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Automotive News & Views Automotive News & Views-Archives GM Is on The Offensive. Will it work? 
7057 messages, Last post on Sep 04, 2007 at 8:13 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views-Archives Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: 1487 (Aug 03, 2007 4:52 am) Here are two examples of your past mistakes: saying that Automobile held that the Aura was superior than the Accord, which wasn't true (it said the top-of-the-line version drives at least as well as the Accord), and saying that Car & Driver doesn't like Acuras because they are front-wheel-drive in the near-luxury class, which is odd considering that they have put quite a few Acuras on the magazine's annual Ten Best list. 1487: You are completely naive and get all of your opinions from C&D and CR. Come up with your own ideas. As opposed to viewing, say, an Aura as better than an Accord because you say so? 1487: To suggest that everything printed about the auto industry or any topic is 100% subjective is beyond foolish. True, which is why I haven't done that. On the other hand, if one posits that Car X is superior to Car Y, I, and almost every other poster on this site, need more than "because I said so" to back up this opinion. 1487: Grow up and enter the real world and stop defending garbage put out by the press. There is a difference between "defending the garbage put out by the press" and regarding skeptically your claims that an editorial said something, based on a prior history of selective recall and outright mistakes. 1487: Toyota has joined the Big in opposing the drastic CAFE standards. Anyone with common sense would stop the insane argument about Toyota being for fuel economy at all costs and the BIg 3 being obstructionists. The facts DO NOT bare that out. I know facts are not important to you, but they are to me. First, you haven't given us a date for that article. Toyota only recently joined the Big Three in the fight against higher standards. It's entirely plausible that this editorial was written before Toyota joined the fray. Second, I never denied that Toyota is fighting the higher CAFE standards. Third, there is still your denial that Toyota is far ahead of GM and everyone else on hybrid technology, and that the 2-3 mpg advantage that Toyota's lineup enjoys compared to GM's lineup is a big difference among full-line manufacturers. 1487: First of all GM doesnt make money in the US period. And most of the losses are driven by their cars. If the truck market tanks, GM is toast in the U.S. 1487: It makes money from its overseas sales which are mostly cars (many with small engines and diesels), not trucks since trucks arent popular outside of the US. We are talking about the U.S.; this is irrelevant. 1487: Thirdly GM would rather sell trucks because they sell for more and thus are better able to cover high wages and legacy costs. Which proves that GM has been focusing too much on trucks, and not enough on cars - not a good strategy in with volatile gas prices. 1487: Dont ask me stupid questions about how many hybrids GM makes. You and I know the answer to that. Then tell us... 1487: If you dont want to see GM go under what exactly do you want? Just curious. That they make better cars and make money while doing it? That they stop tantalizing us with great show cars and then expect us to buy the milquetoast products in the showrooms? That they stop saying that the exciting new products that will save GM are just around the corner? That they stop acting as though they can position a division in the marketplace based on what Bob Lutz says (Buick is a Lexus competitor! No, Buick is a premium American road car! No, it's a floor wax and a dessert topping...oops!)? 1487: Most import fanboys like yourself ignore facts when convenient and then preach doom and gloom about how the Big 3 are going under and deserve to do so. I'm such an import fanboy that there is Ford Focus, built in Wayne, Michigan, by the Ford Motor Company, parked in our driveway. Did Michigan secede from the Union while I wasn't watching? Who knew!
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Replying to: jcgable (Aug 02, 2007 8:55 pm)
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Plagued by overcapacity due to slow-moving pickups and SUVs, GM finds a bright spot in the demand for its popular new 8-seat cross/utility vehicles: the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook. Sales of the trio are outstripping GM’s ability to keep them in stock at dealerships, says Anna Kretz, vehicle line executive for the vehicles. The Buick Enclave, which went on sale in April, currently has an inventory of only 20 days. More than 1,000 Buick dealers don’t even have one in stock. “The inventory for Acadia has never been over 30 days since we launched,” she says. GM delivered a combined 57,397 units of the Outlook, Acadia and Enclave in the year’s first half, Ward’s data shows. Kretz says sales should be higher in the second half because the Enclave didn’t go on sale until April. GM recently announced it is launching a third shift at its Delta Township plant outside Lansing, MI, in mid-September. But Kretz insists the auto maker intends to manage supply closely. Should high market demand continue, GM has the option of adding overtime to the 3-shift schedule, but it does not want to produce an oversupply of the three vehicles, she says. The plant can build up to 250,000 units if needed, Kretz says. “It just depends on where the demand is.” What is particularly gratifying to GM is that more than 40% of buyers of the three vehicles are new to the brand. Only 20% of Enclave buyers are trading in a Buick, Kretz says, which is positioned against mid-luxury CUVs such as the Acura MDX, Volvo XC90 and other imports. The Acadia and Outlook are positioned against competitors such as the Honda Pilot. “We’re getting some customers from the Pilot,” Kretz says. The GM CUVs are being sold very well equipped. The average transaction price for the Saturn Outlook is $31,000 vs. just under $25,000 for a base model. The GMC Acadia’s average transaction price is $33,500 compared with just under $30,000 for a base model. The Buick Enclave has a base price of about $32,000, but its average transaction price is about $37,500, Kretz says. The Enclave is seeing the highest take rate on all-wheel drive at 45% of sales. The Outlook’s AWD take rate is 30% and the Acadia’s is 40%. Price of the AWD option is just under $2,000. About 600,000 CUVs were sold industry-wide last year, Kretz says, predicting the segment could reach about 800,000 units this year.
