7.12.2006
GM Europe’s November sales up 4.8 percent from last year

GM sold 165,842 vehicles in Europe in November, 7,597 vehicles more than in last year’s November, reaching a market share of 9.3 percent. In the first eleven months of 2006, GM Europe sold 1,846,411 vehicles, an increase of 17,102 units compared to 2005. In Russia, GM achieved two records in November: best ever Opel share and volume as well as best ever share for the GM group. GM sold a record 117,745 vehicles in the first eleven months of the year in Russia, which constitutes a sales increase of 49,287 units (+72 percent).

“GM Europe’s sales in November achieved several milestones: With 82,915 cars sold, Saab already exceeded its all-time record for European annual sales while Chevrolet broke through the 300,000 unit mark to set another record. With Opel/Vauxhall, we sold some 30,000 Corsas, kept our Monocab segment sales leadership with Meriva and Zafira for the first eleven months of the year while Astra was second amongst compact cars. For Opel/Vauxhall, we continue to focus on reducing low-margin sales – which explains most of our market share development and contributes significantly to our financial progress this year,” said Jonathan Browning, GM Europe’s Vice President Sales, Marketing and Aftersales.

Opel/Vauxhall Corsa sales up 36.4 percent from last year’s November
Opel/Vauxhall sold 127,994 vehicles in November, an increase of 1,123 units or 1 percent from November 2005, reaching a market share of 7.2 percent. A total of 29,800 Corsas were sold in November, an increase of 8,000 units or 36.4 percent. With registrations of 1,447,244 in the first eleven months of 2006, Opel/Vauxhall captured a market share of 7.2 percent. In Eastern Europe, Opel more than doubled its sales from January to November compared to 2005.

Vauxhall held its second place in the U.K. sales charts with a 12.8 percent share and 32,297 registrations for November. Once again, it was retail buyers who made up for the marque's strategic withdrawal from the less-profitable fleet market: With 9 percent market share, Vauxhall reached its highest retail share since 1998, an increase of 2.9 percent from November 2005.

Saab reaches all-time record registrations in Europe
Before the year ends, Saab reaches all-time record sales for Europe: it sold 82,915 cars from January to November 2006, clearly surpassing its former European sales record of 80,981 units from the year 2000. Compared to the same period in 2005, Saab increased its sales by 11.4 percent, or 8,489 cars. In the month of November, Saab sold 6,163 cars in Europe, reaching a market share of 0.35 percent. It continues to be the leading brand in Europe for vehicles running on Ethanol-85.

Chevrolet exceeds 300,000 sales target as early as November
With 31,296* vehicles sold in November, Chevrolet increased its sales compared to November of last year by 32 percent, an increase of 7,603 units, capturing a market share of 1.8 percent in total Europe. November sales in Russia increased by 82 percent to 11,012 units, confirming the country as the largest market for Chevrolet in Europe. From January to November 2006, Chevrolet sold a total of 310,389 vehicles, increasing its European sales volume by almost 15 percent compared to the year-earlier period. 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 November sales grow by 20 percent
Cadillac continued to grow in Europe where 2,956 cars were sold in the first eleven months of 2006, a plus of 20 percent compared to the same period last year. In addition, Corvette performed well in its niche market selling 1,195 cars from January to November. HUMMER tripled sales of the H2 and H3 to 1,712 vehicles, up from 548 vehicles sold in 2005.