Chart Of The Day: GM Set A Chevrolet SS Sales Record In June, Caprice PPV Sales Plunge

by Timothy Cain

July 21st, 2015 10:00 AM

chart of the day gm set a chevrolet ss sales record in june caprice ppv sales

Often criticized for flopping in the U.S. marketplace, Chevrolet set a sales record with the Aussie-built SS in June 2015.

Prior to June’s “surge” up to a still rather paltry 354 units, Chevrolet hadn’t sold more than 300 SS sedans since March of last year, the only other time the SS has crested the 300-unit mark. June 2015 SS volume was four units stronger than the March record.

Year-to-date, SS sales are down 8% to 1,534 units, just 0.4 percent of Chevrolet passenger car volume through the first-half of 2015. Chevrolet sells twelve times that many Corvettes.

Meanwhile, GM’s other Australian import, the police-only Chevrolet Caprice PPV, is evidently disappearing from police departments’ wish lists. Caprice sales are down 54 percent to just 803 units through the first half of 2015.

Taurus Police Interceptor sales are falling, too. In fact, the Taurus alternative has suffered declining volume in each of the last seven months. Ford’s police sedan is down 5 percent this year, but it’s still more than six times as common as the SS. Ford’s Explorer Police Interceptor, on the other hand, is up 36 percent to 12,900 units in early 2015.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

#ChartOfTheDay #ChevroletCaprice #ChevroletSs #GeneralMotors #SalesCharts #U.S.AutoSales

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6 of 39 comments

Big Al from Oz on Jul 21, 2015

Well, the Aussie dollar is down in value against the Greenback. It seems GM made this vehicle a flop.....purposely to a degree. As we say in Australia. GM can buy these "as cheap as chips" at the moment. We are around or just under 75c US to the Aussie Dollar. Makes business sense.

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- Outback_ute on Jul 22, 2015
  
  It doesn't seem like the price has reflected the change in the exchange rate though
  
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- Pch101 on Jul 22, 2015
  
  @outback_ute The car is a money loser at any price. In any case, the price would have been selected to manage exchange rate risk over the medium term. Prices are not adjusted in real time to reflect short-term exchange rates; that would be difficult and irritate customers when the exchange rate goes against them.
  
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- Outback_ute on Jul 22, 2015
  
  @Pch101 Do you think they would have factored a 25% decrease? They hadn't when it went the other way in the G8 days. Money loser is a given at the stated volumes given the barriers to the US market (ps that was a joke! even though it is true)
  
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- Pch101 on Jul 22, 2015
  
  @outback_ute GM would try to protect itself against a rising Aussie dollar. The falling dollar isn't a problem. Holden production is a money loser. There is a reason why Australian assembly is being shuttered. The SS program was intended to prop up the subsidies that Holden was taking from the state and federal governments. When GM decided to bail out after the coalition won the elections, the idea of increasing Commodore sales no longer mattered. The only barrier is the lack of demand.
  
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STS_Endeavour on Jul 21, 2015

I need my ship to come in. I would like to have one of these Australian beauties in my garage.

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