"For the calendar year, total sales for GM's four brands increased 21 percent to 2,202,927, while retail sales rose 16 percent for the year. GM's four brands sold 118,435 more vehicles this year than the company did with eight brands in 2009, and will gain total and retail market share for the year."

... on the surface this is pretty: after all the comparison is between a number of 193,824 from a year ago, and 223,932 as of December. But shouldn't the comparison actually be between 385,000 and 511,000? These are the numbers that show what GM's dealer inventory was for the months of December 2009 and 2010. In other words, there was an increase of 30k in sales... accompanied by a 125k increase in "stuffed" vehicles held at dealers.