General Motors sold 20,218 vehicles in Canada in March 2013, a 10.87 percent decline versus March 2012, when the automaker sold 22,684 units. Fleet sales made up 29.9 percent (6,051 units) of total March 2013 sales, up 3.9 percent year-over-year from 5,902 units, or 26 percent of total March 2012 sales.
GM’s individual brands performed as follows:
Chevrolet sales down 11.48 percent to 12,210 units
Buick sales down 36.19 percent to 1,063 units
GMC sales down 4.45 percent to 6,195 units
Cadillac sales up 1.06 percent 760 units
“Canadian customers are embracing Chevrolet’s family of smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles,” said Marc Comeau, GM of Canada vice-president of sales, service and marketing. “Sales of passenger cars are growing stronger as the Chevrolet Sonic, Cruze, Volt and Malibu all had sales increases in the first quarter of 2013.”
GM supports thousands of Canadian workers and I believe approximately 20% of N.A. production is done in Canada. If Canadians aren’t interested in GM products, then bring jobs back to the U.S.
The Canadian market is more competitive than the US market in many areas.
GM products are also not priced competitively. Why do you think Canadians are willing to pay thousands more for a GM product than a competitors product? What makes them different from US consumers?
A base Tahoe in the US starts about $40K — in Canada it’s about $50K. For most of the last five years, the Canadian dollar has been at or above the US dollar.
It seems that GM isn’t very interested in selling vehicles in Canada — don’t blame the Canadian consumer.
Smaller markets cost more per unit to support sales. That said, if Chrysler pricing in Canada does seem comparable to its US pricing, and GM isn’t, then we do have a problem.
Some of the additional costs are recoved in DFCs (Destination Freight Charges) which are $500 higher than the US.
About 75% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US border so shipping vehicles to Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver isn’t much different than shipping them to major northern US cities.
The Canadian market has always been skewed towards smaller cars than the US as federal and proviincial gas taxes are higher and fund social programs (not as bad as Europe though). Consequently, imports have always had a higher market share relative to the US although Canada to US major cities or California shows a simllar pattern.
In Canada, Ford and Chrysler are eating GM’s lunch.
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GM supports thousands of Canadian workers and I believe approximately 20% of N.A. production is done in Canada. If Canadians aren’t interested in GM products, then bring jobs back to the U.S.
The Canadian market is more competitive than the US market in many areas.
GM products are also not priced competitively. Why do you think Canadians are willing to pay thousands more for a GM product than a competitors product? What makes them different from US consumers?
A base Tahoe in the US starts about $40K — in Canada it’s about $50K. For most of the last five years, the Canadian dollar has been at or above the US dollar.
It seems that GM isn’t very interested in selling vehicles in Canada — don’t blame the Canadian consumer.
http://www.chrysleroffers.ca/special-offers/ontario/en/dodge/GrandCaravan
There are 58 GM plants in North America.
In Canada, GM has 5 plants.
5 / 58 = 0.08620689655172413793103448275862 or 8.62%
You’re way off base.
Smaller markets cost more per unit to support sales. That said, if Chrysler pricing in Canada does seem comparable to its US pricing, and GM isn’t, then we do have a problem.
Some of the additional costs are recoved in DFCs (Destination Freight Charges) which are $500 higher than the US.
About 75% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US border so shipping vehicles to Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver isn’t much different than shipping them to major northern US cities.
I find this odd…what brands are they buying then?
The Canadian market has always been skewed towards smaller cars than the US as federal and proviincial gas taxes are higher and fund social programs (not as bad as Europe though). Consequently, imports have always had a higher market share relative to the US although Canada to US major cities or California shows a simllar pattern.
In Canada, Ford and Chrysler are eating GM’s lunch.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/02/business-chrysler-sales.html
It seems when they got rid of Pontiac General Motors sales went downward. Canadians always seemed to like Pontiac products more than Americans.