GM: January Cars Sales Down Truck Sales Up

DETROIT -- General Motors dealers sold 299,634 new cars and trucks in January in the United States, down 13 percent.  GM's sales decline was fully accounted for by a 58 percent reduction in daily rental volume.  GM's retail sales were comparable to a year ago due to a 15 percent increase in retail truck sales.

"We had a phenomenal year in truck sales in 2001 setting several truck sales records and we continued that momentum in January," said Bill Lovejoy, group vice president of North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing.  "In addition, our strong retail performance helped to offset reductions in daily rental fleet." 

Lovejoy continued, "Our entire GM organization, the effectiveness of the 'GM Overdrive' marketing campaign, and the outstanding sales efforts of our dealers are clearly positioning us to maintain our momentum throughout the year."

GM Truck Sales
For January, GM's Industry leading truck lineup maintained its record sales pace with deliveries up 10 percent. GM's midsize utilities continued to gain momentum with sales of 38,140, an increase of 50 percent over last January. Once again, GM had strong full-size pickup sales (72,143 units - up 20 percent) and maintained its leadership in full-size utilities.

GM is expecting to build momentum in calendar year '02 in the luxury and entry level markets with several all-new vehicles. Cadillac CTS and Escalade EXT, Saturn Vue and Pontiac Vibe are currently arriving in dealerships and will each be in full production within the next several months.

January Sales Records GM Trucks Chevrolet Trucks GM Pickups GM Full-size Pickups Chevrolet Silverado GM Utilities

January Sales Records cont. Chevrolet Utilities GMC Utilities GM Midsize Utilities GM Full-size Utilities GMC Yukon Cadillac Escalade

Click here to view the General Motors Corporation January 2002 Sales and Production data

Certified Used Sales
GM continued to gain momentum in the used car market, achieving approximately 22,000 total used certified vehicle sales for January, including the Cadillac, Saturn and SAAB certified brands.  The GM Certified Used Vehicle brand had another strong month, selling 18,262 units.  Lovejoy commented on the success of GM's certified used vehicle programs.  "We are really hitting our stride in this end of the market and we fully expect that with the strength and support of our dealer network, we will challenge for the segment lead in certified used vehicles."

GM Announces January Production Results, Increases First-Quarter Schedule
In January, GM produced 409,000 vehicles (178,000 cars and 231,000 trucks) in North America, up more than 6 percent from 384,000 vehicles (191,000 cars and 193,000 trucks) produced in January 2001. (Totals include joint venture production of 5,000 vehicles in January and 9,000 vehicles in January 2001.)

Additionally, GM increased its first-quarter 2002 North American forecast to 1.32 million vehicles (585,000 cars and 735,000 trucks) from its previous estimate of 1.3 million vehicles (575,000 cars and 725,000 trucks).  The increase in production builds on the momentum created by the successful “Keep America Rolling” and “GM Overdrive” campaigns.  In the first quarter of 2001, GM produced 1.214 million vehicles (581,000 cars and 633,000 trucks).

GM also announced the following production information for its international regions:

• GM Europe – The first-quarter estimate is 460,000 vehicles, a decrease of 38,000 vehicles from the previous estimate due to lower than expected sales in late 2001 and early 2002, resulting in higher than desired inventory levels.  
• GM Asia Pacific – The first-quarter estimate is 59,000 vehicles, a decrease of 8,000 vehicles from the previous estimate due to a reduction in export volume to other regions.

GM Latin America, Africa and the Middle East – The first-quarter estimate is 138,000 vehicles, an increase of 6,000 vehicles from the previous estimate.