While the U.S. auto market as a whole saw a modest increase of 1.7 percent in new vehicle average transaction prices for October, GMC ATPs moved sharply in the opposite direction, plunging 4.3 percent compared to October 2023 to $65,215.
All four of General Motors’ core brands saw ATPs drop year-over-year in October 2024, with GMC registering the second biggest drop after Cadillac’s 6.6-percent price slump, newly released research by Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book reveals.
GMC prices also fell 0.6 percent compared to September. The downward trend in average transactions for Big Red’s new vehicles was already in place in September 2024, though at a lower rate of 1.3 percent. The picture contrasts strongly with 2023, when GMC’s ATP surged upward 10.1 percent compared to 2022 in October.
Meanwhile, in the market as a whole, incentives continue to climb as automakers and dealerships vie for customer dollars amid increasing choice and supply. Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox, says that with the year’s end approaching, “many will likely maintain or even increase their seasonal incentives to attract buyers.”
Keating goes on to note that “with competition intensifying, these strategies will be crucial in maintaining market share and driving end-of-year sales.” The average incentive rose from 7.2 percent in September 2024 to 7.7 percent of the average transaction price in October. However, incentives on certain types of vehicles are even higher.
Full-size pickups, such as the GMC Sierra – Big Red’s bestselling model – continue to have slowing sales as they have throughout 2024. In an effort to drive sales higher, carmakers and dealers have hiked the average pickup incentive to 8.7 percent. The mid-size utility category where the GMC Acadia competes has 8-percent incentives, while the GMC Terrain, in the small crossover segment, faces an average incentive of 9.4 percent, almost 2 percent higher than the auto market as a whole.
The strong competition and above-average incentives in the categories where many of its models sell could help explain GMC’s tumbling ATP in October. And as Erin Keating reminds readers of the study, incentives are likely to edge higher, since “’tis the season for automakers to make their final push for 2024 sales.”
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