The latest Days-to-Turn (DTT) data from Edmunds.com for April shows a worsening sales climate for GM. All GM brands saw a big increase in the DTT number, as compared to April 2011. Edmunds' DTT index measures the average number of days a car stays at a dealership before being sold. It is a good indicator of rising or slowing demand for cars. 

Chevrolet’s DTT increased to 69 days, an increase of 21 days over last year. This is a whopping 44% increase over last year. Stablemate Buick saw a 28 day increase in DTT to 74 days. GMC’s DTT worsened similarly by 21 days to 68 days in April 2012.  Cadillac too had a dismal April, increasing its DTT by 12 days to 74.

Overall, GM saw a 21 day increase in its DTT to 70 days. Significantly, this is 18 days more than the industry average of 52 days.

GM’s DTT level starts ringing even more alarms when seen in the light of a $324 increase in the Total Cost of Incentives (TCI) in April. TCI is another indicator of car sales maintained by Edmunds.com that measures the total value of all cash and non-cash incentives being offered per vehicle. At more than $3,300, GM offers nearly $1,400 more in incentives than the industry average.

Chrysler too saw a big increase in its DTT levels. The group’s DTT went up by 12 days over last year to 70 days in April, 18 days more than the industry average. Most of the damage was suffered by the Chrysler brand which saw a massive 41 days increase in DTT. At 91 days, Chrysler had the highest DTT levels in the industry after Mitsubishi. Chrysler’s other brands - Dodge and Jeep - had a comparatively better April. Jeep improved its DTT levels by six days while Dodge’s worsened by five days.

Ford too saw a 11 day increase in DTT levels over last April. However, at 60 days, Ford vehicles stayed the least in dealerships. Ford’s achilles heel continues to be Lincoln which, at 87 days, has one of the highest DTT levels in the industry. April saw an increase of 35 days to Lincoln’s DTT levels over last year. The Ford brand itself saw its vehicles staying for ten more days at the dealerships this April as compared to last year.

Meanwhile, strong sales momentum has helped Toyota to reduce its DTT levels to 36 days in April, a 19 day improvement over April 2011. The good response for the new Camry and the unexpected demand for the Prius is pushing cars out of the showrooms faster. While Lexus has marginally improved its DTT levels, Toyota and Scion’s DTT levels have significantly reduced over the last year.  Scion’s DTT levels have come down by 41 days to 42 days over the year while Toyota’s DTT levels have come down by 21 days to 35 days at present.

Nissan, in spite of a good demand for the Altima, saw its average DTT levels increase by 10 days. While Infiniti managed to bring down DTT levels by six days, Nissan’s vehicles were spending an average 11 days more at dealerships over last year. 

Honda vehicles were also spending 15 days less at the dealerships in April as compared to last year. A healthy demand for the new Civic as well as supply side issues were pushing the DTT down. However, luxury arm Acura saw its DTT levels increase by eight days over last year.

Hyundai and Kia have a serious sales momentum going into April and managed to reduce their DTT levels by nine and 21 days respectively. At 30 days, Hyundai cars spend the lowest time at the dealerships for any mainstream brand, barring Subaru and Mini.

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