General Motors U.S. sales dropped 11.92 percent to 171,486 units in January 2014, and the one aspect of the slumping sales numbers that is more concerning than anything else involves GM’s full-size pickup trucks — the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, even though both trucks were recently completely redesigned and reengineered, and are therefore the newest offerings in the full-size pickup truck segment.
Sales of the Silverado dropped 18 percent year-over-year to 28,926 units in January, while those of the Sierra were off 13 percent to 11,118 units. Granted, January has historically produced the lowest sales numbers out of the year, but to see an all-new product post a year-over-year drop over an old and outdated model isn’t what most would expect. In fact, January 2014 was the weakest month for GM pickup truck sales since January 2012, when it sold 38,092 units of both the Silverado and Sierra. The results are particularly concerning considering that the offerings are core to GM’s financial success, since they’re extremely profitable and contribute more to GM’s bottom line than any of its other products. But The General doesn’t seem to be too concerned.
“We have major launches under way and we are going to accelerate brand-building and other growth initiatives, which include executing our winning strategy to sell more pickup trucks with larger cabs, more features and advanced technology,” Kurt McNeil, vice president-sales operations at GM, says in a statement.
To note, there were 25 selling days in January — the same as the year-ago period of January 2013, as well as the preceding month of December 2013… so why did sales drop?
For starters… cold. It was unusually cold and snowy in most parts of the US of A. When it’s cold and nasty out, most people simply want to stay at home, rather than bounce around from dealership to dealership shopping for vehicles.
But then there’s this: both the K2XX-based 2014 Silverado and Sierra have only recently become available with a full range of body styles and engine options. For a while, even today, the range-topping 6.2-liter L86 V8 wasn’t available across all cab and bed configurations, and the engine’s availability was otherwise very limited.
More importantly, the sales decline could be attributed to dollars, since GM’s pickups faced considerable pricing pressure from key competitors, which have been selling older-generation pickup models with sizable incentives. In fact, that’s exactly what GM was doing back in the year-ago period of January of 2013, when it sold last-gen GMT900-based Silverado and Sierras with huge discounts. As a result, sales volume rose, but per-unit profitability fell. Additionally, the high (but less profitable) sales volume seen in January 2014 also set the volume bar high; then, cold weather and significantly less attractive incentives for the all-new trucks led to the year-over-year sales decrease.
Speaking of incentives, GM executives have been vocal about their strategy to seek more profitable sales by not matching the generous offers incentive provided by competitors. For instance, half of the sales of GM’s light-duty trucks in the fourth quarter of 2013 were highly-contented models priced at $40,000 or more. By contrast, roughly 30 percent of the sales mix was priced at $40,000 or higher in Q4 2013, and only 20 percent in 2012. According to GM, the sales mix has climbed even further in January. In other words, GM is prioritizing profit or volume.
“One month of sales, that’s not how we’re running the place,” said former GM North America president and recently-appointed global product chief Mark Reuss to WardsAuto in January, adding: “We have a long-term view. We’re in it for the long haul. We’ve made a great truck and we’ll keep at it. We’re not going to over respond to incentives and temporary market tactics for a month’s victory.”
Reuss expects the pricing pressure to continue throughout much of 2014.
“We’ll keep our powder dry here and go as hard as we can,” he said.
Note note, GM’s January sales message stated that marketing of the trucks and other newly-launched products will accelerate in the coming weeks. GM aired two commercials during the 2014 Super Bowl (one for the 2015 Silverado HDÂ and another for the Silverado 1500), and plans to carry the ad momentum into the Winter Olympics as well the NCAA “March Madness” and the Final Four basketball tournament. All events are expected to attract a sizable viewership.
GM also expects U.S. industry sales to be 16.0 to 16.5 million units in 2014, where it will have “modestly higher” market share. Having the newest and most desirable, although not the most affordable, product in the segment should achieve that goal.
Comments
BREAKING NEWS:
I’ve obtained a pre-release copy of GM’s next truck ad.
