The Sun Keeps Coming Up
2005 Buick Lacrosse CXS
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
Every so often, we all have to do a bit of a sense check, just to make sure that the sun will indeed rise tomorrow. And, amidst all of the gloom and doom surrounding GM lately, I’d like to give yet another alternative viewpoint.
No, it’s not all bad; indeed, I’m seeing some good signs.
For one thing, I am enthusiastic about the Buick Lacrosse. It may be a bit conservatively styled, as are many excellent Japanese cars, but it’s wonderfully executed, has fabulous workmanship, is dead-quiet, and, with the sport suspension and the four-cam V-6, has sensationally good dynamics. Plus, on the road, it has very nice “presence.” And it’s already selling better than the old Regal and Century combined. In March, we delivered 8,233 units, a 36% increase over February. That’s not bad.
As many of you know, the GTO was a very quick program using an existing Australian car in order to get to market quickly. The initial response to the vehicle was tepid, so we went back to work. The 2005 GTO has a sportier stance and exudes power and verve with two hood scoops, dual exhausts and 17-inch tires. It also features the 6.0-liter LS2 engine, with an additional 50 hp and 35 more lb-ft of torque. Since this is a true muscle car, I’ll hardly mention that this car has a beautiful interior and a great stereo. Despite all the negativism of the press, this car had its best month ever in March! It is selling at above the originally projected rate, and the West Coast is accounting for 3O% of national sales. Maybe we’re talking about a GTO-led muscle-car revival in California? And, no, it is NOT heavily incentivized…
The Chevy Cobalt was compared favorably to the Mazda 3 in Automobile Magazine recently and did almost 15,OOO sales in March, with little fleet, and almost no coupes in the mix, and is already the number three small car in the U.S. market. The Cobalt SS is a terrific little car with a supercharged 205-hp engine and 18-inch wheels.
G6 sales are increasing rapidly month after month, even though there are no lower-priced four-cylinder cars yet in the mix. Another blog, Automobear, did a thorough analysis of this, but just for starters, the G6 V6 is already outselling the comparable Grand Am by 57% when comparing March 2004 to March 2005. Wait until we round out this lineup and then we’ll pass judgment on this one!
The Hummer H3 is almost here, and we’re expecting it to do very well. I also expect that the Chevy HHR will be very successful; my gut tells me this….we’ll see who’s right. The tuners are going to have a ball with this car.
Oh, and don’t forget Solstice, we sold our first 1000 in a mere 41 minutes!
Even if you’re not in the market for a new car, I urge you to get out and try this latest generation of GM products and while you’re there, press the “Hot Button.” Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky. Tell them I sent ya!
Update: Also see the Car and Driver review of the Cobalt.
117 Comments
Leave a Reply
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
Speaking of the success of the Solstice, what can we, the consumer expect GM to do to dealers who insist on “market adjustments” just for the sake of making an extra buck, or two?
On a personal note, I think that the problem with the GTO was more with the styling than the performance (not that the LS2 won’t be appreciated)
Whe I saw the first concept I was simply in awe, it looked better than the Monaro it was based off.
Unfortunately, by the time the car made production it didn’t look any more exciting than a Grand Am.
The 2005 is definitely better but still not in the same league as the concept, or the Monaro.
It’s great GM is comming out with some nice products. The Cobalt is indeed a huge improvement over the Ion, and the improved engine in the upcomming Maxx sounds great!
But what’s so great about the 18″ wheels and razor thin tires? Is the “urban look” so important in selling SS? Are you happy that posters on other major forums are already writing off the Maxx SS because its “dubs” will be devoured by real roads? Who are you listening to – your engineers (who know better – they told me at past clinics!), or your marketeers?
At least have the courtesy to give us a choice – offer 17″ wheels or something as a no cost option so we can drive SS’s on real roads! And by all means make the “pimp my ride” stuff available thru the dealers so that those who want it, can __get__ it!
Bob,
Great news indeed. All the hardwork by you and your people seems to start paying dividends. Now you guys have to sit down with the UAW to better manage your cost, GM will come out as a winner. I am usually very harsh to GM’s design and quality, but I do see many positive changes on your new vehicles. My last hurdle to buy a GM will be the pricing (price high and sell low), the subie rebaging exercise and yes the uninspiring four spoke steering wheel on Malibu, G6….Would someone please talk to whoever design the new monte carlo and impala. I think GM missed the opportunity to substantially improve it as a 2006 model. IMHO, use the GTO’s platform and convert Impala and Monte Carlo back to RWD vehicle. Your sales of these two model would be at least doubled.
Hi Bob,
This is all great news. I know I am tired of the doom and gloom. I forget where I read it…but someone said GM was going to be filing for bankruptcy!! I know that can’t be the case! You guys are really starting to turn some stuff around. The new cars that are coming out look better and better. I can’t wait for the new Monte Carlo! Please, allocate some funds for rear wheel and all wheel drive! We need these things! I am hoping that you guys are secretly developing a Camaro or Chevelle and no one knows yet until you unveil it upon the press under a media blitz! Way to get us Americans chomping at the bit again! Make a truck that gets incredible gas mileage too and we would be in good shape!
A Reading According to Bob
On the day Pope Benedict XVI was elected, Bob Lutz returns to the blogosphere with a bit of a homily for the faithful.
If we tell them you sent us…can I get a discount on my Solstice?
extend the warranty on all GM cars to 10 years and 100,000 miles and they will sell. percieved quaility sell cars even to my son who puts 20,000+ miles a years on his go to work car. even though his cavalier went 90,000+ plus miles with no repairs other than brake replacement he wanted a car that the warranty that was longer than the finance plan he used. the warranty cost can not be more than the rebates on the GM cars.
GM sold roughly 24 M worth of vehicles on Friday (I’m assuming these anxious potential Solstice owners won’t by the stripped base model). I hope GM doesn’t screw it up by failing to process the orders, delaying production beyond the summer, or some other fiasco similar to the much-reported G6 tax debacle on Oprah. Pontiac’s server problem on Friday was not a good omen…
Just a quick thanks for not forgetting about the blog. It is an awesome mode of communication.
And, I guess I would like to add a suggestion of my own.
Up here in Canada Regular fuel is 90.9 cents a litre with premium now over a dollar. We would really like to see a diesel powered half-ton truck. I honestly don’t need a large 3/4 ton that could move my house. Just a higher mileage 1/2 ton for commercial use and to pull a half decent boat or camper.
Thanks again.
Will
Mr. Lutz-
I found this website after reading the article in the NY Times, and I just had to do something. I’m not part of the Buick dempgraphic- I’m female, under 35, work vaguely in the advertising business– but I drive a Buick and have for years. I love the brand! And when my friends hop in my car, they do too. These are great cars- american luxury cars and I think if they were marketed properly, people my age and younger would love to own one. Forget Tiger Woods, forget golf, talk about the volume control on the steering wheel and have some product placement on the O.C.! Buick could be the next ‘it’ car I swear to God– just please don’t let it go like the Oldsmobile– what ever happened to that ‘Youngmobile’ jingle, anyway?
I tend to agree with “motorman” above on the warranty issue. Many new car buyers are being swayed to new brands like Hyundai simply because of the 10-year/100K warranties they offer. Rarely will these car companies have to pay up on these deals as the warranties in many cases are non-transferable after five years (or something like that). How often do car buyers keep their cars for 10 years nowadays?
When will we see the new GTO?
Megan’s comment is one of the more hopeful moments I’ve seen for GM recently. If she’s not a complete outlier, a niche of one, how can you go about getting more like her to try Buick? Call the marketing geniuses, stat!
Im a web dev, and for the first time in a while I looked at the buick site. Really nice!
Not too gaudy, very good menu system, flash loads fast, great use of colors. Glad to see a good car site
Great to see the rebuttal to the LA Times rant in Forbes, although I agree that GM printing its own editorial would have been better than pulling the ads. Unless of course GM now has evidence that the print ads are not so valuable any more.
Ads: who is picking the screechy music for the TV ads for Caddy and Solstice? Love the cars, hate the music.
Product placement: the Apprentice segment was genius. Brilliant!
If IBM can go from nearly toast to really cool, so can the General.
