GM sale numbers falling even with new pickup line

[CREATO]

GM Dealers Say Low Demand, Not Lack of Supply Explain Poor Truck Sales





Submitted by Mark Modica on Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:41


The past month has brought much confusion and concern for General Motors' shareholders regarding the most important and profitable segment of sales for the company. As the company prepares to report earnings for the third quarter this week, media reports are still unclear on just what is going on with GM's new truck lineup; specifically pertaining to the reasons behind the disappointing sales figures that were reported for the month of September when Ford's truck offerings left them in the dust.

While GM's Obama-appointed management spun the story (claiming supply could not keep up with demand) to some in the media who are gullible enough to print the misinformation without question, some GM dealers were more honest with their assessment.

GM's management has lots of experience when it comes to trying to deceptively explain away poor sales of much-hyped vehicles. The Chevy Volt has never lived up to expectations and the same "supply can't keep up with demand" excuse was used, even as GM temporarily halted production at plants making the vehicle due to the embarrassing sales. As those in GM management present their case as virtuously as politicians seeking reelection, some at GM's dealerships (who have a bit more credibility) give a clearer picture as reported by Automotive News.

The article quotes one Florida Chevy dealership general manager as saying that the 2014 Chevy Silverado (GM's bread and butter pickup) is selling "very poorly." The president of another dealership in Texas says his supply of Silverados was up to 170 days compared to his previous average of 110 days. Yet another principal of four Texas dealerships said his truck supply was up to 120 days compared to the typical 90 day supply. Assuming that the management and owners of Chevy dealerships are not part of a right-wing conspiracy to hurt GM because of its ties to President Obama, it would appear that we can put to rest the notion that the lackluster sales for GM's new truck lineup is a result of supply not being able to keep up with demand.

GM dealers are pointing to the simple fact that competitors have better deals on their truck offerings and consumers can get better bang for their buck elsewhere. Of course, the dealers would like to see increased incentives on the vehicles to spur sales; a remedy that hurts profits and shareholders at GM. The ingenious response from GM? Trick consumers by raising prices of the trucks and then increasing incentives! As PT Barnum (or perhaps a White House spokesman) might say, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Another Automotive News report blows holes in the "supply can't keep up with demand" excuse. The piece states, "GM started October with an 82-day supply based on September's sales pace, up 18 from Sept. 1. Stocks of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup rose to a 115-day supply from 98, and the GMC Sierra pickup rose to 98 days from 87." GM no longer likes to discuss truck inventory, which it has had a past history of stuffing to manipulate earnings, but analysts should ask some tough questions during GM's earnings' conference call about where truck inventory levels are. The tricky strategy of raising truck prices at the same time that incentives are raised should also be questioned. Judging from GM's past explanations, even if such questions are allowed to be asked, I doubt that the answers will be credible.

I just don't get why GM has to continue to play its politically dishonest approach to all challenges it faces. It seems that the governmental intrusion into the company has left an indelible template that sets forth a strategy by GM of smoke and mirrors along with media manipulation to portray an image of an efficiently managed entity operating with an eye on the bottom line when in reality it is most concerned with public perception. The true bottom line is, if GM does not focus on building high quality vehicles at the best value in a very competitive market instead of being concerned with perception, all of the excuses in the world will not prevent a second trip for the company through bankruptcy court.

[noteven]

CKNSLS wrote:

06Fargo wrote:

CKNSLS wrote:

DirtyOil wrote:
LMAO... people still whining about their autos being foreign built... as they one finger bash on their Chinese made keyboard wired to their Chinese made MB, Hard drives, Graphics cards, Ram chips... etc... while sitting on their Chinese high back office chairs or porcelain thrones.. forgetting that a good chunk of their modern auto has parts built in China, only thing American about so called American made autos is the assembly of parts made and shipped from around the world!! Get over it...no one makes anything now a days that's 100% home grown. So wipe your tears with yer T-shirt made in Bangladesh and perhaps change yer Eastern Asian undies and head over to MacDonald's for quarter pounder avec fromage, with the beef (what ever % of the patty is real beef) from Chile or Argentina and grab some extra Kat-sup for the fries from Prince Edward Island, Canada or Ireland.. or where ever those come from....:B

Everything you said makes perfect sense but there are those on this board who will just not give up fight in spite of the fact the U.S. has already lost. We WILL NEVER BE an industrial giant again. Yes, certain manufacturing firms may have gone oversees and now have come back to the U.S., but it's not happening in any great numbers.

