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GM's regional sales pick up in third quarter

General Motors' (GM) third quarter sale in Latin America, Africa and Middle East (LAAM) region reached 270,000 units, a top official said.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 00:00 December 8, 2006
  • Gulf News

Dubai: General Motors' (GM) third quarter sale in Latin America, Africa and Middle East (LAAM) region reached 270,000 units, a top official said.

"In the LAAM region, GM set an all-time quarterly sales record in third-quarter 2006 - 270,000 units, making it LAAM's best quarter performance since 1997," said Maureen Kempston Darkes, GM's Group vice-president for the LAAM region. "Sales year to date have already passed total sales for 2005, and we are well on track to exceed one million units for the year, which will increase our annual sales by about 17.3 per cent."

Africa and the Middle East are exceptional growth markets for GM, in which the company continued to have solid performance in terms of sales and market share. While the preliminary results for November indicate that it is the 37th straight month of record sales, year to date results for the Middle East show an increase of 21 per cent over the same period last year.

This year, GM has launched 17 new models or new generations of existing Middle East favourites, including such cars as the Chevrolet Epica, Lumina and Caprice. Also, the Chevrolet Suburban, which has transported Middle East families over huge distances for decades, and the new generation of the Cadillac Escalade, the model which kick-started Cadillac's renaissance.

"That's a lot of new product, representing a lot of volume," Kempston Darkes said. "In 2006 alone, we have replaced over 60 per cent of our product line-up here in the Middle East. Our performance this year has been outstanding - and we are on track to have a record year in this region."

GM has crossed the aggressive structural cost-cut targets that it set out to achieve during the first half of this year, grown from the initial target of $5 billion to $9 billion on a running-rate basis by year's end.

Over the past 12 months, GM has implemented big moves in health care, manufacturing capacity, hourly attrition, salaries and executive headcount.

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