General Motors reported global sales of 2,296,000 vehicles in the third quarter, which is a 3-percent decline versus Q3 of last year. That's only 66,000 unit off what was sold during the same period in 2005, and the GM spinmeisters attribute the difference to the employee pricing war last year and the company's commitment to reduce rental and fleet sales this year. Aight, we can buy that, so perhaps GM really did hold its ground this year in the global market. The automaker claims its market share in North America, which includes the U.S. and Canada (it's first and third biggest markets) has increased steadily each quarter this year, from 23.8 percent in Q1 to 24.1 percent in Q2 to 25.1 percent in Q3. Since the press release has no hard numbers, that claim is difficult to verify, but most around the Autoblog office believe it to be true since the General's done particularly well with its more vanilla offerings like the Cobalt and Impala. Still, the General's global brands kicked it up a notch with Chevy seeing growth in nearly every market, especially the ones that will become increasingly important like India (up 44%) and China (up 6%). As we reported earlier, HUMMER sales are also strong around the world, up 54% year to date. It's all about the H3 though, with GM neglecting to mention the H2 in its press release at all.
Check out the rest of GM's report on its Q3 performance after the jump, but as with any sales report, be ready to wade through some spin.
[Source: GM]
PRESS RELEASE:
GM Delivers 2.3 Million Vehicles in Third Quarter
- Global HUMMER Sales Up 54 Percent Year to Date
- Saab Sales at Record Levels Through First Nine Months
- Chevrolet Records Double-Digit Sales Increases in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin American Regions
DETROIT – General Motors reported third-quarter global sales (July-September) of 2,296,000 vehicles, supported by the performances of its global brands Cadillac, Chevrolet, Saab and HUMMER. Although the overall number marks a 3-percent decrease over the same period a year ago, the difference of 66,000 vehicle sales compared with the same period last year is largely attributable to a comparison with the results of the Employee Discount for Everyone program in North America last year and the planned reduction of daily rental and fleet sales this year. GM's foundational brand Chevrolet saw double-digit increases in the most important growth markets around the world.
"Our global brands Cadillac, Chevrolet, Saab and HUMMER continue to show their worldwide strength. We're also seeing outstanding growth through the first nine months of the year for GM brands in emerging markets such as China (up 37 percent); Russia (up 64 percent); and India (up 18 percent)," said John Middlebrook, vice president of global sales, service and marketing.
"We are seeing the revitalized marketing strategy in North America first stabilize, and now slightly improve, our market share in the United States -- from 23.8 percent in the first quarter of 2006, to 24.1 percent in Q2, then 25.1 percent in Q3."
Chevrolet recorded year to date sales increases in Asia Pacific (27 percent), Latin America and the Middle East (20 percent) and Europe (10 percent). Most encouraging is Chevrolet's third-quarter growth in emerging markets such as Russia, up 89 percent; India, up 44 percent; Brazil, up 16 percent; and China up 6 percent. Chevrolet also saw record third-quarter sales in Europe, and a 10 percent increase compared to last year, with 87,000 vehicles sold. Further growth for the brand is expected with the introduction of the new Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup truck in North America, and the expanded availability of the Captiva sport utility in Europe, Asia and other select markets.
HUMMER sales remain strong with a 54-percent increase year to date. Global year to date H3 sales are up 120 percent compared with the same period a year ago. In the Middle East, HUMMER sales were up 368 percent, with 1,700 vehicles sold, year to date. In the United States, H3 sales for the quarter were up 20 percent to 16,000 vehicles. Global HUMMER sales should continue to strengthen with the additional H3 volume available from GM's new assembly facility in South Africa. Production of H3s began this month in South Africa, and a right-hand-drive version of the H3 will be added to the portfolio next May.
Cadillac sales in China and Europe have shown powerful improvements so far this year. In China, where Cadillac was introduced only two years ago, year to date sales are up 43 percent. In Europe, Cadillac sales are up 30 percent year to date. In the United States, Escalade continues its dominance of the Large Luxury Utility segment with a 41 percent share of the market.
Saab global year to date sales increased 7 percent compared with year-ago levels, to 104,000 vehicles, helping the brand set a new record for the first nine months of the year. Growth was seen in Europe and Asia where sales increased 18 percent compared with the first nine months of 2005. In Sweden, the Saab 9-5 BioPower was once again the number one 'green vehicle' sold.
Note: Numbers and percentages are preliminary and have been rounded.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
laserwizard @ Oct 20th 2006 11:08AM
GM can spin this all they want, but growth came primarily in China and the East where any automaker could sell a donkey attached to a Yugo and still post sales increases. GM is not in good shape internationally as long as North America is run by numbnuts like Putz and his buttmunch hack Wagoner (or is it the other way around? One doesn't exactly know who wears pants in that family!).
