GM's July 2014 SUV Strength

U.S. sales of General Motors passenger cars slid 3.8% in July 2014. This 3348-unit loss was created in large part by the Chevrolet Cruze’s 4521-unit decline and the Impala’s 3279-unit slide, decreases which were not completely offset by smaller gains from the Malibu, Sonic, Camaro, Corvette, and Buick’s LaCrosse.

Despite a 5.5% boost in July volume from the GMC Sierra, GM pickup truck sales slid 1.6% as Silverado volume remained level and the company lost 1907 pickup sales from nameplates which are either defunct or have not yet returned.

Yet overall GM sales grew at pace with the market’s fast 9% clip in July. How?

Commercial vans, that’s how.

Yes, really.

But only in part.

Combined sales of the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana reportedly rose 64.5% to 11,466 units, or 4.5% of GM’s volume. The Express and Savana owned 34.9% of America’s commercial van category in July 2014, up from 29.4% a year ago. (Ford is currently in a transition phase as the E-Series gets set to depart and the Transit slowly takes over.)

In truth, GM’s SUVs and crossovers played the starring role in July. Total sales from GM’s 14 utility vehicle nameplates rose 28% to 100,122 units, or 39.1% of GM’s total July volume, up from 33.4% in July 2013.

The Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, and fleet-friendly Chevrolet Captiva Sport generated four out of every ten GM SUV/crossover sales. The Lambda-platform trio – Acadia, Enclave, Traverse – brought in another 23%. The truck-based group of six full-size SUVs produced 28% of the SUV/crossover tally, leaving another 9% for the Buick Encore and Cadillac SRX. Among these 14 nameplates, only the SRX (down 7% in July but up 16% year-to-date) and the Chevrolet Suburban (down 16% in July but up 3% YTD) recorded year-over-year declines.

Thanks to its Jeep brand, Chrysler Group/FCA is another big SUV seller. Five Jeeps, plus the Dodge Durango and Journey, generated 71,553 July sales, up 33% from a pre-Cherokee July 2013.

Ford and Lincoln combined for a 17% increase to 64,951 SUV/crossover units.

Toyota, with 11,861 Lexus LX and GX and RX sales included, reported a 61,807-unit utility vehicle July, 25% jump. American Honda sold 49,277 utility vehicles. Nissan and Infiniti, Juke included, reported 36,751 utility vehicle sales.

What of history? In July 2004, General Motors sold 136,263 SUVs from eight different brands. At that time, however, this equalled 30% of GM’s July 2004 volume. Also at that time, GM’s full-size SUVs, including the Hummer H1 and H2, accounted for 43% of the company’s overall utility vehicle sales tally.

In calendar year 2004, the second, third, and tenth-best-selling SUVs in America were GM products, TrailBlazer, Tahoe, and Envoy, respectively. Through the first seven months of 2014, GM has claimed the third (Equinox), 14th (Traverse), 15th (Terrain), and 20th (Tahoe) positions.