Comments on: GM’s Truck/SUV Sales Do the Dead Cat Bounce

By: RedStapler

RedStapler — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:33:48 +0000

Business and Fleet users need utiltarian vehicles.

Back in the glorious days cheap gas it was one size fits all with the F150/Silverado/Ram. Look at other devloped nations.

Many enterprizes that currently use pickups just something with four wheels that can move X amount of stuff. Some fleets are splitting duties between heavy vehicles (pickup or full size van) and a lighter vehicle with high cube for its class (Xb, Fit, or HHR).

Look at Europe for light commercial vehicles evolve when energy is costly. The Freightliner Sprinter or Ford Transit are excellent examples. Heck you can even get a Fiesta hatch as micro cargo van in the UK.

By: whynotaztec

whynotaztec — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:46:52 +0000

Some mighty fine used trucks out there now. I just wish I needed a 5 year old F250, the used deals in MA are getting better every day. And I am tempted to buy a loaded 2003 Tahoe, just can’t believe that much metal can be so cheap!

By: RobertSD

RobertSD — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:00:58 +0000

GM’s incentive spend this month was really high. This, along with Ford’s relatively low inventory of F-150s probably allowed GM to pick up some truck marketshare.

Similar story with the Lambda’s. They’re buying marketshare. The question is whether or not they’ll still have that marketshare when they stop their sales. I mean, yes, they’ll have big rebates in October, but will it get the same feeling and response as the employee discount?

And that doesn’t even begin to answer the question of making money…

By: SkiD666

SkiD666 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:54:11 +0000

Difference in sales can probably be attributed to:

People want SUV’s
People need trucks

By: Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:17:19 +0000

It’s all the former stockbrokers who are starting lawn mowing companies.

By: John Horner

John Horner — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:30:00 +0000

So is the story that GM is getting a bigger share of the present pickup truck market at the expense of Ford, Chrysler and Toyota by using bigger discounts?

By: OldandSlow

OldandSlow — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:58:29 +0000

“Pickup sales will stabilize and return to a more sensible early nineties level of volume.”

I think so, too once the dust settles. Until then there is a glut of some mighty fine used trucks that should be on the roads for a well over a 100,000 miles.

By: ronin

ronin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:48:00 +0000

I don’t believe Lambdas were up to full production a year ago. As I recall they were just trickling into dealers one or two a month.

Now despite full availability, looks like sales are close to the same.

By: CSJohnston

CSJohnston — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:42:47 +0000

Pickup sales will stabilize and return to a more sensible early nineties level of volume. It will still be one of the most important segments for NA manufacturers.

The Lambdas are good vehicles but they cannot make up for the shortfall of BoF SUV’s.

What are the SUV buyers moving into if anything?