8.11.2006

GM Europe’s October sales up 9.6 percent from last year

GM sold 153,719 vehicles in Europe in October, 13,455 vehicles more than in last year’s October, reaching a market share of 8.9 percent. In the first ten months of 2006, GM Europe sold 1,680,951 vehicles, an increase of 9,887 units compared to 2005. In Eastern Europe, GM sold a record 140,211 vehicles in the first ten months of the year, which constitutes a sales increase of 50,036 units (+55.5 percent).

“October was really defined by the start of sales of our new Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, which was very successful in its first month, with sales of 21,479 units and an order status of more than 145,000 units,” said Jonathan Browning, GM Europe’s Vice President Sales, Marketing and Aftersales. “Saab is on track for a best-ever year and Chevrolet continues to gain market share and is particularly successful in Eastern Europe. For Opel/Vauxhall, we will continue to focus on our strategy of increasing profitability by deliberately reducing low-margin rental fleet sales.”

Opel/Vauxhall sales up by 6 percent

Opel/Vauxhall sold 116,121 vehicles in October, an increase of 6,751 units or 6.2 percent from October 2005, reaching a market share of 6.7 percent. With registrations of 1,319,928 in the first ten months of 2006, the brand captured a market share of 7.2 percent. Especially in Eastern Europe, Opel almost doubled its sales from January to October compared to 2005.

Vauxhall held its second place in the U.K. sales charts with a 13.3 percent share, up by 0.8 percent compared to the same month last year. A total of 7,201 private buyers bought Vauxhalls in October 2006, compared to 4,795 the previous year, a gain of 3.5 percent in market share. Vauxhall had four models in the top ten: the Astra was in second place, Corsa in fourth, Zafira in eighth and Vectra in tenth.

Saab on track for best-ever year

In the month of October, Saab sold 6,182 cars in Europe, reaching a market share of 0.4 percent. In the first ten months of 2006, Saab sold a total of 76,551 cars in Europe and enjoyed a 14 percent increase (+9,485 cars) over the same period in 2005. Globally, Saab sold a total of 112,394 cars in the first ten months of 2006, which means that the brand is on track for its best-ever year, keeping up the 7 percent increase compared to 2005 registrations.

Chevrolet achieves a record market share of 1.8 percent in October

With 31,109* vehicles sold in October, an increase of 7,976 cars or a sales gain of 34.5 percent, Chevrolet reached a record market share of 1.8 percent in total Europe. Sales in Germany increased by 56 percent to 2,550 units, making the country the fourth largest market for Chevrolet in October, behind Russia, Italy and Ukraine. From January to October 2006, Chevrolet sold a total of 279,177 vehicles, increasing its European sales volume by 13 percent compared to the same period last year. Its market share for this period reached 1.5 percent.

* Chevrolet figures include vehicles produced by GM Avtovaz for the Russian market and vehicles of US production.

Cadillac’s European January to October sales grow by 21 percent

Cadillac continued to grow in Europe where 2,749 cars were sold in the first ten months of 2006, a plus of 21 percent compared to the same period last year. Also Corvette performed well in its niche market: from January to October it sold 1,200 cars. HUMMER tripled sales of the H2 and H3 to 1,420 vehicles, from 471 vehicles sold in 2005.

If only they were giving them real Chevys. I know Chevrolet France is considering selling the new Camaro.