2020 GMC HD Reveal

ksss wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:

ksss wrote:
Nice to hear the mirrors extend electronically. Talked to my commercial salesman today (Chevy), and was told that if you have a fleet number you can order the new trucks next month and will see them around June. Not sure on the GMC version. Fleet ordered vehicles will be fill first, beyond any floor ordered pickups, those would start hitting the ground in August.

Not doubting you, but that just seems backward. Fleet sales are so much less profitable than retail.

They are, I don't have a Fleet number, but if I did I could save significant money (5500 last time I checked). You need something like 15 gm vehicles in your fleet and some other qualifications. So if you have a fleet number you are buying a lot of vehicles. So while fleet number vehicles are sold for less, these customers buy a lot of GM vehicles. So I believe that by keeping these customers happy, they are moving more vehicles, less for each one verse the regular consumer, but it must pencil out for them.

Again, not doubting you, but it seems like a poor business decision. I have a family member that was a zone fleet manager for a manufacture. He worked with customers that all had 10 or more vehicles in their fleet (didn't matter if they were his or a competitor).

The manufactures certainly move more vehicles that way. But the overall margin is considerably less, and the vehicles that fleet buys are almost universally low trim level vehicles. Think rental cars (one of the biggest customers), oil fields, mines, field sales, etc. The managers of those companies might order one moderately optioned vehicle for every 20 stripped models they buy.

Biggest profits are to retail customers who are willing to buy LongHorn/Limited/Platinum/Denali/High Country trims.

Several manufactures have made concerted efforts to reduce fleet sales because of this. GM is going the opposite direction. Doesn't make sense.