Gojirra99

August 31, 2005

Troy, Michigan - General Motors had the worst per-vehicle net income of North America's top six automakers during the first half of 2005, according to a report from Harbour Consulting.

GM lost an average of US$1,227 per vehicle sold in North America during the first six months of 2005. Ford was second with a per-vehicle loss of US$139, while the Chrysler group showed a profit, of US$186 per vehicle.

All three top Japanese manufacturers also showed a profit: Nissan was the highest at US$1,826 per vehicle, followed by Toyota at US$1,488 and Honda with US$1,023.

source : canadiandriver.com

CleanSC

Yet they are *still* selling cars with employee discounts.

GFerg

Figures. Damn fools.

Leets

That's because it's easier to lose $1k than $20k. Sadly, I know how they're going to turn this trend of losing money around. They've already got factories in developing countries around the world. All they need to do is re-tool them to manufacture North American models. Goodbye U.S. jobs, hello increased stock prices.

"Introducing the all-new Chevy Silverado. It's the all-American man's truck from the 'Heartbeat of America'... proudly made in Brazil."

jrock65

It's sad because I just don't see any solutions to GM's problems.

Also, I'm surprised at how high Nissan's profit per vehicle is (thought that Toyota would be tops). It's almost twice that of Honda. So I guess even though Honda sold more cars, Nissan made more money.

Total U.S. vehicle profits through June 2005.

Nissan: $1,826 x 542,721 = $991,008,546
Toyota: $1,488 x 1,114,070 = $1,657,736,160
Honda: $1,023 x 692,364 = $708,288,372

I don't even wanna calculate GM's total loss. Sad.

gs430jw

Because most GM cars are junk. I owned an Escalade for 2 years. It was great at first, but when I put about 25,000K on the Caddy it became a tin can .

Leets

Nissan does a lot of manufacturing down in Mexico where labor is extremely cheap.Toyota and Honda are primarily manufactured in the US where labor is relatively expensive. That's my guess as to why the profit numbers are what they are.

chicagoblknazn

I didn't know Nissans were built down there too. I learn something new again.

jrock65

I believe the only vehicle that Nissan makes in Mexico is the Sentra. Do they make any other cars down there?

Nissan's profits are probably due to a combination of platform sharing, cost-cutting, and desirable products.

Although Nissan actually as the highest platforms to sales ratio.

Toyota has 7 platforms for 2.2M annual sales
Nissan has 6 platforms for 1.1M annual sales
Honda has 4 platforms for 1.4M annual sales.

It's gotta be cost-cutting then, which are evidenced by lower marks for the interior for some of its vehicles.