As to the cars: I must say the HHR looks like a winner all by itself as it moves the PT Cruiser idea ahead 5 years.
As a global company you have many different models of vehicles sold around the world that are not sold in the USA.
Why not use these vehicles to increase sales. Import every model you make and do a test clinic to see if any would be suitable. You might find a gem that could be a huge hit and increase your market share.
I like the newer vehicles, but too bad that the new GTO looks like an early 2000s Mustang. I hated every mustang from the eighties on until they switched back to the more ‘retro’ design of this year.
I’ve heard that you likened the concept line-up for GM cars when you came on board to a bunch of angry kitchen appliances. I can see that you’re moving away from that, but try not to direct things too far toward a 60 MPH jelly bean.
Yawn!! Buick. Uhhhhh, does anybody buy Buick anymore? Just seems lame to invest money into a mediocre design when it would have been much better used on a redesigned GTO. Cadillac used to be the dead man’s car (funerals and for old geezers). Now it’s a performance division which I feel has taken a lot away in terms of what Pontiac needed.
!!!!!COOL BEANS!!!!!!!
If the LaCrosse is a better car than the Avalon then it will be a sucess.
If not, then it will do yet more damage to the Buick brand.
Finally ( ! )you’ve admitted that the reason GM used the Monaro chassis for the GTO was to get it to market quickly. All your other lame exscuses just made you and GM look ridiculous. Telling the truth about the “GTO”: Was that really so hard Mr. Lutz?
Snapshot
I’d like to echo Bob’s Lutz’s recent thoughts, but from a Saab perspective (which unfortunately doesn’t get a run in his recent post at Fastlane).
Mr Lutz
I am glad to see GM sales going up. But I beg of you! The 3.8l with a pathetic 195 horsepower will get bashed!
Atleast make the 3.6 option on cx and standard on cxl
That will get more people to the car. I dont want a pathetically underpowered car (for its weight) If I cant afford the Northstar or dont want a V8, what other options do I have?
I really hope stabilli track, abs and traction control are standard. Might as well get a head start since they are supposed to be standard by 2010…
COngrats on the Solstice – saw it on the Apprentice. Looked fantastic.
Now, onto Buick and the coming Lucerne. Toyota built a class leading vehicle with a class leading powertrain, with class leading gas mileage.
I would really like to know why GM feels its competitive with an engine that makes 85 less hp, and has 1 less gear in the transmission. Even the vaulted Northstar (the ten year old version) – makes less power. Do you realize what the car magazines are going to do?
I want to see GM really succeed, but succeeding when you’re down means offering more for less. Please, at least offer the 3.6HF, or even the 3.8HF as a midlevel option priced at the base Avalon point and save the 3800 for a stripper version.
Also, if you could find that hidden stash of FWD 6 speeds…
GM gets advice all the time from all over the place about what they should do to ressurrect itself, but I haven’t seen anyone profur the advice I’m about to give so, what the h**l, I’ll join the fray. GM needs to follow the path they’ve taken with Cadillac (which has come back from the dead), by precisely focusing the brands to their strong points.
In the case of Pontiac, aka the “Excitement” division, that’s exactly what they need to do; introduce excitement back into its product line. They attempted to do that with the 2004 GTO but dropped the ball when it came to styling. (I own one, BTW, and love it.) Sales were not what was expected and after a quick restyle, the 2005 model has increased sales by almost 85% over this time last year.
The new Solstice caught the imagination of the public several years ago when its concept was introduced and GM fast-tracked it into production. After having the vehicle as the prime focus of “The Apprentice” this last week, Pontiac introduced an early order program for the first 1,000 special edition units which sold out in 41 minutes on this past Friday.
Where Pontiac needs to go from here is to get rid of the dead wood in its product line by dropping the Montana SV6, Sunfire, Torrent, and the Vibe and re-engineer the Grand Prix, Bonneville, and G6. Personally, I think they should really be bold and only have 2 door versions of each of its vehicles and bring back convertible versions of both the Grand Prix and Bonneville (the G6 convertible is coming for the 2006 model year). The last regular production full-sized GM convertible was in the late ’70s. It’s time to bring them back.
While they’re at it, every Pontiac (except for the G6) should be rear wheel drive. RWD is much more flexible for adjusting vehicle performance than FWD is.
As for the GTO, keep its production in Australia. GM flirted with the idea of building the 2008 GTO on the Zeta platform in the United States but that was killed when the platform was killed.
if GM thinks Pontiac really must have an SUV, then re-engineer the Holden Crewman and bring it over on the same boats as the GTO.
As I said, these are just my opinions, but it would certainly shake things up a bit and bring some excitement back to the “Excitement” division.
Mr Lutz
This si about my comment about the 3800 and 3.6
Another thing you could also do is increase the power of the 3800….I know this engine can do it…it’s one of the best engines. But it needs more power…it should be able to get it.
Bob,
My wife and I would like to get the HHR. However, we are concerned it will not have Navigation. She gets lost and we would like Navigation…
We might be forced to go for the smaller Mazda 3 with Navigation though we think the HHR better based on the opinion of Cobalt we tested.
Please Have that Navigation option on your more affordable cars, like malibu and Cobalt and Aveo. That is what might make us not buy your cars becouse we just replaced an older Madza 626 with a Mazda 3 with Navigation…
We Need a wagon when baby comes as our second car
You are doing a good Job. thank you.
Edward
Mr. Lutz,
Very good points. The press either fails to recognize or chooses to overlook the fact that you had a huge overturn in your lineup last year, and that they will take some time to catch and ultimately surpass the established and heavily incentivized models which they repaced. The upcoming replacement of your bread and butter trucks will certainly drive that market share back up as well.
I am glad to hear that you are not panicking, as there really seems to be no need to panic. Just keep plugging along. Continue to globalize operations and focus on reducing costs and more importantly keep designing great new products. GM will be fine if this effort keeps up.
P.S. A Camaro and a new GTO would be nice.
Thanks for mentioning the GTO. I hope you’re not just playing with my emotions because I think the GTO is the next big thing if it’s handled correctly. That means styling. Everything else about it is dead on.
BTW, don’t ever call a car a “unit” again.
It is good that Lacrosse sales are picking up. I like to see diversity in the road. I am considering Lacrosse, Ford 500 and Camry/Accord. I really liked Lacrosse (nice from rear view and quiet) and Ford 500 (command driving). Actually they are all good cars. The prominent fake wood in the Lacrosse panel turned me off a bit. Do people still like fake wood? The brand is supposed to be near luxury after all. I am still thinking.
Mr. Lutz,
Thanks for the stats and your views of these autos. But would you please let us know what you’re planning in ‘06-’07 in response to Ford, Dodge and Chrysler’s power-packed muscle cars? We all know the Australian GTO is available. What are the GTO plans in the very near future? Are you planning a Ram Air VI version? Where’s the Camaro? Is there to be a Camaro in time to keep the other US automakers from completely dominating the muscle-sport car market…or is it just a consumer wish? We all know that you have the Cadillac and C6 ‘Vette. And, these are very handsome, fast, and high-quality GM products.
But, Bob, just because one can afford the price tag doesn’t mean one wants to spend it!! I mean, dang, the other US automakers will be providing 425 and 450+ hp in attractive packages for under $40K. How do you respond? Bob, where’s the beef! It’s going to be very difficult for me to hold on and wait for GM when I don’t even know what GM is going to provide. I’m afraid to even go look at the GT500 for fear of handing a suitcase of “for GM” cash over to Ford. But, no news is…well, nothing new.
I think that GM’s styling really has become more refined with the last batch of new vehicles.
You are getting more diverse and bold with the color pallette as well. It seemed for years that GM offered a variety of colors, all bland. Funny as it sounds, I know people who have switched brands simply because they were crazy about a color only available on another brand. While that may surprise your designers and engineers, it is true.
And please don’t clutter up the roof and interior of my next GM car with Onstar gadgets. I have no intention of ever paying a monthly fee for it (just like the majority of your customers), and I am baffled why GM management thinks that making Onstar gadgetry standard will help sell more cars.
