GM’s Truck Sales Rise Significantly In 1st half of 2018 - Plus More Good News

Gorehamj · July 10, 2018

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
7-10-2018

Story Summary: GM sold more trucks, faster, with lower incentives, at a higher average price in the first half of 2018.

General Motors released its quarterly sales this past week and a close look at the data reveals a strong increase in truck sales. In the first half of this year, GM sold 51,389 more trucks than the in the first half of last year. When broken down by model the numbers seem even more impressive.

Chevy sold 39% more Colorados with just under 70K delivered.
Chevy sold 11% more Silverados with 291K delivered.
GMC sold 13% more Canyons with just under 17K delivered.
GMC sold 2% more Sierras with just under 101K delivered.

By comparison to Ford, GM sold a total of 478,671 pickup trucks in the first half of the year and Ford sold 451,138. Ford's F-Series sales were up 5% for the half-year period.

GM’s GM Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg pointed straight to the recent Republican-written tax plan that was signed into law just before Christmas. “Tax reform raised take-home pay, consumer confidence is high and household balance sheets are healthy,” Buckberg said. “All of this plus a strong job market makes consumers more willing to commit to major purchases like vehicles.”

Those consumers include businesses. GM says that 22% of its overall sales in the first half of 2018 were commercial sales. GM sees an opportunity given Ford’s announced exit from the passenger car market. “Commercial customers tell us they prefer to do business with a company that can satisfy all their vehicle needs, and sedans are an important part of the mix because they typically offer very good safety, comfort, fuel economy and a lower total cost of ownership than other vehicle choices,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations. “Some automakers are scaling back their car offerings at the same time we are investing in the Chevrolet Cruze and Malibu, and expanding our truck and crossover portfolio. We see a terrific opportunity to forge new and stronger customer relationships with such a broad portfolio.”

GM’s increased sales did not come from higher incentives. GM says its incentives were down in the period and that average transaction prices increased by about $300 per vehicle.

MaverickZ71 · July 16, 2018

Did the '18 Silverado and Sierra sales spike just after the '19 models were unveiled to the public??? (Coincidence? I think not!)

newdude · July 16, 2018

18 minutes ago, MaverickZ71 said:

Did the '18 Silverado and Sierra sales spike just after the '19 models were unveiled to the public??? (Coincidence? I think not!)

On the contrary, that's an average of 48,500 Silverados every month, for 6 months. Seeing as GM does not report monthly numbers any more, I'd say the numbers are right on track with the usual. GMC averaged 16,833 Sierras per month.

If anything, once T1 ramps up full steam, I'd expect GM to sell even more than the K2 trucks, which were rushed to hell and back...

BigBadSierra · July 16, 2018

Yes should tell them about our thoughts on the 2019's

Loco-diablo · July 17, 2018

On 7/16/2018 at 2:41 PM, BigBadSierra said:

Yes should tell them about our thoughts on the 2019's

What? You mean how awesome they look?

SILVER SLED · July 17, 2018

Probably because people saw how bad the 19s look and are hurrying to buy the 18's. I've actually heard a lot of people say that the don't like the 19's and that's why they bought 18's.

BigBadSierra · July 17, 2018

15 minutes ago, Loco-diablo said:

What? You mean how awesome they look?

The Makeup is is different, it's the same old girl underneath!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not enough difference in performance, and enhancements and defiantly in millage to even make me consider trading my 2016.

All your getting is looks... It's a marketing cop-out every were else..

Osirus · July 17, 2018

56 minutes ago, SILVER SLED said:

Probably because people saw how bad the 19s look and are hurrying to buy the 18's. I've actually heard a lot of people say that the don't like the 19's and that's why they bought 18's.

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newdude · July 17, 2018

44 minutes ago, BigBadSierra said:

The Makeup is is different, it's the same old girl underneath!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not enough difference in performance, and enhancements and defiantly in millage to even make me consider trading my 2016.

All your getting is looks... It's a marketing cop-out every were else..

Its not the same girl underneath...other than power ratings and the re-use of two engines. The frame, front axle, rear axle, the way the driveshaft mounts to the rear axle, the width and size of the frame rails, front suspension, all the sheetmetal, lighting, etc. Lots and lots of new, and very little old unlike GMT-900 vs K2XX which share a lot of pieces and parts.

Loco-diablo · July 18, 2018

19 hours ago, newdude said:

Its not the same girl underneath...other than power ratings and the re-use of two engines. The frame, front axle, rear axle, the way the driveshaft mounts to the rear axle, the width and size of the frame rails, front suspension, all the sheetmetal, lighting, etc. Lots and lots of new, and very little old unlike GMT-900 vs K2XX which share a lot of pieces and parts.

I agree, I'm in no hurry to trade my 17 for a 19, but maybe in 20/21 when the bugs get worked out.

Loco-diablo · July 18, 2018

20 hours ago, SILVER SLED said:

Probably because people saw how bad the 19s look and are hurrying to buy the 18's. I've actually heard a lot of people say that the don't like the 19's and that's why they bought 18's.

I doubt the increase in sales to due to the impending 2019 models. It's because they've been advertising the S#IT out of them and had some good incentives the first half of the year. Both the 2019 GMC and Chevy will sell just fine when they come out.

SILVER SLED · July 18, 2018

3 hours ago, Loco-diablo said:

I doubt the increase in sales to due to the impending 2019 models. It's because they've been advertising the S#IT out of them and had some good incentives the first half of the year. Both the 2019 GMC and Chevy will sell just fine when they come out.

Well the last sentence of the article states that "the incentives were down for that period and the average vehicle cost was up $300"

Not doubting they will sell, but unlike years past when the new model was highly anticipated, I hear quite a bit of the opposite from people. As a GM fan that's unfortunate.

Loco-diablo · July 19, 2018

Well the last sentence of the article states that "the incentives were down for that period and the average vehicle cost was up $300"

Not doubting they will sell, but unlike years past when the new model was highly anticipated, I hear quite a bit of the opposite from people. As a GM fan that's unfortunate.

They say the increase of new vehicle sales is directly related to trumps tax cut which gives the average person more expandable dollars

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Jchoi · July 25, 2018

For me, it was definitely how aggressive they were with prices. The GM dealers out paced everyone on discounts and willingness to deal. I’m very happy with my Silverado, even though it will soon be the outdated model.