November 2017: General Motors Co.

[William Maley]

Chevrolet’s Retail Sales Outperform the Industry

• Retail Crossover Sales Soar at Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC; Commercial and Government deliveries up sharply

DETROIT — General Motors (NYSE: GM) today reported 245,387 deliveries in the United States in November, with large year-over-year increases in sales of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC crossovers to individual “retail” customers.

• Chevrolet crossovers were up 16 percent, driven by a 59 percent increase for the Traverse, which had its best November retail and total sales ever. The Bolt EV had its best month yet.
• The Cadillac XT5 was up 11 percent.
• Buick crossovers were up 20 percent after Enclave deliveries more than doubled. Envision deliveries were up 2 percent.
• Buick’s new Avenir premium sub-brand is off to a strong start. About 30 percent of 2018 Enclave deliveries are Avenir models.
• GMC crossovers were up 11 percent, driven by a 4 percent increase for the Acadia and a 20 percent increase for the Terrain, which gained a full point of segment share month over month as availability grew.

Overall retail sales were essentially equal to last November. Commercial and government deliveries were up a combined 7 percent, driven by a 30 percent increase in full-size pickup sales and a 35 percent increase for the Chevrolet Tahoe PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle). Total fleet sales were down 13 percent after a 24 percent reduction in daily rental deliveries. Total sales were down 3 percent.

Crossovers, strong SUV sales and a record November for GMC Denali sales helped the company’s average transaction prices (ATPs) surpass $37,000 for the first time ever. GM’s ATPs were about $4,500 above the industry average and nearly $2,000 higher than any domestic competitor.

Chevrolet Momentum

Retail sales for Chevrolet were up 2 percent year over year, while the retail industry is expected to be up about 1 percent. It was Chevrolet’s best retail November performance since 2004.

The brand’s strong year-over-year retail performance extended to passenger cars, SUVs and pickups, which helped the brand outperform the industry: 

• Colorado deliveries were up 18 percent for its best November ever.
• The Tahoe and Suburban were up a combined 12 percent.
• Chevrolet passenger cars were up 1 percent, with the Corvette, SS, Impala, Sonic and Spark all posting sharply higher sales.  

Strong Economic and Sales Outlook

“More vehicles are sold in December than any other month and we are very well positioned because we have momentum in so many segments, but especially in crossovers,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “When we close the books on 2017, GM will show very healthy inventory levels, significantly lower daily rental sales for the third year in row, and the best year in our history for crossover deliveries by far.”

“U.S. economic growth has stepped up and we expect the momentum will carry over to 2018,” added GM Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem. “Employment continues to grow at a solid pace, wage growth will accelerate and consumer confidence just hit a 17-year high, so industry sales should remain strong.”

Other November Highlights

• GM’s ATPs were up more than $650 from October and more than $1,400 from a year ago.
• GM is on track to close 2017 with significantly fewer vehicles in stock than it had in December 2016.
• GM’s November incentive spending was an estimated 12.9 percent of ATP, per JD Power PIN, which is in line with the industry average. Spending was down 0.3 percentage points from October and 0.8 points year over year.

[Robert Hall]

Sedans are tanking across the brands, except for the Impala..

Edited December 2, 2017 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[smk4565]

Yep, too many sedans.

[David]

Helped my sister buy a new 2017 Buick Envision Premier II fully loaded this week. MSRP was $50,150, paid $38,645 plus tax and license.

There is a sale for the December numbers!  

[oldshurst442]

@dfelt

I like the colour. Its an awesome fiery red. May your sister enjoy her brand new shiny red car!

 

 

[David]

Reviewing and realized that the Chevy BOLT passed 20,000 sold a month before they said they would. The focus was on 20,000 sold by the end of the year. With the Ampera-E sales and the US sales, I would have to say the BOLT is a hit and will continue to do very well in 2018.

[ccap41]

Yeah. the Bolt will do pretty well, I think. I'm excited to see what else they put out as they're supposed to have a handful more EV's come out in the next few years. I'm ready for an EV that looks good that isn't Tesla priced or maybe an "actual" SUV that's Escape-sized. It's still hard to believe they didn't go the compact SUV route in the first place with how big those sales numbers are. 

[David]

42 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Yeah. the Bolt will do pretty well, I think. I'm excited to see what else they put out as they're supposed to have a handful more EV's come out in the next few years. I'm ready for an EV that looks good that isn't Tesla priced or maybe an "actual" SUV that's Escape-sized. It's still hard to believe they didn't go the compact SUV route in the first place with how big those sales numbers are. 

Agree, I really hope this auto show season we see the two new EVs that are based on the Bolt platform that are supposed to come out in 2019 as 2020 models. My gut is telling me that they will probably not go on sale till late 2019.

[smk4565]

If GM is giving 20% off an Envision, I gotta imagine 40% off deals are coming to the CTS.

[balthazar]

I see Car Gurus is advertising $16,000 OFF the 2018 mercedes S560 4matic sedan.

No one pays MSRP, but for some strange reason, it gets undue focus when talking about GM vehicles.

[ocnblu]

19 hours ago, ccap41 said:

Yeah. the Bolt will do pretty well, I think. I'm excited to see what else they put out as they're supposed to have a handful more EV's come out in the next few years. I'm ready for an EV that looks good that isn't Tesla priced or maybe an "actual" SUV that's Escape-sized. It's still hard to believe they didn't go the compact SUV route in the first place with how big those sales numbers are. 

Well if you see Chevy describe the Bolt, they call it a compact crossover... and if you go to the GM online order guide, it is grouped with Chevy TRUCKS.  Seems like a stretch to me, as it appears to be a tall hatchback to my eyeballs.

[David]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Well if you see Chevy describe the Bolt, they call it a compact crossover... and if you go to the GM online order guide, it is grouped with Chevy TRUCKS.  Seems like a stretch to me, as it appears to be a tall hatchback to my eyeballs.

How is it grouped with Chevy Trucks? They have their own Electric section and it is 2 tabs away from the trucks tab.

Or are you talking about their www.gmfleetorderguide.com site which does put ALL SUV,CUV and Trucks together under their Alternative Fuels section. Totally understandable. Fleet sales are very different than retail sales.

[ocnblu]

In the online order guide under ordering information, go to the Chevy Trucks section then go to the top right corner and choose a model... Bolt is on that list.