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GM Announces October Production Results and Fourth Quarter Production Plans

by Staff
November 5, 2001
2 min to read


General Motors dealers sold 554,652 new cars and trucks in October in the United States, spurred on by GM’s “Keep America Rolling” program. GM said vehicle sales were significantly stronger than expected, keeping the industry on pace for the third-best year ever. GM’s October sales were the best since September 1986. GM sold 310,538 trucks in October (up 47 percent), an all-time monthly sales record, putting GM on pace to have its best truck sales year in history. For October, GM’s truck lineup was led once again by midsize utilities, full-size utilities, and full-size pickups, which all reported records. The strongest results in October came from sport/utility vehicle (SUV) sales, keeping GM on pace to set an all-time industry SUV calendar year record. GM’s full-size utilities (64,894 units – up 63 percent over last year) dominated the industry once again in October led by the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL as well as the all-new Cadillac Escalade. GM’s all-new midsize SUVs, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Oldsmobile Bravada, and Buick Rendezvous continued to gain sales momentum, increasing GM’s midsize utility sales (56,323 units) by 47 percent over last October. GM also maintained its leadership in full-size pickups in October (129,805 units – up 103 percent over last year) and is on pace for the best year since 1978. GM expects its total truck sales leadership performance to continue through the end of the year with Buick Rendezvous, Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade all increasing in availability. In October, GM car sales of 244,113 were up 16 percent. For the month, Cadillac achieved its best October retail car sales since 1993. In addition, solid sellers, Chevrolet Impala, Malibu, and Cavalier, as well as the Pontiac Grand Am remained in the top 10 best-selling cars CYTD. Furthermore, GM is expecting to build momentum in the luxury and entry level markets with all-new vehicles, Cadillac CTS, Saturn Vue, and Pontiac Vibe coming to market within the next few months. GM reported another strong sales month of approximately 16,900 total used certified vehicles, including the Cadillac and Saturn certified brands. The GM Certified Used Vehicle brand achieved record numbers for the fifth consecutive month exceeding 13,800 sales. In October, GM produced 485,500 vehicles (215,500 cars and 270,000 trucks) in North America, down from 527,000 vehicles (261,000 cars and 266,000 trucks) produced in October 2000. (Production totals include joint venture production of 10,000 vehicles in October 2001 and 13,000 vehicles in October 2000.) Because GM’s Keep America Rolling campaign has led to two strong months of retail sales, GM is reaffirming its previous fourth-quarter production guidance of 1.27 million vehicles (563,000 cars and 707,000 trucks).

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