General Motors STUNS the Auto Industry | PROFITS PLUMMET | Episode 947

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed.

But agents make mistakes.

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents,

set guardrails, and rewind mistakes, so you can unleash agents, not risk.

Accelerate your AI transformation at rubrik.com.

That's rubrik.com.

As players fight to avoid mistakes on the field,

remember to make smart choices off the field this holiday season.

If you decide to drink and drive, you could get a DUI.

Or worse, that one decision to drive impaired could change your life and the life of others forever.

If you're going to drink, the only way to be the MVP this holiday season

is by planning a safe and sober ride home.

Don't risk it, drive sober, or get pulled over.

Paid for by Nitsub.

Granger for the ones who get it done.

Glorious as it is in the General Motors C-suite this morning.

Pops were going to talk about General Motors.

Their profits plummeting 57% yet the stock soaring this morning on the stock market.

Before we do, either everyone know that we are offering the first new promotion

back at CarEdge.com.

For the fourth quarter end of your car buying folks, we came out with a bang.

We've got a limited time offer, $300 off our car buying services, and 30% off CarEdge Pro.

Folks, if you are in the market or will be in the market to buy a new or used car between now

and the end of the year, take advantage of this special promotion and a limited time offer from

your friends with the Edge CarEdge. Check it out back at CarEdge.com.

You can click right there or right there to learn more.

Now, Dad.

May I say with that promotion, there goes my year-end bonus.

The bonus that is more important is the fact that we will be able, by making this more affordable,

we will be able to assist more people when it comes to helping them navigate the car buying

experience in a positive way. I will gladly give up the year-end bonus that I've never gotten

to help customers throughout the land.

Let's move on, Pops. Let's turn our attention to General Motors.

So they announced their third quarter earnings, and year over year, their profit fell 57%.

When I saw that, I was reminded of Nissan, who actually saw their profits decline last year

for one of their quarters, 99% year over year. 57% is nothing to sneeze at.

That's a huge decline annually. That being said, you look at the stock market right now, Dad. GM

stock is up 15.2% just this morning. The market seemed to be really impressed by General Motors

capability to lose 57% of their profits. Well, when you dig in to the earnings, Dad,

the things that are pretty shocking in here are as follows. One is they have decided they are

going to postpone their transition to electric vehicles. They are doubling back down on internal

combustion engine vehicles, the vehicles that make them the most amount of money.

And, Dad, they seem to think that they're in a good position from an inventory standpoint,

which I have some questions for. We're going to go to the magic car edge machine

during today's show, but just to demonstrate what we're going to be looking at.

2026, new Chevrolet products are already on dealer lots, and they are sitting, folks,

1,125 days supply in Portland, Oregon, where new inventory is starting to hit the ground.

Old inventory 2025s, look at this, $80,000 pickup trucks, man. The 2025s, they're selling

faster 51 days supply, but it's been sitting at this dealer's lot for 187 days. So,

General Motors, Dad, betting big on internal combustion engine vehicles. However,

I'm starting to see a little bit of cracks in that foundation because the new vehicles,

the 26s, they haven't sold, or at least not quickly yet.

You know what I learned today?

What did you learn today, Pops?

You know, and I'm saying this because I want people to understand that you can learn at any age.

And here is what I learned today, that if you were going to share bad news about your earnings

with the American people and especially Wall Street, include in there how

what we see the future to be, which is brighter than we would have ever expected,

and we're increasing our guidance for total profit for the year upward.

So, let's give them the bad news first, then we'll give them some good news that we really

expect because of how we're positioned, that our profits are going to exceed what we had

originally thought. And lo and behold, after the bad news, your stock goes up 15% almost instantly.

Well, well done.

Yeah, seriously, corporate, I don't know, just being corporate, they're really good at it over at

General Motors. So, let's look at some of the details here, Dad. And then we'll look at the

inventory piece. We'll look at a few things that I think are also going to bolster GM's profitability

moving forward. So, like I said a moment ago, 57% decline in profitability.

