http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/b...-year-edition/

Let hope by Summer the Camaro and new Equinox sales get us back to #2 at least. It is too bad the Cruze isn't out this year, and it really sucks the Impala is pushed back 2.5 years. The lack of a new Impala is really going to hurt.

Feb. 2009
Toyota = 96,475
Ford = 84,422
Chevy = 75,555

Feb. 2008
Chevy = 166,166
Ford = 164,915
Toyota = 160,892

 

Why does it matter what place they are in? What matters to me is that they survive the struggle to become a well-run, profitable organization.

Why? Large car sales are way down.

 

profit is number 1. It is just said to see Chevy fall so far. More sales also means more revenue.

So are small cars, medium cars, trucks, crossovers, SUVs, hybrids and vans.

Everything is down about 50% except the Pontiac G8 which is almost Impala sized and had its best month ever!

Impala is GM's 5th best selling vehicle after the Silverado, Malibu, Cobalt, and G6.

Plus as previously discussed here, a brand new Impala will sell on average for thousands more than the current model and won't need deep discounts. That is what happened when the new Malibu came out. If you want to sell cars you got to keep the product fresh.

 

I can't say that I'm surprised. After MONTHS of coverage of the media circus with auto industry "bailouts" and the public being reminded often that GM will be filing for bankruptcy (heavily implied often by the media) is kind of a buzz kill to new buyers. Why buy a Malibu, even if the buyer felt it was better than, say, a Camry, when the buyer "knows" Toyota will be around for the life of the warranty?

Baseball, Apple Pie, and a Toyota in every driveway. That's the new "American Way."

If it's any consolation the "Trucker's Truck" is on pace to sell only 70K or so units this year and the Camry may see a sales decline of 150K vehicles this year as well. Or course, this is only based on two months of data, anything can happen by the end of the year.

 

But GM is still ahead of Toyota, and Ford, and everyone else for that matter.

GM Total: 127,296
Ford total: 99,400
Toyota total: 109,583

 

I think it's interesting to see the percentage of total sales made up by each company's "volume" brand:

GM: 59%
Ford: 84%
Toyota: 88%

Of course, everything is down; I meant relative to everything else, large cars are down more. I don't have the data handy, but I read it on this board within the last few days (I think it was a guionM post).

 

Not in Canada, unfortunately. GM fell to third spot behind Chrysler and Ford (Chrysler regularly outsells Ford up here). It's the first time GM has lost the crown since 1950.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...TOS04/TPStory/

 

Large cars aren't down that much more. Impala, G6 and Cobalt sales are just about even.

I think the trend isn't away from the size of the car, but towards more efficiency. 70% of Malibu sales are 4cyl. up from ~30% a few years ago. The next Impala on Epsilon II would most likely have the 180HP DI 2.4L w/ 6 speed as its base engine. Base Impala MPG would jump from 29mpg to 33mpg.

 

I want to post this sentence from Toyota's press release for anyone who:

1. Might still think that it's no big deal that GM cancelled the new Impala till 2013.

2. Might still think there is no market for a family sized car like this.

3. Still think that killing or delaying profit making cars for the break-even to loss inducing Volt is a good idea.

For what it's worth, Impala sales for February was 7,807, a drop of 69%.

It's almost as if GM looked at Impala's sales & refusing to believe that the public could possibly turn down an Impala seems to have collectively said:
"Oh well..... there must not be a market for full sized family cars. No need to make it a priority, let's just push back it's replacement to 2013."....not.... "The Impala isn't holding up to the competition, we need to make replacing it with the best we can do ASAP!

GM needs to get beyond the "GM's never wrong" or "You don't understand" type answer or defense, and wake up! The fact is, no one cares, especially a public that looks at cars that are lackluster next to the competition, whose "touch quality" and visual excitement fall behind.

General Motors isn't turning into their own worse enemy.... they seem to be already there.

Remember the old collective Pontiac question: "We've cut half off of Pontiac's line up.... why can't they sell in the volume they used to? Must be a damaged brand."

Or, the current... "Hey, we're going to end up stronger by taking our number 2 selling car division and instead of refocusing it as a retail division, instead turning it into a niche brand of a couple of vehicles in the showroom of one of our worse selling nameplates!! Afterall, that nameplate is popular in China... That must means it'll be popular here!"


Now, the "Hey... we can easily pay back $90 billion in loans killing off a few divisions, selling a lot fewer vehicles... even if they are slim margin economy cars and no margin or loss making electrical vehicles!" idea doesn't exactly hold alot of water either.

While Chrysler and Ford are moving in logical steps, I'm not actually getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about the direction GM's being led.


I still hope to be proven wrong, but I still feel from the moment GM cancelled the 2011 Impala to 2013, a vehicle that has would almost certainly become General Motor's "Bread & Butter" car, is the moment they nailed shut their last chance to emerge anything resembling what they are and hope to be when things start turning around.

 

I wouldn't compare Camry and Impala sales. Malibu would be a better comparison IMHO. Moving forward, people will be looking for smaller more efficient cars. The Malibu is only slightly smaller than the Impala (mostly in width), yet it is more of the "right size" for today's mid-size sedans. Packaged with the Ecotec/A6, the Malibu is very competitive with the "imports". GM has received great press on the Malibu and it makes sense to capitalize on its success rather than dumping additional development costs in a new Impala that is only slightly larger.

Now, if the next gen Impala were RWD, I'd be singing a completely different tune. However because GM decided to stay with FWD, improving the Impala is a risk that perhaps GM isn't willing to take at the present.

 

OK.

Consider this.

Camary sales February only: 34,914

Total combined 2009 sales of Malibu+Impala: 35,695


If you aren't willing to make your bread and butter cars (the vehicles that pays the bills and keeps the lights on, let alone funds anything else) a priority, then you really don't belong in the business.

That's like purposely deciding to get by with producing substandard work at the office at a time management is looking to layoff someone there.

 

I agree 100%. However is an updated Impala, which essentially might end up being a slightly bigger Malibu, the answer? If there's enough distinction between the two (Malibu/Impala) then I can see the need for both. IMHO, GM should drop the V6 from Malibu, and add a turbo Ecotec (LTZ only). Then give the Impala an updated Malibu-like nose and bring back the quad tail lamps. Drop the SS and add the 3.6L DI-V6 (assuming it can be converted to FWD).

I think GM's biggest problem right now is that they've totally built up the Volt so much that they feel they need to prove to someone that they are moving in that direction. Showing investments in other areas may only create more doubt in the minds of those they need to prove they're doing what needs to be done to return to profitability. To do that, sacrifices need to be made, and it looks like right now big sedans are ones losing out.

 

why would anyone buy the 211hp impala over the only $1k more 256hp G8?

 

Front wheel drive, for one.

 

Because outside of us performance oriented buyers who follow that stuff (whom... and this is not an exaggeration... make up less than 5% of the total buying public), it isn't an issue. If you look at family car buyers, horsepower and a 1 grand price difference simply isn't in the top or even top 10 considerations.