UPDATE: Questioning Our Brand Strategy?

June 1st, 2007

UPDATE: Questioning Our Brand Strategy?

Take a look at FYI for a response posted by Christopher Barger regarding a letter to the editor in USA Today yesterday suggesting GM drop some of its brands. -Alicia Dorset, blog editor

Posted in Business

31 Comments

June 1st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Frank

Instead of dumping money into Saab and Hummer, how about fixing Buick.
Buicks lineup is disgraceful. The Lacrosse is boring and ugly, as are the Rendezvous, Renier,and Terraza. The Lucerne is half decent but its by no means stiff completion for its competitors (Toyota Avalon, VW Passat, Volvo S40, Chrysler 300, Infinity G35, Lincoln MKZ ect ect.) Ill give them credit for the Enclave, but one car is not going to fix everything!

Buick should consist of: The Enclave, Park Avenue, a Grand National Coupe, and the Efijy. I don’t think GM realizes the potential of the Efijy. I guarantee the craze in the Hip Hop/Rock community would rival that of the Escalade. Price it around $30-38K and that car would sell like hotcakes.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:28 pm
getalifeagain

Brand loyalty has diminished, but is not a thing of the past.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:13 am
Rom Marks

How can you say that you are confident that GM is moving in the right direction? Do you really enjoy this death spiral that you are in in North America? Maybe you are so used to losing market share that it isn’t any big deal anymore.

Until you truly embrace designing and building great cars and trucks and stop the cost cutting cheaper is better mentality, GM will continue losing market share. Why can’t you see this? What is so darn difficult that you can’t see past the fact that making your cars cheaper has never worked to build market share? Yet everyone in the GM organization is aligned on one thing - cut costs at any cost. It’s just plain ignorant, and you continue to keep you heads in the sand.

Until GM market share improves, the executives should be forced to work for $10 per hour with no stock options or other undeserving perks.
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
Rene Curry

You are doing a great job with Saturn, Cadillac.
You just need a clear strategy for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, & GMC.

I would make GMC the truck focus and merge in Hummer.

Pontiac - Premium performance, tight handling. Can be a combination front & rear drive. For this to work, Corvette needs to change brands. That would really prove that Pontiac is serious. Throw in some Holdens too. But get rid of the econo FWD cars before moving Corvette. Small cars like the mini all the way up to mid sized rear drivers. Turbos, super chargers.

Chevrolet needs to be maximum value, good styling, & high volume. Repeat and rinse - low priced. Not too many options. Across the board. This is your loss leader brand, the milk of GM.

Buick needs to be that middle ground between Chevrolet & Cadillac. Just like the 50s & 60s. Add Diesels, hybrids, etc to distinquish the brand from the others to justify premium pricing. Maybe the VOLT needs to be in Buick’s stable.

You need a new dealer network called “GM world cars” or equal. The mix would always change based on economics such as currency & market trends. No branding here! Lower volume niche vehicles in the dealers home market but pulling models from other high volume markets. Margins can be mined here.

I would make this a goal of design & marketing… Change something every year on very model. Plan changes in at the beginning and do it at low cost. A grille here, a tail light there really works. Keep the excitement going. People like the latest version. Don’t listen to the resale value bean counters.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:19 am
krivka

Renee is out of his mind. Changing a Corvette to Pontiac?
Getring rid of Pontiac and Buick would make more sense. GM already has a premium US brand, Cadillac, and Chevy and Saturn would be the performance Brands. GMC would sell trucks and SUVs.
Geez you guys make it so hard to to business. Keeping things simple keeps your costs down and increase the items value to the consumer.
GMCs Bread and Butter brand is Chevrolet, I would be willing to bet that if GM would spin off Chevrolet, Chevrolet would be the winner. Pontiac is and has been nothing but a small Chevrolet upgrade. No real history. The GTO was a souped up Chevelle.
Its time to play in the international market, and GM has to step up and offer the best car for every purpose. Please stop cloning cars for the sake of dealerships profits.
Bye-bye Pontiac, so long Buick! Most of this country won’t miss you a single little bit.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Alex

I agree with the fact GM as way too many brands. In fact your dealers are have to fight against each others to make sales. Toyota in the other and is tageting others brands.

