GM sales increase eight per cent in August, Q4 production to decrease

General Motors Corp. (GM) saw its retail sales increase by eight per cent in the U.S. in August of this year compared to August 2005, the firm said last Friday.
Mark LaNeve, General Motors North America vice-president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing said August has been one of the stronger months for the automotive OEM this year.
Peformance was led by launch vehicles as the Pontiac Torrent and G6, Saturn Sky, he said.
“Importantly, we’re capitalizing on the sale of fuel-efficient cars and trucks including such ’30 mpg and Above Club’ members as Pontiac G6 coupe and G5, Chevy HHR, Cobalt, Malibu and Impala, and Saab 9-3,” he said. “Our large pickup retail sales for Chevrolet Silverado, Avalanche and GMC Sierra were up 27 per cent compared with a year ago.”
GM North AMerica expects to produce 1.050 in the third quarter of 2006 (Q3 2006) and 1.130 in Q4 2006, which represents a 12 per cent production reduction over Q4 2005.
In August,the firm manufactured 465,000 vehicles 179,000 cars and 286,000 trucks down 25,000 units or five per cent compared to August 2005 when the GM North America produced 490,000 vehicles 181,000 cars and 309,000 trucks. Production totals include joint venture production of 26,000 vehicles in August 2006 and 28,000 vehicles in August 2005.