GM May Sales Up 1%; Industry on Pace for Third-Best Sales Year
- Best Month Ever for GM Truck Sales -- Up 10%
- Car Sales Down 9%
GM Announces May Production Results; Second Quarter Forecast Revised
DETROIT -- General Motors dealers sold 459,050 new cars and trucks in April in the United States, up one percent from May 2000. A 10 percent increase in truck sales bolstered the GM lineup in May with exceptionally strong pickup and utility sales. GM car sales decreased nine percent.
"We're very encouraged that demand remains healthy and the industry is on pace for its third-best year in history," said Bill Lovejoy, group vice president of North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Our strong sales results in May were driven by outstanding dealer efforts and consumer demand for GM products, especially our industry-leading lineup of truck brands. GM buyers are the real winners in today's marketplace with our improving product quality and innovative new products."
GM Truck Sales Highlights
GM's strongest results in May came from full-size truck sales (pickups and utilities), which in total climbed 24 percent. With Silverado posting its best month since October 1978, GM's full-size pickup sales rose 17 percent, full-size utility sales rose 38 percent, and all eight individual GM brands in those segments posted double-digit sales gains. Notably, all GM full-size utilities posted double-digit May sales increases in excess of 20 percent.
GM expects to continue its strong truck sales performance as several new and innovative entries increase in availability, including the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Oldsmobile Bravada, Buick Rendezvous, Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade.
GM Car Sales Highlights
Saturn posted a significant 26 percent total increase in car sales with L-Series sales up 31 percent and S-Series sales up 23 percent.
Chevrolet midsize car brands Impala and Malibu performed briskly with sales up five percent and 19 percent, respectively.
The Chevrolet Impala, Malibu and Cavalier all rank on the top-10 list of best-selling cars in America, making Chevrolet the only brand in the auto industry with three top-10 best sellers.
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May Sales Records
Best Month Ever
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CYTD Records
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GM Announces May Production Totals, 2nd and 3rd Quarter 2001 Estimates
In May, GM produced 492,000 vehicles (229,000 cars and 263,000 trucks) in North America, down from 548,000 vehicles (276,000 cars and 272,000 trucks) produced in May 2000. (Production totals include joint venture production of 11,000 vehicles in May 2001 and 13,000 vehicles in May 2000.)
GM announced its second-quarter North American production estimate is 1.349 million vehicles (629,000 cars and 720,000 trucks) in the second quarter, an increase from the previous estimate of 1.332 million vehicles (618,000 cars and 714,000 trucks). The latest second-quarter estimate represents a 14 percent decline from the 1.568 million vehicles (787,000 cars and 781,000 trucks) GM produced in the second quarter of 2000.
Additionally, GM announced that third-quarter production is estimated at 1.235 million vehicles (572,000 cars and 663,000 trucks), a 6.4 percent decline from the 1.319 million vehicles (689,000 cars and 630,000 trucks) GM produced in the third quarter of 2000.
The increase in production for the second quarter reflects stronger demand for GM products than anticipated as well as continued appropriate management of inventories. Despite the ongoing heavy overall pricing pressures, GM believes that the current analysts' estimate for second-quarter earnings of about
$1.05 per share is reasonable. The company also affirmed its previously stated outlook for the calendar year of $4.25 per share.
Additionally, GM announced the following second- and third-quarter 2001 production estimates for its international regions:
- GM Europe – The second-quarter estimate is 494,000 vehicles, down from the previous estimate of 504,000. The third-quarter estimate is 386,000 vehicles.
- GM Asia Pacific – The second-quarter estimate is unchanged at 65,000 vehicles. The third-quarter estimate is 79,000 vehicles.
- GM Latin America, Africa and the Middle East – The second quarter estimate is 170,000 vehicles, up from the previous estimate of 169,000. The third-quarter estimate is 174,000 vehicles.
Click here to view the General Motors Corporation May 2001 Sales and Production data.
Note: GM sales and production results are available on GM Media Online at http://media.gm.com by clicking on the Sales/Production icon.
In this press release and related comments by General Motors management, our use of the words "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions is intended to identify forward looking statements. While these statements represent our current judgement on what the future may hold, and we believe these judgements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially due to numerous important factors that are described in GM's most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (at page II-20) which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Such factors include, among others, the following: changes in economic conditions, currency exchange rates or political stability; shortages of fuel, labor strikes or work stoppages; market acceptance of the corporation's new products; significant changes in the competitive environment; changes in laws, regulations and tax rates; and, the ability of the corporation to achieve reductions in cost and employment levels to realize production efficiencies and implement capital expenditures at levels and times planned by management.
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May |
Calendar Year-to-Date | ||||
|
Curr S/D: 26 |
2001 |
2000 |
% Chg |
2001 |
2000 |
% Chg |
|
Vehicle Total |
459,050 |
456,290 |
0.6 |
2,014,184 |
2,166,099 |
-7.0 |
|
Car Total |
209,460 |
229,258 |
-8.6 |
994,311 |
1,086,566 |
-8.5 |
|
Truck Total |
249,590 |
227,032 |
9.9 |
1,019,873 |
1,079,533 |
-5.5 |
|
Light Truck Total |
244,594 |
223,450 |
9.5 |
1,001,145 |
1,061,227 |
-5.7 |
|
Light Vehicle Total |
454,054 |
452,708 |
0.3 |
1,995,456 |
2,147,793 |
-7.1 |
|
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Market Division |
May |
Calendar Year-to-Date | ||||
|
2001 |
2000 |
% Chg |
2001 |
2000 |
% Chg | |
|
Buick |
34,678 |
36,120 |
-4.0 |
143,632 |
168,841 |
-14.9 |
|
Cadillac |
12,270 |
15,034 |
-18.4 |
62,157 |
81,690 |
-23.9 |
|
Chevrolet |
250,234 |
242,728 |
3.1 |
1,105,737 |
1,157,351 |
-4.5 |
|
GMC |
55,872 |
50,046 |
11.6 |
219,932 |
236,653 |
-7.1 |
|
Hummer |
76 |
38 |
100.0 |
368 |
451 |
-18.4 |
|
Oldsmobile |
20,461 |
26,313 |
-22.2 |
112,326 |
127,135 |
-11.6 |
|
Other - Isuzu |
1,585 |
0 |
***.* |
6,940 |
0 |
***.* |
|
Pontiac |
47,929 |
56,447 |
-15.1 |
227,379 |
265,465 |
-14.3 |
|
Saab |
3,014 |
3,463 |
-13.0 |
13,465 |
13,555 |
-0.7 |
|
Saturn |
32,931 |
26,101 |
26.2 |
122,248 |
114,958 |
6.3 |
|
Sales of Domestically Produced Vehicles | ||||||
Car |
205,132 |
223,871 |
-8.4 |
976,353 |
1,067,169 |
-8.5 |
Light Truck |
244,594 |
223,450 |
9.5 |
1,001,145 |
1,061,227 |
-5.7 |
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Twenty-six selling days for the May period this year and twenty-six for last year. | ||||||
| * American Isuzu Motors, Inc., dealer sales of commercial vehicles distributed by General Motors Corporation as reported to General Motors by American Isuzu Motors, Inc. | ||||||
| Please Note: The Light sub-totals will be different than reported the prior year due to the implementation of 2001 Segmentation, which moved some Light Trucks to Medium. | ||||||