GM Bails On Montly Sales Reports - Will Shift To Quarterly

[Gorehamj]

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
4-3-2018

In GM's most recent monthly sales report GM announced that it will stop reporting sales the way every major automaker does. Instead of monthly reports, the company will switch to a quarterly reporting method. GM wrote in its report, "GM ...will begin reporting its U.S. vehicle sales on a quarterly basis, effective immediately. For 2018, second quarter sales will be released on July 3, third quarter sales on October 2 and fourth quarter sales on January 3, 2019." As a public company, GM has to report its sales volumes quarterly to investors.  

 

“Thirty days is not enough time to separate real sales trends from short-term fluctuations in a very dynamic, highly competitive market,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations. “Reporting sales quarterly better aligns with our business, and the quality of information will make it easier to see how the business is performing.”

 

The only other automaker in the U.S. who reports sales quarterly is Tesla, Inc. The general consensus is that it is to hide disappointing sales and production figures from the public, though some may disagree with that interpretation. GM's sales were up significantly in March and are up about 4% year to date. 

[2018GMC]

April Fools?

[MikeNH]

I'd side with them doing this to hide something. Every other mainstream automaker (sorry but Tesla isn't mainstream) that I care enough to follow does monthly reports.