GM- Highest profit since 2000

[Nick R]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/05/news/companies/gm_earnings/index.htm

More good news out of the Auto industry. Strong sales. I've seen a TON of cruzes around here lately, they are very popular up here.

 

[daves87rs]

Good news. Seen quite a few cruzes here as well.

Cruze is also on my shopping list...

 

[SLCraig]

Cool!
Find it almost a bit weird. Aside from the CTS-V and Corvette (obvious) I can't really think of anything they make that I would even remotely want.

I thought Oldsmobile and Pontiac were the best brands of GM.. Guess I was wrong

 

[JHZR2]

Good. But how much of that is from us employing people in Mexico vs here?

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Good. But how much of that is from us employing people in Mexico vs here?


Let's look at some figures.

Vehicle Location of Assembly

Cruze: Lordstown, Ohio, USA
Equinox/Terrain: Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Traverse/Acadia/Enclave: Lansing Michigan, USA

Chevrolet Malibu (Current Model) Orion Twnshp, Michigan, USA
Kansas City, Kansas, USA
(Next Gen): Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Buick Regal: Oshawa, Ontario,Canada

Chevrolet Suburban/Tahoe, GMC Yukon: Arlington, Texas, USA

Silverado/Sierra: Flint, Michigan, USA


That is most of GM's lineup right there.

 

[wallyuwl]

Those are the assembly plants. I wonder where the engines and transmissions are sourced from (for example the transmission in our Equinox is Korean)? And other parts as well.

I think GM is probably ahead of Chrysler and Ford when it comes to US production, though. Seems those two companies are sending a lot of their assembly (whole vehicle assembly, and drive train assembly) to Mexico.

 

[Cutehumor]

GM getting rid of Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn. certainly helped their profits.

 

[wallyuwl]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
GM getting rid of Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn. certainly helped their profits.


Should have gotten rid of GMC, too, since they are basically clones of Chevy trucks. And chosen either Cadillac or Buick (I'd vote to keep Cadillac vs. Buick).

 

[Nick R]

I think they should have kept Chevy, gmc, Cadillac, and poetic, personally. But the way they are doing it now certainly seems to be working out for them well enough.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Good. But how much of that is from us employing people in Mexico vs here?


Let's look at some figures.

Vehicle Location of Assembly

Cruze: Lordstown, Ohio, USA
Equinox/Terrain: Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Traverse/Acadia/Enclave: Lansing Michigan, USA

Chevrolet Malibu (Current Model) Orion Twnshp, Michigan, USA
Kansas City, Kansas, USA
(Next Gen): Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Buick Regal: Oshawa, Ontario,Canada

Chevrolet Suburban/Tahoe, GMC Yukon: Arlington, Texas, USA

Silverado/Sierra: Flint, Michigan, USA


That is most of GM's lineup right there.


Excellent! Glad to hear it!

 

[chet2]

the big 3 have made quite a turnaround, i only buy domestics assembled in US

 

[dtt004]

I only buy Japanese cars made in Japan. hahaha

just kidding. My truck was assembled in California. But everything else is from overseas.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
GM getting rid of Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn. certainly helped their profits.


I agree, Saab and Hummer were never going to do anything for GM in the near future.

Pontiac however appears (from my own research) to have had a sizable loyal following. I don't claim to understand why as the only Pontiac in the past 40 years I liked was the GTO but for some reason the GP and Grand Am owners are quite loyal.

As far as GMC is concerned, I've mentioned this in the past, but GM market study indicated that most buyers of GMC trucks had Ford listed as their 2nd choice and Chevy as their third. For vehicles that are badge engineered, that's a pretty good position to be in with respect to buyers. It means that dissolving GMC would not have bolstered Chevy sales and likely would have bolstered Ford truck sales. It's not as if they spend twice the R&D on GMC and Chevy as they would have on just Chevy.

 

[LS2JSTS]

Correct and in addition, the GMC brand allows Buick and Cadillac dealers to be able to sell GMC trucks without having to also carry Chevy products. Not as big a deal today, but in the past there were a lot of Buick-Pontiac-Olds dealers that also carried the GMC truck line up. Without those truck sales a lot of those dealers would be hurting. As it was/is, the GMC truck line allows them a full slate of vehicles to compete against the Chevy dealers.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Its biggest gain came in China, where sales outpaced GM's U.S. sales for the fifth-straight quarter.

That's why GM is doing better. Domestic sales are fairly flat.

Should have said domestic market share is flat.

 

[LS2JSTS]

NA Market share wasn't really flat at all. For the quarter it was up .7%, that seems small but it is actually a pretty good gain for a quarter.