Actually isn't the world's largest manufacturing economy still the United States'? It's just not the stuff that is stacked deep and sold cheap.

No! America isn't. -
https://www.mapi.net/system/files/PA-118_1.pdf

MAPI article

CKNSLS - that is an interesting article. Thanks for posting it. I am certainly not an economist but reading that article I think "our" method of achieving mfg sector growth may work better in the long run vs the exploitation /pollution / currency manipulation / competition restriction / one child preferably male / model. I still buy some of that product by accident or ignorance but it's a really low %.

[CKNSLS]

06Fargo wrote:

CKNSLS wrote:

DirtyOil wrote:
LMAO... people still whining about their autos being foreign built... as they one finger bash on their Chinese made keyboard wired to their Chinese made MB, Hard drives, Graphics cards, Ram chips... etc... while sitting on their Chinese high back office chairs or porcelain thrones.. forgetting that a good chunk of their modern auto has parts built in China, only thing American about so called American made autos is the assembly of parts made and shipped from around the world!! Get over it...no one makes anything now a days that's 100% home grown. So wipe your tears with yer T-shirt made in Bangladesh and perhaps change yer Eastern Asian undies and head over to MacDonald's for quarter pounder avec fromage, with the beef (what ever % of the patty is real beef) from Chile or Argentina and grab some extra Kat-sup for the fries from Prince Edward Island, Canada or Ireland.. or where ever those come from....:B

Everything you said makes perfect sense but there are those on this board who will just not give up fight in spite of the fact the U.S. has already lost. We WILL NEVER BE an industrial giant again. Yes, certain manufacturing firms may have gone oversees and now have come back to the U.S., but it's not happening in any great numbers.

Actually isn't the world's largest manufacturing economy still the United States'? It's just not the stuff that is stacked deep and sold cheap.

No! America isn't. -
https://www.mapi.net/system/files/PA-118_1.pdf

[noteven]

CKNSLS wrote:

DirtyOil wrote:
LMAO... people still whining about their autos being foreign built... as they one finger bash on their Chinese made keyboard wired to their Chinese made MB, Hard drives, Graphics cards, Ram chips... etc... while sitting on their Chinese high back office chairs or porcelain thrones.. forgetting that a good chunk of their modern auto has parts built in China, only thing American about so called American made autos is the assembly of parts made and shipped from around the world!! Get over it...no one makes anything now a days that's 100% home grown. So wipe your tears with yer T-shirt made in Bangladesh and perhaps change yer Eastern Asian undies and head over to MacDonald's for quarter pounder avec fromage, with the beef (what ever % of the patty is real beef) from Chile or Argentina and grab some extra Kat-sup for the fries from Prince Edward Island, Canada or Ireland.. or where ever those come from....:B

Everything you said makes perfect sense but there are those on this board who will just not give up fight in spite of the fact the U.S. has already lost. We WILL NEVER BE an industrial giant again. Yes, certain manufacturing firms may have gone oversees and now have come back to the U.S., but it's not happening in any great numbers.

Actually isn't the world's largest manufacturing economy still the United States'? It's just not the stuff that is stacked deep and sold cheap.

[RoyJ]

CKNSLS wrote:
We WILL NEVER BE an industrial giant again.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I'd love to buy everything made in Canada, but I'd have to take a 40 yrs step backwards in living quality, back when an electric fan or transistor radio was a "major purchase".

Not to mention the heath and environmental toll a country must take on, in order to be an "industrial giant". Wasn't that long ago with the Thames turned purple...

[CKNSLS]

DirtyOil wrote:
LMAO... people still whining about their autos being foreign built... as they one finger bash on their Chinese made keyboard wired to their Chinese made MB, Hard drives, Graphics cards, Ram chips... etc... while sitting on their Chinese high back office chairs or porcelain thrones.. forgetting that a good chunk of their modern auto has parts built in China, only thing American about so called American made autos is the assembly of parts made and shipped from around the world!! Get over it...no one makes anything now a days that's 100% home grown. So wipe your tears with yer T-shirt made in Bangladesh and perhaps change yer Eastern Asian undies and head over to MacDonald's for quarter pounder avec fromage, with the beef (what ever % of the patty is real beef) from Chile or Argentina and grab some extra Kat-sup for the fries from Prince Edward Island, Canada or Ireland.. or where ever those come from....:B

Everything you said makes perfect sense but there are those on this board who will just not give up fight in spite of the fact the U.S. has already lost. We WILL NEVER BE an industrial giant again. Yes, certain manufacturing firms may have gone oversees and now have come back to the U.S., but it's not happening in any great numbers.

