More Videos
- Obama's Emission Reduction Pledge Paints Future for Autos
- Toyota Makes Recall Fix And So Long Saab
- The L.A. Extravaganza: A Test for Auto Shows
- Volt Drive: Great Ride, Interesting Interior and a Friendly Chirp
- Volvo Talks Show New Day Dawning for China
- Starting Car2Go - Smart Move for Daimler
- GM Cuts Losses—Plans Early Loan Repayment
- Ghosn's Bet: 10% of World Will Drive EV's in 10 Years
- Ford, Hyundai, Audi Gaining Interest
- Cadillac Converj Smart Extension of Volt
MOST SHARED
- Tiger Woods Released From Hospital After Accident: Report
- 8 Retailers that Gain During the Holidays
- Get Paid Six Figures to Wear a T-Shirt?
- Dubai Spooks Investors But May Bring Buying Opportunity
- Finding the Holiday's Best Buys
- Dubai Fallout Is a Correction, Not Another Crisis: El-Erian
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Global Selloff From Dubai Woes Shows Signs of Winding Down
- The Good Entrepreneur Winner
- Banks Play Down Dubai Exposure, Investors Still Wary
- U.S. Stocks Fall on Dubai Worries
- Black Friday at Best Buy
- Strategists on Dubai: Avoid 'Rash Moves' Now
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Dubai Stock Market Fear Has 'Legs': Dennis Gartman
- Obama's Emission Reduction Pledge Paints Future for Autos
- Is Super Bowl Halftime Act Too Old?
- Surprising Options Trades in TiVo Shares
- EA Sports Hopes to Pump Up Sales Through Pop-Up Locations
- Tiger Woods Out of Hospital After Accident: Report
- Dubai Stock Selloff May Bring Buying Opportunity
- Dubai Fallout Is a Correction, Not Another Crisis: El-Erian
- Dubai's Debt Woes Signal New Era for Creditors
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Get Paid Six Figures to Wear a T-Shirt?
- The World's Biggest Debtor Nations
- Five Tips for Buying a Foreclosed Home
- Slideshow: Fantasy Christmas Gifts 2009
RSS FEED
Behind The Wheel
Text Size 
 |
AP BMW 3 Series |
When I look at the July sales, I'm struck by the numbers at Buick. How bad was it? Sales dropped 29 % and every single model was down at least 17%. Think that's bad? Check out year to date sales. It's the same thing (down 28%). Buick's sales this year of 106,837 are, the weakest of GM's [GM
Loading...
()
] original 5 brands.. Not to belabor this point, but Buick sales are so low, it's been outsold this year by Volkswagen [VLKAY
Loading...
()
] and is essentially on par with Subaru.
I can hear you right now saying, "well, Buick's been struggling for some time". You bet, but we're looking at weakness hitting a point where serious questions need to be asked at GM. Do they really want to keep Buick alive? If so, what's the product plan? What's the marketing plan?
When GM announced a few weeks back that Tiger Woods may not be used exclusively to market Buick, it made me wonder what's the plan if Tiger is not the primary pitchman?
Meanwhile, BMW remains on a roll. Last month sales jumped 21% with 3 series coupe sales up an astounding 246%. This year, beamer sales are up 7.4%. Even SUV sales are up 6.7%.
It's not surprising since BMW has become the luxury brand of choice for buyers who want to go upscale. There was a time, years ago, when GM envisioned Buick as being the upscale car of choice for people who wanted more style and luxury but couldn't afford a Cadillac. That's not the case any more.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes