GM July 2005 Sales Climb 19.1 Percent
- Truck Deliveries Up 34.5 Percent, Record July and Second-Best-Ever Sales Month
- All-Time Sales Record for Sport Utility Vehicles
- Full-Size Pickup Sales Surge 54.5 Percent Setting a New July Record
- Sales Up at Every Division
DETROIT - General Motors dealers in the U.S. sold 530,027 new cars and trucks in July, up 20 percent compared to year-ago sales and GM's best July sales since 1979. Truck deliveries (360,655) increased 34.5 percent, establishing a new record for July and posting the second-best-ever sales month, outpaced only by June 2005 industry-record truck deliveries. Deliveries of sport utility vehicles established an all-time industry sales record, with a 22 percent increase over year-ago levels.
Car sales (169,372) declined 3 percent, due to significantly reduced fleet sales. Retail car sales were up over 9 percent, led by strong retail sales of new vehicles, including Cadillac STS, Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G6 and Buick LaCrosse. Every GM division posted sales increases for the month.
"Over one million Americans drove off in a new GM car or truck in the past two months," said Mark LaNeve, GM vice president, North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "It's proof that an excellent vehicle, offered at an easily understood, fair price is compelling to consumers. Sales results for June and July demonstrate that once they experience our products, more and more Americans come to appreciate the high quality, tremendous value and benefits of owning a GM car or truck."
GM continued its truck sales leadership, led by an all-time sales record for utilities and the continuing surge of full-size pickup sales. Deliveries of Chevrolet full-size pickups (Silverado and Avalanche) increased 52 percent. Chevrolet Silverado (up 55 percent) and GMC Sierra (up 64 percent) each achieved second-best-ever sales months, surpassed only by June 2005 sales. Record sport utility sales were led by a 16 percent increase in large utility deliveries and small utility sales (Chevrolet Equinox and Saturn Vue), which improved 105 percent.
Retail car sales continue to gain momentum, paced by ongoing strong sales performance of several new vehicles. Total sales of GM's entry level cars were up 19 percent, with Chevrolet Cobalt achieving its best-ever sales. Luxury car sales rose 6 percent compared to year-ago levels, with sales increases by Cadillac CTS (up 25 percent) and XLR (up 37 percent), Chevrolet SSR (up 43 percent), Saab 9-2X and 9-3 (54 percent). Cadillac STS had its best sales since launch, beating the previous high mark set last month.
Cadillac sales were up 10 percent. A significant reduction in fleet sales was offset by strong retail sales, which were up 30 percent. Total car deliveries were up 11 percent, paced by record STS and CTS deliveries. CTS has set sales records in five of the last seven months. Escalade ESV and EXT both posted sales improvements in July. ESV was up 35 percent and EXT sales increased 16 percent.
Chevrolet posted its strongest July since 1978 as sales increased 18 percent, led by record truck sales, which were up 35 percent. This was the first time since March 1979 that Chevrolet posted consecutive months with more than 300,000 sales. In the full-size truck segment, Silverado was up 55 percent and Avalanche sales improved 28 percent. Among Chevrolet's newest trucks, Colorado continued its strong sales results, with a 34 percent increase, and Equinox had its best-ever sales with nearly twice the number of deliveries achieved last year. Aveo sales were up 57 percent.
GMC sales set a new July record, up 33 percent compared to record sales last year. GMC has strong sales across its portfolio, with gains by Sierra (up 64 percent), Canyon (up 68 percent), Yukon (up 28 percent) and Envoy (up 7 percent).
Pontiac deliveries in July were up 9 percent, led by solid sales of the G6 and Vibe. Vibe set an all-time sales record, with deliveries up 36 percent.
Buick also posted strong sales in July, up 20 percent. LaCrosse sales were 79 percent higher than year-ago combined Century and Regal deliveries. LaCrosse has set month-over-month sales increases for seven of eight months since its launch.