[DirtyOil]

LMAO... people still whining about their autos being foreign built... as they one finger bash on their Chinese made keyboard wired to their Chinese made MB, Hard drives, Graphics cards, Ram chips... etc... while sitting on their Chinese high back office chairs or porcelain thrones.. forgetting that a good chunk of their modern auto has parts built in China, only thing American about so called American made autos is the assembly of parts made and shipped from around the world!! Get over it...no one makes anything now a days that's 100% home grown. So wipe your tears with yer T-shirt made in Bangladesh and perhaps change yer Eastern Asian undies and head over to MacDonald's for quarter pounder avec fromage, with the beef (what ever % of the patty is real beef) from Chile or Argentina and grab some extra Kat-sup for the fries from Prince Edward Island, Canada or Ireland.. or where ever those come from....:B

[wnjj]

Me Again wrote:
Or left square bracket url="paste link" right square bracket, Click Here or other text, left square bracket /url right square bracket. This creates an active link that you name anything you want.

RV Net

I know it's easy enough but for crying out loud, there's a computer "receiving" your new post. There's no good reason it can't just make them clickable. Modern email programs do this.

[Me_Again]

Or left square bracket url="paste link" right square bracket, Click Here or other text, left square bracket /url right square bracket. This creates an active link that you name anything you want.

RV Net

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

wnjj wrote:

Me Again wrote:
Why can't more people learn to put left square bracket url right square bracket at the beginning of a link and left square bracket /url right square bracket at the end, to make links active.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-8-most-american-trucks-for-2013.html

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/detroits-pickups-flunk-toyota-soars-on-...

Chris

Better yet, why can't the stupid forum software recognize links and convert them for you?

Or you can click the WEB LINK icon paste the web address in this line "Enter the complete URL for the link." then type whatever you want in the box "Enter the text you want to be clickable (optional)." It's not that hard. Hell if I can do it anyone should be able to do it right? :W Click Here

What I would like to see is when you click on a link it opens in a different window. Yes I know all you need to do is click and hold the Ctrl key it it will open the link in different window. But oh well.

Don

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

.

[wnjj]

Me Again wrote:
Why can't more people learn to put left square bracket url right square bracket at the beginning of a link and left square bracket /url right square bracket at the end, to make links active.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-8-most-american-trucks-for-2013.html

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/detroits-pickups-flunk-toyota-soars-on-...

Chris

Better yet, why can't the stupid forum software recognize links and convert them for you?

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

spoon059 wrote:

06Fargo wrote:
What is a "domestic" pickup truck?

Either the F-150 or the Tundra... if you mean actually MADE in the USA...

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-8-most-american-trucks-for-2013.html

Of course, in 2010 when I bought MY Tundra, it was the most American (USA, not including Canada) truck line. Ram made a specific model in the USA that had roughly the same American content, but the other 2 Ram 1500 models were made in Mexico.
You have that backwards Spoon, the only 1500 built at the Saltillo plant is the Ram 1500 Mega Cab due to the fact it is built on the 2500 frame, The rest of the 1500 trucks are built in Michigan. The Warren plant added a third shift and over 1000 employees.
Don

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/detroits-pickups-flunk-toyota-soars-on-...

Also, when you consider the amount of taxes paid per vehicle sold here (therefore money to the US Government) Toyota is pretty high up there too. When you consider payroll taxes on American employee's, Toyota is up there too. When you consider profits back to the manufacturer, Toyota sends a lot of that money back to Japan, but that isn't money that you or I would ever benefit from anyways... unless you owned stock in the company. Oh yea... when you consider stock, we can buy those in America too.

Sorry, not a tech guy... never knew how to do this url thing.

[monkey44]

Me Again wrote:
Why can't more people learn to put left square bracket url right square bracket at the beginning of a link and left square bracket /url right square bracket at the end, to make links active.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-8-most-american-trucks-for-2013.html

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/detroits-pickups-flunk-toyota-soars-on-...

Chris

Anyone that reads your post just learned it. 🙂

[monkey44]

Me Again wrote:
Why can't more people learn to put left square bracket url right square bracket at the beginning of a link and left square bracket /url right square bracket at the end, to make links active.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-8-most-american-trucks-for-2013.html

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/detroits-pickups-flunk-toyota-soars-on-...

Chris

Anyone that reads your post just learned it. 🙂