General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) June sales rose only 1%. If it had not been for an 18.4% improvement in Buick, GM corporate sales would have dropped.
Total company sales rose to 267,461. Buick sales were 21,403. For the year, Buick’s sales are higher by 12.5% to 113,472. GM’s flagship Chevy suffered another drop in sales in June, down 2.5% to 188,567.
Another problem for GM is Cadillac, its luxury car turnaround story. America’s largest car company has hoped to challenge BMW, Mercedes and Lexus for market share. But Cadillac sales were up only 0.1% to 13,941.
Buick’s improvement was driven by sales of the Encore, which rose 81.7% in June. Cadillac’s primary problem was a drop in sales of its new ATS, down 31.8% to 2,358. Chevy’s sales were badly hurt by a drop in Cruze sales of 20.9% to 26,008.
Also worth noting, GM’s top-selling vehicle, the Chevy Silverado had an improvement in sales of 0.6% to 43,519. The pickup sits behind Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) F-Series, which is the top-selling vehicle in the United States. And the car that was once labeled GM’s future — the Volt — sold only 1,777 units, down 34.1%
“June was the third very strong month in a row for GM, with every brand up on a selling-day adjusted basis,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “In fact, the first half of the year was our best retail sales performance since 2008, driven by an outstanding second quarter.”
Based on GM’s numbers, that statement is optimistic.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks