At first my big question for General Motors — are y'all planning on issuing a press release at some point to provide your numbers? Usually the sales numbers are posted online about 15 minutes before the start of the conference call — and well, the conference call's started and narry a number to be found. But here's what we know from Paul Ballew on the call — sales are up 6%, with retail sales up 11% and fleet sales down 7%. He's also telling us truck sales are up 15% and up 17% in retail sales. All of these are good numbers, but we'll wait for the full release whenever the hell the General decides to release it.
UPDATE: The General's release, which apparently got a discount in the post-Thanksgiving Day sales of the word "retail," below the jump.
UPDATE 2: Also, they're cutting 1st quarter production — to do a better job of "managing inventories." How about snagging an idea from down the road, like some Chrysler-esque incentives — err — direct mail?
For Release: December 1, 2006
GM U.S. Retail Sales Up 11 Percent, Total Sales Up 6 Percent Compared With Last Year
GGM's U.S. Divisions Deliver 297,556 Vehicles In November
Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado and GMC Sierra Pickup Trucks On The Move — Large Pickup Retail Sales Up 29 Percent
New Tahoe, Yukon, and Escalade Push Full-Size Utilities Total Sales Up 73 Percent
Planned Daily Rental Fleet Reductions Impact Q1 2007 Production Forecast
DETROIT - General Motors dealers in the United States sold 297,556 new cars and trucks in November, a 6 percent increase compared with last year. Beginning with the 2007 model year in September, retail sales are up 13 percent and while retail sales for November were up 11 percent compared to a year ago. Retail truck sales were up 17 percent, led by a 29 percent increase in large pickup retail sales such as Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra and a 36 percent increase in luxury utility retail sales, including triple-digit retail increases for the entire Cadillac Escalade lineup. Retail car sales were up 1 percent, led by Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lucerne, Pontiac G5, Saturn Aura and Cadillac CTS.
"We continue to experience strong customer demand for our lineup of fuel efficient vehicles and new launch products. In a challenging market, we are pleased to be gaining momentum with our truck lineup, which we attribute to offering the best fuel economy and the best warranty in the segment, " said Mark LaNeve, General Motors North America vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Importantly, sales were solid throughout the month with dealers driving traffic with our annual year-end Red Tag Event." The Red Tag Event runs through January 2, 2007.
GMC, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, Saab and Saturn all had retail sales increases in November. GMC was up 23 percent retail, compared with a year ago, with double-digit sales increases for the Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL. Cadillac retail sales were up 26 percent, with a 15 percent increase in CTS and triple-digit increases for the entire Escalade lineup. Chevrolet retail sales were up 9 percent, with retail increases by Silverado, up 23 percent; Tahoe, up 50 percent; and Suburban, up 36 percent. Buick retail sales were up 38 percent, led by Lucerne which saw a sales increase of more than 6,000 vehicles compared with last November. Saab retail sales were up 25 percent, driven by a 87 percent hike for 9-5, a 64 percent rise for 9-7X and a 11 percent retail increase for 9-3. Lastly, Saturn retail sales were up 14 percent as the all-new 2007 Aura and Sky continue to bring new customers into the Saturn family.
"Our Manufacturing team worked extremely hard on a high-quality launch and has already produced more than 50,000 new 2007 Chevy Silverados and GMC Sierras, " LaNeve added. "This accelerated launch means we are in the marketplace 13 weeks ahead of schedule - and most importantly - ahead of the competition with the best quality, fuel economy and value in the important full-size pickup segment."
GM continues to reduce its reliance on daily rental sales. Sales to daily rental companies were down 13 percent compared to year-ago levels, while non-daily rental fleet business was up 5 percent. Overall fleet sales of 80,452 vehicles were down 7 percent compared with last November.
Certified Used Vehicles
November sales for GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, were 42,006 down 1 percent comparable to last November's sales. Certified sales from Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles were not available at the time of this release. Total year-to-date certified GM sales, excluding November sales of Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, are 478,389 units, down 1 percent compared with the same period last year.
GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling certified pre-owned brand, posted 36,485 sales in November, down 1.7 percent from November 2005. Year-to-date sales for GM Certified Used Vehicles are 413,688 units, comparable to last year's results for the same period.
Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles posted 3,545 sales in November, up 16 percent from last November. Saturn certified pre-owned sold 1,351 unites down 25 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 514 units, up nearly 5 percent. In its eleventh month of operation, HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned sold 112 units.
"Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles continues to roll along with another strong monthly sales performance. For the month, they were up 16 percent over November 2005, with year-to-date sales up 8 percent from the same period last year," said LaNeve. "Through November, GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling certified brand, sold 413,688 units, comparable to its category record annual sales in 2005."
GM North America Reports November 2006 Production, 2006 Fourth Quarter Production Forecast Remains Unchanged at 1.110 Million Vehicles, 2007 First Quarter Production Forecast Set at 1.140 Million Vehicles
In November, GM North America produced 360,000 vehicles (148,000 cars and 212,000 trucks). This is down 71,000 units or 16 percent compared to November 2005 when the region produced 431,000 vehicles (169,000 cars and 262,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 20,000 vehicles in November 2006 and 30,000 vehicles in November 2005.)
The region's 2006 fourth quarter production forecast is unchanged at 1.110 million vehicles (449,000 cars and 661,000 trucks). In the fourth quarter of 2005 the region produced 1.281 million vehicles (483,000 cars and 798,000 trucks). Additionally, the region's initial 2007 first quarter production forecast is set at 1.140 million vehicles (457,000 cars and 683,000 trucks), down 9 percent from first quarter 2006 actuals. The majority of the production decrease in the first quarter is attributed to GM's ongoing efforts to reduce low-margin daily rental fleet sales. The remainder of the cuts is attributed to shifting production to the company's new full-size pickups and the ongoing management of inventories.
GM also announced unchanged 2006 fourth quarter production forecast and initial 2007 first quarter production forecasts for its international regions.
GM Europe- GM Europe's 2006 fourth quarter production forecast is unchanged at 445,000 units. In the fourth quarter of 2005 the region built 443,000 vehicles. The region's initial 2007 first quarter production forecast is set at 508,000 vehicles.
GM Asia Pacific- The region's 2006 fourth quarter production forecast is unchanged at 504,000 units. In the fourth quarter of 2005 the region built 420,000 vehicles. GM Asia Pacific's initial 2007 first quarter production forecast is set at 539,000 vehicles.
GM Latin America, Africa and the Middle East - The region's 2006 fourth quarter production forecast is unchanged at 215,000 units. In the fourth quarter of 2005 the region built 188,000 vehicles. The region's 2007 first quarter production forecast is set as 214,000 vehicles.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM operates one of the world's leading finance companies, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.
Note: GM sales and production results are available on GM Media OnLine at http://media.gm.com by clicking on News, then Sales/Production. In this press release and related comments by General Motors management, we use words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, representing our current judgment about possible future events. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Among other items, such factors might include: the pace of introductions and market acceptance of new products; the effect of competition on our markets and significant changes in the competitive environment; price increases or shortages of fuel; and changes in laws, regulations or tax rates. GM's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q provide information about these factors, which may be revised or supplemented in future reports to the SEC on Form 10-Q or 8-K.
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Breaking Yesterday! Try Not To Smack Your Head On The Low Bar Of October Sales Expectations [internal]