GM blog stays on track
Yesterday, General Motors announced its financial results for the first quarter this year, reporting a net loss of $839 million compared to a net profit of $1.2 billion for the same period last year. It’s interesting to see the focus
Greg: if the Grand Prix GTP were available as a two-door coupe, GTO sales would be cut by a third…
I got a four-door Grand Prix because I wanted a Grand Prix, but every time I merge I have to crane my neck around to see past the B-pillar. A two-door car would have solved that problem (and I’m the only one who’s ever in the car, anyway, so the back doors hardly ever get opened.)
You’re right that Pontiac needs to be an “all sports-car” brand, just like Cadillac is the “all high-end fancy car” brand. The only four-door Pontiac should be the Bonneville, and that should be aimed at the same market that the mid-nineties Impala served.
I’ve seen a lot of posts on this blog suggesting that GM should “consolidate” itself. Some serious, some not, but I’m starting to wonder if that might not be a decent idea…instead of each GM division thinking that it needs to compete in every market (which gives us bizarre oddities like a Pontiac minivan, and an Oldsmobile compact sport coupe) let each of them have specific areas that it serves.
Of course, the problem is that you’re going to have to convince Pontiac dealers that the meathead standing in their showroom asking about minivans should be sent down the street to the Chevy dealer.
This one is for GM but Mr. Lutz specifically because he might listen. Why not require the retired GM employees who are receiving medical and other benefits to drive GM cars?
General Motors Death Watch: Losses Mount, Cash Burned
We were all set to report the bad news: GMÃs quarterly losses will top $1.1 billion and the company burned through $3.5 million in cash reserves so far in 2005. Then, weÃd likely have penned a wiseass comment, maybe alluding…
What Time Is It?
Three huge institutions are facing enormous challenges in America today.
I sat in the H3 at an auto show. The visibility is awful, which I expected. The standard StabiliTrak is a plus. The hydraulic opener on the swing-out gate is a design gaffe, however. What if I have two feet of room to open the gate and retrieve my stuff? I would have to hold the gate to keep it from opening and impacting whatever is in its path. Other than that, it’s a neat car.
I am generally positive for GM as well.
But please, Bob, try cutting some of the fat. Instead of halo cars like the SSR and useless variants of Delta like the HHR, please make the mainstream core vehicles top notch. Instead of completely different novelty cars that require their own assembly lines and/or R&D costs, you could make more performance versions like the Malibu SS; (but give them more modern automatic transmissions with more gears).
Subaru’s WRX is a “Halo” car for them, but it is just a performance version of the Impreza. GM’s variety and excitement can also draw on examples from its own past – for instance the way that the regular Tempest became the GTO.
I have high hopes for GM, but I don’t see big success coming from niche vehicles, gimmicks, halos and novelties. I see it coming from solid core product.
Bob,
Good post,keep the blog going (along with the positive news about GM). We inside here are getting tired of all the BAD news. So, this entry is refreshing.
On the product topic – HHR will be a winner if priced right and matches (exceeds) Mazda3 wagon. HHR must have slick interior and excellent stereo system. Bose!!!! and subwoofer. Decent option packages without busting the bank. This vehicle should bring excitement to Chevy affordable utility. Check out the Mazda SP23 package offering. All the goodies in one package option.
Mr. Lutz,
“Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros” (Fire tests gold, adversity tests strong men)
To paraphrase Robert Duvall from “Apocalypse Now”: You get your box of Bolivar Gran Coronas for that post!
The problem of Buick is not too much of the cars. The Lacrosse is actually a very good looking car inside and out.
The problem of Buick is the image. I am a 32 year old guy and I am too embrassed to be seen in a Buick. Even if it is free and you pay me to drive it, I still would not drive one. If I am over 60, then I will consider driving one.
What’s wrong in this picture?
Great work Bob. Continued success.
A few things. As I have indicated before one of the key reasons for Cadillac’s success has been the distinctiveness of its design. Like a BMW or Mercedes you know what it is the instant you see one. Buick, however, still does not have a comparable design “language” if you will that readily distinguishes them from the pack. Get that done in the spirit of the 2000 Buick show car and then crown Buick with a RWD halo car in the vein of the legendary Grand National Turbo and you will be on to something special. By the way, under no circumstances, none whatsoever, are you to allow any wood trim in a Buick if said trim is not real. Whatever you think you will save by going with the fake stuff will be easily offset by the negative press calling you on it during a competitive review. Use less wood if need be but make it real. Have the press call the competition for the fake stuff. Also, please consider the benefits of a 6-speed auto on all Buicks and the availability of AWD for all models. I think if Buick would like to be distinctive from their current competitive set then a good path would be as an American Audi.
For Pontiac, again, make a version of the Vibe that can go after the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evolution. Think a blown 310hp 4-cylinder with AWD. Then take the car rally racing to back up the promise of the street car. Give it an F1-style 6-speed paddle shift transmission to really put it head and shoulders away and above the competition. The competing imports will come to a dead stop in shock. At that point (GTO, Solstice, Vibe GT-R) Pontiac would truly be the “Excitement” division.
Cadillac is doing well but you really MUST get rid of the awful, dated and uninspiring musical selections being used in their ads. I cringe every time I hear the tune. What is it even? Ugh. Does Cadillac actually think that kind of tune appeals to the younger buyers they are trying to court?
For Hummer, again, confound the greenies by starting a high-profile humanitarian campaign featuring donated Hummers. Make it clear that a portion of the money from Hummer sales goes to support these charities (wildlife, hunger etc.). It would probably only take about 30 vehicles and a few million per charity put the payoff would be huge. I can already envision the terrific ad campaign and the reversal of negative sentiment that works against Hummer sales.
One last thing. Do not become greedy as part of your recovery. As the owner of a 2005 Corvette I was dismayed to hear that the Bowling Green plant was being run at overtime to meet demand. It was a very bad idea whose end was readily predictable. Now I am hearing rumbles of discounting on the Vette already as demand was too quickly sated. I can now begin to wave bye-bye to resale value on my car. Nice. GM apparently learned nothing from the XLR. What GM needs to do is only produce as many cars as they can sell without having to discount them heavily. Do not repeat the Corvette error on the Pontiac Solstice. Set your target at 10K units in year one and 20K units in year two and an absolute maximum of 30K units in year three. No matter how high demand is do not produce a single one more than that. Let the press buzz about how you can’t get a Solstice but everyone wants one. Whatever you do, do not run the Solstice plant on overtime. The quality rewards go to the steady, not the swift. They want another hot sporty convertible? Tell them Saturn has one waiting in the wings with production set at a similar volume.
Why does a GTO get 17″ tires and a Cobalt SS 18″??
Consumers need to have more options when it comes to tires. I was shocked to find replacement tires for my Vibe were $120 each; seeing my 17″ Off Road tires for my F150 were $130 each.
I see no need for these on my 4 banger Vibe.
Bob Lutz Fires Back; Misses at Least Once
We’re not dead yet! We think we’d like to take a walk! But some good stuff there. Particularly: For one thing, I am enthusiastic about the Buick Lacrosse. It may be a bit conservatively styled, as are many excellent Japanese…
Mr. Bob Baskerville, this is your statement: “This one is for GM but Mr. Lutz specifically because he might listen. Why not require the retired GM employees who are receiving medical and other benefits to drive GM cars?”
This would be holding a gun to retirees heads. You can’t seriously think that in order to have retiree benefits you need _obligatory_ drive a GM vehicle. If I retire to a bank, am I obligated to bank with that brand after I retire to keep my retirement benefit? If I retire from General Electric, I can only purchase General Electric for appliances and services.
That’s borderline communism. Freedom of being an American worker is to choose your life, your good and services, not to be olbigated to drive or purchase a certain brand becuase you used to work for them. The truth of the matter is this, most GM retirees purchase GM vehicles because the discounts are greater than any other incentive offered by a different manufacturer. Then the loyalty issue kicks in, but under no circumstances, should anyone be obligated, forced or have a gun to their head to purchase only products or services from your previous employer. That’s un-American.
“The sun will shine, tomorrow….” Mr. Lutz, I like your determination, your perseverance and your ability to find a positive among the trash that has been said and published about GM. Congratulations.
