GM’s revamped pick-ups exceed sale expectations

General Motors Co, is introducing its first redesigned pickups since 2006, and can’t keep up with outstanding demand of the most popular versions of its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, according to three people familiar with the effort.

The difficulties came from the demand for the trucks exceeding a supplier’s ability to produce certain drive-train parts for the 5.3-liter V-8 engine, the most popular size, and GM is limiting how many dealers can order, said two of the people, interviewed by Bloomberg who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. There was an inconsistency in answers to when the problem would be fixed as one of the people said the issue could be resolved soon, another said it could take longer than a couple of months. They declined to identify the supplier.

The Silverado and Sierra are the high-volume, big margin centerpieces of GM’s wave of 18 new or redesigned models for the U.S. market. Detroit-based GM needs to resolve the shortage as soon as possible to get the most out of its redesigned trucks before Ford Motor Co. brings out a new F-150 next year.

“This is a window of opportunity for GM given the strong pickup market and the new Ford truck which launches in fall 2014,” Alan Baum, an industry consultant at Baum & Associates in West Bloomfield, said in an e-mail for Bloomberg.

The GM spokesman assured the shortage is just a temporary thing. He emphasized dealers are still receiving 80% of their orders.

U.S. car and light truck sales sold at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 16.1 million in August, is the fastest pace since October 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp. GM had said U.S. light-vehicle deliveries this year would total as much as 15.5 million, a figure its chief economist, Mustafa Mohatarem, said this month will be exceeded. According to him this is not a seasonal or euphoric, and is going to sustain that level.

Company shares rose more than 25% year-to-date. The current consensus among 19 polled investment analysts posted in CNN Money, is to buy stock in General Motors Co. This rating has held steady since September, when it was unchanged from a buy rating. The 16 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co have a median target of 45.00, with a high estimate of 56.00 and a low estimate of 38.00.