the road here in San Diego. They are very numerous here. And the Cobalt was on my short list of new cars when I was in the market last year (first GM car that I liked the interior of, and it has a nice engine for a small car)
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Jason Boston 6:59PM (4/05/2006)
D => They're selling like hotcakes. If you added the Civic, Impreza, Tc sales for the entire quarter you wouldn't match the Cobalt sales for a month. Think about it. You are stuck in a 20-something marketing nitch, and the Asian manufacturers got you good. Chevy won't miss you and your friends, enjoy your cars, and quit bashing this hot selling, great little car!
I suspect you may be a foreign student? I find that overseas students are the worse bashers of the U.S. and products here. I work at a prestigious school, and the students from third world and major countries have a need to boost themselves by maligning the U.S. and it's culture. If it ain't Euro or Asian, Prada or Gucci, they don't have a gracious thing to say. The "ugly American tourist" syndrome has completely reversed to the nasty Euro/Asian Student syndrome.
Two cars you mention are FWD and one is AWD. Yet you think Cobalt should be RWD? That makes no sense, really what are you talking about?
I'm happy you're happy with your choice. I personally think Cobalt beats the price performance point on all the cars you listed except for the Tc, and is very attractive to the Y-generation looking for a cheap, stylish, exciting drive. The car rocks, dude, and sales prove it!
Chevy Cobalt => 171hp/163lb-ft, 24-32mpg, $18,735 with optional side Airbags and optional 4-speed automatic with Overdrive. (78 rating with C-R)
Honda Civic EX Coupe => 140hp/128lb-ft, 30-40mpg, $19,810 optional 5-speed automatic with Overdrive. (81 rating with C-R)
Scion Tc => 160hp/163lb-ft, 22-29mpg, $18,490 with optional side Airbags and optional 4-speed automatic. (74 rating with C-R)
Subaru Impreza => 173hp/166lb-ft, 22-28mpg, $19,720 with optional 4-speed automatic. (84 rating with C-R)
This is a very tight race indeed!
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Justin 6:59PM (4/05/2006)
And all of them went to the rental car companies.
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PJ 7:02PM (4/05/2006)
I'm pretty sure that number does include fleet sales, as an overall increase in fleet sales is briefly mentioned in the article.
Though I personally wouldn't buy a Cobalt sedan over, say, a Mazda 3, I'm not surprised that the car has done well. In terms of road manners, comfort, and materials quality, it's about on par with the previous-generation Civic. For Chevy loyalists trading in their Cavaliers, that must seem like quite a revelation.
Actually, even with the '06 Civic on the market, I can see a certain audience preferring the Cobalt for its more "normal-looking" interior. Naturally, resale values won't be as high, and reliability isn't a given--but again, for some buyers, having a domestic brand name on the hood makes up for these shortcomings.
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Abhi 7:05PM (4/05/2006)
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Columns/articleId=109823
An interesting article...good news for GM employees, no doubt.
But, I must venture here...GM's biggest problem is not losing its No. 1 spot to Toyota--the underlying reasons that enabled this are far more threatening. In fact, this might be good for it in the long-term, forcing it to fight its way back to the top, and thereby better itself.
Its recent designs have shown great improvement over the past.
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Tom Design 7:12PM (4/05/2006)
I didn't know the 4-speed automatic was the state-of-the-art on Scion and Subaru. That's a surprise. There are many complaints about 4 speed automatics on the Cobalt...why don't they bash Scion and Subaru for the same?
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Michael Karesh 7:36PM (4/05/2006)
The Cobalt isn't a great car, but it is a better car than many people think. Weak points include a tight rear seat and handling that lacks agility, but the ride is quite and smooth, and this is a higher priority for many people.
I frequently read complaints about the Cobalt's styling. But most cars in this segment are even more boring or even ugly: pre-2006 Civic, Focus sedan, post-2005 Jetta, Corolla, Impreza, Lancer, Sentra, etc. THe only compacts that look better to my eyes are the new Civic and Mazda3.
