General Motors Had A Bad Christmas With Sales Down 6.3%

And no, it's not because their Uncle Mort had a little too much eggnog and started talking about the Jews again or because Grandpa asked them what they're really gonna do with a Master's of Fine Arts degree for the thousandth time. GM had a rough Christmas because of December sales.

Specifically, the lack of said December sales. The Detroit Free Press reports that GM's sales last month were down a whopping 6.3 percent versus one year ago despite analysts' predictions of at least a 0.8 percent increase. Even fleet sales were down 9 percent.

The sales slump was across the board, too, the newspaper reports.

In December, sales declined for all four of GM's brands: Chevrolet fell 8.1%; GMC, down 1.8%; Buick slipped 6.6%, and Cadillac declined 0.5%.

Ouch. It's not all bad news, though. Sales picked up somewhat between Christmas and New Year's, the Corvette had its best December sales since 2006, and the new Malibu and Impala were up 33 percent and 10 percent respectively. And as usual, truck and SUV sales were strong, a trend that was true of all three American brands.

Overall 2013 was a good year for GM's sales. The Freep says their sales for the year were up 7 percent overall despite the December slump. Plus, they have the strongest car lineup they've had in a while and are finally free of government ownership.

Hopefully next Christmas will be a happier one for the General.

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