News from GM Europe

In 2006, for the first time in its history, GM sold more than two million cars and light commercial vehicles in Europe. The yearly sales record lies at 2,002,704 vehicles, which constitutes an increase of 18,743 units (+0.94%) versus last year, despite substantial reductions in short-cycle fleet sales. GM’s share of the market (Western, Central and Eastern Europe) was 9.2 percent. GM’s brands significantly outpaced industry growth in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain, as well as in seven Central and Eastern European markets and the rapidly expanding Russian market, where GM grew its sales by 73% (+56,022 units) to 132,600 units compared to 2005.

“2006 was a breakthrough year for us: We sold over two million vehicles for the first time while also substantially improving average revenue per vehicle and laying the foundations for sustainable growth. We achieved this with a healthy balance of investment in great new products, selling higher equipped vehicles and cutting back on low-margin fleet sales,” said Jonathan Browning, Vice President GM Europe for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales.

Opel/Vauxhall continues its withdrawal from less-profitable fleet markets

Opel/Vauxhall sold 1.56 million vehicles in 2006, capturing a market share of 7.2 percent. Reflecting GM’s strategy of reducing short-cylce fleet sales, overall market share slightly declined by 0.4 percent. On the other hand, the brand’s share grew in 14 European markets. In Russia, the Ukraine and Romania, Opel doubled its sales from 2005. The brand’s most important volume model, the Astra sold 515,302 units in 2006, achieving a 2.37 percent share of the European market and confirming its second position in the compact segment. Opel/Vauxhall was again the leading brand in the monocab segment with Meriva and Zafira in 2006. Zafira sales in that period increased by 24 percent, or 43,800 units, compared to the same period last year to sales of 226,458. The new Corsa recorded more than 200,000 orders since its start of production and Vivaro enjoyed record sales of 66,100 units in 2006 (+2,400 units or 3.7 percent).
Vauxhall held its second place in the U.K. sales charts with a 12.8 percent share and 349,560 registrations for the year. Especially strong retail performance made up for the marque's strategic withdrawal from the less-profitable fleet market: With 9.4 percent market share, Vauxhall reached its highest retail share since 1998.

Saab reaches record registrations in Europe

Saab reached record sales for Europe: it sold 90,502 cars in 2006, clearly exceeding its former European sales record of 80,981 units from the year 2000. Compared to the same period in 2005, Saab increased its European sales by 10.3 percent, or 8,439 cars. Globally, Saab sold a record 133,200 cars in 2006, 900 units above its former all-time record from 2000, 5.4 percent up from its 2005 registrations. Saab achieved record sales in Spain, Belgium and Canada. In its home market, the Swedish brand increased sales by 4,334 units or 20.4 percent, to a total of 25,607 cars.

Chevrolet achieves record sales of over 340,000 units

Chevrolet’s year-on-year growth topped 15 percent, taking GM’s biggest global brand to a European sales total of 341,612 units and a market share of 1.6 percent (after 1.4 percent in 2005). These figures include roughly 48,800 vehicles built by GM AVTOVAZ. In 2006, the main growth area was again Central and Eastern Europe with sales of over 188,000 units and overall growth of 33.5 percent. In Russia, Chevrolet sold over 111,400 vehicles – of which nearly 43,300 units came from GM-AVTOVAZ and GM U.S. production, as compared to 67,000 units in 2005. Strong sales results were realized in Germany (23,486 units; +13 percent), Italy (36,750 units; +5.3 percent), Spain (28,410 units; +4.9 percent) and also in smaller markets such as Switzerland (over 3,155 units; +12.2 percent), Norway (1,121 units; +9 percent) and Ireland (2,139 units; +8.2 percent).

Cadillac’s European sales grew by 22 percent

Cadillac, GM’s luxury brand, registered 22 percent growth in 2006, achieving sales of 3,272 cars throughout the year. Corvette also performed well in its niche market selling 1,257 cars in 2006. HUMMER almost tripled sales of the H2 and H3 to 1,848 vehicles, up from 622 vehicles sold in 2005.

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