Title: A MAN AND HIS CURRENT TRUCK.
Scene: An older Chevy truck drives down a country road, pastures abound, cows and horses –
real macho stuff – VOICEOVER: ” A man and his truck – a man who slaved away at his job to
make large payments and has driven his faithful Chevy, and struggled to pay the gasoline bill and
embolden Iran and other countries who threaten to nuke free peoples while selling crude oil
at incredibly high prices”. A man and his current truck that performs just about as well as
our new 2014 truck”. Oh sure, this man wants his truck taller, bigger and more ridiculous looking.
This man dreams of a new truck that is SO FRICKIN’ BIG he needs neato steps in the bumper to
get into it’s cargo bed”. A man who wants to give his current truck to his lazy-assed teenaged kid
who sits around playing video games all day”. Yes – Here is a man and his truck who couldn’t afford
to buy another gas gulper if his life depended upon it. Well, this man can dream, can’t he? – He can
dream of a day when GM can build it’s EREV technology into it’s own trucks like VIA does in a small
factory just miles from their present Mexican Silverado plant.” “Maybe his next truck could
get 40-60 MPG like VIATRUX’s do.”…” Maybe this truck could be made in USA “… A Man and his
CURRENT TRUCK. He’ll be keeping it for a few years until somebody builds a much better one”.
GM will try to limit sales or discounts as much as possible as they know Ford prices will increase greatly next year with the new trucks. Then they will be the cheaper model in town.
The question is who will blink first in the long term.
The weather at Ford, Ram and Toyota dealerships appears to be much better:
Ford sales remained unchanged, a very high level, on a much older design.
Ram and Toyota Tundra sales were up considerably.
Maybe GM needs to build dealerships in sunnier climates. Or they could just make a truck people want to buy.
Magirus, did you read the article ?
Vette, yes, I did. The weather and incentives are blamed for poor sales.
It’s just an unfortunate circumstance that competitors succeeded IN THE SAME MARKET!
Ahh, selective reading.
“More importantly, the sales decline could be attributed to dollars, since GM’s pickups faced considerable pricing pressure from key competitors, which have been selling older-generation pickup models with sizable incentives.”
I guess in my view a large portion of the issue is most likely because the average transaction price of the new truck was over $40,000 and lower incentives than its competitors.
Of course then again it could all be because they are so much bigger than their competitors 🙂
Magirus, I see you are back on a GM site bashing GM…..wow, what a surprise. I also see you haven’t commented back on the Ram Diesel story after I explained exactly how new this new GM truck is (I know you still think its the same ol’ truck).
As I stated in that article when you bashed the sales numbers, rebates and final price have a lot to do with consumer’s choices. Right now Ford and Ram average close to $5000 more in price rebates and that is a lot of money to a lot of consumers. If it was the other way around, more people would be buying GM trucks compared to Ford and Ram.
I give GM cudo’s for trying to break the trend of “we have to give our trucks away to sell them” like all manufacturer’s have been doing for the last number of years. When the new F150 gets here, you will likely see the same pricing adjustments you are seeing with GM right now.
For those like Magirus who likely haven’t even been in a 2014 GM truck, yet alone check them out in detail, you can continue to hate on the new truck and its pricing because you will never see the value these new trucks bring to the table.
I’m not so sure this marketing strategy will work. GM is losing a ton of market share right now because of their prices points. It all comes down to the almighty buck. If you’re not brand loyal, you’re going to buy whatever has the most incentives and still fills all of your needs. Almost all of my neighbors have switched to Ford over the last couple of years.
The Ford deal is over this year as the 2015 will be much more than the GM trucks and it will not see discounts as easily. The production cost will be up and if Ford cuts the price then they will cut their major source of income.
I see this as the Tortoise and the Hare race. GM is in for the long run returns not the short term.
It does look like price is the major issue.