Take saturn for example. It just got a good month. But It made the sales at the expense of the pontiac and Chevrolet dealers. GM as a whole is loosing market share.
Saturn, Pontiac and GMC Should go.

GM should merge Saturn,Pontiac into Chevrolet since it`s a global brand.

This way, all stores would sell Chevrolet (Value) Buick (Mid Premium) and Chevrolet Trucks.

Luxury divisons would have Cadillac and Saab

Some would get also Hummer since it`s more exclusive.

GM would get ride of tones of copy cars that brings no mony lile the Wave,G5,G6,Aura,Outlook,Acadia,SV6,envoy,Equinox (Torrent looks better, juste rebadge it!) etc.

GM would be Leaner and Meaner.

The current structure is to heavey. For example, If the Aura sales slow down, but the G6 and Malibu is on target, what do you do? Do you reduce the price of the Aura AND all the G6 AND Malibu to keep there market position in balance? How much money does that cost?

Bottow line, GM might says 8 brands is a good strategy but the profits seems to show that Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Nissan have a better one!

Open your eyes guys!
June 4th, 2007 at 11:08 am
JohnP

I still think you missed the boat when you cancelled Oldsmobile. Sure the recent products had been srodgy, and really had become “my father’s Oldsmobile”, but the Aurora was world class. A better bet would have been to have merged Olds and Saturn, or simply done away with Saturn instead. Saturn is becoming (with a virtually full line-up, and mainstream production techniques (read: steel bodies))what Olds could have been transformed into. A re-introduction of Opel to the states and not just rebadging would not hurt the company in the least.

Interestingly the realignment of Buick-Pontiac-GMC is simply a return in history to the sixties when such was so. I see no problems with that structure. But now you should align Saturn with Chevy, instantly increasing the number of outlets where they are available. I refuse to buy or even look at a Saturn when the nearest dealers are 90 miles away. Our market (Erie, PA) was promised a Saturn dealership over 10 years ago. We are still waiting. For what? Certainly not EDLP consistent from dealer to dealer (look at markups on the Sky for example)
June 4th, 2007 at 11:34 am
edvard

I don’t think that GM necessarily has too many brands. But as many have mentioned, there is a sense that too many brands share the same models with some mild trim differences. That in itself isn’t the major problem I see.

Even though what I am seeing from GM these days is vastly improved even from just a few years ago, somehow quiet a few of your models still lack that final touch. The trim isn’t exactly finished in appearance. We’re talking small things here. Details like the head and tail light design. Door handles and the plastic engine shrouds.

The one major commonality I see in almost all GM products, and for that matter most domestic models is the lack of refinement and style that goes into the rear of the cars. A sort of bland non-descript finish. Of the GM lineup, only some of the brands like Cadillac and Corvette have a more refined styling treatment. In other words, a car needs to have iconic styling from front to back, inside and out.

Another thing is that some of your brands are missing what I assume is your target audience. For example- Cadillac;a brand that is supposed to represent everything that is new and sophisticated from GM; a brand brought back from near extinction and intended to take it’s rightful place next to BMW and Mercedes. Logically the type of customer who buys a Cadillac would also have been considering a BMW. But I seldom see that kind of customer buy them. Instead, all I can say is that for now, Cadillac has a certain “bling” appeal.It is a brand that totally misses the mark in terms of it’s intended market consumer.

What I’m getting at is this: I like GM. I like some of their cars and trucks. But there is still a seemingly large gap in refinement when comparing segment to segment, brand to brand, and consumer group to consumer group.

If you compare a top off the line Cadillac to a top of the line Lexus, unfortunately I have to say that even now, Lexus is a bit more refined in every way.The same can be said for Chevrolet and Toyota. The new Camry is borderline luxury and comes with a premium price tag as well. Compared to the current Malibu, it is by far a nicer car. I will have to check out the upcoming Malibu to be fair though.

