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GM Authority

GM Canada Sales Down 20 Percent In December 2012: By The Numbers

General Motors sales in Canada saw a 20 percent drop in December of 2012, with The General selling 14,623 units compared to 18,282 in December 2011. Three of the four brands saw a drop in sales, including Chevy (down 22.23 percent), Buick (down 28.57 percent), GMC (down 17.51 percent); Cadillac posted a 16.18 percent increase.

Bucking the downward trend were following models, which saw a year-over-year increase in sales:

  • Chevy Volt — up 78.13 percent
  • Chevy Cruze — up 5.98 percent
  • Chevy Orlando — up 91.69 percent
  • Chevy Avalanche — up 4.2 percent
  • Chevy Sonic — up 19.95 percent
  • GMC Terrain — up 8.69 percent
  • GMC Acadia — up 1.77 percent
  • GMC Savana — up 109.97 percent
  • Cadillac SRX — up 14.94 percent
  • Cadillac Escalade — up 11.63 percent
  • Cadillac Escalade EXT — up 10 percent

Also of note is the sales performance of the new-to-market Cadillac ATS, which sold 72 units, while the CTS line saw a 50 percent year-over-year drop.

Fleet sales accounted for 37.9 percent of December 2012 sales and 31.6 percent of all 2012 sales.

2012 - December - Canada - Chevrolet

MODELYOY MONTHLY CHANGE20122011YTD % CHGYTD 2012YTD 2011
CHEVROLET TOTAL-22.238,46610,886-7.67138,990150,540
AVEO*0109-98.41006,231
SONIC+19.95445371+622.248,9631,241
SPARK*560*4060
COBALT*00-99.721360
VOLT+78.135732+345.451,225275
CRUZE+5.981,9861,874-3.7532,62833,900
MALIBU-26.55368501-47.85,69710,913
IMPALA-33.26303454-16.737,7339,287
CAPRICE*00*04
CORVETTE-6.251516-28.98250352
CAMARO-52.576160-31.812,5573,750
COLORADO-95.2414294-46.361,4452,694
SILVERADO - REG-64.1191532-42.153,5496,135
SILVERADO - EXT-44.636501,174-28.9810,73915,121
SILVERADO HD-25.85456615-9.495,9516,575
AVALANCHE+4.2298286+1.253,7133,667
SILVERADO - CREW-27.941,0551,464+23.7315,70412,692
EQUINOX-34.51,0481,600-9.2520,39022,468
TRAX*270*270
HHR-100051-85.751731,214
ORLANDO+91.69669349+538.217,1991,128
TRAVERSE-37.89200322-35.193,3335,143
SUBURBAN-43.6571126-21.511,0221,302
TAHOE-37.9685137-7.441,1081,197
UPLANDER*00-100016
EXPRESS-5.49396419+4.145,0774,875

2012 - December - Canada - Buick

MODELYOY MONTHLY CHANGE20122011YTD % CHGYTD 2012YTD 2011
BUICK TOTAL-28.57685959+12.1513,06811,652
VERANO+77528032*5,08432
REGAL-67.1395289-37.911,7672,846
LACROSSE-50101202-16.272,3772,839
LUCERNE-1000149-75.125572,239
ENCLAVE-27.18209287-11.173,2833,696

2012 - December - Canada - GMC

MODELYOY MONTHLY CHANGE20122011YTD % CHGYTD 2012YTD 2011
GMC TOTAL-17.514,9125,955-6.6968,12373,004
CANYON-95.1811228-44.481,2732,293
SIERRA - REG-53.99242526-34.213,7795,744
SIERRA - EXT-23.457801,019-28.1812,43317,312
SIERRA HD-24.88634844+2.038,0077,848
SIERRA - CREW-29.371,0941,549+17.2218,49315,776
TERRAIN+8.69901829+4.112,30211,817
ACADIA+1.77345339-5.924,8995,207
YUKON XL-46.3466123-6.561,1111,189
YUKON-6.78165177+1.371,1881,172
SAVANA+109.97674321+0.154,6384,631
GMC C-560 4/5*00*07
GMC C-560 6/7/8*00*04
GMC T SERIES*00*04