Ford is probably pretty scared right now because they see how price sensitive the truck market is and they are probably looking at a couple thousand dollar price increase with the aluminum body next year.
dpach, I have driven a 2014 Silvy with the 5.3. Unimpressive. Clunky tranny, and gutless compared to just about anything else in the class. I did check to make sure it wasn’t the 4.3 and it was in fact the V8. I am sorry, just saying like it is. Exterior door handles felt more flimsy (a lot of movement up and down) than on my ten year old Tahoe. It seemed like a good $25k truck that they wanted $40k for.
Call is bashing if you want, I am not the only one seeing big problems, the sales numbers don’t lie.
Magirus, so this new 5.3 has significant increase in HP and torque over your 10 year old Tahoe and you didn’t find it impressive? Perhaps you drove one with the 3.08 rear axle ratio instead of the 3.42. If you are comparing this engine to the Ecoboost and Hemi, you should have driven GM’s large engine, the 6.2L. The ecoboost and Hemi are Ford’s and Ram’s large V8’s (except for the Raptor) and the 6.2L gets the same real world mileage as the ecoboost and better than the Hemi and kicks them for performance in hp and torque. The 5.3 was designed to be between Ford’s 5.0L and the Ecoboost and fits that bill perfectly. If you want the best performance, then go drive and compare the 6.2 to Ford’s biggest V8 (ecoboost) and Ram’s Hemi.
As for fit and finish, all new products are going to have a few little issues but I have yet to hear of any GM 6-speed being clunky in the last 3 years (and it is the exact same transmission as 2013 which had next to zero issues). But then again, I don’t hear you mentioning the problems Ford had with their new truck in 2011, like Ecoboosts melting turbos, hard 2nd to 3rd shifting (and banging), 4×4 actuators that were faulty, and extremely poor gas mileage in the Ecobost (not to mention a ton of them had to be brought in and have the door strikers adjusted because there was too much wind noise). Nor do you bring up Ram’s issues like the rear coil suspension swaying so much they had to introduce an air ride system (which they promote as an off-road suspension with the cool factor of being able to lift/lower your truck when in reality, it was the only way to support the rear coils enough to match other truck’s payload and trailer towing capabilities without having the rear end waggle), ignition problems on the Hemi’s, rear end clunk within the first 20,000 kms, and there were a few more with the Ram. But hey, the Ford and Ram are perfect in your eyes.
We get your point, you don’t like the new GM trucks. So just leave. You don’t discuss the topics on here; you just bash. If this new truck doesn’t impress you, then go buy a Ford or Ram. We won’t miss you.
As for “the numbers don’t lie”, I guess $5000 isn’t a lot of money for you? You must be filthy rich and feel that $5000 is throw away cash? Because that is the difference in end pricing between a GM truck and a Ford and Ram right now. When the new F150 hits the market, then Ram will be the only one with a price advantage because Ford isn’t going to have anywhere near the rebates they have right now. If you were in business for yourself, you’d know that usually the most profitable companies in any industry are NOT the number one as they often have to buy their way to the top (like Ford /Ram do with $10-15,000 off). Gee, I guess they have to give their truck away to sell them. The most profitable are the ones who balance profit margins and sales volume (which is a tough thing to balance).
So you better go jump on the Ford and Ram pricing wagons right now.
Quality aside, why are we not mentioning the styling? GM has stuck with the same design for years. As an owner of a 2007 Tahoe, I was looking forward to the 2015 Tahoe upgrade but was shocked to see the same old style, made even more blocky!
Yikes! Don’t call it “classic” when it’s really not. Park the 2015 next to my 2007 and only a Tahoe owner might notice the difference. I am not about bling or hot dog styling cues, but come on!
Don’t forget the soon to be released Colorado/Canyon! I’m waiting to see them before deciding which to buy. Silverados seem SOOOOOOO BIG. Miss my S10 crew cab. Shoulda kept it.
Don Branson, I can understand what you mean about square, but I’m not really getting the “they look the same” thought as they really don’t look anything alike. The new one is very square in the front, sides and rear whereas the 2007-2013 have a very rounded front, rounded front roofline and more rounded rear pillars. They have completely different headlamp designs and grille design too. Plus inside is a completely different world in the new one. Everything gently flows down into the center console whereas the old one is a flat dash with a completely separated floor console.