I feel that you have made some valuable points, and as we all know, you’re a car guy. You’re one of those that I bet, hidden underneath the clean cut corporate suits and ties, have a real Bad @ss inside, yearning to come out of a red light, burning rubber, revving it up. Probably have a motorcycle in your garage, a vintage classic American V8 car with some torque and horsepower.
I admire your committment to turning this company back to what it once was, “The General.” If you ask me, the right move was made, put the car guy, in charge of cars. A concept so great, that other car guys dropped their jaws when they found out what GM did. Great job.
I know the design team (wow, remember when it was one guy running the show, Harley Earl) is working on new models. Mr. Lutz, you are today’s Harley Earl, today’s De Lorean, today’s Michaelangelo and Da Vinci. I look forward to see what comes up “tomorrow,” when the sun rise shines it’s light on your next presentation of the “NEXT” GM.
Good Luck, and Remember, “the sun will shine, tomorrow…”
By the way, I read on other posts that many GM fans would love to see GM come up with the next American Motorcycle. Personally, I think it would be great, why should Harley-Davidson hog all the glory of the American biker market. Get in there, build a great bike, h**l, Boss Hoss motorcycle company is already using Chevy engines to build their V8 bikes, and are doing very well. Perhaps you should take this concept further and build a bike, test it, put it through focus groups to get their buy in. I think it would be great.
It doesn’t have to be a V-Twin, it can be an inlin 4, 6, V6 or V8. Maybe even your I5 used on trucks. this would be great, you could even make them automatic and kill on that market. No one is making reasonably priced automatic motorcycles (not scooters, motorcycles). you can do it, show us and please, quickly. Imagine a GM Boot at Daytona Bike week, or Sturgis, showing your new GM Motorcycle with automatic transmission. It would be awesome, and the bike world and market are booming. Check it out, you’re only loosing money if you don’t take advantage of the bike market.
V-Twin
In response to this comment by MJ:
“Why does a GTO get 17″ wheels and a Cobalt SS 18″??”
The GTO does have 18″ tires as an option. Do you need it? No. The 17″ wheels were engineered specifically for the performance you get out the GTO. If you want bigger wheels/tires they can be had.
Lutz loses me when he talks about how great the LaCrosse is.
The LaCrosse is one of the ugliest and unoriginal designs on the road today. It looks like a frankenstein car made up of mismatched styling cues from other, better cars.
The Lucerne, which I saw at the NYIAS, is better, but it’s rear end looks like it was ripped directly from the upcoming new Passat. The Passat looks better.
Right now, GM has it right with Caddy and the Vette.
The Solstice is cool, and that’s promising. Even cooler is her sister ship, the Saturn Sky.
And Lutz, please release the Satun Aura already. That was by far the nicest GM sedan without a Caddy badge at the NYIAS.
The HHR was OK at best, and I felt I had seen this before…..at the Chrysler stand.
I’m usually one who supports GM and I’ve remained quite positive through all the bad news, but you can only push anyone so far.
I hear from one side that things are VERY bad and that there will be cuts, including possibly, if need be, an entire brand. I’ve also that this brand would be Buick. Please, that is one of the few remaining brands that are still pretty good and with the much needed update in products, they’re only going to get better.
I understand that times are tough and that hard decisions must be made as well as some sacrifices. However, if anything happens to them, please, unlike Oldsmobile, SELL Buick. Hopefully DaimlerChrysler or Ford could use it, if you guys have no use for it anymore. One american automotive icon is already gone, don’t let a 2nd one join it.
Then I hear from your side that though yes times are a bit tough everything is fine and we have no need to worry about anything. That sales are picking up, that the situation is slowly improving and that all will be fine.
I’m more inclined to believe the first version, given how people tend to deny problems in a situation lke this (and rightfully so), but please, which one is it?
Analysts say that you guys only have until 2008-2010 last time I heard, not very encouraging if you ask me. I’d be quite sad to see GM go, but I guess times change and even though sometimes you don’t like what happened, you must move on, life goes on.
Mistakes were made, bad management/decisions, product was ignored, opportunities were missed… survival of the fittest really. You still may be able to pull it off, congratulations if you do! However, when your’re a couple laps behind with merely another 20 laps in the race… it’s hard to catch up in time to win.
Mr Lutz, i hope that you and your crew are taking all these post with a grain of salt! Reading the wide range of replies i see on here is like listing to a deranged skitzerfrantic!!! DO THIS , NO I HATE THAT , NO LIKE THIS!! WHY’D YOU DO THAT!!! I LIKE THE WAY YOU DID IT THEN!! THE WAY YOU DID IT THEN S**KED!! we all now you cant please everyone, so please just concentrate on doing the best that GM can do and make cars that you’d be proud to have in YOUR driveway at the end of the day….at any price.
Bob,
GM is coming out with some good stuff these days but are you going to revive the Camaro to go up against the Mustang again? The Shelby Cobra sounds like it could be my first ever ford purchase unless I new the Camaro was coming back, preferably with that 7.0L LS7 engine in it. I currently own 5 GM cars. Please tell me that I don’t need to by a ford.
I have to agree with Mr. Lutz, GM does make some fine cars right now. I have the 2004 Malibu Maxx and I love that car more than any I have ever driven short of a drop top and south of $50,000. I really like the Cobalt in the higher level trim, but stripper model is a bit too spartan.
GM will definately get kicked in the teeth by media and wall street the next couple of quarters. They may even have to wear a retainer for a while but the quality is there and it is just a matter of fine-tuning product to the whims of high maintenance consumers and breaking down the myth of foreign quality.
I’ll be anxious to see how the next JD Power quality reports pan out. GM has already passed Nissan and defect-plagued Scion may drag Toyota down below GM too. Honda is also having issues with certain vehicles like the pilot and accord. Who knows GM may blindside the industry and wind out on top.
One thing is for sure, the Solstice is so fine and reasonably priced that I could see several yuppie folk buying a “seasonal” ride for the summer cruise. It will help to generate much needed showroom traffic.
I love my 2004 CTS, my 2nd one… when the re-design happens, will there be variants like a two door V series coupe (think BMW M-3) and possible a convertible version? The entire Cadillac brand is “halo” for GM, interesting niche variants would be great. Please, please improve the interior finishes though, the weak spot in an otherwise excellent car.
mr.lutz how about a rwd impala ss and a no options belair
Just had to mention that I actually noticed for the first time…A “Lacrosse”! That doesn’t say much for a car enthusiast…I would have never known that to be a new buick model if wasn’t behind it to see the actual word “Lacrosse”.
I used to wonder why every post I would see was negative, now I know!
As far as the upcoming lineup, I made a comment on another story about not being interested in GM products for 2006…Let me rephrase that. “I am not interested in any of the 2006 CHEVY products, however I do like the route pontiac has taken”.
Keep up the positive reinforcement, not only do your employees need to hear this kind of news but so do your followers!
The Cobalt is very impressive. I am driving a 2004 Golf now, and I’d say the fit and finish on the Cobalt match it. Please keep the GM moniker off the body! The rear deck is pretty clean right now, with only the bow-tie and small type Cobalt name. I hate the clutter on the trunks of cars, and have “shaved” a few past cars to remove excessive amounts of identifiers and logos.
I am not quite ready to buy a Cobalt for my wife – I want the side curtain airbags and ABS, either standard or on a high percentage of cars. It is hard to get a good deal when the dealer realizes you are shopping for safety but only has one or two Cobalts in stock with side-curtain bags.
Also, given the perception of American car reliability, wouldn’t it be better to have 4/50 warranty on the entire car, and 5/60 on the powertrain? That would be a strong selling point over the Japanese, who are still sitting tight with 3/36 warranties. The warranty, in fact, tipped me over to the Golf (but I’d sure rather have the Ecotec than my anemic 2.0 in the Golf!).
