As Ford Motor Co. roared into first place in the auto sales race in North America, General Motors Co. overhauled its sales and marketing operations in an effort to speed up its transformation into a leaner, more nimble competitor.
Ford rode to the front in both Canada and the U.S. in February with gains of 51 per cent and 43 per cent respectively in each country (year-over-year), while GM posted an 11-per-cent U.S. increase that had its North American president demanding the company shift into a higher gear.
"I don't think we're moving far enough, fast enough," GM president Mark Reuss said on a conference call about the marketing and sales shakeup. "We've got good product here and we've got to start selling them."
The marketing and sales shuffle included the appointment of a new president of General Motors of Canada Ltd. Kevin Williams, who had been heading GM's parts and service operations, will replace Arturo Elias, president of GM Canada since August, 2006, who will take on a public policy job for GM in Washington.
The February sales results show that even as the industry is slowly recovering from the crisis that sent two of the largest Detroit auto makers into bankruptcy protection last year, it is still being battered by surprise shocks.
Last month, those shocks were both hot and cold: The firestorm of negative publicity raging around Toyota Motor Corp. hurt overall sales and so did the fierce snowstorms that battered the U.S. Northeast.
"We're at the beginning of a recovery," said George Magliano, director of North American automotive research for HIS Global Insight in New York.
"It's a slow recovery, but it is a recovery."
U.S. sales hit an annualized rate of about 10.4 million, down from the January pace of 10.8 million but substantially better than the rate of about 9.5 million in February, 2009, a month when both General Motors and Chrysler LLC were careening toward bankruptcy protection.
The ability of both of those auto makers to pay off more than $75-billion (U.S.) worth of taxpayer loans from the Canadian and U.S. governments that bailed them out, and when they're able to do so, depends on the pace of the recovery.
Ford grabbed the top spot in the U.S. for the first time in 12 years, when 1998 strikes at two U.S. GM parts plants shut down most of GM's North American operations for two months.
In Canada, Ford not only outsold GM in February, but grabbed first place in the year-to-date standings.
Chrysler Canada Inc., also surpassed GM in February to stand second.
The gains of 51 per cent at Ford, 17 per cent at Chrysler and 22 per cent at GM in Canada were part of a 25-per-cent jump overall in Canada.
The Canadian new-vehicle market outperformed its U.S. counterpart - as it has done since the industry first went into a tailspin in 2008.
Toyota Canada Inc. matched the overall Canadian market with a 25-per-cent bounce, an indication that it may have sustained less damage from the recall crisis than its U.S. cousin, which reported a 9-per-cent drop.
"I'm surprised that we sold as many vehicles as we did," said Bob Carter, vice-president of Toyota Motor Sales USA.
Toyota unveiled a hefty incentive program in Canada and the United States yesterday that includes interest-free loans for up to five years.
Other auto makers reported positive and negative effects in February from the Toyota situation. They picked up some business, but noted that some potential Toyota buyers sat on the sidelines, hurting overall sales.
Sales in the U.S. market could have been as high as 11.2 million on an annualized basis without the Toyota recall and the snowstorms, said Mike DiGiovanni, executive director of global markets and industry analysis for GM.
"Three-and-a-half feet of snow on these cars, it took our dealers a bit of time here to get that snow off there and to get customers back into the showroom," added Susan Docherty, who was GM's vice-president of sales and marketing during a morning conference call, but vice-president of marketing only when the management shuffle was announced yesterday afternoon.
With files from Associated Press