My review of the Cobalt:
http://www.epinions.com/content_195332181636
To see how the price of the Cobalt truly stacks up: http://www.truedelta.com/models/cobalt.php
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Vinny 7:45PM (4/05/2006)
Hey Jason. Kudos to you for your blind devotion to the domestic brands. Sounds like you're union and bitter.
Have you ever researched these models that you just mentioned? Try JD Powers for starters. JD Powers has a comparison tool (which you probably know about but are ignoring) as does MSN Autos, Consumer Reports and so on. But I suppose you think they are all just like me, domestic bashers, Japanese loyalists. Go ahead buy the domestic brands just because the price is a better "value".
Are you ignoring depreciation and reliablity ratings? And don't give me the line "that they're just as or more reliable than any other brand." I and millions of others know they're not. I had a Z71 Suburban made in Mexico that cost me $5,750 in repairs in the 12 months that I owned it. In that time I needed...
a new fuel pump => $650 (before my first payment) followed by another one 4 weeks later,
a new fuel guage =>$200
a switch for something on the alternator (service bulletin)=>$100,
a valve body assembly =>$650
a freakin new transmission! =>$3,500,
front differential bearings => $650
and rear => $750 which I said forget it and traded in for a new Mississippi-made Nissan Armada which I still have and love.
I paid $32,000 for the 2003 Z71 Suburban back in 2004 and could only get $16,500 for trade in anywhere I looked. Why the hit in depreciation in 12 months? Chevy was taking $12,000 off of brand new ones. Chevy should have thrown in some KY Jelly to make it not hurt so bad! Oh, calling their Detroit headquarters and the dealer did nothing. They were no help when it came to this lemon. I thought I was playing it safe buying a one year old Chevy.
I don't have blind hatred of the big three domestic. I love their classic cars. Mustangs, early Vettes, Charger, early Caddy's (when they were a benchmark). Now days their hands are tied. Their budget for R&D is razor thin because they have to overpay their labor. If they could dump their dead wood (union protected) and start running lean they might be a contender for my dollar.
THANKS AGAIN UNIONS! Even though you served a legit purpose a 100 years ago you've managed to be one of the largest negative influences on the econmy. Let the blind-followers start bashing Japan...
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Aki 7:56PM (4/05/2006)
"If you added the Civic, Impreza, Tc sales for the entire quarter you wouldn't match the Cobalt sales for a month. "
Why are some of the most ignorant people the most fervent fans of US autos? "I work at a prestigious school"--well I'm banking you didn't graduate from that prestigious school. Maybe to still be a fervent GM fan you need to keep burying your head in the sand.
Civic sales for March were 28969--that's MORE than the Impala, the NUMBER ONE selling GM brand. And the Impala is the #1 vehicle sold to Fleet. What was that about matching Cobalt sales for a month? Oh, and Cobalt is number 9 on the most sold Fleet vehicles. 25% of Chevrolet cars are sold to fleet. Meaning the real number of Cobalt sales is closer to 17,000.
Neither Honda or Toyota are on the top ten for fleet sales. Wake the heck up. Sick of these idiots that frequent the boards.
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Beanspants1 7:57PM (4/05/2006)
vinny,
You didn't have any warranty on a 1 year old car (more than 36,000 miles in about 1 year), or are you making that up?
if you couldn't afford any extended warranty as well, then you probably couldn't afford the car.
your story doesn't jive pal.
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iQuack 8:11PM (4/05/2006)
Cobalt is much improved over the Cavalier, but still an insipid thing compared with most imports which is too bad. You'd think GM would have created a better, all-new compact after hanging onto the crappy Cavalier for so long. What a disappointment!
The Impala seems to be much improved--much better looking than the ugly thing that was introduced 6 years ago. Better interior, too.
I see far more Impalas than Cobalts in San Francisco, but both almost always have the telltale bar code on the rear door window that screams, "RENTAL CAR!"