I understand that not everyone likes every design. The biggest complaint our dealership got on the 2007-2013 is that is was too girly with all the roundness. All the guys wanted a more square boxy truck-like appearance and now they got it.
I’m not sure if I like the new boxy exterior look as of yet but the interior looks 100 times better with more soft touch materials and much improved ergonomics.
When it comes to design, the F150 has had the exact same body shape since 2004. They just change the hood/grille/lamps and added bigger fender flare cuts, but the look has been the same for a decade. The SuperDuty has had the same body from the front nose back for 20 years. The new 2015 F150 looks like a continuation of the boxy square body they’ve had for 10 years with updated new front grille and headlamps/hood. Even the interior has that same old square edge feel with everything being boxy inside.
I agree with you dpach! GM is making a smart move by not “giving away” their trucks. They need to get with the competition and offer a small boosted v6 as well as a diesel. .
EvanG, why should GM offer a turbo V6 when the 6.2L only gets 1-2 mpg less than the ecoboost and better than the Hemi and kills them in hp and torque? As for a diesel, I always thought the same way until the price of diesel jumped $.25-30 per litre above the price of gas. The diesels are only getting about 20% better mileage but the fuel costs 20% more, so its a wash; until you add in the $3-4000 price tag the diesel carries. Plus all three manufacturers (Ram, Ford, GM) are reporting issues in our very cold Canadian weather of the urea system freezing and the heating systems not working effectively enough. The heaters are turned off (can’t stay on all the time due to fire hazard) before it completely thaws the fluid, which throws a code and trucks go into limp home mode. Plus, add in the higher cost of oil changes, etc, a diesel in a 1/2 ton just doesn’t make sense right now. Even Ram is only expecting their diesel to make up 8-10% of their entire truck sales and that was before the price of diesel jumped.
I realize Nissan will have 2 Cummins diesels in their Titan and Frontier now, but again, I doubt they will be game changers until and if the price of diesel falls back in line with gas, which is not expected to happen any time soon.
The Chev dealer I work at had tons of people last year asking about the diesel Colorado and how soon we’d be getting them. In the last 6 mths, almost everyone has now been asking what gas engines are coming with it because of the cost of diesel.
I am not talking about a 3.5L Ecoboost competitor, I am talking about Ford’s upcoming 2.7L Twin-Turbo. Having a 2.8L Twincharged (Turbo & Supercharger) V6 VVT, SIDI, AFM and iVVL would be a nice selling point to have. It would replace the 4.3L as it would have more power and be more efficient. It can be optional to replace the 5.3L with it as it would have about the same power and be more efficient.
2.8L Twin charged V6 with 355HP and 380FT-LBS
3.2L TDI V6 with 290HL and 450FT-LBS
5.3L V8 with 365HP and 390FT-LBS
6.2L V8 with 430HP and 460FT-LBS
Turbo AND supercharger??
Sorry, but with the aluminum and this engine they are gonna price this truck too high to be salable. Seriously they look to be raising the price a couple thousand dollars.
Of course if they improve the mpg 50% they may be able to sell a few. But I really doubt that will happen. Wonder what people will pay for a 30 mpg hwy truck? Has anyone announced the mpg of the new ford?
Just take a look at Volvo’s new twincharged engines! They are amazing! The S/C gives instant power while the turbo creeps up behind to give it an extra boost. Volvo has the vehicles with these engines very reasonably priced. A $4,500 premium for this engine over the 5.3L would make lots of money as long as it gets substantially more mpg’s. If it has VVT, SIDI, AFM and iVVL I am confident that it would get at least 29mpg versus a 5.3L with VVT, SIDI, AFM and iVVL that would do best at 25. .
Read this and learn the big picture.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/16/is-the-2014-chevy-silverado-a-failure.aspx