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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tim (TMTGM) who wrote (44702)	11/3/2005 11:30:15 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 110194

Why would one dealer have so many and keep taking delivery of more? It makes no sense unless that dealer is purposely trying to go bankrupt. Mish

To: Tim (TMTGM) who wrote (44702)	11/3/2005 2:42:49 PM
From: stan_hughes	Respond to of 110194

Denial? What denial? GM to build more baby Hummers -- GM to build more baby Hummers Canyon, Colorado and Solstice output also to rise By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch Last Update: 1:49 PM ET Nov. 3, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- General Motors Corp. is hedging its bets with the military-styled Hummer brand by ramping up production of the cheapest and thriftiest of its three models at a time when consumers are cooling to fuel-thirsty SUVs and trucks. Just days after reporting that October was a brutal sales month for the world's biggest automaker, GM said Thursday that it will invest about $20 million at its Shreveport, La. truck plant to increase production of the kindler, gentler Hummer H3, as well as the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups. Overall, GM's U.S. sales plunged 23% for the month. Cars were off 12%, while trucks, still feeling the pinch of record-high gas prices, plunged 30%. See full story. Yet demand for the less powerful but more fuel-efficient H3 meant the Hummer brand more than doubled its sales from a year ago. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the H3 gets about 17 miles per gallon. GM has said that the H2, which is exempt from reporting mileage because of its weight, gets between 10 and 13 miles to the gallon. The H3 is powered by a five-cylinder engine, three cylinders short of the V-8s found in its larger siblings. As an added bonus, GM said that the H3 is luring customers away from the competition, claiming that about 70% of the vehicles traded in by H3 buyers are non-GM models. Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon sales, however, fell hard along with the broader truck and SUV group, but, on a year-to-date basis, gained 17.6% and 42.6%, respectively. Yet these vehicles, as a group, made up only about 5% of the overall deliveries in October. GM still must grapple with pressing demand issues -- namely, drawing consumers to dealerships without the dangling carrot of the rich discounts once given only to employees. The upcoming launch of new high-volume trucks and SUVs like the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade will provide a clearer picture of how appetites for big vehicles, which have been a cornerstone of GM profits for years, are changing. See full story. Separately, GM is also working to build more of niche models beyond SUVs. The company said Wednesday that it plans to add a third production shift at its plant in Wilmington, Del., in January to start building the new Saturn Sky and the Opel roadster. The plant already produces the Pontiac Solstice, and the new shift also will help to fill thousands of orders already received for the Solstice, which earlier this year made a splash on Donald Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice." Shares of General Motors moved as high as $26.95, or up about 1.5%, in midday trading. Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards. Copyright © 2005 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. marketwatch.com;