General Motors reported calendar year-to-date sales (January - September) of 7,066,774 vehicles around the world – a 3.7 percent increase over 2004, led by gains in sales for three important brands for GM's future expansion plans ..... Cadillac (up 9.6 percent), Hummer (up 84.1 percent) and Saab (up 1.4 percent), as well as its foundation brand, Chevrolet (up 7.3 percent).

Integrating GM’s product development and marketing operations on a global scale is helping to further strengthen its brands. These efforts complement the global manufacturing of vehicles in the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Hummer and Saab product portfolios, positioning each of these brands for continued growth.

“With Chevrolet and Cadillac we have two of the strongest vehicle brands in the industry, and we intend to leverage and grow them internationally with our global marketing, manufacturing and vehicle development strategies,” said John Middlebrook, vice president of global sales, service and marketing. “The sales increases we’re seeing with Cadillac, Chevrolet and most recently Hummer and Saab demonstrate that we have a winning portfolio of new vehicles.”

Global Chevrolet sales are up more than 228,000 units over 2004. The sales increase boosted Chevrolet’s global market share from 6.6 to 6.8, strengthening its position as the third best selling brand in the world. Chevrolet sales in Europe increased 27 percent year-to-date. In Asia-Pacific, which is a strong and rapidly growing market for GM, Chevrolet sales improved 143 percent, while year-over-year Chevrolet sales in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region jumped 17.8 percent.

GM’s Cadillac brand experienced a significant sales boost in the Asia-Pacific markets (up 160 percent). The mid-size Cadillac CTS sedan led the pack with significant sales gains in this region. “The Chinese market could eventually represent up to 20 percent of Cadillac’s global volume and become the Cadillac brand’s second-largest after the U.S.,” said Middlebrook.

Cadillac’s presence in Europe is expected to grow with sales of the new Cadillac BLS starting next (northern) spring. The BLS, a four-door luxury midsize sedan, will be available with an optional direct-injected turbo diesel engine and right-hand drive. The Next Car team has predicted that this model will come to Australia.

Hummer, the brand known for its iconic design and unparalleled off-road capabilities, is expanding globally as well. GM launched the all-new 2006 H3 to European audiences at the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year and is investing $100 million to upgrade an assembly plant in South Africa to produce H3s for global markets, including Australia. When fully operational, this facility will assemble both left and right-hand drive versions of the H3 for markets outside of North America. The H3 is expected to be Hummer’s biggest seller, with the strongest demand in the United States, Middle East and Europe . The larger Hummer H2s are already sold in more than 30 countries around the world.

Global sales of Saab are up 1.4 percent this year, led by a 10.4 percent increase in GM’s North America region. In September Saab reported its fourth consecutive month of year-over-year sales, as well as its highest ever monthly market share performance in GM’s Europe region. Much of the brand’s growth is attributed to the most aggressive product development programme in Saab’s 58-year history. New products introduced this year include the 9-7X premium midsize SUV; the 9-3 SportCombi 5-door wagon, which complements the 9-3 sport sedan and convertible; and a mid-cycle enhancement to the 9-5.

Three of GM’s four regions achieved year-over-year sales increases over the first nine months of 2005. The largest percentage increase occurred in GM’s Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, which boosted sales by 21.6 percent, followed by its Asia-Pacific region with a sales increase of 17.4 percent. GM’s Europe region reported year-to-date sales increases of 1.7 percent built on strong sales from Chevrolet.

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2006 Cadillac BLS

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