GM Sales Slipping in August
DETROIT
) -- Vehicle sales trends in the first half of August show increases over July for most automakers, but not
General Motors.
GM sales were down between 6% and 7% compared with the previous month, according to
Edmunds.com
. Sales by most other manufacturers were up, with
Ford
(F) - Get Report
,
Honda
(HMC) - Get Report
,
Mercedes
and
Volkswagen
all up 7% to 8%, according to the data.
At the remaining manufacturers, sales were steady from July to early August, except for
BMW
, which is up about 22%, and
Nissan
, which like GM, is down 6% to 7%.
While first-half-of-the-month sales are not necessarily a meaningful indicator, a sales decline is not the best possible news on the first day after a company files its IPO registration.
Edmunds.com
analyst Ivan Drury said the decline at GM reflects the company's continued reliance on pickup truck sales, which
surged in July. In August, he said, "the economy hasn't been doing so well, and people have been picking up on the fact of gasoline prices being a little high, which is almost a reminder that you might want to pick (a vehicle) that is a little bit more efficient."
In July, Ford said pickup sales rose 27.4%, while overall sales rose 3.3%, while at GM, Silverado pickup sales rose 25.5%, while overall sales rose 5.4%.
While pickup truck sales are significant at Ford, as well as at GM, Ford retained momentum in August because "it also has good messaging and some small cars coming out and positive media attention," Drury said. In particular, he noted that the Ford Fiesta is a big success that "connects with young people." As for BMW, Drury said the company is using aggressive lease pricing to clear out some older models.
If current trends for the month continue and if fleet sales are relatively steady as a percentage of the total,
Edmunds.com
said, then August industry sales will total about 1.03 million for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 11.8 million units.
On his blog,
Edmunds.com
CEO Jeremy Anwyl said overall sales are up about 4% so far August, and the month could end up topping March as the best sales month of the year. But a reduction in aggressive pricing could slow sales, he said.
-- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.
.
