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Tough Month Of Sales For GM Pickup Trucks


Gorehamj

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John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
4-3-2017

General Motors chose an upbeat tone for its press release this month saying it has the "fastest-growing retail brands." Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of sales operations, offered a comment, saying, “The economy is strong and we see more growth ahead for our brands. More people are working, consumer confidence is at a 16-year high, fuel prices are low and Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac have a wave of new crossovers to compete in the industry’s biggest and hottest segments.” What was not highlighted was that every GM pickup truck model was behind 2016's March sales level. Every truck model is also down about one or two percent year to date.

 

In March, Silverado was down 11%, Sierra down 14%, Colorado down 13%, and Canyon was down 13%. Double-digit declines in a company's core product don't usually translate into upbeat sales reports, but GM sees hope in its new crossovers. Equinox sales were up for GM, and that is a key model going forward since it competes in the highest-volume segment of all now since compact crossovers have passed trucks. GM saw hope in the Cadillac XT5, but its sales are still only about half of Lexus' RX sales. At GM the Chinese-built Envision is selling well with sales of approaching the XT5. GM chose a crossover it does not manufacture in the U.S. as its image for this month's sales report. Despite the truthful good news that GM has more crossovers on the market now, both GM and Cadillac are still down for the year compared to last. The CTS is selling at less than 900 cars per month now.

 

GM overall is up for the year. Looking at the sales charts it is the Chevy Cruze that is having the biggest net impact on overall sales with about 26,000 more vehicles sold in 2017 than in 2016.

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What is the thinking behind poor truck sales? Poor incentives? Pricing not competitive enough? Bad time of the year for truck sales? Chevy Shake? Oh wait.. that's not really an issue to GM, apparently.

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What is the thinking behind poor truck sales? Poor incentives? Pricing not competitive enough? Bad time of the year for truck sales? Chevy Shake? Oh wait.. that's not really an issue to GM, apparently.

Desperate need of a refresh. The only thing we got out of the mid life cycle was better head lights. Still the same old truck at the end of its life span is getting old.

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Desperate need of a refresh. The only thing we got out of the mid life cycle was better head lights. Still the same old truck at the end of its life span is getting old.

 

 

So the fact that they came out with the new K2 in 2014, and then refreshed the truck for 2016 is not good enough for you? Explain.

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So the fact that they came out with the new K2 in 2014, and then refreshed the truck for 2016 is not good enough for you? Explain.

Came out in March 2013 as 2014 model. This is not 1980. Times have changed. You can't run a platform unchanged this long without losing sales or slashing prices. We still have a model year left in the K2 truck run. Time to slash prices until the new updated GM twins get here in early 2018 as a 2019 model.

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Came out in March 2013 as 2014 model. This is not 1980. Times have changed. You can't run a platform unchanged this long without losing sales or slashing prices. We still have a model year left in the K2 truck run. Time to slash prices until the new updated GM twins get here in early 2018 as a 2019 model.

I don't know if we're getting an updated version that quickly. I mean look at dodge they've been using the same platform for 9 years now and doesn't look like they plan on an update. They simply refresh the look with new chrome, lights, options etc. But it's still the same truck.

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Came out in March 2013 as 2014 model. This is not 1980. Times have changed. You can't run a platform unchanged this long without losing sales or slashing prices. We still have a model year left in the K2 truck run. Time to slash prices until the new updated GM twins get here in early 2018 as a 2019 model.

Also in my opinion the K2's are lacking in technology compared to the fords, GM trucks always seem to be a step behind tech wise.

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Also in my opinion the K2's are lacking in technology compared to the fords, GM trucks always seem to be a step behind tech wise.

 

To me this is a good thing and a bad thing. Bad because there is some neat tech out there. Good because I hate all this driver coddling tech garbage.

 

I don't live in "truck country" so the fact that my closest dealer and the one I have a good relationship with never has duallys that aren't denalis keeps me from buying a new truck. Not to mention they're not exactly cheap because you can't build a truck with what you want without being forced to get 15 things you don't want but have to pay for.

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Came out in March 2013 as 2014 model. This is not 1980. Times have changed. You can't run a platform unchanged this long without losing sales or slashing prices. We still have a model year left in the K2 truck run. Time to slash prices until the new updated GM twins get here in early 2018 as a 2019 model.

 

What do you think needs to be changed? Is there an issue with the current platform to you or is it just a public perception issue wherein not being fresh means it's outdated?

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Weren't sales down across the board though? I would expect the auto makers to scale down production and increase incentives to get the current inventory off the lots of the dealers.

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