Obsolete & out of touch, UAW blows its chance for relevance
———————-
how about swapping stock options for health care? – and get DC to help – as they did last year by covering medicare RXs- after all Bushs’ Chief of Staff is former GM bigwig Andrew Card, he must have the Presidents ear – and how could Japan object? They subsidize their car makers with free health care and every other govt program. The time for a bail out of the big 2 is now – no more f****ing around – either do that or prepare for ch. 11 and force concessions – Otherwise, GM will have little money to develop new products – compared to their subsidized competitors – and what money they can borrow will cost them 8 times as much as their competitors. The downward spiral will not stop with no change in the status quo – This is a capital intensive business that will fail over time – where are the 8 US car companies that were around in the 1950’s?
I consider myself a minority: a 20-year old with a passion for Buicks.
Buicks used to carry a dramatic sense of power, style, and prestige. I need only to point to cars like the ‘55 Roadmaster and the ‘64 Riviera to start. These cars were luxurious, powerful, and seductively stylish (props to Billy Mitchell here). And for the most part, they were built very solidly.
Your current Buick lineup has none of those characteristics. My mom’s Rainier is supposed to be “quiet tuned” to “differentiate” it from the other 360/370 platforms (yet another topic I can rant on). Yet the door seals are horrific. Even after being firmly closed, wind still whistles through. In the rain, there’s an amplified garbling sound. Let’s put it this way: A base, “stripper” TrailBlazer I drove had much better noise qualities from its door seals than this does.
The current styling leaves me unimpressed, too. I understand completely that designs usually evolve drastically from concept to production. But the ball was dropped from a cliff with the LaCrosse. Admittedly, I haven’t driven the car yet, and many haven’t. But what’s on the outside lures people to experience the car’s entire package. We need show and go. And this, while it looks nice, doesn’t cut it.
We went from such a breathtaking design as this:
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/articles/i19/1970_32mg.jpg
And went to this:
http://www.speedtv.com/_assets/library/img/large/52364_lacrossecxs.jpg
And while it’s no Aztek, we, the buying public, have been treated to a very dated design. Submitted for your deliberation, the 1995 Buick XP2000 Concept.
http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/capri7002/out/xp2000.jpg
The simularities are uncanny. Add the “double bubble” headlights and the beveled fenderline that accompanies them, and you’ve pretty much got the first LaCrosse…10 years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not attempting to completely bash this car, or your company, based upon the styling. However, when I hear lines such as all new, freshly-styled, etc….and find it’s nothing that hasn’t been around a decade….it doesn’t inspire me; it doesn’t interest me. A fine car, perhaps, but not the wheels that dreams are made of, as advertising suggests. I find I’m more likely to dream of the models or the music featured in those ads, than I am of the LaCrosse itself.
Since you own one, Mr. Lutz, let me put it this way. Infuse some Monteverdi-character into the Buick line, and you’ll be regaining it’s lustre once again. Get these cars to not only be top-notch, exciting, and outright-attractive, and you’ll not only recapture marketshare with such a product – but the winning praise of consumers, Buick enthusiasts, and -deities willing- the favor of the biased press.
Regards,
E.McC
I like what Mr. Lutz has said above. I have a problem with Pontiac (and perhaps other) GM dealers and their avarice and seemingly shortsightedness in attempting to charge mark ups on vehicles that would sell better if non of the dealer-related shadiness took place. This almost destroyed the 2004 GTO sales, and now will play a roll with the Solstice. Watch and see.
Steve
Pontiac is back baby. Indeed the sun is rising with a V8 underneath the hood of the Grand Prix again.
303 HP and I can’t wait to test drive one.
Mr Lutz, I have already made my comments on buick.
I HOPE you guys can fix it and bring some preformance back into it….
Ther Lacrosse is slow (0-60 in 7.9 with 3.6 according to magazines) Now thats incredibly slow considering the Accord does it in under 6… hmm..and gets better mileage. What about the lucerne? It probably does 0-60 in 7 seconds, while the Avalon does it in 6.6, h**l the stock avalon probably does 0-60 in like 10 seconds.
I thought you guys were making more efficient engines? Then what the h**l is the 3900 doing here with its 18/24 mpg ratings. V8’s get better mileage! Hello GM! Gas prices are going up!
Bob:
Your article, “The Sun Keeps Coming Up,” is very compelling. I follow the auto industry closely and I am convinced that GM has a strong management team and is on the right track. It seems GM is making big improvements in quality, productivity, and product. In fact I am putting my money were my mouth is. I invested a large chunk of my IRA in GM stock a couple of days ago, in large part because of my confidence in you and the GM management team. Best of luck.
Respectfully,
Eric M. Vest
Consider: What if you provided a tracked off road vehicle. I am thinking band tracks, coiled knee springs, and hybrid drive. That would certainly pass any competition in an off road way, to include greater stability.
Condider offering a hybrid propulsion option for each vehicle. All that takes is a smaller engine and generator, with an electric drive motor for each axle. The smaller engine coupled with battery power would give plenty of torque with low weight, and lower drive. dual motors (for and aft) would provide double the torque, and easy conversion to 4 wheel drive.
>The LT’s plentiful plasti-wood and sober chrome-ringed gauges make it about as hip as Lawrence Welk.
The sun will rise when I see a Firebird with 455 cubic in. V8 and 500 horses underneath the bonnet.
So I just read that Car and Driver review of the new Cobalt, and I’m not sure why Mr. Lutz chose to draw our attention to it.
Talk about d**ning a car with faint praise.
The long and the short of the article is that GM has finally made a car that doesn’t suck as badly as what we’re used to seeing from GM, and if you manage to get stuck with one at the Airport Rental Lot, you might not be too disappointed.
Like Tony Quiroga says in the counterpoint section, “the world has moved on.”
$1500 rebates already? Come on.
What will it take to get GM to come out with a car that’s no longer second or third or tenth best in the affordable car category? Would it kill you people to make a NUMBER ONE affordable car once in a while?
I mean, COME ON PEOPLE, it’s just as hard to design a third-rate car as it is a first-rate one, so why not build a BETTER car than the Japanese for a given price point, rather than just coming out with models that are “almost as good” and hoping that the American public is too dumb to know the difference.
We’re not dumb, and we’d love to buy a decent GM car. Build us one and we will come and buy it. That car is not an $18k replacement Cavalier, no matter how many incentives you throw at it.
Please Mr. Lutz, make the Solstice a FIRST RATE car. I swear, I am going to weep if that thing comes out to a slew of bad press and recalls.
That bad press you keep complaining about? That’s honesty. Those guys want GM to be great, and it breaks their heart every time GM comes out with their latest mediocrity.
It breaks my heart too.
Please Mr. Lutz, make the Solstice something stupendous!
Mr.Lutz, hang on to that GTO. Don’t let it die ever, it’s a great package.
The only changes to the GTO that people ask for are non performance ones, non interior ones…Not bad, just restyle the exterior…No big deal here, I would just look to the concept shown at the recent Woodword (excuse spelling)Dream Cruise…People seem to like it.
Personally, I don’t care if ya keep it as is…But if you must change the outside body, that’s the only concept I’ve seen worth doing to the outside. The inside and performance are perfection!
The GTO is still a joke, I don’t care if you add another 100 horsepower, it has no curb appeal, as a 50 something male, I had a ball in the 60s with all the choices of muscle cars, the GTO could have been what the new Mustang is now, rather than something that looks like a Japanese car with an american V8. The only two GM cars worth looking at are the Corvette and Cadillac, both of which are out of most peoples price range. Can you say Camaro, styled retro to 69? Please!
My new LaCrosse is just like the commercial. A Dream!
If you want to sell me a car prove that the quality of GM is the same as Honda or Toyota. Every person I know who owns a GM has had a major (as in over $1,000) problem with it before 75,000 miles. My Honda has had 0 problems and has 116,000 miles and still going strong.
The Buick Lacrosse looks as good if not better than any other 4 door sedan on the market and the Aerosmith commercials have me actually NOT going for the remote.
What GM and other companies have to do is keep healthcare expenditures in check by using programs like Self Well Systems.com – educate and empower the healthcare consumer.
Until employees become more responsible for their own health, costs will not go down.
Okay Bob…I hope you read this:
First off, why don’t you guys take the DeVille, and drop some options off it and call it a Caprice?? Chevrolet should have a V8-rear wheel drive vehicle. It is just silly that they don’t!
