Detroit – A slumping pickup market is hindering General Motors Corp.’s turnaround effort in North America just as the automaker was gaining momentum.
GM was counting on its new full-size GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups to be smash hits, but the new trucks are taking longer to sell than the models they replaced.
GM sold 200,505 of the trucks through the first three months of 2007, according to Edmunds.com, a figure one GM insider said fell well below internal projections.
The impact will come into sharper focus this week as GM and other major automakers report April sales today and GM releases its first-quarter financial results Thursday.
The prolonged slowdown in housing and construction markets, combined with rising fuel prices, is weighing on pickup sales nationwide.
