The 2009 October numbers for Cadillac look challenging for cars, and very good for Cadillac SUVs.  The DTS sales were up for the month, so let’s lead with a DTS photo:

TexasJim's 2006 DTS Performance Sedan © Bruce W. Nunnally

Here are the production numbers just for Cadillac:

The good news is that the SRX sales are blooming.  Cadillac has a good hit on their hands and is playing to the right audience with this new model.  The Escalade Full-size SUV is also doing well.  This likely reflects the current moderate fuel prices, since SUV sales suffer with high fuel prices.  Overall truck sales are up 88% over the same month last year.

© GM Corp

The bad news is the CTS sales are down.  This is especially disappointing as it includes CTS Sport Wagon numbers, since the Sport Wagon is in Dealer showrooms now.  DTS sales are up 15%, which brings overall Cadillac car sales to only 20% behind last year.   The STS and XLR are both on their way out of production.

So Cadillac sold 1,050 fewer cars, and 3,111 additional trucks in Oct, 2009 compared to Oct, 2008, or a total of 2,061 more vehicles this year than last year for the month of October.  Overall that seems a good result.  If the SRX is siphoning some CTS sales that’s fine, as long as the overall sales numbers for Cadillac grow, which they have, increasing by 22% compared to last October.

Comparative BMW October sales by model: [Reuters]

Sales BMW of North America, LLC, October 2009

                           Oct.    Oct.            YTD Oct.  YTD Oct.
                            09      08    %           09       08       %

    1 Series               501   1,173  -57.3%      9,453    10,453   -9.6%
    3 Series             8,239   9,059   -9.1%     75,459    97,329  -22.5%
    Z4                     486     455    6.8%      2,792     5,464  -48.9%
    5 Series             3,043   3,958  -23.1%     32,733    39,289  -16.7%
    6 Series               152     454  -66.5%      3,207     5,627  -43.0%
    7 Series             1,209   1,096   10.3%      7,159    11,021  -35.0%
    BMW passenger cars  13,630  16,195  -15.8%    130,803   169,183  -22.7%
    ------------------  ------  ------  -----     -------   -------  -----
    X3                     182   1,294  -85.9%      5,280    15,914  -66.8%
    X5                   2,137   2,358   -9.4%     20,787    27,021  -23.1%
    X6                     494     356   38.8%      3,796     3,718    2.1%
    BMW light trucks
    (SAVs)               2,813   4,008  -29.8%     29,863    46,653  -36.0%
    ----------------     -----   -----  -----      ------    ------  -----
    BMW brand           16,443  20,203  -18.6%    160,666   215,836  -25.6%
    ---------           ------  ------  -----     -------   -------  -----
    Cooper /S Hardtop    2,309   3,539  -34.8%     24,248    31,226  -22.3%
    Cooper /S
     Convertible           465      62  650.0%      5,395     4,760   13.3%
    Cooper /S Clubman    1,402   1,671  -16.1%      9,529     9,980   -4.5%
    MINI brand           4,176   5,272  -20.8%     39,172    45,966  -14.8%
    ----------           -----   -----  -----      ------    ------  -----
    TOTAL BMW of North
     America, LLC       20,619  25,475  -19.1%    199,838   261,802  -23.7%
    ------------------  ------  ------  -----     -------   -------  -----

The SRX outsold the BMW X-CUV's 3,477 to 2,813 vehicles.
The CTS has to get numbers competitive with the 3-Series.

BMW total sales for Oct of 16,443 vehicles surpassed
Cadillac Oct sales of 11,602 vehicles.

In the United States, October was the best month of the year so far for Mercedes-Benz.
 Sales bucked the general market trend, rising by 21 percent to 18,200 units
(October 2008: 15,000).