“GM sold 2.11 million vehicles in the third quarter, while Toyota’s sales for the period fell 4 percent to 2.24 million. The results bring GM’s total sales for January-September to 6.66 million vehicles compared with Toyota’s 7.05 million.
GM said sales declines in the United States and Western Europe offset strong demand from emerging markets. Sales outside of the U.S. grew by 164,000 vehicles in the first nine months of the year.
Mike DiGiovanni, GM’s executive director of global market and industry analysis, said the same economic woes that have resulted in steep drops in U.S. sales this year spread to western Europe during the recent quarter.
North American sales dropped 18.9 percent during the quarter, while overall European sales fell 12.3 percent.
DiGiovanni said that while sales growth in emerging markets may be slowing, it’s still significant. GM reported third-quarter sales increases of 15.1 percent in Russia, 15.5 percent in Brazil, 12 percent in China and 5 percent in India.
“We can’t overact to some of some of the snowballing effects that have happened in the markets these past few weeks,” DiGiovanni said in a conference call. “There’s a lot of positive fundamentals going on around the world that are laying the bed for future growth.”
Sales outside of North America accounted for 61 percent of GM’s total third-quarter sales, up from 56 percent in the same period last year.”
For those who say American’s should only buy American car:
If China only bought Chinese cars and India only bought Indian cars GM would be hurting even more right now.
US car companies should be building cars people want to buy, not “forced” to buy because of where it is made.
Many of the new offerings continue to improve, but some still fall short.
Hopefully when GM is announced #2 in January, the outcry is not that American’s should be buying more American cars, but that American car companies need to continue to improve so that not only their citizens but other countries will continue to demand their vehicles.
I was really impressed with it. It looked good, it was economically “there” and it made me think for a second that GM was finally going in the right direction. They were finally realizing what they needed to do, in order to get back in the game.
Then about 15 seconds later, i hear “Chevy expects the Volt to start around $43,000.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Get a fucking clue GM.
In Japan, all the shooters drive Buick’s. Here when we see Lexus LS’s, Benz 500’s, and 7 Series, we think about how much money the owners make. Not in Japan. You’ve made it fucking big time when you’re rocking a Lucerne.
Ha - I doubt that. Considering imported makers of all sizes barely crack the surface of the Japanese market… Heck, Toyota sells in Japan in one month more than all the imported makes sell in a year combined.
Oh, and Beck GM hasn’t had any help (yet) from the government to sell the Volt, and it’s not in any shape to sell a tech-halo-loss-leader car.
And FWIW - this could all change if GM-Chrysler happens. (Not for good, and not for long, mind you)
Hence the (yet). The $25 billion earmarked for the automakers hasn’t been allocated yet, and that tax credit starts next year. And mind you, the tax credit technically applies to any automaker, not just the domestics.
who care’s about the tax credit? it still doesn’t make up for the fact that chevrolet is going to try to market a $43,000 vehicle against toyota who is going to romp on with its <$25,000 vehicle.
you can give me all the tax credit you can muster up and throw at me. If i can buy a better vehicle built by a better manufacturer for half as less…i’m going to. (and still get the tax credit).
Understand we are comparing two completely different cars:
The 2010 Prius plug in will have a 7 mile electric only capacity and a top speed of 62 mph (in EV mode).
The Volt will have a 35 - 40 mile range and a much higher top speed.
Also the Prius plug in feature with li-ion batteries will have a large surcharge.
I absolutely agree. Regardless of what the volt has over the prius (not taking into account reliability, resale, and quality) is it really worth an extra $15,000- $20,000? Probably not.
All I’m saying is that if GM wants to get back in the game, they need to think smarter and cheaper. Them buying Chrysler is surely imminent, and it’s smart because Chrysler has something GM wants/needs. MONEY. GM has no money. Shit, they only own a small portion of GMAC now.
Not to mention, they lost a LARGE number of customers due to the extinction of leasing. And the money they are going to lose in the next 3 years on returned Smart Buy vehicles is going to be phenomenal.
Now if only people realized this 5 years ago…