General Motors February Market Share Drops to 25%

[shugah]

General Motors February Market Share Drops to 25%

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp.'s U.S. market share probably fell in February from the month earlier as the company cut back on discounts and fleet sales.

GM, the world's largest carmaker, likely had U.S. market share of 25 percent in February, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said last night in an interview before the start of the Geneva Motor Show. The carmaker's U.S. share was 25.6 percent in January.

``I would rather have 25 percent share with low incentives, lots of retail, low daily rental than 28 or 29 percent with heavy rebates, heavy daily rental and all that business that gets you market share numbers but no profitability,'' said Lutz.

GM's North American auto business has been unprofitable amid lost sales and market share to Asian rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. Toyota and other Asian automakers captured a record 36.5 percent of the U.S. market last year. GM's February incentives were 17 percent lower than in January and down 10 percent from February 2005, according to Autodata Corp.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=azfOfgj1MH04&refer=news_index

[melm00se]

1. buying marketshare

is not a long term business plan...you have to earn it with quality and value...

[wordpix2]

2. just keep making those gas guzzlers, GM, & you'll soon be totally out of

business---what a great business plan.

[B3Nut]

4. GM and Ford actually make some really cool small cars

Too bad they won't sell them in the US. Europe and Australia get the cool cars (Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Astra hatchback, Ford Fiesta and Ka, new-gen Focus) and we get the leftovers. Sad thing is, the Astra shares the Delta platform with the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ion, and they could make a hatchback version. Ford gave the US Focus a cosmetic makeover in '05, it's a great-driving car, but it should be more efficient than it is. At least they got the quality of it up a bit. And Europe gets the new Focus platform already (basically a Mazda3 platform). Only way to get it here is to buy a Mazda3 or Volvo S40, and again the economy is subpar for that class of car. GM tries to make a small econobox (the Chavy Aveo, designed by Suzuki and built by Daewoo in S. Korea) but the gas mileage is the worst of any in that class of car, and it really isn't all that powerful either. In Europe you can get these smaller cars with diesels! But nope...can't get 'em here. If you want a diesel econobox you have to buy a Volkswagen.

I really wanted to support a US automaker with my upcoming car purchase (my '00 Escort ZX2 is long in the tooth with 158,000 miles on the ticker) but Detroit doesn't quite have what I wanted. The Focus was close, but with a rating of only 26 city/32 highway (with the automatic which my next car must have per Mrs. Nut) it's only so-so. My ZX2 can beat that, even with the busted PCV valve and vacuum system hoses with holes all in them. The '06 Kia Rio5 hatchback is rated 29/38 with the auto, has a great tight feel, turns on a dime, and is a huge improvement over Kia's previous efforts (the new Rio is based on the Hyundai Accent, a solid little econocar.) Sharp looker too, and I love the interior layout. C'mon Detroit, you can make a car like this one!

Detroit has the ability to do better, but I'm not so sure it has the will. Detroit better find it and get their act together, we really cannot afford to lose this industry. I worked over 10 years back in Michigan for a Japanese-owned electronic parts supplier to the Big-3/Toyota/Mazda/etc (Tokai Rika) and I know good automotive systems can be built in this country. If Toyota and Honda can build world-class vehicles with American hands, then surely GM and Ford could do the same if they beat their engineers and overabundant managers into shape (and fire a few hundred managers!)

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[okieinpain]

6. that's what I want too know, how in the can honda, and toyota do it

with american workers, but gm, and ford can't..

[okieinpain]

5. no kidding, they are still trying to push those stupid vechicles. man

and just think white males are suppose to be sooooo much smarter then the rest of us.

[VirginiaDem]

3. They're too big and dumb to switch.

Too bad--somebody's got to be a leader in hybrids and next-generation engines and it's painfully obvious it's not going to be an American company for either. Props to the Japanese.