Quote:
Originally Posted by Augie1978
I would like to see the vert numbers as well.
|
The majority of sales this month were convertibles, I just can't find a solid number. The convertible's started shipping in mid February, owners and dealers started receiving their cars in the last week of Feb. There was a bump in sales from Jan to Feb of 1482 units and some of that had to do with the manufacturer rebates that were active in Jan-Feb on 2010 Camaro's. The rebates were not large enough to really make an impact (as some of those were regional) so I firmly believe that a good portion of the 1482 February bump was convertibles at the end of the month. The rebates stopped 1 March and the 2719 unit increase in March was all convertible, along with the February numbers (because the average has increased month over month) and were at 4201 convertibles in March. I made an educated guesstimation a few months ago and said that the Camaro convertible pre-sale numbers were probably about 5000. We got a 1500 and a 4200 unit increase all of the sudden (convertibles of course) which is a solid 5700 cars. I wouldn't be so positive if these numbers were non-traditional and outside of the current sales trend, but this is a clear boost in sales and I still say that pre-orders were around 5000.
Seasonal increases are also a factor, but still too early for true spring sales. The question is now, how much is the convertible cannibalizing the coupes sales and production? I didn't expect the coupe sales to be below 5000 before the convertible was released, prior to the production of the convertible on 28 Jan , the Camaro coupe was being produced at about 9000 in Jan. There was a production slow down in the fall, but the average number throughout the 5th Gens cycle is 9000-10000 per month. I believe that the convertible has cannibalized nearly 50% of coupe production, which in turn will affect its sales at that figure if not more. The better the convertible does, the less coupes will be made.
March was the first full month of convertible sales and this was the big sales surge that the vert brought. This month was mainly those pre-sales numbers, April may contain some of those too so its possible the numbers will be boosted over what was posted this month. If it starts to slump again.. It might be time to put some incentives on those 2010's...