Is this for real? These show the % change in sales units as posted in press releases in early June for a random 7 automotive manufacturers. (Note, I searched for recent ones by Industry - in this case, Auto Manufacturers.)
I was surprised to see such overwhelmingly positive sales results including Honda, Kia, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota and Chrysler boasting incredible May sales.
“Honda Canada breaks all-time monthly sales records”
“Kia Canada announces record May sales”
Nissan says “This marked a record month in the company’s history”
Hyndai had “Best month in 25 years”
Toyota had “Second-straight best-ever month of sales”
Chrysler thrilled with “Best May sales in 10 years”
In fact, it was so overwhelmingly positive, I could not help but notice GM’s results. GM said, “May sales results continue to reflect a rapid accelerated shift in consumer demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars”. As you can clearly see in the graph, they had an extremely disappointing May dropping 20% while their competition grew 4-22%.
Hmmm. GM, looks like you’re losing a bit of ground here. I wonder why. Hmmm, is it possible that selling all those gas guzzlers just doesn’t cut it? Is it possible that people just may not see the need to drive, (or heck, even find a place to park) Hummers in the city? And seriously, what is a Hummer really for except for military or the movies?
I believe all the other companies named have their fair share of other less fuel efficient cars, but I am guessing that sometimes, the big GM ship may be a little slower to change directions. GM’s focus on what was once their popular bread and butter gas-guzzling vehicles has left them in the lurch faster than they expected.
What can I possibly say? I’m happy for Honda, Kia, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota and Chrysler for their May results due to selling more energy-efficient vehicles. Honda, in particular, is near and dear to me since I already own a Honda and posted previously about it. I’m sure another reason is because Green is just a part of Honda’s brand. If you’re interested, they even have a publication dedicated to what they believe and do on the green front. It’s their North American Environmental Report.
I’m proud to drive a fuel-efficient car. And I hope GM gets their act together. And I don’t own any stock on any of the companies named.
- Daisy
And Ford, good ol’ Ford. Wonder how they are doing? Thinkin’ back to the turn of the millennium, and Ford was introducing gianormous vehicles, that were making me steam. The Lincoln Navigator and larger versions of the Ford Explorer spring to mind. And the Smart Car was a huge hit in Europe, and when Mercedes Canada was asked when they were bringing it to North America, they replied “there is no market”. Ah, how things can change!
Meanwhile, our Japanese friends were working hard on the big picture, knowing that oil was a finite resource: Toyota introduced the Prius in Japan in ‘97, and world wide in 2000. Looks good on them now, and hopefully they are reaping the rewards for their forward thinking!