The top U.S. automaker General Motors (GM, Financial) reported a 1.3% sales growth in January year over year to 198,548 vehicles. As a matter of fact, average transaction price (ATP) of a GM car or truck surged $1,270. While Cadillac and GMC brands reported sales decline in January, Chevrolet and Buick saw sales growth during the same period. Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations, commented:
“All of our brands are building momentum in the industry’s hottest and most profitable segments...Chevrolet led the growth of the small crossover segment with the Trax as well as the mid-pickup segment with the Colorado. Now, we have the all-new Equinox and Traverse delivering higher sales, share and transaction prices.”
Retail volumes stood at 151,244 units, which translate to a 2.4% sales decline on a year over year basis. Retail sales made up 76.2% of total January sales. On the other hand, Fleet sales improved 15.7% from January 2016 to 47,304 units. As a matter of fact, the combined commercial and government deliveries jumped 44% on a year over year basis. Furthermore, incentive spending for the month was 12.8%.
Bolt numbers
Chevrolet’s Bolt EV has also witnessed some success ever since its launch in December. Nearly in all months, Bolt’s sales had increased on a month over month basis. Bolt EV’s January sales were considerably down when a month over month comparison is made. However, the same surged a meagre 1.3% on a year over year basis to 1,177 units. Time will tell how Bolt EV would fare in the aggressive EV environment this year. Below is the graph that shows Bolt’s sales from January 2017 to January 2018.
Source: www.goodcarbadcar.net
GM is doing good with crossovers and pickups
As of now, crossovers are having a dream run in the market with most of the new GM crossover models doing well, Equinox and Traverse in particular. Total crossover sales of GM amounted to 72,548 units for the month, up 20.5% from the same period last year. As a matter of fact, the combined sales of GM’s four pickup models- Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, midsize Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon surged a combined 7.5% year over year.
How did the brands fare?
Chevrolet sales in January surged 5% to 141,547 units. The sales gain is attributable to a mammoth 50.3% sales surge of Equinox. Equinox is the second-best selling vehicle for the brand, behind Silverado whose sales soared 14.5% to 40,716 units. In contrast, Malibu and Imphala sales dipped 9.84% and 44.25%, respectively. Retail sales,too, dropped nearly 2% to 101,805 units. Chevrolet turned out to be the fastest-growing crossover brand of 2017.
Cadillac sales plunged 3.9% to 9,895 units while its retail sales climbed 9.3% to 8,828 units. The monthly sales gain was led by impressive sales of ATS (up 18.6% to 1,155 units) and XT5 (up 2.7% to 3,989 units) sales. By contrast, sales of CT6 and CT5 decreased 1% and 4.2%, respectively.
Buick sales grew 4% in January, which includes retail sales growth of 1.7% year over year. While Envision sales surged 13.7% to 2,487 units, LaCrosse sales skyrocketed 130% to 3,006 units. There were few models that posted year over year sales decline. Nevertheless, that couldn't hamper the company’s overall monthly growth.
GMC’s January sales plunged 11.4% to 33,058 units year over year. As a matter of fact, GMC retail sales dropped 8.9% to 27,799 units. The sales drop was due to dissapointing sales of Acadia, Savana and Sierra. However, models like Canyon and Terrain fared well in January.
Disclosure: I do not hold any position in the stock mentioned in this article.
