GM Sales Down 52.9 Percent
All the bad news is available at GM’s media page. All of GM’s brands were down by at least 50 percent, except for Pontiac which squeaked out a 40 percent drop. Buick sold fewer cars this month than it sold LaCrosses in February of ’08. CTS was the only Cadillac that sold over 1k units this month, and at 3,259, it sold at over double the rate of all other Caddys combined. The Malibu has finally outsold the Impala, as ‘bu sales dropped 3.7 percent to the ’pala’s 67.7 percent. Pontiac sold only 80 G3 Aveo clones, although solid (down 4.8 percent) Vibe sales kept the division’s average at a 39.2 percent drop. Saab sold fewer than 500 vehicles, and the canceled Astra is the only bright spot in the Saturn lineup. Astra sales have increased since it was canceled in December.
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GM always cancels their nicest models. Witness the end of the Oldsmobile Intrigue and Aurora. When they get them right, they die. GM hates success.
@86er: I guess some things haven't changed with GM not widening the EU-based vehicles for the US market. I recall sitting in the back seat of a Saturn L-series at an auto show back in 2001, along with the Mrs. and a friend. None of us are particularly large people, yet it was a tight squeeze. Perhaps the new LaCrosse addresses this issue. Of course, the proverbial American car had long before morphed into the Explorer and its SUV counterparts.
In economic terms we've been doing the equivalent of busting up the antique furniture, selling it for firewood and using the proceeds to buy cheap plastic replacement furniture. Only thing is, we've sold off pretty much everything that actually produces stuff outside the auto and aerospace/defense industries. The auto industry will almost certainly fold this year--suppliers will go even if Ford and GM are theoretically still around. And who is going to pay for all of those cool airplanes and other military items when the tax base is shot? And who is going to lend us money to buy all of that foreign made stuff when it is obvious that we'll never be able to pay it back? I'm not saying we should bail out the car companies in their current form. I'm saying don't lose the ability for US companies to build cars in the future. Eventually we're going to have to either revive manufacturing in this country or accept a much lower standard of living. Right now China, Japan, etc are sending us stuff in exchange for dollars. They already have so many dollars they have no clue what to do with them. They're keeping on accepting them because if they stop the export-oriented industries they've built up tank. But as the value of their dollar denominated investments tank it gets harder and harder to justify sending us stuff in exchange for paper. It will end at some point and a that point we'll need to be able to build stuff on our own.