General Motors on Tuesday reported strong fourth-quarter sales across all brands except for Buick, which finished down 10% from the year-ago period.
But GM's sales of new vehicles for the full year tumbled by nearly 12% compared with 2019, GM said in a sales release. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles also was expected to release sales Tuesday and Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday.
GM cited robust sales of full-sized SUVs and pickups for helping it finish the quarter strong, but noted that inventory remained tight.
Analysts and dealers said GM could have sold more if it had had more stock.
Inventory issues
For the quarter, GM sold 771,323 vehicles, up 4.8% from the year-ago period, its best fourth-quarter retail sales since 2007.
For the year, GM's sales slid by 11.8% to 2.5 million vehicles sold. Still, GM estimates it gained market share across the board in total, retail and fleet deliveries for both the quarter and calendar year.
At Bowman Chevrolet in Clarkston, its December new-car sales were up about 21%end over the year ago period, but its day-supply of the Chevrolet Silverado is about 35 days, said Rhonda Jensen, general manager. Normal is about 60 days.
"2021 doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, but I am more worried about inventory from General Motors. If they get it to us, we can sell it," Jensen said. "The biggest challenge in the first part of the year will be inventory. My big seller is the Blazer, it is really hot, and the Silverado, I can sell as many as I have, but we’re having trouble getting them."
For much of the year, GM was hampered by skimpy inventories of the hot-selling SUVs and pickups, said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for AutoTrader.
"Its full-size SUVs were just about to launch when the pandemic hit," Krebs said. "Midsize truck inventories ran particularly low. But as production improved, those models buoyed GM. Strong sales of those models should also help the bottom line as those vehicles generate the biggest profits."
GM said its average transaction prices set fourth-quarter and full-year records at $41,886 and $39,229, respectively.
GM ended the year with total inventory of 410,875 units, including in-transit units, down 205,148 units year over year, the automaker said.
'Round the clock'
The coronavirus pandemic dinged auto industry sales in the first part of the year as GM and other automakers idled their factories in North America for eight weeks and consumers went on lockdown as COVID-19 spread across the nation.
But the industry's retail vehicle sales started to recover in May and reached pre-pandemic levels during the fourth quarter. Fleet sales remain depressed, but are starting to recover, GM said.
This year, GM expects to have a full year of production of the new Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban full-sized SUVs, which it builds at its Arlington Assembly plant in Texas.
“Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac set the bar high for these products in terms of technology, refinement and utility, and sales are exceeding our expectations,” said Steve Carlisle, GM executive vice president and president of GM North America. “We launched them on time despite the pandemic, and the team in Arlington is working around the clock to meet demand."
GM will start building full-size pickups in Oshawa, Ontario starting in early 2022 to help boost inventory of those vehicles as well.
Big spring sales expected
While some analysts remain skeptical about a broad U.S. economic recovery happening until the second half of the year, GM said it sees a buoy coming.
“We look forward to an inflection point for the U.S. economy in spring,” said GM Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg. “Widening vaccination rates and warmer weather should enable consumers and businesses to return to a more normal range of activities, lifting the job market, consumer sentiment and auto demand.”
For this year, GMC finished the best of GM's brands. Its sales declined by just 8.8% when the other brands saw sales plummet in the double digits for the year.
“Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac set the bar high for these products in terms of technology, refinement and utility, and sales are exceeding our expectations,” said Steve Carlisle, GM executive vice president and president of GM North America. “We launched them on time despite the pandemic, and the team in Arlington is working around the clock to meet demand."
GM will start building full-size pickups in Oshawa, Ontario starting in early 2022 to help boost inventory of those vehicles as well.
Big spring sales expected
While some analysts remain skeptical about a broad U.S. economic recovery happening until the second half of the year, GM said it sees a buoy coming.
“We look forward to an inflection point for the U.S. economy in spring,” said GM Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg. “Widening vaccination rates and warmer weather should enable consumers and businesses to return to a more normal range of activities, lifting the job market, consumer sentiment and auto demand.”
For this year, GMC finished the best of GM's brands. Its sales declined by just 8.8% when the other brands saw sales plummet in the double digits for the year.
GM's $100,000 gem
GM's luxury brand, Cadillac, reported its best fourth-quarter retail share and sales since 2016.
Retail sales were up 16% in the quarter, driven by the successful launches of the new CT4 and CT5 sports sedans and the Escalade fullsize SUV, which was up 6.4% with 9,454 sold. GM said 43% of new Escalades sold in the quarter sold for more than $100,000.
Sales of Cadillac's other SUVs were all lower than the previous year, though the XT5 made a good showing finishing down 2% at 10,950 sold.
Again, when factoring in fleet sales, Cadillac finished the quarter with sales up 5.8%, selling 42,909 cars. For the year, Cadillac finished down 17.1% selling 129,495 vehicles.
Fourth-quarter retail deliveries of the Buick Enclave were up 21% and the all-new Buick Encore GX is now the brand’s best-selling nameplate, GM said. But Buick finished the quarter down 10%, selling 44,188 cars; for the year the brand sold 162,741 vehicles, down 21.4%.
In terms of fleet sales, GM said it grew share of all three fleet segments. Total fleet share increased nearly 2% in the fourth quarter and for the calendar year, GM said. Its sales to small businesses were up 27% in the fourth quarter and up 5% for the full year.
