General Motors reported sales of 168,704 vehicles for the month of November 2010. This represents a 21-percent increase from the prior year. However, sales were lower than the prior month when GM sold 183,392 vehicles (down 8%). GM is on track to gain market share for calendar year 2010.

The company website reports:

Chevrolet monthly sales rose 18 percent and year to date sales are up 17 percent.

Buick monthly sales rose 36 percent and year to date sales are up 54 percent.

GMC monthly sales are up 30 percent and year to date sales are up 28 percent.

Cadillac monthly sales are up 21 percent and year to date sales are up 38 percent.

Please remember last year (2009) was one of the worst years in the auto industry for decades so 2010 vs. 2009 comparisons should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

According to the GM website, month-end dealer inventory stood at 536,000 units which was up 21,000 units compared to October 2010 and 98,000 units higher than November 2009. Based on the November sales rate GM dealers have 3.177 months of inventory on their floors.

According to Wards automotive data from earlier in November, GM had 72 days of autos and 79 days of light trucks in inventory. This is up from 55 days (autos) and 78 days (trucks) from the prior month.

Steel Market Update will provide more information regarding total industry sales in our next newsletter which will be published on Thursday evening of this week.

Steel Market Update follows the flat rolled industry in North America and auto production is a large piece of the flat rolled steel market. If you are interested in learning more about the flat rolled market, pricing, trends, etc. you can register for a free trial on our website by CLICKING HERE.