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Desiri 8:24PM (4/05/2006)
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BA4EDBB05%2D6EDB%2D4C7F%2DA7F7%2DA46A6BE1E292%7D&siteid=google
"Apr 5, 2006
General Motors Corp. (GM) will cut the third shift at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant due to lower-than-expected sales of its Chevrolet Cobalt small car.
GM told employees Wednesday that it will cut the plant's third shift sometime during the summer, GM spokesman Dan Flores said. GM will decrease daily production of the Cobalt to 1,000 vehicles from 1,300 vehicles in an effort to "bring capacity in line with sustainable market demand." "
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Vinny 8:43PM (4/05/2006)
Beanspants1
True, I bought it without an extended warranty. For that I am truly an idiot (plus buying my fist and last domestic car). I should have done it at the dealer but I thought I would "shop around" for a warranty but the thing kept breaking down and wiping out my dough in massive amounts. What the heck! It was only 1 year old in mint condition!
I've learned my lesson.
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Stoneman 8:46PM (4/05/2006)
Youch. I don't like Colbalts at all. OK I haven't driven the SS Supercharged one YET. I shall try sometime this summer though. I can think of a million cars to test drive other than the Cobalt.
Stoneman from
Stoneman Auto Review
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/sar/
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Chevy Cobalt SS 8:58PM (4/05/2006)
"GM will decrease daily production of the Cobalt to 1,000 vehicles from 1,300 vehicles in an effort to "bring capacity in line with sustainable market demand.""
That seems reasonable, because even based on the "record" figures, 1300 per day is 37,700 units per month (in a 29 day month) -- which is ALOT of cars per month.
http://www.cobaltss.com
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Leo 9:09PM (4/05/2006)
Aki's right about fleet sales. The domestics are unloading close to 30% of their vehicles on fleet sales, which doesn't make any profit and absolutely KILLS resale value (as if they needed help in that dept.)
Last time I looked Honda was lowest fleet sales, then Nissan at 7-8% and Toyota at just under 10%. When you look at resale, it's no accident why these 3 remain strong while the Big 2 1/2 suck wind.
Yes the Cobalt is better than the Cavalier. My 1979 Accord is too.
Many of these three companies don't really do fleet pricing, but will unload models in small volumes if the rental agency wants them badly enough to pay up.
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Vinny 9:45PM (4/05/2006)
RW
Now we're getting off topic (sorry to those that annoys) but I am not lying. I don't blame you for thinking it's BS. It's pretty unbelieveable.
I bought it at a Tulsa GMC dealer, Ernie Miller Pontiac GMC for WAY too much money ($32,000 for a truck with 39K on it when it should have been around $26,000). My first mistake was telling them that I was looking for a specific vehicle, then when they found one, I bought it at night. I didn't do my research on pricing either. I unknowingly let them rape me because I bought on emotion and bad perception. So that being said, I was an idiot and deserved to be screwed later down the road.
I would be an even bigger idiot if I didn't learn from every angle of this. Control my emotional buying habits and research everything.
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Koba 9:52PM (4/05/2006)
First, the car may be cheaper than a Civic, but the few thousand bucks you save will be erased in the first two years of ownership.
Second, while the new Civic is on the ugly side of funky, it is a high quality, safe (it's the best), well designed (well thought out) car.
Third, Honda's 1.8 liter I4 kills GM's 2.2 liter I4. About the same power, but greater fuel eficiency in the Honda. GM's 2.4 is a different story, but it's a good design that comes at a price, and dollar for dollar, if I wanted that type of powertrain, Subaru builds the Impreza, which is an AWD near-rally car (which is better than being the next Cavalier).
And last but definitely not least is the image of the Cavalier. Change the name, but it's just the next evolution. Check out some consumer reviews on it (like at edmunds), and there are some folks who are having cavalier-esque problems. The cavalier was a nightmare, and GM will have to seriously compensate for that car.
If I were in the market for a 16k-17k economy car, I would choose the Civic over the Cobalt. The Cobalt is like the focus, neon, lancer, and base Mazda 3, it's an honest, reasonably well built, all around decent compact sedan. But, the market is just too competitive, and GM has just been outclassed again.
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