Back to Greatness – GM Is Kicking Ass And Making Big Bucks

Corvette Grand SportWith the recent events of November 9th, 2016, the beginning of Barack Obama’s Presidency seems hazy and a thousand light years away now, but one thing is crystal clear to us car folks, the Detroit Big Three went through a gut wrenching period in 2008.

One of newly elected President Obama’s first tasks as Chief Executive was to bail out a weak and flailing US auto industry. With a full blown financial crisis looming, five dollar a gallon gasoline and a housing market collapse, the country plunged into “The Great Recession.” Ford dodged the scarlet letter of a bailout by leveraging everything it was worth, Chrysler was damn near given away to the Italians, and mighty General Motors dropped to it’s knees and declared bankruptcy.

Your author is a native of Seattle, and the denizens of my “Left Coast” home-town could’ve cared less whether the U.S. auto industry lived or died.

The same folks were really concerned about buying local produce and protesting multinational corporations, yet hadn’t bought a locally-produced car in decades. The parking lot at Whole Foods, purveyor of all things “sustainable,” overflowed with cars floated in from thousands of miles away. The Seattle Times ran a op-ed piece, essentially saying good riddance to the U.S. auto industry.

General Motors was especially vilified during this period. Obama brought in axe man Steven Rattner, and he cleaved Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saab from the old GM carcass, and CEO Rick Waggoner was fired as a sacrificial offering to appease angry taxpayers. GM’s industrial footprint had grown to reflect a long gone 45% market share, but had dwindled to roughly half of that by the mid-2000’s. Drastic measures were needed to align GM’s production capacity to it’s current market share.

They say never let a good crisis go to waste, and athough the following years were tough, the folks that make up the fabric of our mighty industrial sector bucked up and got to work.

GM Execs

GM’S CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, CHUCK STEVENS (FAR RIGHT) APPEARED WITH GLOBAL PRODUCT CHIEF MARK REUSS, CEO MARY BARRA, AND GM PRESIDENT DAN AMMANN AT AN EVENT LAST FALL.

GM, with half of it’s product portfolio thrown overboard, seized the opportunity and sharpened it’s resolve. Under the tutelage of GM Execs Mary Barra, Mark Ruess, Dan Amman, and Chuck Stevens, General Motors was sent to automotive bootcamp, and much to the chagrin of it’s competitors, emerged lean and mean.

Fast forward to today, and GM has a blistering portfolio with nary a turd in the bunch. From Corvettes and Camaros, to Tahoes, Silverados, Volts and Bolts, GM has the best lineup in decades.

GM Performace is the envy of the world with a killer aresenal of LT engines, Duramax diesels, and a new era of potent, small displacement, turbocharged engines. Let’s not forget GM also beat Elon Musk and a smug Silicon Valley to the punch with Volt, and more recently, the first affordable EV, the Chevrolet Bolt.

They’re making tons of money too.

GM made a record $2.87 billion in the second quarter of 2016, more than doubling its profit from the same three month period a year ago, and recorded another record $2.8 billion just this last quarter.

The latest numbers GM recently released are equally impressive:

General Motors (NYSE: GM) sold 197,609 vehicles in November to individual or “retail” customers in the U.S., up 8 percent from last year. Based on initial estimates, GM once again outperformed all full-line manufacturers, led by strong retail sales gains at Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. GM’s November retail sales performance drove GM’s U.S. retail share to its highest November level since 2009.

Based on initial estimates, GM’s retail market share jumped 0.3 percentage points in November, to 16.8 percent. GM has gained retail market share in 17 of the past 20 months.

November 2016 Retail Sales and Business Highlights
2017-chevrolet-motorsports-overview-1480x551-01

Best sports car in the world at any price.

  • Malibu and Volt were up 24 and 25 percent, respectively.
  • Silverado and Colorado were up 5 and 39 percent, respectively.
  • Suburban, Tahoe, Equinox, and Trax were up 6, 12, 7, and 47 percent, respectively.
  • Malibu had its best November since 1997.
  • Silverado had its best November since 2003.
  • Colorado had its best November since 2004.
  • Trax, Volt, and Equinox had their best November ever.
  • Tahoe and Suburban had their best November since 2007.
  • 17th straight month of year over year gains for Chevrolet full-size utilities.
  • Corvette sales essentially flat, but the car is coming out of model year 2016 with more than 40k units sold, it’s best performance in decades.
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Mighty GMC is a positioned well for hungry truck and SUV buyers

GMC

  • Sierra and Canyon were up 14 and 43 percent, respectively.
  • Acadia, Yukon and Yukon XL were up 4, 22, and 19 percent, respectively.
  • Brand ATP was at $43,887, the highest November on record.
  • Highest November ever for Denali penetration, at 27.8 percent.
  • Best November ever for Canyon, and ninth month of year over year increases.
  • Yukon and Yukon XL had their best November since 2007.
Buick LaCross

New Buick LaCrosse is new flagship for Tri-Shield division.

Buick

  • Regal and Encore were up 41 and 35 percent, respectively.
  • 68 percent of sales were crossovers.
  • Best year to date retail performance since 2005.
CTS V

Best Super Sedan in the World. Nuff said.

Cadillac

  • Escalade was up 24 percent, and had its best month of the year.
  • Escalade had its best November since 2007.
  • XT5 had its best month since launch with sales up 12 percent over last month, and was up 27 percent over the SRX last November, the vehicle it replaced.
  • Year to date ATP was $53,690, the highest ever in Cadillac history

These are the good old days.

About the author

Dave Cruikshank

Dave Cruikshank is a lifelong car enthusiast and an editor at Power Automedia. He digs all flavors of automobiles, from classic cars to modern EVs. Dave loves music, design, tech, current events, and fitness.
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