I'm going to scroll down here, however, you can see here in GM on October 14th,

said it would take a $1.6 billion charge off against its third quarter earnings to reassess

its EV capacity. Dad, this means that General Motors, you can see it here, quote, said,

near-term EV adoption will be lower than planned. We've seen many automakers come out

and write off billions of dollars as related to their electric vehicle programs. And then you

can see here, Dad, if I scroll down a little bit lower right here, the automaker now expects a

longer runway for its profitable internal combustion vehicles as the transition to EV slows.

They're bringing more and more manufacturing back into the United States, including moving

production of the Chevrolet Blazer to Tennessee from Mexico. So, Dad, this is what you and I have

talked about for a long time, which is the EV adoption isn't going to happen. EV adoption

isn't going to happen as quickly. And these automakers will return back to their internal

combustion and hybrid powertrains, which generally should be a good thing for consumers because we

know, for example, we were looking at in Portland, Oregon, 1,125 days supply, and it would take 1,125

days to sell these, what was it, 2026 Silverado 1500 LTZ. This is an internal combustion engine

vehicle. That's why the target discount range is so high is because if they produce more of these

and they don't sell, that should create leverage for consumers. But there's General Motors strategy

right there. EVs didn't work. Now we're going to push more of those internal combustion engine

and hybrid powertrain vehicles. Well, listen, we've known for years, and we've said it for years,

that the internal combustion engine divisions of every one of these major manufacturers has been

used to underwrite the costs of producing EVs. If it wasn't for the profits that they could make on

ICE vehicles, they would have never been able to go into the EV realm. So what we're seeing is

basically a return to their roots. They know they can make money making ICE vehicles. Okay,

we've proven we can lose billions trying to get people to buy EVs. Let's cut back on the EVs.

Let's produce more internal combustion engine vehicles and let's agree that we're going to do

that for a longer term than we originally had. Well, Pops, let's move past the strategy piece

and let's talk about the implications for car buyers because you can see here the CFO of General

Motors says we've got an opportunity to maintain an approach inventory, feel disciplined on our

inventory approach. But I'm poking holes at that already. You don't have to look that far. Go to

the car edge car search and look at the 2026 new Chevrolet inventory, for example, and it's sitting

there. Well, click do yourself a favor and click on one of those vehicles and see how long it's

been sitting in dealers lots. My suspicion, and this is strictly a suspicion because we don't

normally check before the show, my suspicion is that the dealers in the Portland area all received

their initial 2026 Silverado inventory at about the same time, which was probably not that long ago.

And so the effort is to push the 2025s because folks, if you're looking for a deal,

it'll be on a 2025 because I've got a whole year to sell this 2026. So I'd be curious as to how

many days most of these pickup trucks have been sitting and then what the corresponding number

of remaining 2025s might be. Yeah, but I think that's the interesting dynamic, Dad. You're right.

The 2026s are relatively brand new on these dealer lots, but then here's a 2025. It's been sitting

there for 187 days. So deal opportunities for consumers out there as GM has to reconcile the

fact that they're trying to be more disciplined on inventory while also having a bunch of brand

new inventory that's not moving yet, but will move in the future, an older inventory that's

been sitting for in this case 187 plus days. Now, Dad, I want to thank the sponsor of today's

program. So let's turn our attention there for just a moment and then we'll come back

to this General Motors news. Dad, delete me, the sponsor of today's program. They are keeping

us abreast of things because there are data brokers out there selling our information online

and literally anyone can buy it, whether it be marketers, scammers, or all those elusive folks

in between. You can see here, Pops, we've got all sorts of fun stuff in our dashboard. Delete

me helps you take control over your data. Delete me removes your personal information from hundreds

of data brokers on your behalf. You can see here my personal dashboard, Dad. 197 data brokers have

been targeted. 44,000 listings have been reviewed and every single day delete me is removing my

information off of the internet. Delete me removes your personal data from hundreds of

data brokers and you can get started today with a 20% off coupon. Just use the code caredge

at checkout or click the link in the top of the description. Join delete me.com. I think our

audience was getting concerned if delete me was still sponsoring the program and yes, they are

folks who please support us, support them, click on that link and check out delete me.

