After battling a glitch with its computer systems that impacted dealer sales reporting, General Motors has released its March 2014 U.S. sales results. The automaker’s dealers delivered a total of 256,047 vehicles during the month, representing a 4.1 percent growth year-over-year (compared to March 2013) .
Notably, retail sales grew 7 percent and allowed GM to gain retail market share, while fleet sales slipped 5 percent due to a planned reduction in rental deliveries. However, commercial fleet sales were up 5 percent for the 5th consecutive monthly increase.
“GM’s retail sales, like the weather and the economy as a whole, have been on an improving trend since early February,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “We expect to see solid economic growth in the months ahead, with the job market, household income and consumer spending all showing positive signs. It is a strong backdrop for the launch of our all-new heavy-duty pickups, large SUVs and other new products, like the Cadillac ATS coupe coming this summer.
“Our dealers continue to work hard to exceed people’s expectations for customer care, whether they are shopping for one of our award-winning new products or coming in to have their vehicle serviced,” he added.
March retail sales highlights (vs. March 2013):
- Deliveries of the Chevrolet Silverado, the 2014 North American Truck of the Year, were up 14 percent and the GMC Sierra was up 23 percent.
- During the month, Vincentric, which uses a proprietary model to measure cost of ownership attributes including depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance and repair costs, said the Chevrolet Silverado family has the lowest cost among full-size pickups.
- Deliveries of Chevrolet passenger cars were up 10 percent. The Spark was up 17 percent; Sonic was up 20 percent; the Volt was up 7 percent; the Impala was up 103 percent; and the Corvette, the 2014 North American Car of the Year, was up 221 percent.
- Deliveries of the Cadillac SRX were up 37 percent. In addition, the CTS family was up 11 percent on the strength of the new 2014 CTS sedan, which is the 2014 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
- Sales of the Buick Regal were up 52 percent and the Encore was up 71 percent.
- Sales of large SUVs were up 62 percent, with availability of the all-new 2015 models building, per plan.
- GM’s incentives as a percentage of average transaction prices, or ATPs, were 10 percent compared with 10.3 percent for the industry, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates through March 23. That is down from February and year over year.
- GM’s ATPs set a new record of about $34,000, up about $2,000 per unit from February and more than $3,800 from a year ago, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates.
To note, these results reflect sales reported through GM’s primary and backup dealer systems. The automaker believes that the figures accurately reflect March sales, but states that “it is possible that a few hundred March deliveries may be reported in April.”
March 2014 - USA - Chevrolet
| MODEL | YOY MONTHLY CHANGE | 2014 | 2013 | YTD % CHG | YTD 2014 | YTD 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHEVROLET TOTAL | +3.35 | 179,681 | 173,859 | -3.62 | 452,683 | 469,704 |
| AVALANCHE | -99.47 | 11 | 2,057 | -98.91 | 68 | 6,259 |
| CAMARO | +6.44 | 8,624 | 8,102 | +1.93 | 19,568 | 19,198 |
| CAPRICE | +2.49 | 247 | 241 | +13.25 | 769 | 679 |
| CAPTIVA SPORT | +1.33 | 4,637 | 4,576 | +3.84 | 12,854 | 12,379 |
| COLORADO | -99.64 | 2 | 560 | -99.23 | 17 | 2,210 |
| CORVETTE | +230.48 | 3,480 | 1,053 | +178.1 | 8,179 | 2,941 |
| CRUZE | +14.02 | 26,521 | 23,260 | +16.96 | 65,185 | 55,731 |
| EQUINOX | -5.04 | 19,939 | 20,997 | -4.75 | 56,073 | 58,869 |
| EXPRESS | -9.04 | 5,517 | 6,065 | -8.67 | 14,185 | 15,531 |
| IMPALA | -12.28 | 12,952 | 14,766 | -16.88 | 36,858 | 44,343 |
| MALIBU | +1.76 | 18,866 | 18,539 | -2.12 | 48,136 | 49,179 |
| SILVERADO | +6.79 | 42,247 | 39,561 | -7.62 | 107,757 | 116,649 |
