Chevy Aims to Revive Slowed Cobalt Sales
 

Lost Lordstown shift gets blame for falloff; inventory in place now
By Don Shilling

Chevrolet is hoping Cobalt sales will rebound with the removal of two obstacles that had been hampering dealers, officials said.

After facing low inventories and no incentives for months, dealers now say they have the cars and the rebates they need.

Monthly sales have been running below last year's pace for three consecutive months. Sales the past two months have been at levels not seen since early 2005, when the car was still in the early stages of its launch at General Motors' Lordstown complex.

Brian Brown, marketing manager for the Cobalt, traced most of the sales problems to the elimination of the plant's midnight shift in July.

Production dropped as the plant worked through the changes, so dealers didn't have enough cars, he said.

The shift elimination was needed, because so many workers accepted buyout or early retirement incentives this summer, Brown said. About 1,500 of the complex's 5,300 hourly workers took the incentives, which was the highest rate among all GM plants, he said.

With workers switching jobs and the line speed being increased, it has taken time to bring up production, he said.

That started to happen three weeks ago. The plant now is close to matching the production schedule it had with three shifts, he said.

A big part of the improved production has been adding an hour of overtime to both shifts during the weekdays and adding extra shifts on two Saturdays a month.

The plant normally runs Monday through Friday.

Brown said other steps have been taken to increase plant efficiency, such as combining vehicle options. For example, body-side molding and floor mats have been combined into one option, instead of allowing customers to order one and not the other.

Just having more cars on dealer lots will improve sales, Brown said.

The nationwide field supply of Cobalts had dipped as low as 14 days after the shift elimination but now stands at 84, Brown said.

A 60-day supply is considered ideal.

Now that more cars are available, GM has tacked on rebates to 2007 Cobalts, Brown said. Dealers have been saying that a lack of incentives on the cars was hurting sales.

Cobalt sales also should be helped from increased advertising, Brown said.

Dealers will be willing to spend more on advertising the Cobalt, because they have ample supply, he said.

Erich Merkle, an analyst with IRN in Grand Rapids, Mich., questioned, however, whether GM can sell enough Cobalts to keep the Lordstown plant running on overtime.

Merkle said he likes the Cobalt and it performs well, but he added that the car still has two obstacles to face -- a softening economy and Toyota.

He said he thinks an economic slowdown already has started and will carry over into next year. Normally, the vehicles that take the hardest hit during such periods are pickup trucks and small cars, he said.

Also, economic difficulties are worse in the Midwest, where the domestic automakers have their highest market shares, he said.

Toyota, however, sells best in areas of the country that are still doing well, such as the Southwest and Southeast, he said.

Besides, Japanese models don't seem to be affected by economic conditions, he said.

``Toyota is going crazy. All of their cars keep going. Look at the Corolla. It is stale, but it keeps selling,'' Merkle said.

Brown wouldn't give a goal for Cobalt sales in 2007 but said sales should be more than 15,000 a month.

Monthly sales ran between 19,200 and 26,900 from March through July this year.

By October, however, sales fell to about 8,800, which was down 45 percent from October 2005. Sales last month were about 10,500, which was down 22 percent.

The quality of the Cobalts that were produced during that time shows that operations are headed in the right direction, he said.

Quality reports on the Cobalt indicate that the car is getting close to matching the scores of the Corolla and Honda Civic in the J.D. Power & Associates' initial quality survey, he said.

GM has set a goal for the Cobalt to move into the top three in the next J.D. Power survey, to be released in June.

In this year's report, it ranked fifth out of 18 compact cars. Ahead of it were the Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic and Toyota Prius.

source: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/busines...=ohio_business

yay! keep building!

Wow in the top 5 on quality among a bunch veterans. Bad crash rating or not (for the 4 doors without side airbags) thats still pretty damn good for a much newer model.

Glad to hear!
I hope they sell well!

this is great news along with bad news. Its great because we will have more brothern out on the streets and it will be easier for mods and get togethers and what not.

However this will be bad because more people will buy the cobalt and there will be alot more riced out cobalts out there. Along with that part of the reason i bought a cobalt ss/sc is because there is probably only 5 in my area IF THAT. so i lose my exclusivity. Plus alot of young people will probably buy them and wrap them around a tree and that could raise our insurance up.


