April Sales top US but without the large percentage of trucks, profits appear to be slim.
Wayne Gerdes -
CleanMPG - May 7, 2012
Chinese Cruze April 2012 sales reached 15,914 vs. the 18,205 sold in the US last month.
Last Thursday we reported on
GM’s first quarter earnings which revealed the profitability of the various regions in which GM does business and how Europe is a drag on the company. It also showed relative profit differences between GM Asia and North America where GM trucks comprise of almost 40% of total sales according to their most recent
April 2012 sales results.
In the first quarter earnings report, GM made $0.5 Billion USD within the entire Asian region whereas North America showed a $1.7 Billion USD profit added to the company’s bottom line. Asia is not China but approximately 60% of all GM Asia sales do come from China. Which begs the question as to how much profit potential is there in the most populace country on earth?
GM this morning released April Sales volumes for its joint ventures in China which set a domestic sales record for April of 227,217 vehicles compared to 213,387 sold in the US.
Chinese demand was up 11.7 percent from the same month in 2011 by comparison to the US where it was down 8.0 percent. Over the first four months of the year, GM has sold 972,369 units, an increase of 9.4 percent on an annual basis with the US trailing by over 150,000 units at 821,707 and down 0.4% for the year. Just today, GM broke through the 1 million vehicles sold mark within China itself.
Kevin Wale, President and Managing Director of GM China:
Quote:
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“This is the sixth time and the earliest in our history that we have reached this important 1 millionth vehicle sold in China milestone.”
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The Breakdown
In April, Shanghai GM’s domestic sales were down 2.2 percent year on year to 94,101 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales in China were up 27.0 percent on an annual basis to an April record 127,362 units. FAW-GM’s sales in the domestic market totaled 5,141 units.
Buick April sales reached 54,013 units more than three times that of the US and an increase of 1.7 percent year on year. The original Excelle family had sales of 23,179 units, up 29.2 percent on an annual basis, while sales of the Excelle XT and GT increased 18.3 percent to 11,981 units.
Chevrolet sales in China decreased 6.2 percent on an annual basis in April to 41,555 units. Sales of the New Sail jumped 48.0 percent on an annual basis to 16,305 units. Cruze sales increased 7.6 percent from the same month in 2011 to 15,914 units.
Cadillac sales came in at 2,048 units in April. Sales of the SRX luxury utility vehicle once again topped 1,500 units.
Wuling sales in China were up 22.0 percent on an annual basis to 117,829 units, an April record. The Baojun 630 sedan had sales of 6,018 units in its first April in the market.
In the first four months of 2012, Shanghai GM had domestic sales growth of 6.2 percent to 431,309 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling generated domestic sales growth of 12.6 percent to 517,271 units and FAW-GM sold 22,059 vehicles locally.
The US is currently on track to reach 14.5 million vehicles sold in all of 2012 which peaked in 2000 at 17.4 million vehicles. In China, they breached the 18 million mark in 2010 and are on track to achieve 20 million vehicles sold this year, a number the US has never and will probably never achieve.
Interesting isn’t it.
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