| SONIC | +45.65 | 10,060 | 6,907 | +20.51 | 24,233 | 20,109 |
| SPARK | +44.63 | 5,117 | 3,538 | +8.64 | 9,541 | 8,782 |
| SUBURBAN | -11.66 | 2,984 | 3,378 | -28.58 | 6,724 | 9,415 |
| SS | * | 350 | 0 | * | 865 | 0 |
| TAHOE | -7.77 | 7,228 | 7,837 | -6.37 | 15,703 | 16,772 |
| TRAVERSE | -13.92 | 9,421 | 10,944 | -15.33 | 22,362 | 26,412 |
| VOLT | 0 | 1,478 | 1,478 | -15.03 | 3,606 | 4,244 |
March 2014 - USA - Cadillac
| MODEL | YOY MONTHLY CHANGE | 2014 | 2013 | YTD % CHG | YTD 2014 | YTD 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CADILLAC TOTAL | -6.26 | 14,765 | 15,751 | -7.31 | 39,588 | 42,712 |
| ATS | -16.87 | 2,982 | 3,587 | -24.94 | 7,318 | 9,750 |
| CTS | +4.55 | 2,918 | 2,791 | -2.58 | 7,659 | 7,862 |
| ELR | * | 81 | 0 | * | 180 | 0 |
| ESCALADE | -24.72 | 743 | 987 | -17.36 | 2,223 | 2,690 |
| ESCALADE ESV | -31.9 | 508 | 746 | -25.08 | 1,383 | 1,846 |
| ESCALADE EXT | -96.21 | 8 | 211 | -92.68 | 42 | 574 |
| SRX | +23.6 | 5,399 | 4,368 | +15.92 | 14,903 | 12,856 |
| XTS | -30.55 | 2,126 | 3,061 | -17.53 | 5,880 | 7,130 |
March 2014 - USA - Buick
| MODEL | YOY MONTHLY CHANGE | 2014 | 2013 | YTD % CHG | YTD 2014 | YTD 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUICK TOTAL | +13.44 | 20,428 | 18,007 | +11.08 | 52,898 | 47,620 |
| ENCLAVE | +3.7 | 5,886 | 5,676 | -6.94 | 14,714 | 15,812 |
| ENCORE | +75.79 | 5,279 | 3,003 | +116.5 | 10,723 | 4,953 |
| LACROSSE | -14.6 | 3,550 | 4,157 | -7.47 | 10,522 | 11,372 |
| REGAL | +51.03 | 2,424 | 1,605 | +48.33 | 6,058 | 4,084 |
| VERANO | -7.72 | 3,289 | 3,564 | -4.51 | 10,881 | 11,395 |
March 2014 - USA - GMC
| MODEL | YOY MONTHLY CHANGE | 2014 | 2013 | YTD % CHG | YTD 2014 | YTD 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GMC TOTAL | +7.41 | 41,173 | 38,333 | -0.44 | 104,468 | 104,927 |
| ACADIA | -16.66 | 8,339 | 10,006 | -5.68 | 20,582 | 21,822 |
| CANYON | -99.35 | 1 | 154 | -99.69 | 2 | 636 |
| SAVANA | +101.78 | 1,927 | 955 | +109.95 | 6,057 | 2,885 |
| SIERRA | +22.05 | 16,863 | 13,817 | +3.47 | 42,213 | 40,796 |
| TERRAIN | +7.16 | 9,059 | 8,454 | -5.17 | 25,419 | 26,806 |
| YUKON | +23.54 | 3,280 | 2,655 | -5.8 | 6,516 | 6,917 |
| YUKON XL | -25.65 | 1,704 | 2,292 | -27.36 | 3,679 | 5,065 |
March 2014 - USA - GM Total
| BRAND | YOY MONTHLY CHANGE | 2014 | 2013 | YTD % CHG | YTD 2014 | YTD 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM US TOTAL | +4.11 | 256,047 | 245,950 | -2.3 | 649,637 | 664,963 |
| BUICK | +13.44 | 20,428 | 18,007 | +11.08 | 52,898 | 47,620 |
| CADILLAC | -6.26 | 14,765 | 15,751 | -7.31 | 39,588 | 42,712 |
| CHEVROLET | +3.35 | 179,681 | 173,859 | -3.62 | 452,683 | 469,704 |
| GMC | +7.41 | 41,173 | 38,333 | -0.44 | 104,468 | 104,927 |
About The Charts
- 26 selling days for the March period this year and 27 for last year.
- Totals include discontinued Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS and STS, Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt and HHR.
Comments
Much better showing this month on the truck side, but if you look at the big picture, still a little disappointing. Despite the big splash on advertisement and unprecedented discounts, they still got out sold by Ford’s old F series by almost 12,000 units. Americans must really have an affinity for Ford trucks.
What the hell is happening with the ATS? Down down 17% to below 3,000 units! A month when BMW sold over 10,000 units of 3 series. None of us expect the ATS to beat the 3 series anytime soon, but I’m shocked at these numbers, especially since it’s such a good car
With the ATS, it must be the price. Perhaps they got a bit too aggressive? I also think the design is a bit boring/staid, but I have no idea how widespread that feeling is. Finally, they really blew it with the CUE — every single review talks about how the reviewer a) loves the car overall but b) either doesn’t like or plain hates the CUE. If Akerson could have done one thing right, with all his telecom boys, was get the tech right so that the average person could use it easily. But they screwed that up.
