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Article Excerpt
DETROIT, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors Corp. dealers sold 363,043 new cars and trucks in October in the United States, down 7 percent compared to strong year-ago levels. GM's overall truck sales (220,374) were down 8 percent over a year ago. Car sales (142,669) were down 6 percent.
"GM's sales in October fell short of our objectives, partially due to a smaller industry than expected and in part due to a slight hangover from our very strong performance in the third quarter," said John Smith, group vice president of GM Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Truck sales continued at a strong pace, particularly the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL. The momentum we have with our industry-leading truck line-up and recent new vehicle launches is reflected in market share year-to- date improvement through September in the majority of our brands, including Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Saab, Saturn and HUMMER. The increasing availability of our new vehicles such as the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac SRX will help position GM for a strong finish to the year."
GM Truck Sales
Sales of GM's industry-leading truck lineup were down 8 percent compared to a strong October last year. Large (23,980) and extra-large utilities (20,056) again posted strong sales, each up over 26 percent. While total utilities (105,640) were down 6 percent, this was the sixth time in the last 7 months that sales of GM utilities surpassed 100,000 units. GM has sold over 1,000,000 utilities for the calendar year-to-date (1,026,213).
GM Car Sales
Despite the 6 percent decline in GM car sales in October, there were several vehicles that reflected strong sales performance. Sales of GM entry- level cars improved 23 percent, led by the Chevrolet Cavalier (22,499) with a 55 percent improvement, and the Pontiac Sunfire (3,586), up 33 percent. Additionally, Saab 9-3 sold 2,357 units, an exceptional 181 percent increase.
Divisional Highlights
Chevrolet -- Chevrolet car sales (56,344) improved 11 percent from last year. Chevrolet continues to lead the mid-size car segment in the U.S. for the year-to-date, led by strong sales of Impala, which was up 44 percent year- to-date (231,526). Chevrolet truck sales were led by Tahoe (16,029), which improved 20 percent, and the Suburban, which was up 25 percent with 12,896 deliveries. Chevrolet sales for the year-to-date (2,207,250) were comparable (-0.6 percent) with last year.
Cadillac -- Cadillac truck sales (6,438) had its best-ever month, up 38 percent in October, driven by continuing strong sales of the Escalade portfolio. For the year-to-date, total deliveries (172,325) were up 5 percent, and truck sales (48,161) improved 18 percent. The two newest additions to Cadillac's portfolio, the XLR and SRX, are arriving in dealerships and are being well-received by consumers. Cadillac is on-track to surpass 200,000 unit sales for the calendar year for the first time since 1994.
GMC -- Yukon deliveries in October (7,951) were up 41 percent from year- ago levels, and Yukon XL sales (7,160) improved 27 percent. As a result of continuing strong utility sales throughout the year, GMC's calendar year-to- date sales performance (472,810) improved 2 percent over record year-ago levels.
HUMMER -- HUMMER deliveries in October were 3,157 units, which made it the division's best sales month for the calendar year. Calendar year-to-date sales were 28,610, up 143 percent. H2 sales in October were 3,072, and for the year-to-date, sales (27,994) were up 150 percent.
Saturn -- ION had 8,860 deliveries in October. In its first full year in the market, ION will sell over 100,000 vehicles. VUE sales for the calendar year (69,529) were up 23 percent.
Saab -- Saab car sales surpassed 40,000 units in the U.S. for the first time in 16 years. Calendar year-to-date, Saab sales (40,808) were up 26 percent. In October, Saab sold 3,349 units, an 82 percent improvement. The 9-3 was up 181 percent, with 2,357 units sold.
Pontiac -- Grand Am deliveries in October were 11,130, up 40.5 percent from a year ago. Sunfire sales (3,586) were up 32 percent. Vibe sales for the calendar year-to-date (50,043) were a 64 percent improvement from last year.
Buick -- Buick truck deliveries in October (5,959) were up 23 percent. Calendar year-to-date, Buick truck sales (57,036) were up 9 percent, and Rendezvous deliveries (55,891) were up 7 percent.
Certified Used Vehicles
GM Certified Used Vehicles had strong October sales of 34,614 units and continued its positive sales momentum with calendar year-to-date sales of 337,851 units, up 25 percent from the year-ago period. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles reported 3,044 sales; Saturn Certified Used Vehicles reported sales of 2,924 units; and Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles reported 420 sales.
"GM Certified Used Vehicles posted one of its best sales months of 2003, while Saab Certified more than doubled its sales from last October and increased calendar year-to-date sales 134 percent," said Smith. "GM's combined...
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