Yes, our good friends at delete me. Thank you for once again being a part of our realm.

Absolutely. All right, so, Dad, let's do another live experiment. That was in Portland,

Oregon. Where do you want to go this time? Go to somewhere in Texas. Texas, the last time I

checked is big truck country because as I've stated, I believe there's a must be a law on the

books that says everyone in Texas must own at least one pickup truck. All right, so let's take

a peek here, Dad. We've got 2026, 2025. So here's an example of a 2025, right? 1500. It's 102 days on

the market, 63,000. So let's open up a 2025. Let's also find a 2026, 1500. So here we go,

four days on the market, right? 33 days on the market. The 26 has been sitting there

not nearly as long. So let's look at 2026 first. This is the 2026.

Yeah, there's a 10,000-day supply because

within 100 miles of Austin, Texas in the last 45 days, only one brand new 2026. What was this?

Silverado 1500 RST has sold yet. Dealers now have 227 of them sitting on their lots,

leading into the end of this year. Now, if we look at that 2025, this is a 1500 LT.

We've got a 52-day supply. 26 have sold in the last 45 days. Dealers have 30 of them

on their lots right now, but it's been sitting for 102 days. So help us understand these dynamics,

Dad. How does this influence how a dealership wheels and deals on these types of vehicles?

It's really simple. When a customer comes in and says, I want a deal, I'm really interested

in your 2026, but I want a big discount. The salesperson is trained to say, if you're looking

for a deal, if you're looking for a discount, if you're looking for significant savings,

I've got a couple of these 2025 leftovers that we are really motivated to move.

There's where I can get you significant savings, enough savings to compensate for the fact that

we'll be getting a 2025 instead of a 2026. I wish I had a dollar for every time I said to a customer,

buy the current model and buy the previous model because I've got 12 months to sell

the current model year that just arrived. So if the important thing to you is saving money,

then we need to look at the previous model year, not the current model year. Now,

if what's most important to you is the most up-to-date technology and you have to have the

greatest newest that just came out, I can sell it to you. I'm just not going to be able to save you

the kind of money I can on one of those previous model years. Now look at this, the incentives

from the manufacturer are different as well. In the 2025, you have 0% financing for 36 months.

You can see that right there. Well, in the 2026, it's 2.9% financing for 36 months. So General

Motors thus far is not really pushing to move their new 2026 inventory. However, that being said,

a 10,000-day supply, that will obviously go down as some of these 227 vehicles are sold

over the next couple of months, but it's still a sky-high place to start. So we will have to check

in on this in another week, another month, because that if General Motors goes into December

and their day supply is still really high of this inventory, then you would be surprised if

they don't increase their incentives to trade the metal. Here's what you should do and bookmark it

somewhere. Just for giggles, grins. See how many 2025 pickup trucks, Chevy pickup trucks, are in the

Austin area now and then a month from now towards Thanksgiving. Let's take a look and see how many

of those are still remaining.

If you're the purchasing

manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference.

That's why hands down you count on Granger for auto-reordering. With on-time restocks,

your team will have the cut-resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift.

And you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRANGER,

click Granger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done.

So we've got 655, 2025 Chevrolet pickup trucks for sale within 50 miles of Austin. And let's just

look at $257. We've got double the amount that our 26 has done.

Okay. And what do you think dealers are going to push for the next 30 days? What do you think

dealers are going to push for the next 60 days? The 25s. Okay. So I would be curious a month from

now to see how significantly lower the availability of 2025s is. And you'll probably, you might even

see the 2026s inventory increase slightly as dealers are still getting their allocations

of the 2026s arriving, but they're concentrating on selling the 2025s.

Some opportunities, though, I think out there for general motors, customers,

their stock skyrocketing, their profits plummeting. You go out there and you're looking at a prior,

excuse me, model year. The equivalent you've got here from Josh, one of our car edge concierges,

the best incentives are on the four-cylinder turbo trucks usually as well. So thank you for that,

Josh. Appreciate the inside baseball. Friendly reminder, you can work with Josh and others on

our team. Just go to caredge.com, click on car buying service. You can meet the team as well.

