GM's Nov sales meeting expectations: Lutz

By Jui Chakravorty

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp's (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) November U.S. sales, on average, are on track to meet its expectations, a top GM executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

"We are looking at the numbers for November and we are making our numbers," Bob Lutz, GM's chief of global product development, said at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit.

"Some days we are a little behind, some days we are a little ahead and some days we are lots ahead, so on balance to me it looks like we are making track," Lutz said.

GM's U.S. sales have slipped 5.7 percent this year amid a broader decline in car sales. New products such as the Chevrolet Malibu, which was launched this month, have received good reviews and should help drive demand, Lutz said.

"It could be that the market is off and we don't know it and that is going to result in a sensational market share but I don't think so," Lutz said, adding GM would likely maintain its current U.S. market share of about 24 percent through the year.

Lutz also said the automaker expects industrywide 2007 sales to come in at about 16 million units, with sales in the first half of 2008 slipping due to weakness in the housing market.

"Next year (will) possibly dip in the first half and then come out of it in the second half of the year so that overall 2008 could be a tiny bit worse than 2007 or a tiny bit better," he said.

Lutz's outlook for annual industry sales in 2008 is more optimistic than the views of some industry investors, who have forecast sales as low as 14.5 million vehicles for next year.

Hurt by a weak housing market, high gas prices and tighter lending standards, U.S. vehicle sales in 2007 are expected to fall to the lowest level since 1998, and industry experts are anticipating an even tougher year in 2008.

Thomas Stallkamp, a former Chrysler president and a partner with private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, said at the Autos Summit on Sunday that U.S. sales could dip to 14.5 million units in 2008, which would be the lowest tally in 15 years.

Lutz said that outlook was far too pessimistic. "That would have to be a catastrophic, almost a complete recession and I don't think any of us see that happening," he said.

Jerry York, an adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, said at the summit that U.S. light vehicle sales could slip to 15.5 million units or less next year. But industry executives have been calling for a roughly flat market in 2008, at about 16 million units sold.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Braden Reddall)