I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials for the Chevy Volt, and this advertising blitz might be paying off. The Chevy Volt outsold the Nissan Leaf for the first time in October. In October GM sold 1,108 units of the Volt, which is a significant increase over the 723 units sold in September.

The Volt is still running behind GM’s sales targets, and it seems like the company was banking on all the PR buzz around the vehicle to drive sales. Perhaps a marketing push was also needed. The commercials are pretty good. They stress the gas savings of an electric car with some humorous situations at gas stations.

As more and more automakers go electric and introduce plug-in hybrids, it will be interesting to see if this segment really takes off. Right now the sales numbers are miniscule but that could change quickly.

From the Detroit News:

Detroit— General Motors Co. posted a $3.2 billion profit during the first quarter – its fifth consecutive quarterly profit, and further evidence the automaker continues to build momentum after its 2009 bailout.

“It’s a solid quarter,” GM’s Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said this morning. “It’s good progress. It sets up a good foundation for the rest of the year.”

Revenue from January through March was $36.2 billion.

The first-quarter results also included a number of one-time gains, including $1.6 billion from the sale of its interest in Delphi Automotive, and $300 million for the sale of preferred shares in Ally Financial, Inc., the financial arm formerly known as GMAC. Excluding special items, interest payments and taxes, GM earned $2 billion, compared to $1.7 billion in the first-quarter last year.

The financial results – GM’s best first-quarter results in more than a decade — benefited from growing demand its fuel-efficient vehicles, like the all-new Chevrolet Cruze, and robust sales in China, where GM is a market-leader.

Read the full article.

Hopes for a really quick buck on GM stock has faded along with a huge sales month in February. Rising gas prices may fuel the General into bringing back big incentives to move those trucks and SUV’s.

From AutoNews.com:

DETROIT (Bloomberg) — The new General Motors made its Wall Street debut with much fanfare last November. The initial public offering that was supposed to max out at about $10 billion ended up raising more than double that amount.

CEO Dan Akerson had a good story to tell: The Detroit automaker had posted a $4.8 billion profit for the nine months ended Sept. 30, and new models like the Chevrolet Equinox and Cadillac SRX SUV were selling well. Two weeks after the IPO, GM was worth just $1.6 billion less than Ford Motor Co., and by mid-January the stock ran up 20 percent, to almost $40 a share, giving GM a value of $59.3 billion.

GM’s feel-good moment didn’t last. Since the beginning of January the stock has fallen more than 18 percent, to close Friday at $30.24 a share, which is $2.76 below its IPO price. GM’s market valuation now trails Ford’s by almost $8 billion. Analysts fret about the churn in GM’s management ranks, the aggressive use of incentives to sell its cars, ongoing losses in Europe, and a softening in the Chinese market, where GM is the leader.

Read the entire article.

The Ford vs. GM battle is going strong even after 100 years!

From CNN.com:

FORTUNE — It’s the mother of all corporate rivalries, bigger than Coke vs. Pepsi, older than Nike vs. Reebok, and more compelling than Pampers vs. Huggies. It’s fought with billion-dollar budgets for new models and marketing, and it is subject to more ups and downs than the stock market.

While it may be temporarily overshadowed by the troubles of Japanese auto makers, and imperiled long-term by the rise in oil prices, one constant remains in Detroit: General Motors vs. Ford. The two companies have been battling it out for profits, market share, and hometown bragging rights almost from the time GM (GM) was founded in Flint, Michigan in 1908, five years after Ford (F, Fortune 500) got started in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn.

Keeping score means watching three major indicators: annual profit, market capitalization, and U.S. market share — both retail share to private customers and overall share that includes fleet buyers.

Read the full article.

The General came in big last month with a whopping 46% gain compared to February 2010. We’ll be watching to see if GM can keep up the pace or if another leader will rise in 2011.

From Detroit News:

February marked the strongest U.S. car and truck sales pace since August 2009, according to figures compiled by AutoData Corp.

Should the pace keep up, the year’s sales would total 13.4 million.

The Detroit Three automakers today all reported double-digit sales gains in February from a year ago, led by General Motors Co.’s healthy 46 percent gain.

GM totaled 207,028 cars and trucks sold under the Cadillac, GMC, Chevrolet and Buick brands and fared much better than crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC, which reported a 13 percent increase in its February sales at 95,102 vehicles.

Read the full article.

The GM you knew last year, at the core of the auto-industry meltdown doesn’t exist anymore. In it’s place is a much more trim and nimble GM that is poised for success. Today, with the help of our friends from the CarInsurance Blog we take a look at GM, before and after its restructuring.