Meanwhile Toyota is picking up steam and continues to thrive and to continue to pump more R&D money than GM does into future products.
Remember - GM is the company who spent billions on full-sized SUV's just when the market went south - and did very little to improve their already mediocre full-sized pickups. Where their profit centers could have used innovation, progressive styling, and some risk taking, GM did what it always does - half-assed, tepid, and bland.
Spin it, GM. I'm on to you and will never let it go until you are serious by tossing Putz and Wagoner out the door and in front of a bus.
Patricia @ Oct 20th 2006 11:11AM
Hey, all those domestic bashers who love to root for the GM Death Watch - Booo Hooo
I've saying for a while that GM woud come back and be stronger than ever. Just watch...
Paul @ Oct 20th 2006 11:14AM
nobody believes this trash from gm
beaker @ Oct 20th 2006 11:28AM
Who cares how many vehicles they sell? Did they make any money? For years they sold a ton of vehicles, losing thousands on each one. Nissan sold a fraction of the number of vehicles as GM, but actually makes money on each car (on average).
Please, tell me of any other industry where they care about how many products they sell and not how much money they make.
AR @ Oct 20th 2006 11:32AM
Hey Patricia, why don't you go back to your job as lumberjack and leave the car talk to real men. Listen to laserwizard, he makes some valid points. This is hardly a victory for GM. North America is GM's most important market and the battle is far from over.
Paul @ Oct 20th 2006 11:36AM
this is more window dressed bad news from gm. they will be back at the brink again next year. too much overhead, too few sales, too many dopey UAW workers, too much debt.
Patricia @ Oct 20th 2006 11:49AM
#5. "Hey Patricia, why don't you go back to your job as lumberjack and leave the car talk to real men. Listen to laserwizard, he makes some valid points. This is hardly a victory for GM. North America is GM's most important market and the battle is far from over."
Valid points? Let me address your stupid e-mail:
1. I an a lumberjack? Try a woman with a masters degree in Electrical Engineering.
2. Who says that North America is GM's most important market? In the long range, the most important markets for any car company today are EMERGING MARKETS ignorant!!! That is, China, India, and parts of Latin America.
Go back to school.
3. Of course you side with a sexist pig like laserwizard. The two of you make sexist comments (laser: "Who wears the pants in this family? you: real men") Why? Are you gay? Did you get rejected in high school?
Corey W. @ Oct 20th 2006 12:01PM
It's actually amazing how personal some of you take this, the bashing.... it's like Road Rage.
Accordsforall @ Oct 20th 2006 12:17PM
I may not be a sexist pig.. but women definately dont understand the grand workings of the world of automobiles. They are no longer.. just in the US. Its the world. And when ya tell a woman how important a car is and what can be wrong and how critical some moves by automakers are.. they just tell ya CARS DONT MATTER. They are just cars.
As I believe.. CARS are as important as politics. I follow every blunder and every drop in GM / Ford Stock price.
Every detail.
And the way GM goes.. they will hit the crapper.. faster than a.. .. in the crapper. Look PATRICIA, look at the ads, look at the rebates try and get your little mind around terms like flexible manufacturing, autostick and brand engineering. Concepts like why the OPEL brand for GM of EU is the new SATURN SKY / PONTIAC SOLSTICE.
WHen ya can look at a car as what it stands for.. instead of the shiny things.. then get back to me.
But just remember.. GM HAS 9 brands to work with.. all are LOADED WITH SUVS. And I for one.. hope they go bankrupt.
The other Bob @ Oct 20th 2006 12:20PM
Actually it is very good news for GM.
These numbers are compared to last year's third quarter numbers, which were artificially high due to the GM employee pricing. That said, last year's numbers had little profit.
Since then, GM has instituted pricing that will give them a higher profit and despite these fewer incentives, the report shows an increase in US market share.
This is all good news to a company that also has a bunch of new product hitting showrooms now.
Paul @ Oct 20th 2006 12:28PM
i agree with accordsfaorall. americans and the world will be better off with a liquidated GM.. better products will be available and less use of oil resourses. there will be more cars then made in china which will mean lower prices, better for the economy. it will force the unproductive uaw members to find more productive jobs, for less money, closer to their market value.
Moses @ Oct 20th 2006 12:29PM
The other Bob
In fact Bob, GM already knows they are in for big increases from these new offerings, it's good to see the General doing well again. I'm looking forward to the day when a Toyota will be as rare as a unicorn, and with their poor quality that day may be sooner than later.
mattlach @ Oct 20th 2006 12:39PM
Beaker:
Exactly.
