February 2013 Leaf vs. Volt sales flash report: bouncing up, slightly, edition
The Volt continued to bounce up and down, with February’s numbers – 1,626 sales – on the lower end of the recent extremes (see details here). Last month’s sales were up almost 59 percent over February 2012, when Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts.
The Leaf situation remains in flux, Nissan spokesman Travis Parman told AutoblogGreen. Last month, Nissan sold 653 Leaf EVs, pretty much the same as the 650 sold in January. Parman said that, “With some help from distribution, Leaf February sales reached 653 leaving about 30 2012s in inventory. That put the sales mix at about 60 percent 2013 LEAFs to 40 percent 2012s as the production ramp-up of Leaf continues at Nissan’s Smyrna, TN. facility.” For more on the updated 2013 Leaf, including its longer range, read this and you can watch a Nissan video on Leaf sales below.
We’ll have our detailed report on February’s green car sales, including other plug-in competitors like the Toyota Prius Plug-In, soon. One car that won’t be included in that list is the Tesla Model S.
2013-03-01
DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today that it sold 224,314 vehicles in the United States in February, up 7 percent compared with a year ago. Retail sales and fleet sales were both up 7 percent. The fleet mix was 25 percent of total sales, equal to a year ago.
“The housing sector has now joined auto sales in propelling the U.S. economy forward,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “More importantly, the recovery in new home construction is reinforcing the underlying improvement in auto buying conditions, especially for pickups.
“Light vehicle sales have now been running at a mid-15 million unit annual rate since November,” he added. “This sets us up well for the launches of key new products this year, including an all-new generation of Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups and an all-new Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CTS.”
The Cadillac CTS, along with the redesigned Buick LaCrosse and Regal, will be unveiled at the New York International Auto Show later this month.
Highlights
All four GM brands posted higher year-over-year sales: Cadillac was up 20 percent; Buick was up 15 percent; GMC was up 10 percent, and Chevrolet was up 5 percent.
Crossover sales increased 17 percent and compact crossovers had their best month ever; truck sales were up 14 percent and car sales were down 4 percent.
Sales of GM’s full-size pickups were up 28 percent to 58,039 units.
The Chevrolet Equinox , GMC Terrain and the redesigned Buick Enclave had their best-ever February sales.
The Chevrolet Spark and Cadillac ATS had their best sales months yet.
|
Highlights |
Feb. Total Sales |
Total Change vs. Feb. 2012 |
Feb. Retail Sales |
Retail Change vs. Feb. 2012 |
CYTD Sales |
CYTD vs. 2012 |
CYTD Retail Sales |
CYTD Retail Sales vs. 2012 |
|
Chevrolet |
158,541 |
4.9% |
109,188 |
4.1% |
295,845 |
7.6% |
201,582 |
10.1% |
|
GMC |
35,778 |
9.8% |
31,257 |
13.5% |
66,594 |
15.7% |
59,721 |
21.4% |
|
Buick |
16,150 |
15.2% |
14,951 |
13.2% |
29,613 |
22.2% |
27,369 |
20.4% |
|
Cadillac |
13,845 |
20.3% |
12,571 |
12.5% |
26,961 |
32.0% |
24,912 |
27.4% |
|
Total GM |
224,314 |
7.2% |
167,967 |
7.1% |
419,013 |
11.1% |
313,584 |
14.2% |
|
Inventory |
Units @ |
Days Supply (selling day adjusted) |
Units @ |
Days Supply (selling day adjusted) |
|
All Vehicles |
742,887 |
79 |
737,885 |
95 |
|
Full-size Pickups |
234,695 |
97 |
234,342 |
117 |
|
Industry Sales |
Feb. SAAR (est.) |
Calendar Year (est.) |
|
Light Vehicles |
15.5 million range |
15.0 – 15.5 million range |
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world’s largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM’s brands include Chevrolet and Cadillac, as well as Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
In this press release and in related comments by our management, our use of the words “expect,” “anticipate,” “possible,” “potential,” “target,” “believe,” “commit,” “intend,” “continue,” “may,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “project,” “projected,” “positioned” or similar expressions is intended to identify forward-looking statements that represent our current judgment about possible future events. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but these statements are not guarantees of any events or financial results, and our actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Among other items, such factors might include: our ability to realize production efficiencies and to achieve reductions in costs as a result of our restructuring initiatives and labor modifications; our ability to maintain quality control over our vehicles and avoid material vehicle recalls; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and financing sources and an appropriate level of debt, including as required to fund our planned significant investment in new technology; the ability of our suppliers to timely deliver parts, components and systems; our ability to realize successful vehicle applications of new technology; and our ability to continue to attract new customers, particularly for our new products. GM’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q provides information about these and other factors, which we may revise or supplement in future reports to the SEC.
