Alphecca: SUV Sales Slump

April 21, 2005

SUV Sales Slump

... General Motors, slammed by lower sales and mounting health-care costs, turned in a $1.1 billion, first-quarter loss Tuesday and didn't help its cause in the eyes of Wall Street when it declined to offer a full-year outlook.
Like GM, sales of Ford's most profitable and fuel-thirsty sports utility vehicles have slumped amid record gas prices.
'The shift out of traditional SUVs into cars and crossovers, which we anticipated several years ago, was happening at a rate faster than we had expected,' said Chairman and CEO Bill Ford.
'This hurt us on two counts. First our share in SUVs is higher than in the smaller growing segments, which lowered our overall share. The second, our margins on SUVs are generally higher than our cars and crossovers, which lowered our profits,' he added...

History repeats itself and no one remembers. I got my first car in 1974 amidst the gas crisis then. People would sit in long lines to fill-up. Tiny imports became the rule.

For the past couple years, everyone (certainly the automakers) have had warning that gas prices were rising for a variety of reasons (problems in the middle-east, the rising consumption of China, etc.) but kept building more and more huge SUVs, each larger than the next. Now they are shocked -- shocked! -- that consumers are turning to smaller, more fuel efficient models.

Maybe it's time to end the practice of trying to get the YOUNGEST talent into the marketing department and start rehiring older workers instead. At least they will remember past trends when predicting future ones.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at April 21, 2005 08:07 AM

Comments

"The second, our margins on SUVs are generally higher than our cars and crossovers, which lowered our profits,' he added..."

In other words, they got way too greedy on both mark-up and production and now have a black eye for their trouble. Why on Earth wouldn't anyone want to pay extortionist prices for something that sucks up expensive gas like there's no tomorrow?

That said, I still plan to get rid of my little Honda in a year or two and get a pickup. Just won't drive as much.

Posted by: Dave D at April 21, 2005 09:22 AM

And to think that GM killed the F-body (Firebird/Camaro) to re-tool that line to make more SUVs...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Idiots...

(this from a Mustang guy..)

Posted by: Ugly American at April 21, 2005 02:43 PM

Thanks for that, my dad was just saying the same thing. Love the pic of your cat with the gun. Maybe our felines should get together sometimes, mine is particularlly fond of Glocks.

Posted by: Amy at April 22, 2005 11:24 AM

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April 21, 2005

SUV Sales Slump

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

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Colony: Alchibah