The headlines this month brought us back to the gilded 1990s, when GM—along with everyone else with plenty of trucks and SUVs to peddle—was making money hand over fist. For the third quarter of 2011, revenue was more than $36 billion and the company raked in $1.7 billion in profit. Meanwhile, CEO Dan Akerson is sounding extremely bullish, telling reporters that these massive sums aren’t enough to satisfy him. And he’s right to say so.
Profit was actually down compared to last year by 15 percent, which is considering a significant drop, because the company has very high costs to contend with and because it’s taking an awful beating in the European market. Chevrolet-branded products there, mostly Korean-developed models that compete at the bottom end of the market, are selling adequately but eating Kia and Hyundai’s dust. The hope was that Chevy would be the budget brand, allowing Opel—which has a longstanding image of being cheap—to move upmarket. People aren’t buying it, literally or figuratively, and sales are bad. Don’t blame GM entirely for the weak sales there, of course: The Europeans are in the midst of a wretched debt crisis, the Eurozone’s economy is in the toilet, and Italy’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Still, GM needs a European plan that works or the Old World is going to continue pilfering money from relatively successful U.S. operations. Read on for a peek into GM’s fleet and Volt sales, and we’ve added some Chrysler 200 fun just because.
Cops and Old Saturns: Chevrolet Takes Another Fleet Strategy
Number of fleet-only models GM introduced in October 2011: 2
Number of Captiva Sports sold during that month: 2140
Former U.S.-market name for the Captiva Sport: Saturn Vue
Number of Vues sold in October 2008, the last October before GM’s bankruptcy: 2947
Number of Chevrolet Caprices sold in October 2011: 116
Former name of the Chevrolet Caprice: Pontiac G8 (sort of)
What the numbers reveal: The Equinox crossover has become one of the three bestselling products for the Chevrolet brand, and to protect its resale values, GM rolled out the Vue-cum-Captiva Sport to sell to fleets. It’s a shrewd move, and if future sales don’t fall off too far from October, the company will have a sweet little profit-making machine too. As for the Caprice, it’s only been offered to law enforcement so far, but marks the return of the Holden-based rear-drive sedans to our market, a gap that’s been empty since the shorter-wheelbase Pontiac G8 was killed.
Danger, Danger: Low Voltage!
Number of Chevrolet Volts sold in October 2011: 1108
Date on which Chevrolet approved selling demonstration Volts: November 8, 2011
Approximate number of demonstration Volts on dealer lots: 2300
Approximate number of Volts GM claims will now be in inventory, including demos: 4100
Number of dealerships authorized to sell Volts that don’t have even a demo: 700
Number of Volts listed for sale on Cars.com as of 11/9/11: 2844
Highest price advertised there for a Volt: $57,575
What the numbers reveal: Chevy stopped Volt production for a few weeks this summer for major plant upgrades—a strange move, since production had only just started—and the company still suffers from a lack of Volt inventory. While 4100 cars should be able to satisfy nationwide demand, it seems that the distribution is holding back potential buyers in some places, where local dealers have no stock. The company is still pushing ahead to expand Volt availability to 50 states, and has implied that full-speed production really won’t be available until 2012. While we can’t see into GM’s boardroom meetings, we get the feeling this may not have been the best-planned product rollout.
Chrysler 200: Fleet-Footed Sales or Just Fleet Sales?
Number of Chrysler 200s sold in October 2011: 11,205
Number of Chrysler Sebrings sold in October 2010: 2221
Percent rise this represents: 505
Percent of Chrysler Group cars sold to fleets in October 2011: 26
Reply from Chrysler when asked how many 200s were sold to fleets: “No comment”
What the numbers reveal: That’s just the problem, isn’t it. We know Chrysler shipped a lot of 200s last month, but how many went to private buyers is a company secret. We’re guessing the fleets accounted for a lot—maybe as high as 40 percent—which would leave the 200 with a decent number of retail sales, but nothing spectacular.
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