"In the U.S., vehicle sales grew 24.7%, picking up 0.7 points of market share"

While market share in China remains strong...it doesn't explain at all the numbers for this quarter. Broken down by market and source they look like this...

NA operations...1.3 Billion
One time Ally and Delphi gain...1.5 billion
South America...90 million
Europe...(390) million
China and other global regions...600 million, 480 million after special charges.

"Those increased sales helped GM North America make $1.3 billion, excluding special items, interest and taxes, compared with $1.2 billion last year. GM said North American quarterly profits, excluding special items, will improve on average for the rest of the year as the automaker has increased prices, decreased incentives and improved fixed costs from the first quarter.


GM’s European region, which has lost money for 11 straight years, broke even before special items, interest and taxes. GM has said that region will break even this year by that measure, excluding restructuring charges. Including special items, the region lost $390 million.


In South America, GM gained $90 million, compared with $265 million a year earlier, and its share declined nearly two points to 18.8%. Many of GM’s vehicles in South America are old, but the automaker has started to freshen its portfolio and expects to see better results later this year, Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann told reporters this morning.


GM’s other global operations, including those in China, earned $600 million excluding special items, down $300 million from the first quarter of 2010. Special items took the region’s gain to $480 million. Growth in China, where GM and its joint ventures lead the market, has slowed, but “it’s still good growth,” Ammann said."

GM Exceeds Expectations

 

[LS2JSTS]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Quote:
Its biggest gain came in China, where sales outpaced GM's U.S. sales for the fifth-straight quarter.

That's why GM is doing better. Domestic sales are fairly flat.

Should have said domestic market share is flat.


I don't understand what basis CNN used to make the statement you quoted. According to the numbers I read...

China market share was flat in April, meanwhile NA market share was up almost a point. China sales were down as well almost 4.6% for the quarter.

Q1 US total sales...592,545 up 24+% year/year.
Q1 China total sales...685,583 up 10% year/year.

I'm dumbfounded in trying to understand what metric CNN used to make that statement.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Good. But how much of that is from us employing people in Mexico vs here?


Let's look at some figures.

Vehicle Location of Assembly

Cruze: Lordstown, Ohio, USA
Equinox/Terrain: Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Traverse/Acadia/Enclave: Lansing Michigan, USA

Chevrolet Malibu (Current Model) Orion Twnshp, Michigan, USA
Kansas City, Kansas, USA
(Next Gen): Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Buick Regal: Oshawa, Ontario,Canada

Chevrolet Suburban/Tahoe, GMC Yukon: Arlington, Texas, USA

Silverado/Sierra: Flint, Michigan, USA


That is most of GM's lineup right there.


The 3 Cruze models I've seen personally had 45% domestic content on their sticker. That means 65 percent not made here.

I did not look at anything else but was disappointed in that. The person who I was with (we went shopping for him) passed going any further between GM history and that.

He is still shopping. Personally I'm trying to get him to wait and see how things go before buying anything since he is doing the finance the vehicle mode. His current vehicle is doing him fine but gets only 25-28mpg. And its paid off.

Bill

 

[LS2JSTS]

That 45% is due to change very quickly...in fact you may find some Cruze on dealers lots already that are higher in domestic content.

As of now, the transaxle and engine are sourced from Mexico and Europe. Once Toledo gets ramped up for producing 6 speeds in large numbers, the transaxle will be sourced from Toledo. Likewise, the Engine will soon be sourced from Flint as that engine plant gets on line again, building the newer eco's here in Michigan.

No idea what the actual number will be after these changes, but should be somewhere in the 60-70% range.

For reference:

"The Flint engine plant will produce 40 engines per day when production starts late next year and ramp up to 800 engines per day by the fall of 2011, GM officials said."

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
That 45% is due to change very quickly...in fact you may find some Cruze on dealers lots already that are higher in domestic content.

As of now, the transaxle and engine are sourced from Mexico and Europe. Once Toledo gets ramped up for producing 6 speeds in large numbers, the transaxle will be sourced from Toledo. Likewise, the Engine will soon be sourced from Flint as that engine plant gets on line again, building the newer eco's here in Michigan.

No idea what the actual number will be after these changes, but should be somewhere in the 60-70% range.

For reference:

"The Flint engine plant will produce 40 engines per day when production starts late next year and ramp up to 800 engines per day by the fall of 2011, GM officials said."






That is a true fact! Thank You for beating me to it.

I need to add this:

I know that GM is making a remarkable turn around in ALL areas from our vehicles, production processes, the way we do business, etc and guess what? One area that is being worked on is domestic content...but it takes some time because it is not as simple as "just switching suppliers or factories" - there is a lot of work to be done just to substitute one bolt for another. Give GM a few years and I think we will all see more excellent models with more domestic content.