February 2012 Camaro Sales and Production Figures

[stlrammer]

Don't read April 2012 Consumer Reports. It gives Mustang 5.0 highest honors and beats the snot out of the Camaro. Hope that doesn't move the buying comunity too much.

[Blade]

The annual Mustang fire sale of previous year's models. Same thing happened last year where they either equaled or beat us around February and then beginning of Spring.

[proxemics]

looks good

[htron50]

I don't know much about tracking sales in the auto industry, but I do know about how consumer products companies track sales.

Manufacturers have to report quarterly numbers for the stock/shareholders. Many many of them "LOAD THE PIPELINE" by overloading dealers (not necessarily car dealers, but say Food Wholesalers or Key Acct warehouses). They report that as a "sale" despite the fact it has not made it to the consumers shelf. In order to make a budget number, we would many times load warehouses with 6 months supply of a key item and because the acct was "invoiced" for the product, the mfr could take "credit" for the sale. The "Key Account" would demand "terms" to extend invoice, since the Mfr was asking the acct to bear the cost of holding inventory. So, instead of normal terms being, say, 2%10, net 30 days" we might make a deal of 2%60, net 90 -- giving them a chance to sell the overloaded pipeline before they had to pay us. BUT, we as a manufacturer took financial statement credit the instant we invoiced/shipped the product regardless of when the client resold it to the final consumer.

So it sounds like Scott is saying that for this particular report "shipments" to dealers don't count as sales. The dealers are acting as "storage facilities" for the manufacturer. But if I am correct, the dealers are "invoiced" for the unit even though it may not have been delivered to the customer.

When it comes to the "books" GM uses for public reports as "sales" do they use the same parameter (units titled to a final consumer) or do they use units invoiced/shipped to a dealer? Just trying to see if the "deliveries/shipments" on the income/financial statements are based on the same parameters as the charts on this thread.

So, to tally - Several questions I have are:

Are the shipments/deliveries for this report the same as used on the financial reports?
Any chance GM might offer 0% 60 on the ZL1? ("NO" forgone conclusion)
Does GM LOAD the pipeline by forcing dealers to accept inventory they may not desire, but have to play along with?
If not, and the inventory manager orders units in the DOSP, and a unit ordered sits for 18 months, are we saying GM does not get ANY sales credit until the dealer sells it?
I really have a lot more questions about this stuff, but it's probably best suited for a different venue, like over a happy hour table one evening!

OK... sorry! Good sales trends anyway, despite Mustang having a reasonable month!

[Scrappy Doo]

As long as these types of cars are selling, it's all good news.

[TOYBOY]

I was one of those Camaros purchased!

[camaro10]

I hope they don't put more incentives on Camaro. I want residual values to stay high!

[YourBlindingBias]

Originally Posted by camaro10

I hope they don't put more incentives on Camaro. I want residual values to stay high!

Hoping people don't get better deals on the camaro, interesting... lol

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by YourBlindingBias

Hoping people don't get better deals on the camaro, interesting... lol

he does have a point. the cheaper you get them for the lower the value of the existing ones. the value of my car is definitely more important to me than how many chevy sells. I don't own any of their stock, so I could car less. well, other than the shares the government purchased with our taxes.

[stmbtwilli]

Well I hope the deals keep getting better. I've been waiting 3 years for GM to offer a decent lease on a 2SS. The $1,500 private offer for March and April is a good start.

[YourBlindingBias]

Originally Posted by jd10013

he does have a point. the cheaper you get them for the lower the value of the existing ones. the value of my car is definitely more important to me than how many chevy sells. I don't own any of their stock, so I could car less. well, other than the shares the government purchased with our taxes.

You don't buy cars as investments do you?
The value is going to go down regardless, no need to be selfish and not want people to get better deals.

[ChuckD]

Originally Posted by htron50

I don't know much about tracking sales in the auto industry, but I do know about how consumer products companies track sales.

Manufacturers have to report quarterly numbers for the stock/shareholders. Many many of them "LOAD THE PIPELINE" by overloading dealers (not necessarily car dealers, but say Food Wholesalers or Key Acct warehouses). They report that as a "sale" despite the fact it has not made it to the consumers shelf. In order to make a budget number, we would many times load warehouses with 6 months supply of a key item and because the acct was "invoiced" for the product, the mfr could take "credit" for the sale. The "Key Account" would demand "terms" to extend invoice, since the Mfr was asking the acct to bear the cost of holding inventory. So, instead of normal terms being, say, 2%10, net 30 days" we might make a deal of 2%60, net 90 -- giving them a chance to sell the overloaded pipeline before they had to pay us. BUT, we as a manufacturer took financial statement credit the instant we invoiced/shipped the product regardless of when the client resold it to the final consumer.

So it sounds like Scott is saying that for this particular report "shipments" to dealers don't count as sales. The dealers are acting as "storage facilities" for the manufacturer. But if I am correct, the dealers are "invoiced" for the unit even though it may not have been delivered to the customer.

When it comes to the "books" GM uses for public reports as "sales" do they use the same parameter (units titled to a final consumer) or do they use units invoiced/shipped to a dealer? Just trying to see if the "deliveries/shipments" on the income/financial statements are based on the same parameters as the charts on this thread.

So, to tally - Several questions I have are:

Are the shipments/deliveries for this report the same as used on the financial reports?
Any chance GM might offer 0% 60 on the ZL1? ("NO" forgone conclusion)
Does GM LOAD the pipeline by forcing dealers to accept inventory they may not desire, but have to play along with?
If not, and the inventory manager orders units in the DOSP, and a unit ordered sits for 18 months, are we saying GM does not get ANY sales credit until the dealer sells it?
I really have a lot more questions about this stuff, but it's probably best suited for a different venue, like over a happy hour table one evening!

OK... sorry! Good sales trends anyway, despite Mustang having a reasonable month!

Auto sales are reported as "delivery to the ulitimate customer".

Dealership inventory doesn't count towards sales reporting - until they are sold to a customer. So you cannot fill the pipeline to boost numbers. It's in the fine print of the press release.

[InfernoOrangeSS]

I could not care less who outsells who. (Though, I love the sales figures. It is interesting to see how all 3 muscle cars are doing.)
I was a long time Mustang owner, and when it came time for a new car I did a lot of research on what to get next. I used this site, test drives, etc. to get a good feel for what was out there and what I wanted. I chose the Camaro SS/RS/L99 because it fit exactly what I wanted. I have to say I have never been happier with a new car than I have been with this car. I just love seeing it and driving it. There is nothing wrong with the Mustang GT or the Challenger. They were just not what I wanted. Neither struck me with an "OMG" factor when I checked them out.

[jd10013]

Originally Posted by YourBlindingBias

You don't buy cars as investments do you?
The value is going to go down regardless, no need to be selfish and not want people to get better deals.

No, but if I choose to sell it in a few years I'd prefer to get as much as possible for it