TS-NEWSMAIL.CF - General Motors
GM -0.86%
(GM) reported today that its global sales in the first quarter totaled
slightly more than 2.4 million vehicles, an increase of nearly 2 percent
compared to the same period last year.
The GM sales total of 2,421, 123 trailed the 2.49 million global sales the Volkswagen Group reported for the first quarter and is almost certain to put GM in third place behind Toyota Motor , which has yet to report its worldwide sales for the first three months of this year.
With sales of 961,135 in the January-March period, China continued as
GM’s highest-volume market, topping North America’s 789,780 deliveries;
the number put GM’s China sales 9 percent ahead of last year’s pace and
North American sales were 6 percent better than in the first quarter of
2014.
“The momentum our brands are building in China, the U.S. and Western Europe more than offset difficult conditions in some other large markets like Russia and Brazil,” said GM CEO Mary Barra
in a release. “We are in the early days of a very aggressive onslaught
of new products and customer-driven innovation,” she added.
There may be “momentum” in Europe, but it has yet to translate to a
sales turnaround in the region that has been a lingering thorn in GM’s
side: first-quarter sales in Europe were off nearly 14 percent. The
291,582 vehicles GM moved in Europe in the first quarter were a hefty
45,844 less than the same period last year. Meanwhile, GM’s sales in
South America slid 15 percent and its sales for the combined
Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East markets were down 2 percent.
Cadillac was a particularly bright spot in GM’s first-quarter global sales performance.
First-quarter
sales results for GM in the key markets of North America and Europe
were nearly 180 degrees from Volkwagen’s. The German automaking
conglomerate pushed up sales by 4 percent in Europe, but while its
overall North American sales also were up by 4 percent, sales slipped
more than 1 percent in the still-rocking United States. Despite an
enduring surge of buyers to U.S. new-car showrooms, Volkswagen has
struggled to participate in the growth and the company’s moribund
performance in the U.S. was believed to be a flashpoint in a recent and
publicly detailed boardroom power struggle at Volkswagen.
Apart from Europe, GM’s
first quarter results showed promise, although VW and Toyota are likely
to be the two duking it out for the title of world’s largest auto maker
in 2015. Encouragement for GM came in a 2.5-percent sales increase –
including a 23-percent hike in China – for Cadillac, which has tussled
to keep pace with German luxury-vehicle giants. There also was a plump
14.5-percent hike for the GMC brand and global sales for Buick were up
7.6 percent in the first quarter.(forbes.com)