GM sales down

[ZR1-S10]

NBC just showed that GM sales where down alot! What happen to the sale inprovments of Dec and Jan? Did It really drop that much in 2 months? Anybody got anything to say about this?

[OBI WAN]

Here sales went from Feb 04 at 2920 to Feb 05 at 1082. I am for one glad of this number, could be why I got a 05 Blazer cheap!!!

[bvr775]

It wasn't just gm sales that droped. There is a trend right now to get away from the gas guselers and heavy suvs and moveing towards lux cars and wagons that get better milage and a cheaper insurance premium. Exspect their car sales to start going up in the near future and possibly a reintroduction a small pickup. Fords ranger and the dodge dakota have stayed the path from laast year conssidering the condition of our economy right now.

[ZR1-S10]

Yeah but why do they have to pick GM out of the group to show on the air. It doesn't help us win aginst the imports when the t.v. shows crap like that.

[JROD©™®]

because GM is the behemoth...the largest automobile maker in the world. you don't hear about Corel in the news...you hear about Microsoft...you don't hear about Mr. Pibb...its Coca Cola...so on and so forth...

[ZR1-S10]

What? People have an inferior complex and like to see a #1 go down? What a bunch of a$$holes!

[JROD©™®]

bingo my friend...thats exactly why. same deal with all the negative news and shiat...

[bvr775]

They had the biggest drop off in sales. that and they refuse to move away from the big trucks and have the highest emisions and lowest milage. Their not picking on GM because of an iferority complex. Their picking on them because they refuse to fix a problem that needs to be fixed.

[ZR1-S10]

What's wrong with big trucks with bad gas milage? We all here have them!

[bvr775]

actually I'm averageing 26mpg right now. That's an big improvment over the 21 mpg avg I got when I bought the truck new.

the big suvs get around 9-13mpg. we'er at and below sea level. I thinck it get worse the futher up in altitude you go.

[inprogress10]

What's wrong with big trucks with bad gas milage? We all here have them!

i hate to burst your bubble my friend but an s10 hardly qaulifies as a big truck. with/without a drop its considered a mini. unless its a zr2.

[bvr775]

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic.


S-10 are not mini-trucks. That's a horable stereotype cast upon the truck by the Cocky teens, corprate magazines and the , luvs, coriers, and mazdas of the 70 and early 80s. The s-10s are 1/2 ton pickups. That put them in mid-size class as far as I'm conserned. The 1st gens would fall into the compact sport truck class, but never mini. I'll leave the mini-truck classifacation to to hack magazine that i don't buy.

[importmaster1300]

Well first off I really hate the fukkin media!
What exactly is a MINI then?
I guess a Mazda?
eh I dont care. All I know is s-10's are the **** and everyone I see, I see potental.

I stopped watchin the news and started fixin up my truck, after bein in the center of Iraqi freedom, I said fukk CBS,NBC and the rest of em'

Oh 1 more thing, give it a few months and GM will be fine.

[OBI WAN]

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. posted sales declines last month, as higher prices and low temperatures discouraged buyers, while Japanese rivals and the smallest of Detroit's Big Three made impressive gains.

Moreover, GM and Ford said Tuesday that sales of big trucks and SUVs - vehicles that provide the highest profits - were down sharply from a year ago, apparently the victim of consumer worries about high fuel prices.

Both companies said they'll produce fewer vehicles in the remainder of the first quarter and in the second quarter versus a year ago - cutbacks that are sure to hurt revenue and profits.

GM, the world's largest automaker, posted a 12.7 percent decline after a slight 1 percent increase in January. Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, said sales of its domestic cars and trucks fell 3 percent in February - its ninth straight month of lower sales versus a year ago.

Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said Ford and GM couldn't lure customers out in the cold in part because they increased prices at the beginning of February. He said a general feeling of cabin fever - and more competitive pricing - could improve sales in March and April.

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said sales rose 7.5 percent on another month of sizzling car business, which was up 21 percent from a year ago. Truck sales rose 4 percent.

"Sales for February show we're sustaining our momentum and leading us toward a sixth consecutive successful quarter of sales," said Gary Dilts, Chrysler's group vice president for sales.

Industrywide, vehicle sales were off 1.9 percent from last February. The seasonally adjusted sales rate was 16.3 million units, up slightly from 16.2 million in January but off from 16.5 million a year ago. The rate indicates what sales would be for the full year if they remained at the same pace for all 12 months. Full-year sales for 2004 were about 17 million.

The best reports again came from Asian companies. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's top automaker, said its U.S. arm's sales rose 11 percent from a year ago, while Nissan Motor Co. logged a 10 percent increase - its best February on record despite a 2 percent decline in car sales.

"As gas prices continue their upward march, fuel efficiency catches the public eye," said Jim Press, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. "Our investment in a broad lineup of fuel-efficient vehicles continues to drive showroom traffic."

Even smaller Suzuki Motor Corp., which is looking to become a bigger player in the Asian assault on the U.S. automotive market, grabbed a bit more business with a 17.6 percent improvement in sales from a year ago. Suzuki launched an ambitious plan in 2003 to triple U.S. sales by 2007.

Honda Motor Co., hurt in part by an aging version of its high-volume Civic car, said sales dropped 7 percent from a year ago. Car sales declined 16.5 percent, and truck sales climbed 7.5 percent. Honda is in the midst of redesigning its entire Civic lineup for 2006.

GM said its truck sales fell 9 percent while car business tumbled 17 percent. The automaker said some new products, such as the Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Cobalt, had solid performances, but overall it acknowledged a somewhat rotten start to 2005.

"The calendar year is starting off slower than expected, both for GM and the industry," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for North American sales, service and marketing.

Ford said truck sales - which include pickups, SUVs and minivans - fell 8 percent, while demand for cars rose 9 percent.

The uptick in Ford's car business was pegged to two new sedans, the Ford Five-Hundred and Mercury Montego, and the continuation of heavy demand for the redesigned Mustang launched last year.

"We're extremely pleased with the sales curve for our new products," said Earl Hesterberg, Ford's group vice president for North American marketing, sales and service.

But bigger vehicles, such as the Ford Explorer and Expedition and GM's Cadillac Escalade EXT and Chevrolet Suburban SUVs, all saw double-digit sales declines from a year ago. Even sales of Ford's top-selling F-Series lineup, which accounts for about one-fourth of Ford's total sales, were down 11 percent last month.

Industry executives and observers say consumer concern over fuel prices is partly to blame for fewer sales of big SUVs. For example, demand for the four-wheel-drive Expedition, which the Environmental Protection Agency says gets 14 miles per gallon in city driving and 18 mpg on the highway, is off nearly 25 percent so far this year. The average price of gasoline nationwide is $1.93 a gallon, an increase of 23.7 cents from a year ago, according to the latest government report released Monday.

Analysts say the increasing number of crossover vehicles on the market also are drawing customers away from hulking SUVs. Crossovers, such as the Nissan Murano and Ford Freestyle, have characteristics of a car, minivan and SUV and seem to be a happy medium for drivers who like the stylishness and on-road command of an SUV but don't necessarily need the off-road ruggedness.

"The losses we've seen in the traditional makes have been recouped by the growing sales and market share of our crossover entries," said George Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst.

GM and Ford both lowered their first-quarter production plans and announced second-quarter schedules below last year's levels. GM said it plans to produce 1.25 million vehicles in North America in the April-June period, down from 1.39 million a year ago. Ford said it plans to build 940,000 vehicles in North America in the second quarter, 11,000 fewer than a year ago.