So I'm going to go ahead and scroll on down here once the page loads for me. It loads nice. There

we go. All that AWS stuff, that even impact, AWS even impacted my ability to get a price

on my new glasses yesterday at the optician because they couldn't get to a VSPs website.

I had to go back today. Like I said, folks, if we can help you out, caredge.com, click on car

buying service. And yes, there was an AWS outage yesterday, but thank you, Dad, for making us aware

of your trials and tribulations. All right, should we switch gears? We can go and reverse if you'd

like. All right, we've got new data from Cox Automotive. Used vehicle inventory sets new

high for 2025 as sales slow. So the beginning of today's show was all about the new car market

and what's going on with General Motors, what's causing their stock to pop and their profits to

plummet. But on the used car side of things, Dad, we have the highest level of inventory we've seen

so far in 2025, 2.26 million. So at the exact same time, we're seeing new car inventory levels hit

record highs for this year. We're seeing used car inventory levels hit record highs for this year.

That's good news for car shoppers. Now, bear in mind here, the day's supply is 48. When we look at

new car inventory, day supply inventory, it's 84. It's the inverse. So used car market is still a

lot tighter than the new car market, but generally positive sentiment here to see inventory building.

Oh, absolutely. And you can look, the average listing price of 258.25 is probably equal to

or slightly less than what it had been. But it's still way up there as far as I'm concerned. And

I believe the average miles is 70,000 plus when everything is added together. It is,

we have expected a slowdown in sales, new and used. And I think it is finally coming to fruition.

And for a couple of reasons. We are headed into holiday season. Okay. If somebody has to make

a choice between Christmas presents and a vehicle, if they don't want to get thrown out of the house,

the decision is going to be Christmas presents. People are struggling. We talked about it the

other day that the CEO of GoFundMe said that a growing percentage of people on GoFundMe

are opening accounts trying to raise money so that they can afford their groceries.

Well, if you have a hard time affording your groceries and you have to look to GoFundMe to

help you do it, that means you're going to have a hard time buying your holiday gifts. That means

an automobile, new or used, is not on the horizon for you. And I think that would be

true for a vast majority of people as we get closer to the end of the year.

So it's interesting. There is a little bit of a slowdown, but I think the story here,

Dad, is slightly different. I think this is your buying opportunity for 2025 for the used

car market. So what I want to show here is let's look. We were in Austin, Texas, and we were looking

at new Chevrolet pickup trucks. There are 1,956 of them available within 50 miles. What if I just

flipped the script here and I go used, there are 812. So there's significantly less used vehicle

inventory, but we know there's more today than there was yesterday. And it's actually, I love

some of these insights that we have here on the car edge, car search. So you can see in 2025,

it's more important than ever before to keep up with the car price trends in your market.

In Dell Valley, Texas, the average used car sells for $34,572. While the average new car,

holy cow, Dad sells for $65,000. Look at this. There's a 153 days supply for new cars in Dell

Valley, but a 177 days supply for used cars. So it seems like then maybe those high price

points on some of these used cars. I mean, look at this, 2024 Silverado 1500, 15,000 miles,

but it's still got a $53,000 price tag on it. Maybe some of these more expensive used cars

that these dealerships have been trying their best to get top dollar for will finally start

to come down here. And whether that be because to your point, Dad, people can't afford them,

they're spending their money elsewhere, they're buying Christmas gifts instead of cars.

But regardless, I think the leverage pendulum is starting to shift at least a little bit. It's

the favor of the shopper in the used car market. I don't dispute that at all. The problem is that

even as prices come down on used cars, the amount of players in the used car market has shrunk.