2012 - December - Canada - Cadillac

MODELYOY MONTHLY CHANGE20122011YTD % CHGYTD 2012YTD 2011
CADILLAC TOTAL+16.18560482-12.316,6447,577
DTS*00-98.244227
STS*00-84.62213
XTS*570*2700
ATS*720*1890
CTS-53.3377165-29.232,1573,048
SRX+14.04268235-2.973,1023,197
ESCALADE+11.634843-13.5564652
ESCALADE ESV-15.791619-20.18178223
ESCALADE EXT+102220-17.97178217

2012 - December - Canada - GM Total

BRANDYOY MONTHLY CHANGE20122011YTD % CHGYTD 2012YTD 2011
GM TOTAL-20.0114,62318,282-6.59226,825242,830
CHEVROLET-22.238,46610,886-7.67138,990150,540
BUICK-28.57685959+12.1513,06811,652
GMC-17.514,9125,955-6.6968,12373,004
CADILLAC+16.18560482-12.316,6447,577
PONTIAC*00*055
HUMMER*00*02

The GM Authority Take

Losing a fifth of your sales volume hurts… unless it results in increased profitability, that is. Nevertheless, GM is launching a major product offensive for 2013 and 2014 — something that we expect will boost the automaker’s sales volume, profitability, and public image, among other things.

GM Authority Executive Editor with a passion for business strategy and fast cars.

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Comments

  1. I think Cadillac is up 16.18% (not down as it is written at the beginning of the article).

    But overall, these numbers hurts…

    Reply
    1. Jean, thanks for pointing that out. My mistake. Fixed 🙂

      Reply
  2. Look at the Chevys that did well. All fit either of the following: Fuel-efficient and/or flexible handling of passengers/cargo. Even the dated Cruze, with just one body style, was up somewhat. Imagine how well a vehicle would do if it had both of these traits.

    Losers — Big SUVs and trucks, and we’re not even in a fuel crisis yet. Even Mark Reuss’s mid-size cash cow, the Equinox, is falling off. Protectionist practices always fail.

    C’mon GM. Want to turn a better profit? Get ahead of the curve. Add more content, and better content, to your more more flexible vehicles, and improve their performance/efficiency. Fire the bean-counters.

    Reply
  3. It looks like the big Savana panel van was the biggest mover (as measured by the year-over-year December comparison), followed by the Orlando mini-van crossover. I think you would have to go back and compare what incentives or inventory sales promotions GM offered on these vehicles in December 2012 versus December 2011. There must be something behind these numbers aside from a longer-term consumer trend towards more fuel efficient and flexible vehicles. The Volt is now outselling the Corvette on an annual basis which suggests to me that the model now has a growing following. Making the Volt eligible for the prized HOV lanes in California helps for the commuter who can’t (or won’t) carpool but wants a shorter commute time. I wonder if the Volt is drawing new customers to the EV segment or stealing consumers from the Toyota Prius? Anyways, as a trend we can probably conclude it was a poor December for GM compared to the same month in 2011.

    Reply
  4. BTW…I realize that these are Canadian sales numbers. My comments about the Volt are a general observation about sales trends for that model overall.

    Reply
  5. A lot of this has to do with incentives. GM dropped the 0% on most models in December, which affected payments a lot. Example, they dropped the $7000 rebate and went to “Employee Pricing” and mid-range rates. The employee pricing came nowhere close to equalling out the loss of the rebate and 0% and payments on the same truck actually went up $75-100 per month. Dealers all knew that January 2nd was bringing back rebates and low rates, so many customers waited until Jan 2nd.

    Plus, as far as trucks go, is it also a bit of a coincidence that sales drop the minute GM introduces the New 2014 Model that will be here in mid 2013?

    Reply
  6. Not a good month. They have to come close to the incentives of risk losing massive share.

    Reply

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