GM October Sales Off 45%

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

“General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 170,585 vehicles in October, down 45 percent compared with a year ago. GM truck sales of 97,119 were down 51 percent and car sales of 73,466 were off 34 percent.” And so the death knell sounds for what was once America’s largest automaker, the world’s largest automaker and the world’s most profitable company. As I stated previously, GM is now practically begging for a government bailout. Needless to say, the situation isn’t their fault. “We are obviously disappointed in our results which reflect a difficult comparison with a strong year-ago October performance,” writes Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “More importantly, it also reflects an unprecedented credit crunch that is dramatically impacting the entire U.S. economy – from the housing market to big and small companies to banks to family run businesses. The credit freeze has also had a very negative impact on consumers’ confidence and their purchase behavior across America.” Oy. Anyway, in the search for good news, GM points to the new fleet queen Malibu, sales of which are up 129 percent, and the truck sales, which are… at 45k. But then GM really reaches, with hybrid numbers that are, frankly, embarrassing…

“GM hybrids continue to build sales momentum and the company has broken through the 10-thousand vehicle sales mark. A total of 1,496 hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. Hybrid sales included: 372 hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe, 193 GMC Yukon and 230 Cadillac Escalade 2-mode SUVs delivered. There were 325 Chevrolet Malibu, 22 Saturn Aura and 354 Vue hybrids sold in October. GM has sold 10,549 hybrids so far in 2008.”

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

More by Robert Farago

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 37 comments
  • Stein X Leikanger Stein X Leikanger on Nov 04, 2008

    GM over the past ten years has been an epic study in value destruction - and every single step of the fray the blame was always due to "circumstances being out of control," to which GM management were the hapless victims ... I was somewhat involved, many years ago. Just being exposed to how GM was "thinking" froze your brain, and left you with the conclusion that this was going to blow up big one day. That day is here.

  • DweezilSFV DweezilSFV on Nov 04, 2008

    Waggy will probably see GM through to the end. Then enter politics. He's made for it. Running the govt. after running GM should be a piece of cake. Think they use the same steering wheel on the Federal Ship Of Fools that they do on the SS GM ?

  • Kwik_Shift Brands that were considered from China include BYD, Dayun, Great Wall Motors, Maxus, Nio, Omoda/Chery, Seres, XPeng, and Zeekr. KG Mobility from South Korea also made the list of candidates.That's a lot of car companies from there ready to head here.
  • Analoggrotto Clean sweep and unanimous victory for the world affluence engine of 22nd century : Hyundai/Kia/Genesis. Toyota and Lexus, for 120 years of history have not been able to capture the zenith superlative status of Hyundai Motor Corporation the most awarded, decorated and revered automotive corporation in the history of historical. Featuring best ever, first ever and greatest ever e-ATPs the Hyundai Genesis Kia lineup is posed to become the envy of every country club, ivy league college and fortune 500 corporation in the world. I've been taking a roadtrip in my loaner Elantra N, visiting colleges from east to west, elite universities of higher learning to inspect their parking lots. WHat did I find? Leagues of Genesis models, outnumbering Lexus 3 to 1. When I interviewed faculty and staff at these places of greater learning, their response was unanimous : they chose HMC for the ATPs.
  • Mikey 2019 Chevy Impala Premier FWD with 20 inch factory Bridgestones. I'm looking at replacing tires at the 65,000 KLM's (40,000 miles ) mark ....It doesn't thrill me .. I'm pricing Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires ouch !! ..Up here in Canuckastan ....Big $$$$$
  • ToolGuy Honda was robbed.
  • ToolGuy "Honey, someone is trying to cross the moat again"
Next