The all-new HUMMER H3 continued its strong start with 4,664 sales in July, a 21 percent increase over June sales. This is noteworthy given that the H3 was not included in the GM Employee Discount for Everyone program. HUMMER easily surpassed its best-ever July sales with 7,476 deliveries, a 210 percent improvement compared to last year. H2 deliveries were 16 percent higher than year-ago levels.
Saturn had its best July since 2003, with sales improving 11 percent. Vue set a new July sales record with deliveries up 39.5 percent.
Saab had record July sales, with deliveries improving 94 percent and falling less than 200 units short of its best-ever sales results. 9-3 deliveries improved 54 percent, and 9-2X achieved its second-best sales month. Production of the 9-7X continues to ramp-up with 685 deliveries recorded in July.
GM also announced the continuation of its GM Employee Discount for Everyone program. The program will run through September 6, 2005. It includes all available 2005 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, HUMMER and Pontiac-GMC cars and light-duty trucks except for Chevrolet Corvette, HUMMER H1 and Pontiac GTO.
"GM's Employee Discount program will continue as a 2005 model clearance program," LaNeve said. "It is simply the most consistent transition to our Total Value Promise and is consistent with our desire to offer simple and compelling prices for all our products. The fact that our Employee Discount program was so widely copied by our competition, and even by other industries, is testimony to its effectiveness."
Certified Used Vehicles
July sales for all certified GM brands, including GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Used Cars from Saturn and Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, established a new monthly sales record for the certified category with sales of 50,366 units, up 8 percent from last July. This marks the first time any manufacturer has surpassed 50,000 certified used sales in a month. Total year-to-date certified GM sales are 309,719 units, up 1 percent from the same period last year.
Leading the way was GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling manufacturer-certified used brand, which set a new monthly sales record for a certified brand in July with sales of 42,905 units, up 20 percent from the previous month and up more than 10 percent from July 2004. Year-to-date sales for GM Certified Used Vehicles are 262,635 units, up nearly 3 percent.
Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles posted sales of 3,583 units, up 6 percent. Cadillac Certified year-to-date sales are up 14 percent over the same period in 2004. Used Cars from Saturn sold 3,065 units, down 13 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 813 units, down 2 percent.
"July was a record month for GM certified sales," LaNeve said. "Not only did GM Certified Used Vehicles set a new monthly sales record for a certified brand, but it was a record month for combined GM certified brands with 50,366 sales. This marks the first time any manufacturer has topped the 50,000-unit mark in certified used sales for a month."
GM North America in July produced 198,000 vehicles (76,000 cars and 122,000 trucks), compared to 247,500 vehicles (91,000 cars and 156,500 trucks) produced in July 2004.
Production totals include joint venture production of 12,000 vehicles in July 2005 and 14,000 vehicles in July 2004.
Also, the region's 2005 third-quarter production forecast remains unchanged at 1.1 million vehicles (405,000 cars and 695,000 trucks). In the third quarter of 2004, the region produced 1.209 million vehicles (463,000 cars and 746,000 trucks).
GM also announced revised 2005 third-quarter production forecasts for its international regions:
GM Europe - The region's revised 2005 third-quarter production forecast is 412,000 vehicles, up 5,000 units from last month's guidance. In the third quarter of 2004, GM Europe built 411,000 vehicles.
GM Asia Pacific - GM Asia Pacific's revised 2005 third-quarter production estimate is 430,000 vehicles, down 2,000 units from last month's guidance. In the third quarter of 2004, GM Asia Pacific built 314,000 vehicles.
GM Latin America, Africa and the Middle East - The region's revised 2005 third-quarter production estimate is 207,000 vehicles, up 3,000 units from last month's guidance. In the third quarter of 2004, the region built 185,000 vehicles.