Without any other supporting information this report is completely and totally useless.
We need to know information on non-recurring costs, recorrung costs, and revenue to judge how well GM is going. The Unit count is only a part of the equation to give us that information, and is utterly useless on its own.
anahit @ Oct 20th 2006 12:46PM
Beaker's absolutely right. Volume means squat when the company is consistently losing stadiums full of money. GM's spin sounds like the spewings of some ridiculous Internet company circa 2000.
I know the car industry because I'm neither male nor female--I'm a complete hermaphrodite and therefore have automotive gravitas.
AZMike @ Oct 20th 2006 12:48PM
well golly-gosh gee wiz,
cut it up any way you want, folks, but GM's market share in the US has gone up considerably. in case you didn't know, automakers fight over tenths of percents of market share.
always love the comments about how "they kept building SUVs that no one wanted".
what?
perhaps the naysayers should be telling us what we should be driving, right? perhaps a rickshaw? for some reason, the domestic-bashers quickly forget that the Japanese couldn't wait to abandon the teeny-car market for the greener (and more profitable) pastures of large, V-8 powered SUVs and pickups. why do you keep forgetting that? do you think that Nissan and Toyota dealers are chopping the roots from all the Sequoias and Armadas on their lots? the market responds to what people want, and it can't change directions in a few weeks.
the Japanese throw you a few teeny-car bones (Yaris, Fit, etc.), and you think they're heroes. you might want to check their anticipated sales of these models; small expectations at best. no volume sellers here; it's in the bigger stuff.
as far as profits go, you might want to check the history books on that one. the Japanese were notorious for 'dumping' (selling for under cost) vehicles here in the US all the way thru the early 80's, for the sole purpose of gaining market share. why do you think the Europeans quickly put quotas on Japanese imports, but not on American vehicles? they knew we played on a level field, and the Japanese didn't.
Bob Lutz is a consummate "car guy"; I don't think GM would have hired an idiot. check those history books again; he was very much a part of Chrysler's resurgance in the 1990's starting with the 1993 LH models.
American auto companies have a very rich history to draw on; the Japanese don't. we can pull styling cues, models, and even nameplates from cars even fifty (or more) years ago that people can identify with. the Japanese could perhaps build a recreation of the timeless Toyopet Crown of 1958, or perhaps even the "trendy" styling of the Stout pickup. we can always hope that Nissan will resurrect the timeless Datsun Honey Bee. I'm sure it would cause the same sales sensation, and emotional response as the recently restyled Mustang did.
I can only dream.
Mike
Richard Warren @ Oct 20th 2006 12:50PM
Key words on this report GLOBAL
"GM can spin this all they want, but growth came primarily in China and the East where any automaker could sell a donkey attached to a Yugo and still post sales increases."
Take off the blinders North America is not the center of the universe and growth is where you get it.
#4 "Who cares how many vehicles they sell? Did they make any money? For years they sold a ton of vehicles, losing thousands on each one"
That's not really the truth, it's NA where the larger losses have happened and explain the "for years" what you really show as a loss depends on what you're showing as costs and how you figure those costs.
"Meanwhile Toyota is picking up steam and continues to thrive and to continue to pump more R&D money than GM does into future products"
Yet they cut back on their projections of when they may become #1 globally, just a few weeks ago.
"GM is the company who spent billions on full-sized SUV's just when the market went south"
As if the plans to develop those new offerings (3 to 5 years out)were tied to an increae in fuel prices that nobody really saw coming. Those billions were not spent this last year alone.
"Nissan sold a fraction of the number of vehicles as GM, but actually makes money on each car (on average)."
So, that's why the French bought them as they approaced near BK?
"These numbers are compared to last year's third quarter numbers, which were artificially high due to the GM employee pricing."
Yep, nailed it!
As to the comments at women and cars, perhaps you should look at how many women there are in the automotive business, you might also look at how many women buy cars:
The statistics tell an interesting story. Women now purchase more than 50% of all new vehicles, purchase 48% of all used vehicles, and influence 80% of all vehicle sales. Gone are the days when the little lady sat back and let the “man of the house” choose her car. Now she’s surfing the net for information and saying “yes” or “no” where it counts - in the showroom.
Female customers have historically tended to be very loyal, scoring quite high on the loyalty scale in consumer research.
ASE found that more than 65% of customers who take their vehicles to a repair shop for service and repair are women. Some repair industry experts estimate that the average may actually be closer to 80 percent.