GM has its new Chevrolet Cruze rolling off the assembly line and before you see the first commercial they might have dropped the ball. They have the sedan heading to dealer lots in the U.S. but where is the five door hatchback? AutoNews has pointed this out and I totally agree for a few reasons. First, you have a hatchback going on sale in other markets across the globe so why not sell it here? Your competitors in the likes of Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Nissan Versa and many others are selling well. Secondly, GM is touting the Cruze as one of its most important launches for the survival of this company and they don’t give customers a choice with a hatchback? I can’t see Mulally, Ghosn or Marchionne leaving a big hole in the center of a huge launch like this? Could you?

I also feel the look of the hatchback takes the Cruze further away from looking like a reduced Malibu and with that it stands on its own more. Let’s hope that the sedan sells well but even with solid sales let’s pray that the suits at Chevrolet wake up and get the hatchback here in the U.S. in showrooms asap. The Cruze might be the best small car that GM has built but that doesn’t mean customers considering a Fiesta, Corolla or Civic will think it’s one of the best to choose from in a very competitive field.

Soon the Chevrolet Orlando will go on sale in Europe but not in the U.S. as reported again by our friends at CarandDriver.com. We posted on this vehicle a few months back hoping the folks making the calls at GM would wisely reconsider selling the 3 row and hyper fuel efficient Orlando in the U.S., Canada and anywhere they can ship this vehicle. The Orlando is exactly the type of vehicle that GM should be designing for all the North American market regardless of what other current offering they have. Nothing, I repeat nothing in their stable is a direct competitor with this product. The Traverse offers 3 rows but is much larger and consumes way more fuel than the Orlando and the Equinox only offers 2 rows. A current design with 3 rows and great fuel economy is what many consumers are looking for in this market.

Precisely two years after its debut at the 2008 Paris show in concept form, the production-ready Chevrolet Orlando will bow at this year’s Paris auto show. It will go on sale across Europe early next year. Despite earlier confirmation that the Orlando was destined for the U.S., GM has since decided the Orlando will not be sold here.

The Orlando is a seven-seat mini-minivan based on an elongated version of the Chevrolet Cruze’s platform. It’s easy to see similarities to the Cruze in the bold front grille with massive Chevy bowtie, although the rest of the vehicle diverges, especially the upswept beltline and subtly sloped roof. Wheel sizes will range from 16 to 18 inches.

It will be sold with a choice of three engines: a 141-hp, 1.8-liter gasoline four-cylinder; a 131-hp, 2.0-liter diesel; and a 163-hp, 2.0-liter diesel. Standard equipment includes stability control, six airbags, air conditioning, power mirrors, and a USB audio input.

Read the full article here.

GM hits a homerun with the new LaCrosse! There are plenty of unanswered questions out there on whether GM will make it in the long run but for now they have a true winner on their hands. A near luxury sedan like the LaCrosse normally doesn’t catch the eye of the more selective crowd but this car has done just that! With sleek styling, 30mpg on the highway and a price that is affordable to many you have to give props to The General on the Buick LaCrosse.

From the Detroit News:

General Motors Co. just doesn’t get the credit it deserves some times.

A few years ago, GM was the first carmaker — in the world — to mate a six-speed transmission to a four-cylinder engine for a midsize car. Everyone had been talking about it, but no one else had done it.

But when GM announced the Chevy Malibu would include an optional four-cylinder engine with a six-speed tranny, creating a car that hit 32 mpg on the highway, no one seemed to care that much, though many carmakers have followed suit.

Read the rest of the article here.

This spanking new offering from GM appears to be the right car at the right time. This is the car that could put GM back in the minds and wallets of those looking for efficiency, fuel economy and some styling to go with a small car. There has been a lot of hype around the partially electric Volt but the Cruze is the car that can make or break GM with a new generation entering the market for vehicles.

Even though I’m not sold on the styling yet, at 40m.p.g. on the highway and more trunk space than it’s competitors the Cruze has a real chance to be a top seller for the new GM.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Chevrolet has built a better mousetrap. The 2011 Cruze sedan gets better fuel economy than most subcompacts and offers the passenger and luggage space of a midsize sedan.

Those achievements will mean nothing unless Chevrolet convinces customers to check out the Cruze before they buy a better-known model like the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla. Years of reliability and fuel-efficiency give those models credibility with small-car buyers.

Chevy can’t match that history. The mousetrap needs cheese.

“Our job is to tell buyers why they have to look at the Cruze: fuel economy, safety, refinement and quality,” said Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet director of small-car marketing.

Read the full article here.