GM August Sales Slide 5% but Top Estimates

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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GM August Sales Slide 5% but Top Estimates

© Courtesy of General Motors

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted total August U.S. sales of 256,429 vehicles, a decrease of 5.2% compared with August 2015. Retail deliveries fell 5.4% and fleet deliveries slipped 4.1 percentage points for the year to date, accounting for 17% of GM’s August deliveries, below the company’s full-year guidance for fleet sales to reach 20% of all sales.

GM’s new vehicle sales for August were forecast at about 255,151 by analysts at Edmunds.com. Kelley Blue Book (KBB) had estimated sales of 256,000 at an average transaction price of $40,341, up 0.6% month over month and up 4.9% year over year. KBB does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation.

GM reported that its average August transaction prices rose to $36,730 from July’s average of $34,887. GM reported that August incentive spending equaled 11.1% of its average transaction price, less than the average July incentive of 14.2% and below the industry average of 11.5%.

August sales of the company’s top-selling Silverado pickup fell 4.7% year over year to 52,408 units, and GMC Sierra sales tumbled 17.7% to 17,478 units.

Sales of the Colorado midsize pickup rose 29.9% to 9,242 units.

Cadillac retail sales rose 3.9% in August, following a 1.4% increase in July. Cadillac sales totaled 16,346 units in August.

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Total Chevrolet deliveries in August fell 3.9% year over year to 175,965 units and retail sales fell 2.7% to 142,656 units.

The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year total sales decrease of 2.7% in July and a decrease of 12.4% in retail sales.

For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales is 17.2 million for August, down from its July estimate of 17.9 million.

For the year to date, GM’s total sales are down 4.2% and retail sales are up 0.9%.

GM’s stock traded down less than 0.1% Thursday morning at $31.90 in a 52-week range of $26.69 to $36.88.

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Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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