GM Truck Lineup Industry Sales Record
FOR RELEASE: January 3, 2002- GM Sets Industry Calendar Year SUV Record
- Best Calendar Year Full-Size Pickup sales since 1978
- December Total Sales Up Seven Percent; Retail Up 15 percent
GM Announces December, Fourth-Quarter, 2001 Production; Reaffirms First-Quarter Schedule
DETROIT - General Motors dealers sold 362,169 new cars and trucks in December in the United States. GM total sales were up seven percent for the month with a 15 percent retail increase. Buoyed by exceptional retail sales performance and an improved vehicle mix, GM's industry leading lineup of trucks broke the industry calendar year record for truck sales.
"Several years ago, GM committed to regaining truck leadership, and in 2001 we accomplished this important goal, setting a new industry benchmark for truck sales," said Bill Lovejoy, group vice president of North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "We not only set an industry record for overall truck and SUV sales, but we had the best industry full-size pickup sales since 1978, which gives us great momentum going into 2002."
Lovejoy continued, "Despite some moderation in the industry, GM's retail volume will be up for the second consecutive year and our inventories are in terrific shape for 2002. This is an accomplishment we could not have achieved without the exceptional performance of our entire GM organization and the outstanding sales efforts of our dealers."
GM Truck Sales Highlights
GM achieved truck leadership with 2,631,535 sales in 2001, giving GM the best industry truck sales ever. For December, GM's industry-leading truck lineup maintained its exceptional sales pace, with deliveries up 31 percent.
Robust sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales for the year (1,019,228 units) resulted in GM shattering the all-time industry SUV sales record -- and GM became the first manufacturer to sell more than one million SUVs in a calendar year. GM's full-size utilities (93,280 units - up 28 percent over last year) dominated the industry once again in December. The Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL as well as the all-new Cadillac Escalade (537,193 units -- up 29 percent for the calendar year) gave GM the all-time industry record for full-size utilities, breaking the record for the fifth consecutive year.
GM's all-new midsize SUVs, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Oldsmobile Bravada and Buick Rendezvous again made major contributions to an all-time GM record for midsize utility sales (429,274 units -- up 23 percent). GM also led the industry in full-size pickup sales for the first time since 1994 with sales of 979,706 -- up 18 percent over last year, and had the best full-size pickup sales of any manufacturer since 1978.
GM Car Sales Highlights
For 2001, GM car deliveries were down 10 percent, and down 19 percent for December. Passenger car sales were negatively impacted by the industry decline in daily rentals. Chevrolet Impala, Malibu and Cavalier, as well as the Pontiac Grand Am remained in the top-10 best selling cars for the year. GM is the only manufacturer with four vehicles in the top ten.
Building on the strength of the industry leading truck lineup, GM is expecting to build momentum in the luxury and entry level markets with all-new vehicles. Cadillac CTS and Escalade EXT, Saturn Vue and Pontiac Vibe are all coming to market within the next few months.
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December Sales Records CYTD Records |
CYTD Records Cont. |
Certified Used Sales
GM continued to gain momentum in the used car market, achieving over 23,000 total used certified vehicle sales for December, including the Cadillac, Saturn and SAAB certified brands. The GM Certified Used Vehicle brand achieved record numbers for the seventh consecutive month with 20,272 sales. Overall, the GM Certified Used Vehicle brand, combined with the Cadillac, Saturn and SAAB certified brands sold nearly 140,000 units in 2001.
Click here to view the General Motors Corporation December 2001 Sales and Production data
GM Announces December, Fourth-Quarter, 2001 Production; Reaffirms First-Quarter Schedule
In December, GM produced 363,000 vehicles (163,000 cars and 200,000 trucks) in North America, down 4 percent from 378,000 vehicles (180,000 cars and 198,000 trucks) produced in December 2000. (Production totals include joint venture production of 5,000 vehicles in December 2001 and 9,000 vehicles in December 2000.)
In the fourth quarter of 2001, GM produced 1.294 million vehicles (573,000 cars and 721,000 trucks) in North America, down 5 percent from the 1.364 million vehicles (670,000 cars and 694,000 trucks) in the fourth quarter of 2000.
For 2001, GM produced 5.110 million vehicles (2.365 million cars and 2.745 million trucks) in North America, down 11 percent from the 5.772 million vehicles (2.892 million cars and 2.880 million trucks) produced in 2000.
Additionally, GM reaffirmed first-quarter 2002 forecast of 1.3 million vehicles (575,000 cars and 725,000 trucks).
GM also announced the following production information for its international regions:
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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