Posted on 07/02/2005 2:21:58 PM PDT by pure_capitalist
I guess that Employee Discount program is helping!
What percent do employees get for a discount?
see here
http://www.gm.com/employeediscount.do?cmp=gm_com
only 2 days left
Naive question: is this a typical season gain, or more than typical?
What happens to sales when this program goes away?
Slightly misleading there. From the presser:
"Calendar year-to-date sales are up 2.5 percent, with truck deliveries up 6 percent and car sales down 3 percent. Second-quarter sales increased 9 percent, with truck deliveries up 12 percent and car sales up 3 percent."
They're only up 2.5% year to date, even with continued 0% *and* the Employee Discount program? That's not real impressive.
Most of these sales "improvements" are for models that didn't exist a year ago, too. When those new models replace an old model, the sales numbers usually aren't equalling the old model's numbers. Most of the sales improvements are because they have more models to sell.
Another telling line: "Chevrolet had its best sales since ***1986***, driven by record truck sales that were up 66 percent. "
Even with the Employee Discount, this little bump isn't sustainable. Another telling question - where's the earnings forecast that hasn't been updated since April? Why isn't GM crowing about the profits that all these cars should be bringing in.
More spin from GM.
It's within typical tolerances. The real, important number to look at here is 2.5%, not 41%.
That giant flushing sound starts up again.
Will there be beer and hot dogs to accompany the fireworks?
roughly 11-12 % off MSRP is common
I suspect there will be, yes. But they'll be served by non-union workers, and the event will be the collapse or takeover of GM and the destruction of the UAW/GM alliance/organization as we know it.
The biggest upside to this is all the showroom traffic that it brings. 150,000 new customers could bring Friends and family into the GM ranks if the cars are good enough, or bring back folks who had previously written off owning a GM product. It has stirred up intrest in the products again, and when was the last time that happened?
GM made the same money as they always do. Dealers made less, as dealers buy the car or truck for the same price every time. This is the smartest thing GM has ever done.
This would be a good time for GM to sell itself. If they wait the trend appears to be down with the step at 31 being temporary. I don't know if GM has anything by way of assets that is worth the price and they have a couple of red ink items. Who knows why anybody would buy the red ink unless they are making a horizontal integration.
People are buying these cars because they are now stupidly cheap, not because they're particularly good. Colleagues who have bought cars during this marketing campaign have told me that they really didn't like the vehicles, but the low price made up for the many shortcomings. Also, notice that GM didn't break them down into leases (which are often counted as "sales") and outright sales. I suspect a large proportion of these "sales" are actually leases, which will come back to haunt GM in two to three years, at least if what I've seen is any indication.
You might want to go ask a dealership about that. GM's doing price protection for dealers, so dealers are getting protected - GM's eating the difference.
The only thing GM has that's worth buying is GMAC and their interests in many foreign car companies, that's about it. Their interest in Delphi is also worth something.
Hummer sales up 198%. ROFL!!!
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