General Motors sales in April proved unaffected by the negative press surrounding the company’s widely publicized safety recall after the company saw sales of both the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra rise significantly throughout the month.
According to Automotive News, Chevrolet delivered 42,755 units in April, an increase of about 9 percent from March and about 6,000 more units than Ram sold. In March, Ram sales surpassed monthly Silverado sales for the first time in 15 years. GMC Sierra sales rose 21 percent to 17,246 units, while sales of Ford’s outgoing F-150 model rose 7 percent.
GM sales have remained mostly stagnant throughout the year, currently sitting at 903,713 units. Weak sales of pickups and SUVs have been a major contributing factor, which are still off by 5 percent despite the healthy jump in April.
“Retail demand was steady in April, and truck sales and transaction prices were especially strong,” said Kurt McNeil, GM’s U.S. vice president of sales operations.
Average industry truck incentives fell $680 for the month, USA Today reports. Incentives on GM trucks rose 16% for the month, while Ram incentives dropped 22% and Ford truck incentives fell 9%.
GM said it gained more than 3 percentage points of retail market share in the full-sized pickup truck segment in April, bringing its share to 35 percent.
Comments
Lets see magirus claimed cheap ugly Mexican Chevy trucks were a failure and that they would be passes up by Ram.
I said all they needed was to put an incentive on them like the Ford and Ram along with some good weather and truck sales would increase.
Gee I wonder who was right here?
I expected this as stated so in a post recently as I have been seeing a explosion of new GM truck sales in the last month. While this was predictable by most astute and objective observers like some here GM will still have to get back the game plan and not continue the discounts in the fall. They have to retain room for the pricing of the Colorado and Canyon also they will need to keep the exchange price up on the trucks.
The long range plan here is to sell less large trucks but retain profits. This will slowly wean buyers over to the smaller trucks.
The one advantage is that Ford will have a much higher price too with the new truck and they will be reluctant to rebate unless inventories grow.
Ram will pick up the table scraps with the high dollar rebates on fleet purchases. Volume does not always equal economic health.
I just saw a new story in the paper today on the new Ford. They have yet to release the true curb weight of the vehicle and still are sticking to the talking points of 700 pounds less than some models. I believe the weight loss is going to be good but not as dramatic as some think. The Ford was the heaviest in class already and this was a hail mary to lose mass.
GM stated with the Colorado that less mass was key to MPG. This too will apply to the larger trucks too.
It will be interesting this fall to see how the companies fair in their choices.
Will people bite on the marketing on the new Ford technology at a higher price.
Will they take to a nearly as light GM truck at a little lower price and the smaller trucks when they arrive.
Or will they cheap out and take a chance on Ram at a larger discounted price.
Brand loyalty will keep thing much as they are but there will be some winners and losers in gains and losses here to a degree.
Sales did increase. You were right. I was wrong.
It could be worse. I could be a man driving an Acadia.
?? Why would that be bad? Acadia is selling great. Great vehicle, though I am on my 2nd Enclave.
I will say Enclaves are everywhere here. At a stop light there were two right in front of me, a Chrylser something behind me and then a Regal.
So far through March, Acadia sold over 20,000 units.Enclave 15,000 and the Lexus RX 21,000. In looking at pricing the Acadia starts at $35k. The RX $41k and Enclave $39k. just interesting.
I think you’re a little off base with the Acadia comment. Small white CUVs are the ticket for the female consumer.
Things are bad for you as You can’t even get you comebacks right either.
lets get this straight I don’t highlight my hair, I still got a pair, my eyebrows aren’t plucked and there is a gun in my truck and I do not drive an Acadia.
But I did buy the wife a Terrain for the wife as that is what she wanted. As like I told here you have to drive it not me. I would never have even considered it if I was looking, But I am glad she did as it is a damn fine vehicle and I am glad she chose it. Roomy comfortable and not bad looking at least that is what people keep telling me. It also hauls all my sons buddies and his racing equipment inside and keeps it dry.
Besides the these CUV models are where the money is. Women buy 50% of the cars and influence 70% of all purchases and you have to keep the ladies happy as their money is just as green.
Goes to show that the -30*C weather and 3m of snow may have, after all, played a significant part in the start-of-the-year sales lull.
So when are we to see a GM ‘Chevy’ Performance Truck in a SCSB? So many of my performance truck brothers and sisters are asking….
Wow, that is awesome news. Even Cadillac posted gains after a 3 month decline or 4 month decline which is amazing. Can’t wait till the rest of GM’s lineup is refreshed.
Silverado and Sierra sales are really picking up in my area ( eastern Canada). I bought a ’14 Sierra Denali last week. I asked the salesman about the sales and he said the incentives were definitely helping. He also said he had a few customers that he’d lost to ford because they couldn’t get a 6.5 ft box with the crew cab and now they were coming back to GM. Indeed, there were two f150 crew cabs on the used lot when I was there.
There was also also a Sierra all terrain in the showroom next to my truck that a guy was taking delivery of the next day, trading in a 2011 f150.
There’s also guys around here who are dumping their hyped up ecoboosts, for a couple reasons. They don’t start when it’s really cold and they aren’t getting close to the fuel mileage they expected. Granted, some are staying with ford and getting the 5.0L but a couple guys bought Sierras.
I wonder if all this is happening in other areas or if it’s just here in this small town of 12,000 people. In any case it’s good to see the new trucks gaining ground. Hope it continues.
If you go to Grand Forks North Dakota and North Dakota is the state with the most pickups per capita in the US you would see a new Silverado or Sierra at every stop light any time of the day. Of course they have a huge dealership in town Rydell Chevrolet/GMC. I live in the Pacific NW and we are just starting to see more and more.
Oh please. We’ll see how long this lasts. One month barely outselling Ram…a vehicle that has been on sale in present guise since 2009…but still can’t put a scratch on the surface of a Ford F-150…another vehicle that has been around since 2009. You guys can continue to flog this horse as much as you want. It is what it is…nowhere near the success that it should be. Come on guys. Seriously? “Incentives are definitely helping…” Is THAT what a GM fan is going to tell people who are still not convinced? Listen to yourselves. You sound desperate…almost as if saying it to yourselves enough will make it so. If you are as big a GM fan as you claim you are, shun this display of mediocrity and send a message to the top brass.
Richard.. you fail to realize that purest will still love the new platform of Sierra and Silverado, then push forward toward their performance build, even if it’s not offered via OEM.
Richard as I have stated many times it about price. The public has been trained to buy trucks on incentives and you mix that is a nasty winter few are going to buy.
The long run of this as long as there is some money on the hood they will buy in great numbers no matter the brand. Ford will face this next fall too.
Now GM once inventories are done will cut back some to finish the year and then they will try to get back to the price schedule and offer the smaller trucks at the lower prices.
Will it work? Not sure but that is the plan.
The truth is price controls sales. GM in the long run would like to get the smaller trucks to carry the load of the 1/2 ton market. The larger trucks would pick up the heavier segments at a lower volume and higher price. Every MFG wants a higher mileage light truck and they are all searching for ways to do it. The way Ford is doing it will drive up cost where the GM will be a cheaper way of doing it. Who will be right? Will know about this time next year.
While you many not like to hear it, The truth is a incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may dried it, but in the end, it is still there.