General Motors Corp. , the world's largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 321,000 people around the world. It has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 200 countries. In 2004, GM sold nearly 9 million cars and trucks globally, up 4 percent and the second-highest total in the company's history. GM's global headquarters are at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. 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, our use of the words "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions is intended to identify forward looking statements. While these statements represent our current judgment on what the future may hold, and we believe these judgments are reasonable, actual results may differ materially due to numerous important factors that are described in GM's most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (at page II-20) which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Such factors include, among others, the following: changes in economic conditions, currency exchange rates or political stability; shortages of fuel, labor strikes or work stoppages; market acceptance of the corporation's new products; significant changes in the competitive environment; changes in laws, regulations and tax rates; and, the ability of the corporation to achieve reductions in cost and employment levels to realize production efficiencies and implement capital expenditures at levels and times planned by management.
# # #
|
July | Calendar Year-to-Date | |||||
|
Curr
S/D:26 |
2005 |
2004 |
%
Chg |
2005 |
2004 |
%Chg |
| Vehicle Total | 530,027 | 459,263 |
19.8 | 2,882,397 |
2,754,884 | 4.6 |
|
Car Total | 169,372 |
180,809 | -2.7 |
1,088,483 | 1,126,347 | -3.4 |
|
Truck Total | 360,655 |
278,454 | 34.5 |
1,793,914 | 1,628,537 | 10.2 |
|
Light Truck Total | 354,846 |
274,154 | 34.4 |
1,756,356 | 1,600,542 | 9.7 |
|
Light Vehicle Total | 524,218 |
454,963 | 19.7 |
2,844,839 | 2,726,889 | 4.3 |
| Market Division Vehicle Total | ||||||
| Buick |
37,618 | 32,454 |
20.4 | 186,472 |
194,910 | -4.3 |
| Cadillac | 25,431 | 23,920 |
10.4 | 147,031 |
129,912 | 13.2 |
| Chevrolet | 306,160 | 269,240 |
18.1 | 1,714,493 |
1,581,519 | 8.4 |
|
GMC | 78,717 |
61,269 | 33.4 |
387,019 | 344,391 |
12.4 |
|
HUMMER | 7,476 |
2,505 | 209.9 |
24,844 | 15,332 |
62.0 |
|
Oldsmobile | 109 | 1,388 |
-91.8 | 1,541 |
25,155 | -93.9 |
| Other - Isuzu |
1,035 | 1,548 |
-30.6 | 8,449 |
8,367 | 1.0 |
| Pontiac | 42,541 | 40,608 |
8.8 | 256,186 |
296,244 | -13.5 |
| Saab |
6,469 | 3,458 |
94.3 | 27,437 |
22,888 | 19.9 |
| Saturn | 24,471 | 22,873 |
11.1 | 128,925 |
136,166 | -5.3 |
| Sales of Domestically Produced Vehicles |
||||||
| Car | 156,173 | 172,125 |
-5.8 | 1,012,527 |
1,073,291 | -5.7 |
|
Light Truck | 354,846 | 274,154 |
34.4 | 1,756,356 |
1,600,542 | 9.7 |
|
Twenty-Six selling days for the July period this year and twenty- seven for last year. | ||||||
| * American Isuzu Motors, Inc., dealer sales of commercial vehicles distributed by General Motors Corporation as reported to General Motors by American Isuzu Motors, Inc. | ||||||
|
2-1P GM Car Deliveries - (United States) | ||||||
| July |
Calendar Year-to-Date |
|||||
| 2005 | 2004 | %Chg |
2005 | 2004 | %Chg |
|
| Selling Days (S/D) | 26 | 27 |
||||
|
Century | 530 | 6,748 | -91.8 | 5,909 | 47,488 | -87.6 |
|
LaCrosse | 13,327 | 0 |
***.* | 58,441 | 0 |
***.* |
| LeSabre | 12,678 | 14,447 | -8.9 | 59,039 | 71,942 | -17.9 |
|
Park Avenue |
112 | 1,549 | -92.5 | 2,028 | 12,139 | -83.3 |
|
Regal | 31 |
966 | -96.7 | 539 | 11,208 | -95.2 |
|
Buick Total |
26,678 | 23,710 | 16.8 | 125,956 | 142,777 | -11.8 |
|
CTS | 6,338 | 5,264 | 25.0 | 39,446 | 34,497 | |
