April car/truck sales, winners and losers

[kevm14]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/ne ... dailydrive

General Motors recorded its biggest decline -- 3.5 percent -- in more than two years. Each GM brand fell as the automaker continued to emphasize deliveries to individual customers and dial back on less-profitable sales to rental fleets. Retail sales rose 4 percent.

GM’s 3.5 percent decline was its largest since a 12 percent drop in January 2014. Cadillac had the biggest tumble, down 29 percent, followed by Buick (down 2.8 percent), Chevrolet (down 2.3 percent) and GMC (off 0.1 percent).

The Lincoln brand posted a 20 percent increase, with the MKC up 51 percent and the redesigned MKX nearly doubling its results from a year ago.

It's just frustrating. Cadillac has the best lineup it has ever had. GM tries to curtail fleet sales. What's the deal?

Also worth pointing out:

Still, some analysts expressed concerns that some of April's sales gains came as a result of elevated discounts.

“Increased fleet sales and rising incentive spending among automakers remain the factors to watch, but retail demand appears to be holding steady, signaling the industry’s strong run isn’t over quite yet,” said Tim Fleming, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

Overall, TrueCar estimates April incentives rose 13 percent to $3,021 a vehicle from a year earlier, and fell 2.7 percent from March.

Among major automakers, TrueCar estimates April incentives averaged $4,713 per vehicle at BMW AG, $3,911 at Daimler AG, $3,423 at Ford, $3,909 at GM, $1,631 at Honda, $2,201 at Hyundai, $2,839 at Kia, $3,298 at Nissan, $572 at Subaru, $2,017 at Toyota and $3,276 at the Volkswagen Group.

Ok lots of incentives to go around. Though somewhat alarmingly, GM had the 3rd highest average, and I'd call it tied for 2nd even.

[Bob]

It's especially alarming considering #1 and the other #2 are luxury brands, not full line auto makers.

[bill25]

GM tries to curtail fleet sales. What's the deal?

Maybe they don't want the rental company car association since rentals are usually thought to be bargain bin vehicles. A better approach would have been to sell better equipped cars to the rental companies so when people get a rental they are pleasantly surprised and give GM a second look.

[Bob]

My rental experiences have improved my opinion of certain brands so I think that approach makes sense. Also, the people who rent cars during the week at major airports are the same demographic who can afford to buy new cars so it makes sense from a targeted marketing standpoint.

[bill25]

What doesn't make sense is to sell the crappiest version of your car to those companies so that people with money think your company is cheap. Unfortunately, rental cars probably don't want to pay top dollar. I agree with you 100%.

[kevm14]

I suspect what may go on is the OEM supplies a higher trim than what the rental company really bought. The cost difference to the OEM is probably pretty small. The OEM can budget any remainder as a marketing/PR expense.

It all comes back to the product - make good products and you should be fine. Make shitty products, and your problem isn't that you have too many fleet sales - the products suck.

That said, Cadillac has taken a big dive and the products are very good.

[Bob]

Very few of the cars I rent are base models with no options. This is because I usually rent from National's Executive selection and they don't put a lot of low end cars in that area. Also, I can pick what I want so I usually seek out something that is well equipped.