GM Sold 2.36 Million Vehicles Globally in First Quarter
“The quality of GM’s global sales in the key segments and markets in the first quarter is in line with our efforts to drive sustained profitable growth,” said GM President Dan Ammann. “In China, we continued to grow SUV sales and Cadillac expanded in the luxury segment. In the U.S., our disciplined approach to increased retail sales and lower rental fleet resulted in more profitable transactions.”
GM’s first quarter sales were down 2.5 percent compared to a year ago, mainly due to continued challenging conditions in parts of South America and Asia and the softening of the mini-commercial vehicle market in China.
In China, GM and its joint ventures delivered 964,000 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 0.2 percent. GM’s total SUV sales in the country were up 148 percent, led by the continued success of the Buick Envision and Baojun 560. Cadillac deliveries in China rose 6.1 percent.
North American sales increased 1.2 percent to 800,000 vehicles. In the U.S., GM continued to grow retail share faster than any other automaker with retail deliveries up 7 percent, or 537,000 vehicles.
In Europe, sales of Opel and its Vauxhall sister brand increased by 8.4 percent to more than 300,000 vehicles in the first quarter, outperforming the industry growth of only 5 percent. Opel has received more than 150,000 orders for the new Astra that was recently awarded European “Car of the Year 2016.”
Global sales highlights (vs. first quarter 2015):
- Cadillac global sales up 0.3 percent, driven by a 6.1 percent increase in China.
- Cadillac U.S. Average Transaction Prices (ATP) up 5 percent, leading its competitive set.
- Buick sales in China up 22 percent supported by a 112 percent increase in Envision SUV deliveries. Global Buick sales increased 19 percent.
- Chevrolet retail sales in the U.S. up 10 percent, retail market share up a full point to an estimated 11 percent.
- Chevrolet continued to be best-selling brand in South America.
- Chevrolet sales in South Korea increased 14.7 percent.
- Baojun sales in China up 82 percent driven by strong demand for its model 560 SUV and model 730 MPV.
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements
In this press release and in related comments by management, we use words like “anticipate,” “appears,” “approximately,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “designed,” “effect,” “estimate,” “evaluate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “initiative,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “priorities,” “project,” “pursue,” “seek,” “will,” “should,” “target,” “when,” “would,” or the negative of any of those words or similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements that represent our current judgment about possible future events. In making these statements we rely on assumptions and analyses based on our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors we consider appropriate under the circumstances. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but these statements are not guarantees of any events or financial results, and our actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors, both positive and negative. These factors include among others: (1) our ability to maintain profitability over the long-term, including our ability to fund and introduce new and improved vehicle models that are able to attract a sufficient number of consumers; (2) the success of our full-size pick-up trucks and SUVs; (3) global automobile market sales volume, which can be volatile; (4) the results of our joint ventures, which we cannot operate solely for our benefit and over which we may have limited control; (5) our ability to realize production efficiencies and to achieve reductions in costs as we implement operating effectiveness initiatives throughout our automotive operations; (6) our ability to maintain quality control over our vehicles and avoid material vehicle recalls and the cost and effect on our reputation and products; (7) our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and financing sources including as required to fund our new technology; (8) our ability to realize successful vehicle applications of new technology and our ability to deliver new products, services and customer experiences in response to new participants in the automotive industry; (9) volatility in the price of oil; (10) the ability of our suppliers to deliver parts, systems and components without disruption and at such times to allow us to meet production schedules; (11) risks associated with our manufacturing facilities around the world; (12) our ability to manage the distribution channels for our products; (13) our ability to successfully restructure our operations in various countries; (14) the continued availability of wholesale and retail financing in markets in which we operate to support the sale of our vehicles, which is dependent on those entities' ability to obtain funding and their continued willingness to provide financing; (15) changes in economic conditions, commodity prices, housing prices, foreign currency exchange rates or political stability in the markets in which we operate; (16) significant changes in the competitive environment, including the effect of competition and excess manufacturing capacity in our markets, on our pricing policies or use of incentives and the introduction of new and improved vehicle models by our competitors; (17) significant changes in economic, political, regulatory environment and market conditions in China, including the effect of competition from new market entrants, on our vehicle sales and market position in China; (18) changes in existing, or the adoption of new, laws, regulations, policies or other activities of governments, agencies and similar organizations particularly laws, regulations and policies relating to vehicle safety including recalls, and including where such actions may affect the production, licensing, distribution or sale of our products, the cost thereof or applicable tax rates; (19) stricter or novel interpretations and consequent enforcement of existing laws, regulations and policies; (20) costs and risks associated with litigation and government investigations including the potential imposition of damages, substantial fines, civil lawsuits and criminal penalties, interruptions of business, modification of business practices, equitable remedies and other sanctions against us in connection with various legal proceedings and investigations relating to our various recalls; (21) our ability to comply with the terms of the DPA; (22) our ability to manage risks related to security breaches and other disruptions to our vehicles, information technology networks and systems; (23) significant increases in our pension expense or projected pension contributions resulting from changes in the value of plan assets, the discount rate applied to value the pension liabilities or mortality or other assumption changes; (24) our continued ability to develop captive financing capability through GM Financial; and (25) changes in accounting principles, or their application or interpretation, and our ability to make estimates and the assumptions underlying the estimates, which could have an effect on earnings. GM’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, provide information about these and other factors, which we may revise or supplement in future reports. GM does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that it may make except as required by applicable law. All subsequent written and forward-looking statements attributed to GM or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referenced above.
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