GM Exec: High Demand May Hurt GM
CHICAGO (AP) -- If U.S. demand for new cars
and trucks remains as strong this year as it
was in December and January, there's ''not a
chance'' General Motors Corp. will meet its
goal of gaining 32 percent of the domestic
market, GM's North American president said
Thursday.
While higher demand would normally mean more
sales for an automaker, GM already is
stretched thin on its most popular and
profitable products: pickups and sport
utility vehicles.
Production capacity is not the problem,
Ronald Zarrella told reporters during the
Chicago Auto Show media preview: Quite
simply, GM cannot get enough V-8 engines to
meet the robust demand.
GM's market share last year fell below 30
percent, in part because of United Auto
Workers' strikes that halted production for
several weeks last summer.
It introduced its long-awaited new pickups
last fall, but inventories still remain far
too low. So even if industry sales rise, GM
can't make any more of its trucks to meet the
increased demand and those sales will go to
other automakers, further diluting GM's
share.
Zarrella said GM has an inventory of about 30
days for its full-sized pickups; 60 is
considered normal.
Demand in the past two months has been
unusually strong, at an average annual rate
of 16 million units. Americans bought about
15.6 million vehicles last year. GM's
official forecast is for 15 million to 15.5
million vehicles to be sold in 1999.
The Chevrolet division, meanwhile, is betting
demand for the 2000 Monte Carlo coupe will be
higher after it goes on sale next fall,
despite a declining market for two-door cars.
GM's volume division unveiled the mid-size
car Thursday, a month after it displayed the
car's sedan version, the 2000 Impala, which
also goes on sale later this year.
Coupe sales have been down sharply this
decade as buyers have bought the sport
utility vehicles and sedans. In the past few
years, Ford Motor Co. has stopped producing
the Thunderbird and Probe coupes.
But GM executives said they are sticking with
the market. Chevy expects to sell 70,000 to
80,000 Monte Carlos a year, up from about
65,000 last year. That compares with plans to
sell about 200,000 Impalas.
''There's still a couple buyers out there who
want an exciting brand,'' Chevrolet general
manager Kurt Ritter said.
The new version borrows styling cues from the
original Monte Carlo of the 1970s, including
a long hood, blunt rear end, vertical
taillight and a return of the ''knight''
emblem.
But the overall look is less angular and a
departure from the current Lumina-based Monte
Carlo.
Chevrolet will target the Monte Carlo to
drivers in their mid-30s and mid-40s.
The Monte Carlo and Impala also share their
chassis and major mechanical parts with the
Pontiac Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Intrigue and
Buick Century and Regal.
Cars will be built at GM's Oshawa, Ontario,
plant.
The Chicago Auto Show opens to the public
Friday and runs through Feb. 21.
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