The question remains how well GM is doing relative to other automakers. Quick answer - lousy.
Dealers for General Motors delivered 25% more vehicles in July from its surviving Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands for a total of 199,432 units when compared to a modest July of 2009.
Overall sales year-to-date were up 5.4% to 1,280,213 units compared to 1,143,799 last year. However, the industry was up 14.7% during the same period, meaning the GM continues to lag sales trends.
GM said U.S. auto sales for the industry ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 11.7 million units in July, compared to 11.2 million a year ago.
Another potentially troublesome trend was a decline of -3.8% in retail sales year-to-date as fleet sales are increasing.
Incentive costs also remain relatively high with $3741 on average required to move each unit of metal, according to J.D. Power.
GM sales executives defended the incentive spending by introducing a new metric – the percentage of incentive per average transaction price. Here, GM at 10.6% YTD is in much better shape than the same period in 2009 when it was 14.6%.
Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations said that average transaction prices are up $3800 YTD and incentives are down -$730 to $3270 per unit.
Buick sold 16,799 vehicles in July, a 137% increase over last year. Cadillac delivered 14,919 units, up 142% over July last year. These are the highest sales totals for the two brands since August 2008. However, these are relatively low-volume brands so percentages are misleading. Look at the higher volume brands – Chevrolet total sales in July increased 12% to 139,916 compared to July last year, and GMC total sales were up 27% to 180,115 compared with the same month last year.
“Our July results again reflect that each of our brands has contributed significantly to our gains,” said Johnson.
Year-to-date total sales for GM’s four brands have risen 31% to 1,269,009 units, while retail sales for GM’s brands have risen 18% – possibly outpacing the industry, which would be a significant development if it is true as final numbers are revealed.
“Our four brands have sold 125,210 more vehicles this year than our former company sold with eight brands during the same period last year,” Johnson said. “This gain has been a result of solid consumer demand across our lineup of cars, trucks, and crossovers.”
GM’s newest vehicles including Chevrolet Camaro and Equinox, Buick LaCrosse and Regal, GMC Terrain, and Cadillac SRX, CTS Coupe and CTS Wagon continue to contribute significant sales gains. Total combined sales for these vehicles were up 77% in July and are up 211% year-to-date.
The question remains how well GM is doing relative to other automakers. It needs to show that post-bankruptcy it can stop a decline that began five decades ago, and produce profitable growth.