Either way its good that they are going to ramp up buisness and keep the cobalt around.

Well then , that explains why none of the 5 chevy dealers in my area have had barely any Cobalts for months . I thought they were pulling a Camaro , and just not stocking them . I havent seen a new SS or NA SSon lots since maybe July ...up till this past week , now there plentiful .

Aww... just in time for me to do my trade up... projected time around the middle of February.

that's strange, cause my dealer has over 20-25 of them including 2 SS/SC's. onlt took me 2 days to get mine. i didn't like any of the colours in stock.

Why does this even concern you what other people do to their cars? Its not like you have to drive it? If anything, it gives you a good visual idea of what not to do with your car...all this ricer stuff is getting annoying...try and find the positive in things like that...hell, if anything, at least you will get a good laugh out of it!

Right, why cant we get a good laugh out of it and call them ricers at the same time?

Any car can be poorly modified. Ours will always look better though. Yay Coolbalt

whats stupid is their like, OMG YOU GOT AN EXHAUST YOUR A RICER, or SSna with SS/SC spoiler = RICER etc or bone stock civic that people use for putting miles on an older car rather than their new cobalt = RICER

Wait a minute....I use my stock civic to put miles on... how the hell is that rice?

This post doesn't make any sense what-so-ever...esp the last sentance?!?!? Hopefully its just bad sarcasm.

ghey

he was just mocking how some people act

My definition of "rice" seems to be what has been going on with cars since I was young...when someone installs parts on a slow or un-cool car to convey that their car is now somehow faster or cooler because of said parts...in my day examples would be of someone taking a 6 cylinder Camaro and slapping air shocks on the back to "jack " up the rear for big wide "drag" looking tires, thrush mufflers and a JC Whitney plastic hood scoop... all show, no go....

Seriously dude, who cares what people do to their cars, I personally Love a good show car, I can race my stock car if I wanna race and be competitive. Besides all faster cars do for retarded people is kill them

GM should show the cobalt a little more attention ( advertising wise ) then the aveo. all i ve seen the last few months is nothing but the aveo. this also includes car mags coverage of the aveos, with no cobalts insight.

Dude..
 

I don't care if people do dumb things to their cars, more power to 'em...I just believe some people do some crazy things.

If you think what I referred to is a "show" car then more power to you :) .... I was referring to tacky posers and such...don't know how much more I can explain it to anyone...You either get it or you don't

What is your definition of "faster" cars?

I don't think I made any reference to street racing so I'm not sure what you're quote is about ... I've done all my speeding at the drag strip (30 years worth).

I just recieved my SS/SC on Tuesday morning (8 weeks total) including 2 weeks in Vancouver because the shipper was behind from all the shitty weather we've had lately in the pacific northwest. Pretty quick.
I'm not suprised that sales have been lukewarm. Advertising for this car is non-existant, and if I had not had a subsciption to several car mags, I doubt it would be in my garage.
I'm a little concerned that my car was built during the "changes" made at the plant but only time will tell.
Tomorrow morning it goes in for the stage 2 upgrade (3rd and 4th could use more torque down low) and apart from that I see no reason to change anything else on the car. It sounds and looks great and handles beutifully for a front driver. All around, I'm very pleased.
Road and Track called it "one of the best kept secrets in the marketplace". I'd have to agree.

problem is with Gm's pensions.......................................It' s bringing them down big time and will for a while. Let's see what the future brings.

healthcare costs, the biggest enemy of union workers
 

As long as I have been cruising there have always been more people who spend money to make a car look fast than to actually make it fast. When I drove my 65 GTO in the late 70's while stationed in Cali. more people drove mini-trucks than hot rods and they got more attention from the females also. Then they would come up beside you and rev their engines as if they thought they were quick.

wow.... off topic other than the first and last few posts.... this one of the threads you read the bggining and end of, gm seems to be going in the right direction with the "american revolution" im sure progress will continue, go GM!!!

There is only one chevy dealer in my town, and 2 weeks ago when I bought mine, it was in the showroom and there were 2 other ss/sc's outside. My salesman told me they are pretty rare, that GM was doing that on purpose to keep the blue book value of them up. Not sure if he was talking out his ass or not.... There is only one ss/sc in this town besides mine, a blue one.