Automotive News [AN sub] reports that GM is giving workers an extra week off over the holiday period at its Detroit-Hamtramck (Cadillac DTS, Buick Lucerns) and Bowling Green, Ky. (Chrevrolet Corvette, Cadillac XLR) plants. And no wonder. “As of Oct. 1, GM had a 95-day supply of the Corvette and a 215-day supply of the XLR. It had a 70-day supply of the Lucerne and a 50-day supply of the DTS.” Actually, a 50-day supply is quite good; the industry considers 60-days the sweet spot. But even so, the additional week off indicates the “pull” for all four vehicles is weaker than a snail darter on a deep sea rod and reel. A fact which AN confirms. “Through September, U.S. sales of all four of the vehicles have fallen from the first nine months of 2007: Corvette sales are down 9.5 percent to 23,384, XLR sales are off 26.3 percent to 1,039, Lucerne sales have declined 32 percent to 43,839 and DTS sales have dropped 32.4 percent to 25,790.” Whether intentionally or not, for once, GM’s spinmeisters offered a straighforward assessment of the reason behind the slow-down. “The market is telling us we don’t need that many cars,” GM spokesman Tony Sapienza admitted. Roger that. So to speak.
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“The market is telling us we don’t need that many cars” — has to be Quote of the Year, if not the last 3 decades for GM.
I remember when Cadillac used to sell nearly 25k DeVilles PER MONTH.
The other day I was driving up rt3 in the ‘burbs north of Boston. The Cadillac lot was jam packed with new Caddies. A bit further up the road, the Dodge dlrshp was out of business.
Why can’t Detroit try to build cars at about 90% of what the market wants. Then they’d never be dumping vehicles. Yeah, they might be losing a few dollars but they wouldn’t need to discount their prices so badly.
Oh – I see, the market wants about 20% of what Detroit makes these days… Never mind… VBG!