GM Sold A Staggering 1 Million Crossovers in 2018

[Gorehamj]

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
1-3-2019

 

Amid the news of GM's newly confirmed commitment to electric and autonomous vehicles, most news outlets point to GM's focus on trucks and full-size SUVs. What many miss is GM's amazing recovery from an early slow start with crossovers. Today's quarterly sales report by GM has one simple summary that shows just how impressive the company's crossover sales are. 1 million in U.S. sales in 2018.  

“We have built the most successful pickup, SUV and crossover business in the industry and we gained considerable momentum in the fourth quarter of 2018 as dealers began delivering the all-new Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Cadillac XT4,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations. McNeil chose to single out the compact XT4 from Cadillac, but that is simply a marketing plug. GM sold less than 8,000 XT4s in 2018. The real news is the two-row Equinox crossover, which is now GM's second-leading seller with 332,618 vehicles delivered in 2018, up 15% in a year in which every manufacturer gave their full efforts to the segment. The Terrain's 114K unit sales are also important and that model was up 33% for GM in 2018.

 

GM's crossover sales summary follows:

-GM crossover deliveries totaled 1,034,808 in 2018, up 7 percent versus 2017, and the following five nameplates had record calendar year sales:
-GMC Terrain up 34 percent 
-Chevrolet Traverse up 19 percent  
-Chevrolet Equinox up 15 percent 
-Chevrolet Trax up 13 percent 
-Buick Encore up 6 percent  

GM says the Cadillac XT4 became the best-selling vehicle in its segment just two months after launch. We are not so sure. Lexus sold almost 9,000 NX crossovers in December alone. 

 

Total sales of all GM utility vehicles, including large SUVs, totaled 1,295,700, up 7 percent. The combined sales of the Chevrolet Silverado and Colorado, and the GMC Sierra and Canyon, rose 3 percent versus 2017 to a total of 973,463 pickups. This marks the fifth consecutive year that GM has lead the U.S. market for overall pickup truck sales. 

 

So, how did the electric vehicles from GM do this year? After all, GM is making it pretty clear it sees this segment as critical to its future. The Bolt BEV was down by 23% to just over 18K units in 2018. The Volt EREV was down 10% to almost identical sales of about 18K units. If GM sees EVs as the future it is starting behind Toyota and Tesla in the race to the top for sales.  Toyota's Prius Prime PHEV lead the affordable EV segment with just under 28K units delivered and Tesla delivered an astounding 140K Model 3 BEV compact sedans. 

 

 

[CadillacLuke24]

Not a fan of Crossovers but they keep the lights on. That and GM BY FAR makes the best looking bunch.

[greatmizzou]

Crossovers are basically midsize cars with AWD.  I’m not surprised as just about everyone wants to drive a “SUV” but in reality suvs have warped into the generic midsize car market. The market increased while the other market decreased.

 

 

 

 

[The Zip]

I like them, would recommend to young families and old folks.  Too small for me though, been driving the fullsize GM SUVs for 26 yrs.