Also, you want to attract young buyers, put a bunch of sound in the cars! Get a deal going with Rockford-Fosgate or someone and have the industry best sound system installed in the Cobalt SS. Make it really stand out! That would get a buzz going.
Have some interesting options and highlight them. Like an adjustment for the turn signal click so that you can control the volume (For cars like the DeVille)…old people would love that stuff!
Also, have you seen the new Infinity commercial? The one with the laser beams that flash into parts of the car? Well, they highlight stuff like the instrument gauges going from their minimum setting to their maximum, and the back to the minimum (If you can follow me)…now, they highlighted this feature in the commercial. It is not a big deal, but makes the car look cool. My 2000 Cadillac Seville does this every time I start it up!! Now why is it that 5 years later Infinity gets to highlight this when you guys have already thought of it??!!How come GM is so bad at touting the cool features??
Start allowing designers design cars, not committees!
Thanks,
Mark Bohac
Bob,
Why doesn’t GM grasp a great opportunity to sell more cars then the other US brands ? Launch fuel efficient (>24 mpg), clean and (relatively) powerful engine technology with less bulkier cars (esp. SUV’s and Pick-ups) onto the US market. I’m sure the White House folks would love that, because it is in my view THE ONLY WAY to resolve the petrol-slurping stigma. And the technology is already there, deployed by both European (where I’m from) and Japanese/Korean carmakers. And with your US sales volumes, price should not be an issue. Clever marketing, that makes people feel proud (perception management) to drive one of these new era type cars, US made, would do the trick for U.
GM has gotta stop making those self inflicted damages and stop rolling out dogs and expect to win.
Killing Camaro, making Impala and Monte Carlo FWD and yes, the Aztek and Ion…….How your high paying executives made these dreadful decision is beyond my wildest imagination.
With that say, many of GM’s new products are actually very good.
G6 and cobalt are actually quite good. Love the Solstice and Sky (supercharged maybe), CTS-V kick some serious behind……
All GM has to do to change the price high sell low pricing policy and stop cheapening your products. I just can’t get over that.
I am very impressed with the Chevrolet Equinox AWD. Yeah, I would like the 3.5L 250 hp Honda engine that goes in the Saturn VUE–or I would like the Saturn VUE to not be so terribly plain inside–but I am very close to plunking down the money for an Equinox.
At the same price, the Honda CR-V would be the clear choice–but with the $1500 rebates, the Equinox is substantially cheaper, with more room, and close enough to the Honda in gas mileage.
Bob:
I have been so busy comparing your cars with the Japanese competition that I forgot about how badly the Germans are doing now. Talk about an opportunity to steal market share! The quality of Mercedes and BMW has dropped precipitously, as confirmed by Consumer Reports. And VW is making the tragic error of moving upmarket and RAISING prices! I guess it goes to show that other companies can also make “what-were-you-thinking” mistakes!
Unfortunately, I doubt that GM will benefit from the current German angst, since, of course, the cool GM cars (CTS-V and Corvette) are halos at “gotta pass” prices, and the G6/Lacrosse/GTO aren’t built with the same “driver-first” engineering approach as the similarly priced GTI/Passat/325.
Bob,
I hope GM can pull it off. A lot of us oldtime employees are counting on it. Maybe GM should ask its employees what they like and don’t like about our vehicles. Been with GM 28 yrs. and have never been asked to look at future designs or what I would like to see in a vehicle. Since employees reportedly buy upwards of 25-30% of the vehicles, shouldn’t we be part of the focus groups. Also, since everyone is going retro, how about reconfiguring the Malibu into a small “El Camino”?
Good luck.
Yes, the LaCrosse is almost competitve in today’s market. Too bad that the new Accord, Camry, and Passat are all on the horizon. Come on, the current Accord has a 3.0 V6 with as much power as your 3.6 V6, with better mileage, from 2003!
And the Lucerne. Why would I buy a Lucerne when the Avalon offers more power with better mileage and a proven reliability track? Stop “protecting” Cadillac and give it a decent version of the Northstar, then maybe it would be class-leading instead as “almost as good”. And the 3800 is embarassing with 195 HP, this engine should be capable of more power. Either make the 3800 more powerful or replace it with the 3800 supercharged (already a Buick favorite) or the 3900.
The Cobalt, too, is probably as good as the Civic, Jetta, and Corolla. Too bad there’s already a new Jetta and the new Civic and Corolla are getting ready to bow. Why use a non-VVT engine when virtually all competitors are using them? Imagine how easily the Cobalt would outperform everything on the market if it had the 2.4 Ecotec. Maybe it would cost a few hundred more. So what? You’d finally have something class-leading.
And why is everything still using that 4-speed automatic? Especially Pontiac – Maybe the G6 and Grand Prix would be sporty if they had a manual gearbox. At least give us the option, or a better automatic.
I also recently saw a new GM commercial with a 1000-vehicle giveaway for going to test drive a GM vehicle. Somehow, I have to feel like that money could be better spent improving the vehicle quality. I know I am not going to test drive a GM vehicle for that slim chance of winning – The only reason I would is if I wanted a GM car to begin with.
One last thing – how could the mileage possibly be so bad on the new 3900? 18/24? The GTO gets as good fuel economy with 160 more horsepower!
Hi Bob,
First time on your blog and I like what I see (read). First off, I’m a BMW driver and have been for the past 17 years.
I have great respect for you as a auto enthusiast but I’m afraid that GM, for all its efforts, can’t get it right.
For instance, while I LOVE the new Cadillacs (especially the V series), how can a car like the Malibu Maxx come from the same company (BTW, it reminds me of the old Citation)? I think the new Corvette is great, too.
But how can GM keep talking about the coming H3 when oil is $53+/barrel and gas is almost $3???
I guess what I’m saying, is that the only way for GM to find its way back into the driveays of America is to build truly great cars again for everybody and not just Cadillac and Corvette owners.
Maybe the Buick LaCrosse is a great car, but I would no sooner consider it than I would my first car, a 75 Vega GT. In fact, after four years in my Vega I vowed NEVER to buy a GM car again. Hopefully, you can find a way to change my mind.
JMS-
Your April 20th comment regarding OnStar is completely off base. OnStar services over 3 million customers with over a 60% retention rate. This is the majority of customers that you should be talking about. Please read up on OnStar before making off the cuff remarks that are based in lack of knowledge. May I suggest http://www.onstar.com?
I love OnStar and can’t wait for my next STANDARD OnStar equipped vehicle.
I can’t agree with James more in regards to the 1000 vehicle giveaway.
Giveaway cars further cheapens the perceived values of the brands. Giving away T shirts or watches or Disney tickets are fine, but cars?? Come on. I know you have a lot of cars and trucks sitting in the parking lot, but to give them away. May God help you on your future marketing strategy. Because you current one contradicts all common senses.
Ok, I’ve been brutal on these boards at times but I think it is well deserved. If executives making millions cannot take the heat, they shouldn’t be in the positions they are in. Bob, I’m not sure GM is going to pull through the cash burn situation selling SUV’s with $55 oil, an ill positioned lineup for just such a situation and less than spectacular products. I blame management exclusively because the bottom line is you’ve made the decisions that have put GM in this situation. Health care costs are significant problems but they did not create this financial crisis. They simply serve as a significant wart because you are in financial crisis. If execution doesn’t improve and product doesn’t improve, cutting health care will do nothing other than continue the slide of the American standard of living. Frankly, I think the union shouldn’t give an inch because they’ve given in blood so many times and the management hasn’t reciprocated with any type of excellence in management strategy.
My blathering this week is around the “experts” telling us all what GM “needs” to do. The reality is no one on Wall Street has a clue how to build a strong brand, how to build a leading design and engineering team or how to execute an operational plan to get GM out of this mess. All they do is sit on high and pontificate while pushing around money. GM needs a roll-the-sleeves-up Ghosn-type who knows how to drive excellence in the above mentioned areas at a dizzying pace. So, while everyone is saying GM needs to cut costs, shut down brands, etc, is about as worthwhile as…well, you know. Not that those points aren’t valid.