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Here’s a company-by-company rundown of the good, the bad and the ugly of July vehicle sales: GENERAL MOTORS GM sold 320,935 vehicles in July, down 18.5 percent compared with a year ago. Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of Global Market and Industry Analysis, rated the automaker’s sales performance as “okay,” considering last year’s summer months were boosted by rich incentives. Further, GM’s July performance improved from its dismal June. The Good: GM’s market share hit a high for the 2007 calendar year to date at around mid-24 percent; GM is spending significantly less on incentives than it did a year ago. In July 2007, GM’s Total Cost of Incentives (TCI) calculated by Edmunds.com was $3,130 per vehicle, down 30.5 percent from last July’s TCI of $4,502. GM’s new crossovers – the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook –are selling extremely well; Saturn’s new models, including the Aura and Outlook, are successful. The Bad: GM’s older cars are slow sellers; Buick’s car sales are down 28.9 percent; Chevrolet Cobalt sales fell 31.1 percent; sales of the Malibu, scheduled for replacement this fall, dropped 45.1 percent. The Ugly: GM’s retail sales plummeted 26 percent from July 2006; GM’s full-size pickup truck sales, despite a bit of a rebound from June, are down 26.5 percent from a year ago, but 0 percent financing for 60 months is required to move them; GM’s incentives are bound to rise. For the year to date, GM has sold 2,243,697 vehicles, down 9.4 percent from the first seven months of 2006.
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TOYOTA Toyota reported July sales of 224,058 vehicles, a decrease of 3.5 percent from July 2006. It was Toyota’s first sales decline in nearly three years. Lower sales overall were due to lower sales at the Toyota Division and Scion. Toyota sales were 196,917 vehicles, a 4.5-percent decline from a year ago. Toyota car sales were down 10.2 percent. Truck sales were up 4.2percent for their best ever July. Lexus had its best ever July of 27,141 vehicles sold, up 4.9 percent. The Good: Lexus sales were up 4.9 percent; Toyota Prius sales posted their best-ever July with 16,062 sales, up 50.5 percent over July 2006; Tundra hit all-time best-ever record sales of 23,150, thanks to record-high incentives; The Bad: Toyota is not immune to the same economic pressure impacting domestic sales; overall sales dropped TK, the first sales decline in three years; Corolla sales fell 25.9 percent; Yaris sales dropped 16.5 percent. Toyota lowered incentives on both models significantly and will likely have to bump them up; Camry Hybrid sales were off 13.8 percent. The high price of the Camry hybrid has turned off some consumers who have opted for the regular Camry, which saw sales rise 3.2 percent in July. Toyota has responded by de-contenting and lowering the price of the Camry hybrid for 2008; Sales of the new Scion xB are falling short, so far, despite its first full month of new model sales. Sales are down -20.7% from July 06. The Ugly Incentives in the Tundra are forecasted at an all-time high of $6,861 per vehicle for July, up 31 percent from an already high $5,242 in July 06; Tundra ranks No. 1 among all trucks for the highest incentive.i> |
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Hybrid vehicles are on track to achieve record U.S. sales this year despite signs consumer interest in hybrids is waning, an auto information company said Thursday. An estimated 187,000 hybrids were sold in the first six months of 2007, accounting for 2.3 percent of all new vehicle sales, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Although a slowdown is expected in the second half of the year, J.D. Power is forecasting total sales of 345,000 hybrids for 2007, a 35 percent increase from 2006 when the current record of 256,000 hybrids were sold. The Toyota Prius continues to be the best-selling hybrid model, accounting for just more than half of all hybrids sold. J.D. Power said Prius sales got a boost this year from incentives of up to $2,000 per vehicle, which helped offset a decrease in federal tax breaks for Toyota and Lexus hybrids. Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that Prius sales were up 85 percent in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period a year ago. Mike Omotoso, senior manager of global powertrain forecasting for J.D. Power, said the percentage of people who say they're considering hybrids is dropping as buyers realize the vehicles may not save enough fuel to justify premiums of up to $3,000. “Toyota is realizing that. That's why they're offering incentives,” he said. Later this year, a two-mode hybrid system developed jointly by General Motors Corp., BMW AG and DaimlerChrysler AG will begin appearing in some trucks and sport utility vehicles. The system uses a computer to choose from thousands of combinations of running on one electric motor, two electric motors, a combination of electric motors and the gasoline engine, or shutting down some of the gas engine's cylinders. Omotoso estimated that the system costs between $6,000 and $10,000, so the manufacturers could have a difficult time making money on it unless consumers will pay a premium. So what will consumers do when they are forced to buy hybrids/lightweight/smaller vehicles/25% price hikes once the 35 mpg kicks in? Bet it is somewhat like the other debacles the government gets when something is forced on them (the consumer) and they really do not want them. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Aug 03, 2007 5:09 am) Think that the front end of new Malibu would look great if that top element were removed and filled in with just plain painted hood. Would hope that effective cooling could be done with remaining lower elements. |
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Aug 03, 2007 7:49 am) Won't argue about the Outlook, but the Aura is not successful (even though it's a good car). GM set a sales goal of 90,000 for the Aura, and it is nowhere near meeting it. Plus, so far, about 23 percent have gone to fleets.
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Replying to: steve_ (Aug 03, 2007 6:05 am) *Loves It*
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Aug 03, 2007 7:35 am) |
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