GM sold more cars in June 2014 than any other June since 2007. Just imagine if GM had killed more people, recalled more cars, been busted for more lies, and had more congressional hearings. As GM's head of sales exudes, this was "the third very strong month in a row for GM... in fact, the first half of the year was our best retail sales performance since 2008, driven by an outstanding second quarter." We can only imagine the depths of FICO scores, terms of financing, and margin-crushing incentivization that dealers were subsidized into offering to sell this many 'kevorkianesque rolling sarcophagus." How did they do this? Government (+14%) and Fleet sales (+48%) - sound sustainable?
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But what drove all this exuberance was not the average joe [3]...
Commercial fleet sales were up 48 percent, driven by strong pickup, van and small car sales. Government deliveries were up 14 percent thanks to strong car sales.
[4]
And incentives remain notably above industry average and rising...
Incentive spending as a percentage of ATP was 10.9 percent, up 0.2 points from a year ago, according to J.D. Power PIN estimates. The industry average for June was 9.7 percent, also up 0.2 points from a year ago.
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We assume this proves that the old adage that "there is no bad publicity" is true... though in this case, it seems a bit far-fetched.
