General Motors Corp. expects to increase its U.S. market share this year, but only if it can stem a long-term slide in passenger car sales, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Feb. 7, according to a Detroit News story by Bill Vlasic. With sales of its pickups and sport utility vehicles climbing steadily, GM is counting on a fresher car lineup to boost share in an increasingly competitive U.S. market. "I don't see why we can't increase our share this year," Lutz said in an interview with the Detroit News at the Chicago Auto Show. "We have all the ingredients. But where we have to stabilize share is in passenger cars." GM's truck sales in January increased 10.2 percent, but its car sales plunged 34.2 percent. Moreover, GM's share of the U.S. passenger car market continues to shrink -- to 26 percent last year from 31 percent in 1996. While Lutz attributed the January fall-off on the car side to sharply lower sales to rental-car fleets, he admitted that GM has to radically change the bland image of its car lineup.
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