Ford and General Motors have released sales figures for the month of September. The result for Ford was less than ideal as the automaker saw a sales decline of 21% over the same month last year. The 21% overall slip was due to a 15% decline in retail sales and a 62% drop in rental sales.
GM’s results were far better as the automaker saw a 4% increase in sales despite earlier sales forecasts predicting a slight decrease. Surprisingly, sales were spurred by light truck sales — a segment largely hurt by increasing gas prices. Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Saturn and Buick all increased sales — Buick by 6% thanks to sales of the Enclave crossover. Cadillac also posted its best sales month of 2007 thanks to strong sales of the all-new CTS.
Overall, GM retail sales were up 7% with fleet sales taking a 6% planned dip.
10/02, 2:52 PM
posted by:
CTS DRIVER
good less fleet sales.
10/02, 3:11 PM
posted by:
LP640
FORD DOWN ?? WOW NOW THERE’S A SURPRISE (!)
10/02, 3:35 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Toyota’s also down.
10/02, 3:45 PM
posted by:
R1GHT30U5
Ford, its time to wake up now… how many more years will I have to remain disappointed in you?
10/02, 3:46 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
wow a whole 4 %
10/02, 3:52 PM
posted by:
Mar Solo
4 percent on a monster like GM isn’t as small as you’d think.
Ford on the other hand, expected. I don’t know what it will take to wake these guys up.
10/02, 4:08 PM
posted by:
c4Menace
I sure hope VW sales are UP! wakawaka waka
10/02, 4:12 PM
posted by:
Jazz
Up 4% overall is pretty good. If you think about it though the light truck sales had to be driven by marketing flex fuel.
10/02, 4:13 PM
posted by:
autonut
GM showed great resilience this month. With any luck their story will look better as time goes on, especially if Saturn cars will regain their reliability status. The problem is that the market is primed for cars now because of rise in gas prices (Honda and Nissan sales up). GM is taking wind from Ford with newer trucks especially with really expensive ones (with reliable diesel engines). I think it is a limited market for now since construction is not on the rise.
10/02, 4:19 PM
posted by:
Bryce
Whose sales is General Motors taking? That’s what’s important.
And does anyone know if commercial sales are being added to the retail figure?
10/02, 4:24 PM
posted by:
Commodore
GM UP AGAIN!!! TOY (I heard) is down again.
10/02, 4:41 PM
posted by:
Elvio
Good move by FORD to reduce on the rental.
10/02, 4:54 PM
posted by:
Kenny W
Good job GM. Keep up the good work & they’ll see double digit growth in a few years time.
10/02, 5:21 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
I’m only concerned that they sell enough cars to stay in business. I’m a lot more comfortable driving a common man’s car from GM than one that’s not.
10/02, 6:17 PM
posted by:
sik59rt
Elvio…i dont think Ford intentionally wanted Rental sales to go down 62%
10/02, 7:02 PM
posted by:
jimmy8
The problem is that Ford’s numbers this year are based off of the 300,000 Taurus’s Ford sold last year to fleets that they are not doing anymore. Wait till next year when those are not factored in. I’m not saying that Ford will light the world on fire, but its percentages will show growth instead of decline.
10/02, 7:04 PM
posted by:
jimmy8
Ford DID want to cut back on rental sales. It was killing residuals. If you have been to a Ford auction lately, other than the mentioned Taurus, prices are up substantially from where the were a year ago, which is a very good thing for Ford.
10/02, 7:21 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Looking good, GM. I hope those bastard UAW strikes didn’t hurt profits too badly.
10/02, 7:51 PM
posted by:
RicardoHead
Ford is in a world of hurt, but I think Ford NA management must love S&M.
They have products that sell (overseas) and turds that stink up the lots here, and they choose not to bring the products that sell. Totally freakin’ beyond reason, but that’ corporate politics for ya!
10/02, 8:54 PM
posted by:
Commodore
“wow a whole 4 %” – see how you are being negative. You know perfectly well that an automaker of GM’s size sells a lot of cars so 4% represents 10000s of cars. Be happy for GM, why can’t you?
10/02, 9:30 PM
posted by:
TOZO
The UAW strike probably even helped GM by cleaning up a little of the inventory of GM’s more boring cars: you know – GM’s old man cars & mistake cars. From sales figures from the last 2 months, it looks as if people are sort of giving on Ford, Chrysler, & (even) Toyota & just grabbing Chevys & Saturns…with Nissan & Honda (but not Acura) sales up picking up the rest of the lost market share that usually went to Toyota, Ford, & Chrysler.
10/02, 9:42 PM
posted by:
Elvio
I don’t understand why can’t Ford bring over the Europe design and build in the USA.
10/03, 2:20 AM
posted by:
The Stig
I don’t understand how Mark Fields is still employed.