GM suffer second quarter sales slump

Sales at General Motors dropped in the second quarter as the US carmaker slid into bankruptcy.

GM sold 1.94 million vehicles in the April to June quarter, including brands it is planning to sell, down 15% on the same period a year earlier.

The company blamed economic pressures and production cuts in the US.

GM emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 10 July after 40 days. The new slimmed-down GM owns four brands and is 61% government-owned.

On a quarterly basis, sales were up 20%.

“We believe the strength of our products, including the Chevrolet Camaro, Spark and Malibu…and others around the world enabled us to weather an historically difficult rebirth of the new General Motors,” said Jonathan Browning, GM’s vice president of global sales.

The brands that will remain with the new GM are Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick.

Chevrolet was the top-selling GM brand worldwide in the quarter, selling more than 880,000 vehicles.

GM is currently involved in talks with the German government and potential bidders over the sale of its Opel brand.

Source: BBC News