While most attention on Tuesday was focused on the departure of GM CEO Fritz Henderson, much more quietly the company posted respectable sales of 151,427 units for November, down about 2 percent in absolute terms compared with a year earlier but up more than 6 percent per selling day. GM executives highlighted what DiGiovanni called the “strong performance” of the company’s four surviving U.S. brands — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC — which accounted for 94 percent of its retail sales in November. Those brands’ sales rose about 10 percent in November compared with a year earlier.
DiGiovanni also hailed the fact that GM nabbed 20 percent or more of the retail market for the third consecutive month in November and attributed the result mostly to “the fruition of our launch-product success.”
Indeed, GM has introduced a steady stream of new vehicles and new versions of existing models over the last several months, mostly to critical acclaim. Among the hottest sellers are the new Buick LaCrosse, new Chevrolet Camaro, new Chevrolet Equinox, and new Cadillac SRX. GM’s total of six “launch” vehicles comprised 22 percent of its retail sales last month, and volume was 6 percent higher than in October.
“We have a strong performance pretty much across our portfolio, which is encouraging,” DiGiovanni said. “Our sales clearly are shifting to where the market is shifting.”
More buyers of its new vehicles are opting for four-cylinder versus six- or eight-cylinder engines, for example. Dealers are fielding a surge of orders for the four-cylinder version of the LaCrosse, which isn’t due in showrooms until January sometime.
“Customers don’t want to compromise on amenities,” said Susan Docherty, GM vice president of U.S. sales. “They just want something that’s more fuel-efficient.”
DiGiovanni also noted that GM’s average transaction price rose smartly in November over a year earlier and is the highest in the industry. At the same time he acknowledged that the company “has got work to do to get our incentive load down,” and he said that GM’s average incentives declined by $1,416 in November compared with a year earlier, about twice the industry-average reduction. “So we’re improving more than the industry, and in the right direction,” he said.
“In the new GM, we want to be earning share, not buying it, and the new products help us spend less on incentives than before,” Docherty said. “People loved Pontiac and Saturn but the vehicles were heavily incentivized and weren’t profitable.”
The percentage of GM sales that were closed via lease rose to 3 percent in November from 2.5 percent in October, a far cry from as high as 20 percent a couple of years ago before last year’s market downdraft and credit crunch essentially shut off the company’s access to leases through GMAC. GM’s long-term goal for leasing is to raise it back up to 8 percent to 9 percent of sales — which is about the level at which its 2010 models already are being leased, DiGiovanni said.