Granted, the competition (Mercedes particularly) are not known to be better. But that’s the point — Cadillac, as a follower in the market, had a chance to separate themselves based on a feature that drivers use every day. Instead their system is not demonstrably better than the competition. A blown opportunity.
Speaking of pricing, how about that ELR? Will it crack 1,000 for the year? What a face plant.
Where are all our this is a horrible truck people now.
Just a little incentive and better weather will keep this moving along.
Now keep in mind this is over last years sales on a truck with high incentives so this should be a very profitable month on trucks and there is no reason it will not continue.
What happened to the ATS is the CTS. For not a lot more you get a lot more car. People in this class generally can afford the larger car. Plus it was winter. If I were to buy a new Cadillac I would wait till the sale offers in April kick in as well as the good weather. Most people in this class buy cars when they want to not because they have to.
The problem though , Scott, is that GM had to discount the hell out of the trucks to get a decent month. I don’t think we should expect these invoice prices to continue, GM needs to increase, or at the very least, match this month sales without these huge discounts. Can they do it? I’m not sure.
I still think ATS numbers are worrying. The CTS numbers have just increased by about 200 or so over march last year, so that’s not the real reason the ATS not selling well. Cadillac needs to find out why the market is not responding to the ATS, especially with MB new C class a few months away, and Audi working on their new A4.
The ATS is a great car for enthusiast, but enthusiast don’t buy cars in any large numbers. That’s why MB sells so much of their soft and boring last generation C class.
All the truck are not discounted that heavy. I have had a couple buddies waiting for better deals and none have been offered. Their GM money is all that amounted to much on a crew half ton V8. They will give you a deal on a V6.
As for the ATS I would not panic yet. Jan, Feb and March are slow months and you will need to give it some time before it is a problem.
Second Cadillac is better equipped to deal with lower volume vs. say Chevy. Also with new versions of the ATS the spotlight will be back on it.
So many people have panicked this winter on sales. But with the weather, the economy and the fact the high prices on the new cars all have had a part of this. Now if this is the same from May to August then I will agree there is a problem but for now I think you will see a change with the better weather.
Hell we just had another 5 inches of snow on Sunday and then 74 degrees today. Not real car shopping weather.
I am sure all the recall issues have not helped either but this too shall pass.
Weather seems not to bother Chrysler. Ram outsold Silverado last month! I though that could never happen!
I see Ford and Ram both are aggressive with their styling, features, trim packages and powertrain options. And I don’t understand why GM chooses to approach the truck market too much on the conservative side, and without any ground breaking technology and options. Why choose to follow? Don’t get me wrong, I think GM trucks are solid, but I want to see them “leader solid”?
Is it me or does it seem like the pickups need immediate emergency refresh?
Don’t know if they need a refresh as much as they need more variety. Sales are up for both Sierra and Silverado, but Ram, and its new diesel, outsold both in March.
There is nothing to really worry about here. With the recall craziness going on I expected them to be in the negative. GM was up more than Ford percentage wise for the month. Someone find how bad toyota was doing with sales when they had their big recall, they went negative for a few months. April will tell a better story of the recall mess but this isn’t bad. Also the ATP is up $3,800 from last year and $2’000 from last month. That’s huge!
Just meet rams incentive level and the GM trucks will far outsell Ram.
Are you asking for better than the invoice prices GM offered in March?
Yes, meet the Ram incentives.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140402/AUTO0103/304020024/GM-puts-margins-before-sales-by-not-matching-truck-discounts
Yes it is all about money. The trucks are just too damn expensive as the new model too a big jump and have had little with incentives unless you wanted a V6.
GM is trying to hold as with the new mid size trucks coming they can not discount these trucks to their level or they will never move the Colorado and Canyon.
Factor in also the coming Ford will have a higher price too and no incentives.
I know some are disappointed they did not advance the styling much just as I feel. But the old truck sold fine with similar looks. Also the new truck has been given excellent review in the media and if it was not that good they would not have gotten them. As for a Diesel it is needed and would help but it would still not fix the price issue.
If anyone who has defected to Ram keeps their truck very long they will find the normal issues that have plagued Ram for years. Fiat may have added some features but they have not upped the quality. Just read the reviews on the long term trucks where the mirror are pealing chrome and loose. also how the interior is showing the wear. I think the latest was in truck trends.
But in the end the winners will come in with price. I expect GM may try the value package to avoid the rebates and incentives but still over a good truck that may draw buyers. I have friends who what to buy but refuse due to the prices and no incentives.