Now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what GM needs. You can look at Nissan, Mazda, Chrysler and others who were also rans just a few years ago. It’s all about product. The question is how do you get that product in your lineup while cash is dwindling and your burdens are increasing. I doubt the product you need is even in the pipeline. That means years of waiting while cash continues to burn and competition intensifies. So, even if GM finally cleaned up its act and put extremely strong product into the market, do you have the time to do it? The brands can be resurrected with amazing product. Look at the Solstice. Look at the new Saturns. Look at Chrysler and Nissan. They will surely be a no brainer hit because they stir emotion……..
The financial markets are starting to believe you’ll fail. Credit spreads on your debt are anticipating junk. The stock is still being crucified. You put a pleasant face on for the media but behind close doors I suspect GM itself may be much more of a cause for the financial market woes than people would like to believe.
Doggone it Bob, you guys need to take more risk in your product design. Who cares about alienating your existing customers. They only buy from you because they work for you or your suppliers or are died in the wool “Buy American”. They’d buy dog food if you put it out as they have for forty years. You need to take much more risk like you did at Cadillac but even further. And you need to do it in a public way starting right now. Even if it means freezing the market somewhat. A re-introduction of a focus on design excellence in a very public way. You need to start rebuilding your brands as we speak EVEN before the product is here with a clear strategy the consumer understands.
It is great to see Bob Lutz offer his perspective and points of view with seemingly not much corporate censorship. This in itself is symtomatic of the new spirit within GM …
One thing I can say from direct experience is that Bob has pushed GM hard to build and deliver product that is truely competitive and dare I say at times better than the competition – details of fit/ finish and touch/ feel that are getting quickly into the way we think. We are putting money where our mouth is as well – eg. LaCrosse – people you really have drive this car to see how quiet and responsive it is … it did cost money … and it is refreshing to note that this time the Lutz driven GM did not hesitate. For the record, I have driven many of the Lexus/ Toyotas & Nissans as part of my job ..
I believe the automotive press is paying attention with some positive reviews … but looks like it will take a long time for this to translate to show room traffic and better sales .. Sharper looking product Solstice, Sky etc. would help in getting people’s attention
I know many people have questioned Bob’s hand in the STS, LaCrosse etc. from a design viewpoint… questions on whether he has the magic to create hits. But, the real magic is the culture/ commitment to excellence that seems to be taking hold.
The real question however, is:
“Can all this turn around perceptions in the marketplace fast enough to save GM’s rear end?”
If not, GM will shrink and perish despite better/ competitive product .. perhaps some of you think this is ‘justice’ – our death penalty for past sins.
Time will tell. But in the meantime, all GM can do is to dedicate ourselves to push harder in the direction of design and manufacturing excellence because without this we will perish anyway.
‘If you want to sell me a car prove that the quality of GM is the same as Honda or Toyota. Every person I know who owns a GM has had a major (as in over $1,000) problem with it before 75,000 miles. My Honda has had 0 problems and has 116,000 miles and still going strong.’
Ken,
My 1992 Saturn Coupe has over 360,000 Km (app. 220,000 miles) No engine problem, still original muffler. Well, had the alternator replaced at 250,000 Km. Other than that, just keep change oil every 5000 Km. And NO RUST on the body. It still look like new after the car wash.
Bob,
If GM has the technology, use it. I heard about the DOD for a long time. Why limited it to the truck? Put it across the board. Honda is putting their version of DOD on their VAN and car. Don’t fall behind.
Mr Lutz, In spite of the recent bad press and other developments,a ray of light is beginning to appear.Today I offer some suggestions focusing on Buick cars only.I think there are too many Buick cars labeled with the “L” word(Lacross,Lesabre,and now Lucerne)confusing?….I think the Lacross should be relabeled as Rivera(include a 2 door version).The Lesabre unchanged and the Lucerne name dropped and replaced with Lacross(A new RWD sport version could be called Wildcat as it has the Northstar powertrain system).The 3800 engine is one of the 2 best powertrains ever devised for GM passenger cars, next to the 327.Has it been tried or if possible try to add another 2 cylinders onto the 3800?.Could the displacement of the existing 3800 be modified to provide a standard 285HP.?If not maybe a 5.7 litre setup would be appropriate for the larger luxury/sport cars.Build on the experiences from Saturn SSM, thanks,best wishes and may the sun continue to shine on this organization in the future.
Mr. Lutz,I have bought 15 of your vehicles in the past 20 years for my family. I carry your GM card and use the points. Suggest you send a letter to all your super loyalists like me with a letter to counteract the negative media on your company and brands. Include a nice offer as a gesture for our next vehicle purchase and maybe some hype on your top new models. Now, as much as ever in your past, you need to rally the faithful.
The LaCrosse is getting bombed in the press. Edmunds places it 4th out of 4, bad spot for a “new” car. The HHR is waaay too late, you can buy PT cruisers all day long, and now we’ll have GM’s version. The G6 doesn’t compare favorably to it’s competition at all, and comparing it to the previous generation is comical when you look at how bad the Grand Am was. I guess I’ll be able to hit the hot button many times as I’m always at the dealer getting my car fixed. Take the blinders off Bob, GM lost an entire generation of buyers and now has to build class leading cars just to get people in the showroom. Decent won’t cut it.
The 1000 vehicle giveaway is all about getting people into the show room, especially those that are so naive as to think that the Quality of domestic makes hasn’t improved over the last 10 years. Once these customers come into the show room, many of them change their minds about GM products. Some will end up buying; others will slowly begin to consider them or do research with JDPower and find out how much GM has improved quality, either matching or beating industry benchmarks for several classes.
For those that still want poor quality, I suggest they check out Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Volkswagon and yes Mercedes. These brands have been the most unreliable and expensive makes to fix over the past few years. It should also be noted that Honda recalled more vehicles as a percentage of sales than any other make last year.
An article in Newsday Sunday reported on the poor sales of GMs new cars including the G6 and the fact that the malibu has most of its sales going to rental fleets.
If the car sales are indeed picking up GM is doing a poor job of getting the media in on this fact.
You want to sell more malibu’s? Change the fugly front end and give all models the front end of the Malibu SS.
Put some black in the interior.
Change the steering wheel.
Who gave the OK on the front end design of the malibu anyway? Were they on something? I mean, come on, a blind squirrel could see that the large chrome bar going across without a grill looks ridiculous.
And, even after bad press about the look of the malibu the next model year it looks exactly the same. Nissan or Toyota or Honda would’ve changed it immediately.
Oh, another thing-
10 YEAR WARRANTY!
“Ten Year Warranty” seems to have replaced “Rear Wheel Drive” as the new quick-fix.
>”Ten Year Warranty” seems to have replaced “Rear Wheel Drive” as the new quick-fix.
“Ten Rear Drive Warranty Wheel Year”? That doesn’t make sense…
I am confused as to why no cars offer interiors in colors other than black/gray or bige/tan. I drool over the beautiful interiors from th 60’s. Forget the monotone; add some flash, and look at the palette of colors.
I agree with the need for a longer, more-inclusive warranty. I am tired of hearing about improved quality; I don’t believe it. Put it in writing. There are reaons I switched from GM to Honda.
How about Rear Wheel Drive with 10 year Warranty?
Darn it Bob, just do it!
Shock the world, sell some cars
GM makes junk. My next car will be Japanese,
I’m quite impressed to see that a vice-chairman of one of the world’s largest corporations is putting his comments directly to public scrutiny. I do like the design of the Buick, but my family’s been very attached to Toyota Camrys.
I’m not sure how GM (or any of the other car companies) would get us to consider purchasing one of their products.
How about selling a very reliable hybrid vehicle with Camry attributes at below the cost of a regular gas guzzler?
Now that would definitely cause a massive switch in my allegiance.
GM makes good cars. My next car will be American.
After owned a Datsun (now Nissan) and a Honda, there are reasons I switched from Japanese to GM.
Well of course sales of the newer offerings will eclipse the 10 year old designs being replaced, but the question is are these “must have” vehicles which people will buy at parity to competitive vehicles? If so, you would get some profit out of the hundreds of millions you spent on these programs. You can’t just build commodity items and throw thousands on the front seat and pretend you have winners on your hands.