So that you can lower the price, but if people can't afford it even at the lower price, if they

have to make a choice, even at the lower price. I'm not trying to make this as big of a macro

thing, but you can go macro if you want to go. I'm seeing opportunity. I think that's the thing

that's coming to mind for me, Dad. Where you see opportunity, I see fewer people actually in a

position to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. And that, to me, is the bigger

issue. If you don't have a big enough slice of the public that feels as if they could take

advantage of that opportunity when it comes up, that makes it more difficult as a retailer.

For sure. But I'm imagining the people watching today's show, right?

Yes.

I'm thinking they're watching this because they want to get a sense for what's going on in the

market. I think it's really important to call out. We have the highest level of used car inventory

that we've seen all of 2025. Whether you agree or disagree with my Dad's take that there are fewer

people in the market. If you are in the market, I'm caveating everything I'm saying. I think what

my Dad's talking about has value. Whatever. I agree with it. That's fine. If you're in the market,

this is the best news we could possibly deliver right now. It's during the exact same time when

the new car market has the highest level of inventory. I hear you wanted to take it down the

doom and gloom path pops, but I'm Mr. Positivity today. This is the best possible news for used

car shoppers right now.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I don't know that I'm taking it down the doom and gloom path.

I think I'm being a realist. Realistically, yes, there are some people that can afford to take

advantage of this situation because on the used car side of things, it could slightly be turning

into somewhat of a buyer's market as opposed to a seller's market. I just feel as if there's fewer

of those people that can actually take advantage of that opportunity than what the industry would

like to see. Yeah, I totally agree. Okay. Well, I'm glad we can agree on that.

But if you're watching this damn show and you're interested in your...

If you're looking for an opportunity, yeah, there are opportunities out there. If you are one of

those people who can take advantage of that opportunity when it comes up, yeah, there will

be more opportunities for you. Absolutely. I think we're saying the same thing just slightly

differently. Good thing we can do that. Let's come here from Jenny.

Yes. Appreciate the kind contribution, Jenny. I can't find a 2025 Hyundai Palisade. Palisade,

excuse me. And the 26s are $10,000 to $15,000 more. I live in Kansas City,

Missouri, and the Pickens are slim. Love you kids and your channel. Let's see if we can help Jenny

out at all. And I will pull up from Josh here. Slim Pickens was a hell of an actor one time

when he was alive. I'm going to pull up from Josh here, pops. Let me take care of the drama

before you call in and sign up for the reminder that we do offer free consultation calls back

on the website as well. So book your consultation call back at CarEdge.com. Click on Car Buying

Service. Click Get Free Consultation, and you can either chat in schedule time, talk or have us

call you back, and we'll see if we're able to help you out. That being said, Dad, let's go to

Kansas City, Missouri. Let's go on the Magic Car Edge machine and let's see if we can see anything

for Jenny. So we were in Kansas City, Missouri, right? Yes. And we're looking for a 2025 Palisade.

Yeah, I got to get a zip code. Give me a second. All right, 64030.

And if we can somehow find one and save her enough money, she might be able to afford an

appetizer at Patrick Mahone and Travis Kelsey's new restaurant.

Open a new restaurant? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1587 Prime, buddy. You want to go broke. That's the

place these are from my interview. All right, Jenny. So we're looking at new Hyundai Palisades

for sale. I don't have any other. Okay, so there's 189 within 50 miles of you. This may be one of

those circumstances where you're looking outside your market area. But let's see, day's on market

oldest. So there are a couple of 25 still out there. Couple of them. Wow, they're turning over

quickly. There's literally only two. Okay. Dad, is this the case where you're looking

outside your market area to find a better deal? Absolutely. If you're looking to get a current

model year before or the previous model year, and there's only two in your market area,

then you have to expand your market area. Yeah, maybe go out to 300 miles or whatever it is

because there could be a smaller Hyundai dealer outside of the Kansas City area that actually

could be sitting on some Palisades and might be motivated to get rid of them.

Yeah, there's two 2025s, for example, at Crane Hyundai of Bentonville. So head over to Arkansas.

You might be able to find yourself a better deal there and a couple more 25s as we zoom out. Yeah,

actually Crane has a bunch of 2025s. That's actually probably the first dealership I'd be

calling this is Crane dealership because it looks like they have a lot of lingering 2025s over there.

