Outside of two months in 1998 when GM was crippled by strikes, February 2010 was the first time that Ford outsold General Motors since 1960. The margin was slim, and lots of sales came from the fleet side of the business, but the final tally for the month showed 141,951 sold for GM and 142,006 sold for Ford. Have the guys with the so-called “Better Idea” caught lightning in a bottle?
In a move that we can file under “dubious timing,” GM announced that it is reorganizing their top mangement again, for the second time in three months. Ed Whitacre strikes again, so it seems.
Ford’s sales were up an astounding 43% year-over-year. GM showed improvement of 11.5% but the streaking Ford could not be held back. We think that the guys who bleed Chevy orange are going to finger the fleet sales as an “A-ha!” type of thing, but that’s a rock that shouldn’t be thrown out the front door of the glass house until it is revealed how many vehicles GM moved via fleet sales.
In a Wall Street Journal story, GM dealer Jerry Seiner blames the fact that there were too few cars to sell on GM’s sales loss to Ford. Apparently that lack of inventory was due to the conservative of the ousted Fritz Henderson. Production is cranking again, and the Spring weather tends to draw more people out to dealerships.
Regardless of who you are rooting for, the fact that there is any sales war between Ford and GM to speak of is good news for fans of domestic cars.
Source — Wall Street Journal — Ford Outsold GM in US in February
