Chevrolet Remains the Industry's Fastest-Growing Full-Line Brand, with 11 Consecutive Months of Growth

DETROIT, March 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

• Retail sales for GM and Chevrolet have increased year over year every month since April 2015
• February retail sales up 13 percent for Chevrolet, estimated share up 1 percentage point
• GM retail sales up 7 percent in February, estimated share up 0.4 percentage points
• Cadillac retail sales up 4 percent in February
• Buick total sales up 2 percent
• GMC sets ATP record for February
• Commercial deliveries up for 28^th consecutive month

General Motors (NYSE: GM) continued to grow its retail sales and market share in February, a trend that began April 2015. Since then, retail deliveries have been up every month compared to a year ago, and retail market share has been up in 10 of 12 months. February retail deliveries totaled 179,958 units, up 7 percent. GM's estimated retail share is up 0.4 percentage points.

The Chevrolet brand remained the industry's fastest-growing full line brand in February, with retail deliveries climbing 13 percent compared to a year ago. Estimated retail share is up 1 percentage point on a year-over-year basis. In addition, Cadillac retail deliveries were up 4 percent.

"Our strategy is simple: grow profitable retail share while maintaining discipline with inventory levels and incentive spending, while reducing rental deliveries," said Kurt McNeil, GM's U.S. vice president of sales operations.

Due to a planned reduction in rental deliveries, GM's total sales of 227,825 were down slightly year over year. GM reduced daily rental deliveries by about 16,500 units, or 39 percent in February. GM grew its Commercial business in February for the 28^th consecutive month.  

GM expects to operate with about a 70-days supply of vehicles throughout the year in most months, with some months higher or lower. February month-end inventories were at a 67-days supply. GM continues to grow retail market share with incentives below domestic companies and other key competitors.

As a result of lower rental deliveries, GM expects its fleet mix in 2016 to be about 20 percent of total sales, compared with a historical range of 22 to 24 percent. In 2015, GM reduced rental deliveries by about 50,000 units compared to 2014. In the first two months of 2016, rental deliveries are down about 30,000 units, compared to a year ago.

"The redesign of our full-size pickups and SUVs, and the smart bets we made to enter the small crossover and mid-size pickup segments with vehicles like the Chevrolet Trax and Colorado couldn't have been timed better," McNeil said. "The economy is growing, Millennials are becoming a major force in the market and we're doing everything we can to meet retail demand, including increased production of mid-size pickups and investing in additional V8 engine capacity."

Millennials (customers under age 34) now buy more new vehicles than any generation besides Baby Boomers, and they account for 20 percent of GM sales, up from 5 percent in 2010.

GM's products plans are tailored to these generational shifts. Redesigned vehicles launching in 2016, including Chevrolet Cruze, Volt, Camaro, Malibu and Trax. At the same time, Buick is expanding its portfolio with the Cascada convertible and Envision crossover, GMC is launching an all-new Acadia crossover, and Cadillac is launching the all-new CT6 prestige sedan and XT5 crossover.

"We continue to be optimistic about the continued strength of the U.S. economy," said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM's chief economist. "Employment remains strong, interest rates remain at historically low levels and gas prices are stable, so we expect auto sales to remain strong for the foreseeable future."

February Retail Sales and Business Highlights vs. 2015 (except as noted)

Chevrolet

• Chevrolet had its best February sales since 2007, with cars up 34 percent, crossovers up 5 percent and trucks up 3 percent.
• Malibu was up 87 percent for the model's best February since at least 1979.
• Camaro, Cruze and Impala were up 39 percent, 27 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Volt was up 96 percent.
• Suburban, Tahoe, Traverse and Trax were up 36 percent, 22 percent, 15 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
• Suburban and Tahoe had their best February since 2008.

GMC

• Yukon sales were up 12 percent.
• GMC continues to earn the highest average transaction prices (ATPs) among its competitive set. February ATPs of $42,300 were a record for the month.
• Denali trim penetration was the highest ever at 24 percent.

Buick

• Encore and Enclave sales were up 26 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Encore achieved best ever February sales.
• Buick's total sales were up 2 percent.

Cadillac

• Escalade and SRX sales were up 22 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Average Transaction Prices/Incentives (J.D. Power PIN estimates)

• ATPs, which reflect transaction prices after incentives, were approximately $34,200 in February, up about $680 from January and more than $3,600 above the industry average.
• GM's incentive spending as a percentage of ATP was 12.4 percent, which reflects lower year-over-year spending on trucks and higher spending on passenger cars being replaced with all-new designs. Industry average spending in February was 11.1 percent.

Fleet and Commercial

• Commercial sales grew 7 percent year over year in February and for the calendar year to date, after growing 38 percent from 2013 to 2015.
• Government sales were up 14 percent year over year in February, and 3 percent calendar year to date.

Industry Sales

• GM estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) for light vehicles in February was 17.7 million units.

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, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. 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 management, our use of the words "plan", "anticipate," "goal," "expect," "possible," "target," "believe," "commit", "intend," "continue," "may," "would," "could," "should," "project," "appears," "potential," "on track," "designed," "effect," "estimate," "evaluate," "forecast," "initiative," "objective," "outlook," "priorities," "pursue," "seek," "will," "when," or the negative of any of those words 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 may include: our ability to realize production efficiencies and to achieve reductions in costs; our ability to restructure our operations in various countries; our ability to maintain quality control over our vehicles and avoid material vehicle recalls and the cost and effect on our reputation of product recalls; our ability to maintain adequate financing sources, including as required to fund new and improved products and services and investments in new technology; our ability to realize successful vehicle applications of new technology; our ability to deliver new products, services and customer experiences; volatility in the price of oil; the ability of our suppliers to timely deliver parts, components and systems; the availability of wholesale and retail financing in markets in which we operate to support the sale of our vehicles; the success of our full-size pick-up trucks and SUVs; the results of our joint ventures, which we cannot operate solely for our benefit and over which we may limited control; changes in economic conditions, commodity prices, housing prices, foreign currency exchange rates or political stability in the markets in which we operate; changes in laws, regulations and policies or other activities of governmental authorities or stricter or novel interpretations and consequent enforcement of existing requirements; significant changes in the economic, political and regulatory environment and market conditions in China; costs and risks associated with litigation and government investigations including those related to our various recalls and risks, consequences and costs associated with failure to comply with the deferred prosecution agreement; increases in our pension expense or projected pension contributions; and our ability to manage risks related to security breaches and other disruptions to our vehicles, information technology networks and systems.  GM's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q provide information about these and other factors, which we may revise or supplement in future reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. GM does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that it may make except as required by applicable law. All subsequent written and forward-looking statements attributed to GM or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referenced above.

SOURCE General Motors