Mr. Lutz,
In a previous post you said this about the new Buick Lacrosse:
“It may be a bit conservatively styled, as are many excellent Japanese cars”
The problem sir, is that Japanese carmakers can get away with boring cars because of their quality. Until you raise the quality or even the percieved quality of your cars you will have to do better.
The new cars that you have put out are better than their previous models, but they still don’t bring any excitement to the table. Please make an exciting car that people will talk about and want to drive. I’m waiting patiently to buy a GM car but don’t really care for many of the 61 cars that you offer.
The warranty issue is an important signal of the company’s ambitions.
When Hyundai changed their warranty, they didn’t simply pay for repairs, they lowered defects more rapidly than any car company in the last decade per JD Powers. An astounding improvement that the majors had never matched. That was an important, concrete quality improvement which showed that the warranty meant something.
If GM is really serious about competing for Accord/Camry business they will offer the 10 year warranty or at least 7/70 and then do their best to routinely beat the Japanese at the quality/reliability game [Not just a good model every other year].
Otherwise they’ll be also rans in both style and reliability.
Not a good place to be given that GM will NEVER be the low cost leader thanks to their generous union employee packages.
Mr Lutz,
To save me the cost of an expensive therapist, perhaps you can give me a spot diagnosis.
1) Am I schizophrenic?
I want GM to succeed. I also want to punish the lazy GM designers and workers who’d rather bribe me than give me what I want at a fair price.
2) Am I superficial?
I want to buy something cool, exciting, fresh, hip, edgy. But I absolutely *detest* the theme song for the new Cadillac, which makes me think of 1970s-era blue-collar knuckleheads and recalls those grim days of my adolescence when Detroit deejays staged bash-a-Toyota contests (sledgehammers provided free of charge).
3) Am I unpatriotic and ungrateful?
I really, really, really do not want to buy a German car, in part because their workers are even lazier than US ones, and would love to see an American company succeed. But I really, really, really don’t want to bail your company out, especially because your workers enjoy a low-cost (to them) health insurance plan that is far more generous than anything I and my family can ever hope to purchase.
4) Am I shallow and unkind?
I read comments here praising your exceptional willingness to step forth and face the public. I note however that you adopt the standard Wall Street analyst talk BS when you praise year-on-year sales without comparing these to competitors’ sales, or noting the incentives used to purchase these sales.
Thanks in advance,
t
The Hot Button giveaway is a great idea, however, I am NOT going to participate. You know why? I am not comfortable with the dealer experience. As a well-read consumer with a strong distaste for hard-sell tactics, I can’t turn myself into shark-chum by stepping into a dealer to push the Hot Button.
I plan to purchase all my subsequent new vehicles either through third-party negotiations (like Costco) or by negotiating via Internet.
Sorry, Mr. Wagoner. I am curious about your latest cars, but is there any way I can push the Hot Button without going to a dealer?
I love the optimism, Bob. Hope to hear more from less biased sources. I too am biased: I help build 820+ SUVs in Arlington, Tx. The dearth of good news has hammered morale so please keep up the outstanding (and cutting edge tech comm) blog. I’m spreading the news down here…
I think my generation (born 1970) is still very skeptical of all GM products having our first cars be from the early 80’s GM models. These cars were about the worst cars ever built and badge engineering at its most rediculous. I have a hard time considering a Cadillac after spending years laughing at the Cimarron “the Cadillac Cavalier”. I see Buick as the brand of choice for q-tips (aka white haired old people) Go to any Golden Corral parking lot and count them. Buick is, plagiarising Dr Evil, the margarine of automobiles. Ultra bland styling…rides like a couch on a waterbed. In my biased view, I have a hard time understanding the concept of a performance oriented Buick. Then again, I never understood the Olds Aurora either.
How can you run a blog if its just a load of busineess propaganda, by the way I think Toyota and Citroen make a better range of motors as at least they are not produced in factories in developing nations to save money, ignoring the lives your organization cocked up when downsizing!
Brock Yates declared it recently in Car and Driver, and I’d like to endorse it: It’s way past time for GM to put its pushrod engines out to pasture. GM is the unfortunate worldwide laggard in this regard, and and it is badly hurting the public perception of the corporation’s products.
Dear Mr. Lutz,
I might consider a GM product at some time in the future, but that depends on how soon you can build a car that meets just a few criteria for styling, interior quality, and drivetrain configuration.
Some suggestions:
1) Create original, tasteful (yet innovative) styling for each division. A great job is already being done with Cadillac. Keep it up.
2) Quality of materials used for interiors must be substantially improved (i.e., please STOP using cheap hard plastics and fake wood trim). It seems odd that any current Volkswagen model has a much higher quality interior than even a Cadillac.
3) Expand your non-SUV lineup with more RWD and/or AWD models if you expect to compete with Europe’s best. Again, you’re on the right track with the Cadillac division.
I believe that GM vehicles has no quality compare to Japanese’s auto makers.I believe GM must compete better with there vehicles or else GM will fall behind in the market.I believe GM must invest in more quality vehicles and more fuel efficient vehicles. Also it cant be like one quality vehicle for each of GM brands. All of there vehicles must compete agents company like toyota,honda,hyundai and other foreign auto makers.GM must repair there reputation as a typical american cheep car,with poor interior,poor engine and brakes down quickly and full of engine problems. nobody thinks of GM as a great quality vehicles like toyota and honda. If GM does not beef up there quality in there vehicles GM will go bankrupt and that’s not good news if GM goes into bankruptcy because american economy will falls with too.
I don’t expect to be viewed but what I’d like to know is why does it take so long for GM or any other auto maker to realize that your not going to push these autos and trucks that nevert pass a filling station. I may have bought my last new car or truck. I refuse to pay the price of a house for something that cost a house payment to fill up. The only saying you can fool and you know what comes next. GM- Ford and the rest need to go into the parts business because as long as I can make it run I will. None of the auto dealers have anything that I’d go into debt for anymore.
Bob:
Why not be an innovator and completely switch most of the GM lineup over to hybrids, or at least add hybrid engines to most models as an option? And do it in the next two years.
Don’t follow the trend, establish it. And do it in China too before they pollute us all into extinction. That would be the greatest legacy you could leave our planet. GM needs to be the “green” leader to compete. GM used to be the industry leader in many categories.
The flexible fuel vehicle is also the most needed form of transportation in our history.
If you could turn most of your fleet into Chevy Volt-type of vehicles, you would have a lot of the market back. Super-mileage vehicles could be the linch-pin of GM’s comeback. You aren’t in the oil business, you are in the transporation business. Your vehicles don’t have to burn a lot of gas to be popular.
The Volt is innovative and unique, and if all GM cars followed its’ design, people would return to the GM fold. People are tired of boring cars. People want individuality, and their car to be distinct from other brands.
One way of doing this is simple. Make certain colors of cars only available on certain makes. A Pontiac green and a Chevy green should be distinct to the brand.
Have you ever considered building a one-seater car based on a motorcycle chassis? Something with just enough storage space for groceries. A lot of us single people could get by with that. Many motorcycle engines have a lot of power too–especially if built on light-weight composite frames, or fiberglass like the Corvette. These vehicles would also be great for fleets for purposes like parking meter maids, and parks and recreation vehicles. As a taxpayer, it makes me made to see a city employee driving alone in a vehicle with a big V-8 engine. I think of all the wasted gas just to transport that individual. Getting efficient vehicles like this into fleets would free up so much money spent on fuel that could go back into government and business budgets to accomplish other tasks.
Thus, a line of GM motorcyles and motorcyle-based passenger vehicles. How about a Corvette motorcycle? Ford has Harley-Davidson trucks. It’s a sub-market, but one with growth potential–especially in the third world. The motorcyle-based passenger vehicle that is. This type of vehicle could save us if we ever end up in a energy crisis like the 1970s, or if our oil supply is severly-threatened. GM would be in the position to mass produce these vehicles and save America from being trapped at home in the suburbs away from public transit systems. People would still be able to get to work. Most workers commute alone, and less than 20 miles. It would be a great second or third vehicle for some people.
GM produced some of the best designed cars in the 1950s and 60s, and that’s why they are now among the most collected vintage cars. Do it again.
Just saying. You have to be bold to get the market back.