Sales of General Motors’ vehicles fell 11.4% in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2007 as continuing economic pressures in North America and Europe offset better performances in emerging markets.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
GM said today that it had sold more than 2.1m vehicles globally during the third quarter 2008. Within that figure, North America sales were down 18.9% and growing pressure in Europe saw sales down 12.3%.
Sales of 1.286m vehicles outside the US accounted for nearly 61% of GM’s total global sales volume compared with just over 56% a year ago.
In the first nine months of the year, GM sold 6.7m vehicles, down 5.8% on the 2007 period. Sales outside of North America grew by 164,000 vehicles during the same period.
“The recent challenges in the global financial markets, including credit tightening and the drop in commodity prices, have negatively impacted market demand. However, our sales performance shows that we are continuing to take advantage of new emerging market opportunities and are meeting customer needs with fuel-efficient products that offer compelling design and great value,” Jonathan Browning, vice president, global sales, service and marketing, said today.
“Our sales performance during the third quarter saw increases by Chevrolet outside North America and Wuling and GM Daewoo regionally,” Browning added.
Chevrolet sales in Asia Pacific, the industry’s second-largest region, grew 5.3% compared with the third quarter a year ago. Chevrolet sales in China (up 4.3%) and India (up 4.9%) powered much of this growth. The Wuling brand continued strong growth in China with sales up 21.9% in the third quarter compared to the same period a year ago.
In the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, sales grew 3.4% compared with the third quarter 2007. Chevrolet accounted for 90% of GM’s third quarter sales in the region.
Chevrolet sales in Europe also contributed to the brand’s solid third-quarter results, growing 2.7%. The company added that Chevrolet is seeing strong growth in emerging markets including Eastern Europe. Chevrolet was up 6.2% for the first nine months of the year in Russia. In addition, Opel sales in Russia increased by 39%, while Saab increased 90.4%.
However, Chevrolet sales in North America were down 16.6%.
Sales of Cadillac outside of the United States grew 10.7% in the third quarter, supported by strong growth of the brand in Latin America, Africa and Middle East (up 10%) and Asia Pacific (up 39.2%). Cadillac sales in Europe were down 9.3%. In North America, Cadillac sales declined about 28%, largely reflecting the “negative impact of the financing environment in the luxury vehicle market”.
