General Motors Death Watch 69: Running Out of Gas

[silvrsvt]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/content/1...35570/index.php

 

As always, Maximum Bob put a brave face on events, claiming that The General only sought to maintain its dominance over a shrinking market. Early indications were positive. The American consumers’ notoriously short memory and sunny disposition helped them shrug-off rising gas prices as a temporary aberration, an Act of God. TTAC has since unearthed GM’s carefully-guarded GMT900 sales numbers, broken-out by model year. In the first financial quarter, GM sold 19,739 new Tahoes, 5028 Yukons and 4228 Escalades. As you’d expect, these figures are dwarfed by sales of heavily discounted '05/‘06’s: 45,104 Tahoes, 14,398 Yukons and 8145 Escalades. Bottom line? GM pushed some 96k full-size SUV’s out the door in Q1, adding about $800m to its balance sheet.