So Patrica I'll say that some of us understand the importance of women in this business and their opinions and apologize for some of the remarks directed at you.
Lithous @ Oct 20th 2006 12:55PM
"Please, tell me of any other industry where they care about how many products they sell and not how much money they make."
Just heard last night that Sony probably won't be able to recoup the money spent on making the PS3 but plans to sell a bunch.
"Concepts like why the OPEL brand for GM of EU is the new SATURN SKY / PONTIAC SOLSTICE."
Read this (or if your lazy ass wants, just look for the word Solstice): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Cherry GM has owned and CONTROLLED Opel since the 1920's (except when the Nazi's took over production of everything) and so you import fanboys (import fantoddlers is more appropriate most of the time) have no clue that GM might have sent Americans to work and design things too. When GM tries to be global you import fanboys try to give them a hard time as well.
LongInTheToothAccordsforall
Lithous @ Oct 20th 2006 1:00PM
"Who cares how many vehicles they sell? Did they make any money? For years they sold a ton of vehicles, losing thousands on each one"
Yes, but they are slowly getting rid of legacy costs and so selling more means more profit eventually and keeping more workers employed.
Accordsforall @ Oct 20th 2006 1:10PM
I flat out do not apologize for any and all comments directed at Patricia. These are the same types.. driving DURANGOS and Tahoes, Escalades and SUVS of all sorts. These are the same people who cant figure out how to change lanes and or operate a vehicle weighing more than 4500lbs.
Hell will freeze over and I will drive domestic when my woman decided the car she wants is the one with the color that matches her.. or the interior that has a spot for her.. or the wheels that are so shiny (and cost 1500 to replace when ya hit a pothole).
But enough of that bashing.
For all of the reading I do.. I read a dozen car mags a month, plus a dozen sites online. I also keep track of automaker sales per month and what vehicles are sold for cheap.
Now.. Im sure women shop online for cars.. (holds back the comment). They dont know.. nearly enough.
As for as the N.A automaker goes.. this one is by far the most competitive. But lacks the design that E.U gets. The EU also doesnt have the domestic bias that strangles most of the domestic buyers here.
Id also like to comment that.. my fiance and I (I drive an Accord from 92 with 350,000) while my fiance drives a Focus from 03 and its been in the shop more times than Ive gotten gas in a month's time. Long story short..: Her father and I got into this.. screaming match at a local bar / restaurant about what is killing auto sales. Is it the high cost of making them in Michigan vs India.. paired with the strangle hold of the UAW or is it the fact that THE DOMESTICS dont build vehicles PEOPLE WANT.
I can go into a shpiel about how many cars Ford Motor Company AKA MOFOCO has DUMPED cause they cant market them. Taurus / Sable, Contour, (Ranger is very close), all of their Minivans windstar - freestar - aerostar, then there is contour mistique and escort.
And the reason why the FRENCH BOUGHT NISSAN is because NISSAN was in a CHRYSLER (BK) position. And the only one to buy them out was RENAULT... and there for a possible link to auto sales through Nissan dealers of RENAULT cars.
Id also like to say..
The IMPALA looks like nothing from 30yrs ago it just took the place of the LUMINA. As did the Monte Carlo coupe took its cues from the Lumina and now takes them from the Impala. Its fat, its bloated. And it sells to the NASCAR / mohawk / beer drinkign duh-duh crowd.
And Id also like to say..
Ford saw the fact that hybrids need to be on the market as he said in 01 that he will make 250k by 2010. He recanted on that 5yrs later to say.. its not feasable. Yet he cant PRODUCE A damn hybrid sedan!!! GET OFF THE G-D HYBRID SUV B.S AND MAKE A DAMN 3-BOX SEDAN!!
And as for road rage like comments about cars... patricia...
Think about how many jobs in the US are related to the car industy and how many PLANTS GM AND FORD WILL CLOSE by 2012. And tell yourself that same lie again..
Lithous @ Oct 20th 2006 1:28PM
"Think about how many jobs in the US are related to the car industy and how many PLANTS GM AND FORD WILL CLOSE by 2012. And tell yourself that same lie again."
GM will still support more U.S. jobs in 2015 (even) than Toyota (unless our under educated kids keep buying their products because they see nothing but Japanese products in their rooms and just think that is cool).
The way that Toyota sells cars is no different than the election ads on TV. It is more about getting people to perceive something than based on the facts. It is better strategy for Toyota to show a picture of the U.S. and the handful of states they operate in than to tell us why their vehicle is better. It is like the Dems (no, I'm not a Repub) showing Republicans with W in order to win your vote. Same crap, different genre.