Story:
http://www.gm.com/company/investor_i...on/sales_prod/

Sales numbers:
http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_...eries_0706.xls



Highest Monthly Sales Of 2006: GM Delivers 413,473 Vehicles
Sales up 15.2 Percent Compared To May
Launch Vehicles Continue Momentum
Highest Market Share of 2006 Anticipated

DETROIT - General Motors' dealers in the United States sold 413,473 new cars and trucks in June, the company's best sales performance year-to-date, up 15.2 percent, or about 68,000 units, compared with May.


"I am proud of our June sales results, especially since they reflect our highest sales month so far this year," said Mark LaNeve, General Motors North America vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Our launch vehicles had their best sales results so far this year, as evidenced by the sales gains of our all-new full-size utilities. We also had strong sales of the Chevrolet Impala (30,716 vehicles), HHR (9,503), Buick Lucerne (10,690), Pontiac G6 (17,074) and Torrent (4,789)."

GM posted strong passenger car sales with Pontiac leading the way, up 28.7 percent over May and up 12.1 percent over June 2005 on the strength of G6 and G6 convertible hardtop sales. G6 set an all-time sales record and is up 39.9 percent for the first six months of the year. Solstice continues to be one of the hottest cars in the country, and the Torrent crossover also achieved an all-time sales record, up 35.8 percent over May. Other GM divisions posted solid results with Saturn sales up 49.1 percent over May levels. Chevrolet small cars posted robust sales with Cobalt up 21.9 percent, and Aveo up 23.5 percent, compared with May. Also, Impala sales were up 24.6 percent over May.

On the truck side of the market, GM sold 33,148 2007 full-size utilities (including Luxury) in June. Total sales of all GM launch vehicles were up 21.8 percent compared with May and accounted for 25.5 percent of GM's total deliveries for the month. The success of GM's launch vehicles is one of the key components of GM's North America turnaround plan.

"Our customers have told us that success in the marketplace depends on a combination of great new products, strong brands and segment-leading fuel economy, and that is exactly the turnaround strategy we are executing," LaNeve said.

Chevrolet HHR, Equinox, Saturn Vue and Pontiac Torrent pushed total small utility sales up 25.3 percent compared with a year ago. HHR had its best retail sales month since launch setting an all-time sales record for June and CYTD.

GM sports cars also posted solid June sales results, with a 60.1 percent improvement compared with year-ago levels. Corvette sales were up 21.6 percent and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky continue their brisk sales, with Solstice remaining on dealers' lots an average of 13 days and Sky remaining on lots 10 days.

GM's luxury utilities posted strong sales in June, with the all-new 2007 Cadillac Escalade selling 2,604 units; 2007 Escalade ESV selling 1,782 units; and Cadillac SRX sales increasing 31.6 percent compared with one year ago with 2,489 units sold.

GM will continue to introduce an array of new vehicles throughout 2006, including the Saturn AURA, all-new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, the fuel-efficient Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid, and GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook crossovers.

June 2005 was the strongest sales month in 19 years with 558,092 deliveries. Compared with last year, June 2006 sales were down 25.9 percent with total car sales down 2.3 percent, and truck sales down 36.8 percent.

"By any measure . quality of share, launch performance, mix and revenue . June was a very solid month for GM. Comparing our total volume with last year's employee discount-driven phenomenon is like comparing a home run to a grand slam. Either way, you are scoring runs," said LaNeve.

Certified Used Vehicles

June sales for all certified GM brands, including GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Used Cars from Saturn, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, were 43,352 units, equivalent to results last June. Total year-to-date certified GM sales are 263,597 units, up 1.5 percent from the same period last year.

GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling certified pre-owned brand, posted 37,155 sales in June, up 4 percent from June 2005. Year-to-date sales for GM Certified Used Vehicles are 228,678 units, up 4 percent.