Those would be the ones that I'd be trying to work the bigger deal on.

Yeah, I mean, there's nothing that says you have to buy within the confines of your state.

You are allowed to cross state borders in order to buy automobiles.

Yeah, absolutely. Our concierge team and just Carriage community members in general do that

all the time. So it makes plenty of sense. Hey, Rich, thank you for the kind contribution.

So it's just Ray Allen-Chevresca, right? Love you guys. Is that too gay? No, Rich?

Yes, my first name is just, yes. Yes, we are just Ray.

Just Ray Allen-Chevresca. Appreciate that, Rich. We appreciate your ongoing support.

And we've got from Jenny here. I can drive to Omaha in Kansas. Yeah,

Dad, I think this is a great moment to talk about because it is becoming a buyer's market,

especially in the new car side. And again, it will die on this hill today. On the used car side,

it's the best possible news we could deliver. The fact that inventory levels are the highest

they've been all year. That's good news for shoppers. That means maybe going outside your

market area can get a better deal. So being willing to drive somewhere, fly somewhere,

pick up a car, I have it shipped to you. I mean, those can all be things that save money for you.

We have a very good friend of the program who lives in Florida. And if and when he's bought

Hyundai's, he's bought them in Mississippi, okay? It's not right around the corner,

but the savings have been so significant that it doesn't make sense to buy

in his market area. The dealer in that he deals with in Mississippi is much more amenable to

discounting the vehicle and making it worth his while. So sometimes you just have to,

you have to look a little further from home than you normally would because the savings can be

more than significant enough to make it make sense. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, folks,

well, if we can help you out with anything, please check it out, caredge.com. We've got our

promotion run in for a limited time only, so take advantage of that 300 bucks off the car buying

service, 30% off Car Edge Pro, and so many great resources available for free when you create

an account back at caredge.com. Dad, let's call it a show. We'll be back tomorrow with more Car Edge Live.

Yeah, my plan is to be back here tomorrow at noon Eastern. I'm looking forward to hanging out with

you for for about a half an hour or so tomorrow. Sounds good to me. Pops, enjoy your afternoon.

You too, handsome. If you're a maintenance supervisor for a commercial property, you've

had to deal with everything from leaky faucets to flickering light bulbs, but nothing's worse than

that ancient boiler that's lived in the building since the day it was built. 50 years ago, it's

enough to make anyone lose their cool. That's where Grainger comes in. With industrial grade

products and dependable fast delivery, Grainger can help with any challenge

from worn out components to everyday necessities. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger

for the ones who get it done. Looking for the ultimate car talk? Buckle up for CarCast,

the podcast that blends horsepower, insider knowledge, and big personalities. Join me,

Motorator Matt D'Andrea along with Edmunds.com, Editor-in-Chief Alistair Weaver and WWE Hall

of Famer Bill Goldberg. As we dive into the latest rides, car culture, and behind the scenes stories,

you won't hear anywhere else. From track tested reviews to legendary car collections,

this is where passion meets performance. Subscribe to CarCast Now on Apple podcasts,

Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Happy holidays! Want to give your host a gift? Consider subscribing, rating,

and reviewing the show this holiday season. It really helps the show grow. From all of us

at Believe, have a merry Christmas everyone, and a happy holiday.

If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help

the show to grow. Thank you for listening.

General Motors STUNS the Auto Industry | PROFITS PLUMMET | Episode 947

About this episode

General Motors

Nissan

electric vehicles

internal combustion engine

dealer lots

Chevrolet Blazer

EV adoption

hybrid powertrain

Chevrolet Silverado

EVs

ICE vehicles

Chevrolet

inventory

supply

2026 model year

2025 leftovers

current model year

incentives

0% financing

Chevrolet pickup truck

four-cylinder turbo

average listing price

average miles

average used car price

average new car price

used car market

leverage pendulum

Hyundai Palisade

market area

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from CarEdge Live