GM Certified Used Vehicles, which sells Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC and Oldsmobile models, reached a major milestone in June with the sale of its 2 millionth unit. GM Certified, the first manufacturer-certified brand to cross the 2 million sales threshold, set new category records for certified sales each of the last four years, and Chevrolet has been the industry's top-selling single-line make certified used vehicle since 2004. More than 1 million GM Certified units have been sold since 2004 and GM Certified is on track to set another annual sales record for the category this year.

Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles posted 3,618 sales in June, up 6 percent from last June. Used Cars from Saturn sold 1,631 units, down 51 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 857 units, down 10 percent. In its sixth month of operation, HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned sold 91 units.

"June was another strong month for GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry's top-selling certified pre-owned brand, with sales up 4 percent over last June and up more than 4 percent year-to-date over the same period last year," LaNeve said. "This month GM Certified Used Vehicles became the industry's first manufacturer-certified brand to reach 2 million sales and is key to our strategy to give customers terrific value on both new and certified used vehicles."

GM North America Reports June and 2006 Second Quarter Production; 2006 Third Quarter Production Forecast Remains Unchanged at 1.050 Million Vehicles

In June, GM North America produced 458,500 vehicles (172,500 cars and 286,000 trucks). This is up 40,000 units or 10 percent compared to June 2005 when the region produced 418,500 vehicles (144,500 cars and 274,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 27,000 vehicles in June 2006 and 23,000 vehicles in June 2005.)

Also, GM North America built 1.237 million vehicles (462,000 cars and 775,000 trucks) in the second quarter of 2006. This is down 10,000 units or 1 percent compared to second quarter 2005 when the region produced 1.247 million vehicles (458,000 cars and 789,000 trucks). Additionally, the region's 2006 third quarter production forecast remains unchanged at 1.050 million vehicles (405,000 cars and 645,000 trucks).

GM also announced 2006 revised second and third quarter production forecasts for its international regions.

 

Which month is typically GM's strongest historically? (ignoring temporary promotions that imbalance the year's sales such as employee discount sales)
If it's not June, where does GM usually weigh in?

 

The company does exceptionally well every December, however there are sales as you've mentioned.

 

I don't understand, this article says GM sales are down 26%....

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS99/60703005

 

Sales are down 26% June 05 to June 06... most likely due to the Employee Price for Everyone event.

Sales are up May 2006 vs. June 2006.

This highlights the problem with comparing year-to-year numbers. When you compare to the previous year, you're assuming that both of the months are normal months, where in this case, 2005 was not very normal.

Its too bad they dont compare back say three years. Even that is not enough data (normally, car sales are probably different due to the nature of the market), but you could at least see if a trend had developed.

 

The article posted in this thread was looking at it from the bright side of things - 'best sales month so for this year'. The other article was looking at it from the standpoint of 'this year compared to last', which is the dark side of things, especially considering I think the employee purchase program was running last year.

A perfect example of how stats can be manipulated in either direction through fine wording to send two very opposite messages despite being based off the same set of stats.

That why I wanted to know if June is typically the best of the first 6 months of the year when compared to years past with no special promo programs going on (like this year... up until the 72 hour sale).

 

I don't think either way of comparing sales numbers (year over year vs. month to month) tells the correct story. It's especially confusing when they adjust the numbers because of changes in the number of selling days in a given month.

I think the headlines should be reporting changes in marketshare. To me that's the true measure of how a company is faring in the market place. Then they could also give the raw numbers as backup data. But that probably won't happen since you'd have to have all automakers' results in before you could tally each individual company's marketshare numbers. News reporters are too anxious to get a story out quickly, which is why comparing each automaker to its own historical sales is easiest.

 

A good way to judge GM's June sales would be to compare them to June 2004 sales. And, they were up 10.8% compared to June 04, so I'd say GM did alright.

I think July or August is typically the best month.

 

And you couldn't count on the media to report anything but the "doom-and-gloom" side of things.