So where could GM make money from their current situation? By doing a bit of history repeating. Toyota got their start here by offering decent cars with more features than was expected at no extra charge. This came at a time when many US cars were bloated, overloaded, and as much as 1/3rd more expensive than their Japanese competition.

These days that equation has been reversed: A fully loaded Camry is almost $30,000.What GM needs to do is this: Spend more time on the refinements of your cars. The small things I mentioned above like lights, door handles, etc etc. Nothing major. Just make the cars have better aesthetic value. Then punch up the features. Add tons of gadgets- heated seats, sunroofs, Navigation systems… the whole nine yards. Then charge 20k for the car. Campaign to show the value the consumer gets over the competition. These types of campaigns have been swept under the carpet for years, but I think a simplified value-driven campaign would be highly effective. Take that same approach Toyota did years ago and win back consumers with value.

I feel like you guys are about 85% there. Now give it your go and win back the market share.
June 4th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
krivka

It is about time that more people on this are seeing and talking about the redundancy that is hobbling GM. Alex explained one strategy but their are others, and they have all been posted on this blog.
Getting rid of brands does have an upfront cost because the dealers have more power than is warranted in todays market. Many people complain about the legacy costs of the Big Three without mentioning the costs to the company incurred by franchise owners. If you get rid of Pontiac, which is a worthless brand, and give the franchisees a GMC truck and Certified GM Used Car lot, along with a GM Mr. Goodwrench that would service ALL GM models, then their feelings wouldn’t be so battered. But one has to wonder how Honda can make money on their small cars and GM can’t. I love GM, and think they alone among the US HQd automakers can make a run at the rest of the world’s makers.
But it will take a project larger than the last project (Saturn) and will cost big bucks.
They need to be the BEST engine maker, they need to maybe think about putting up some cellulosic ethanol distilleries (the fuel monopoly is done once this occurs, NO CORN INTO ETHANOL though!) switchgrass is ideal,it’s not a foodstuff and is free to grow. Do this and GM is the tip of the spear of a new industry and will provide the cars and fuel for the new century. Everybody wins. Only GM can do this today.
It all fiction today, but some car maker is going to get into the fuel business sooner or later, it might as well be GM.
Getting back to reality, GM needs to get back to reality.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
noel park

I read over the weekend that Ford has Volvo up for sale. How about Saab? I wouldn’t miss it.

I also read that GM has Allison up for sale. Isn’t that a bit of going through the fat and into the muscle? It’s certainly a big selling point on the heavier duty pickups.

Look what Roger Penske has done with Detroit Diesel. Maybe he’ll buy Allison too. They sort of go together, I guess.

Sell Saab and keep Allison, if you ask me. Which, clearly, nobody has done!
June 4th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
jg

GM needs all of its brands, just needs to focus them better.

GM needs a full sized convertible: time for the Velite

Also, bring some of the great names: Riviera, Catalina, etc.
June 5th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Luke

Any change of a wagon version of the Volt? As I approach 30, I’m becoming enamored with the Wagon form-factor for cars, since it seems both practical and relatively efficient.

Plus, I don’t need a car to tell me that I’m cooler than the teenagers with Type R stickers on their Cavaliers… Also, the older people whose opinion I consider to be important all respect practicality.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:00 am
jg

There are too many brands. We need to get rid of:

Kia
Hyundai
Mitsubishi
SCion
Subaru
June 5th, 2007 at 11:10 am
krivka

the post by jg is interesting. He mentions car brands that people are buying. Does Chevy have a Rio 5? I do like the HHR, but mileage is still not where it should be. The Sonata is a much better car than the Malibu, which is a good car. Maybe the new Malibu will win the hearts of car buyers. Scion offers a great value, the Cobalt and other vehicles fall short. Chevy is close, but GM does not play in the same league with the best of those brands you want to get rid of. What does GM have to counter the Lancer Evo? The ‘Vette is a completely different car. GM spends too much time trying to predict the future using old paradigms and needs to get moving. I do have faith in them and hope the next generation Cobalt will be the yardstick other makers will use. But mileage does matter, and even the Scions are missing the boat their mileage figures are not where they should be. But more importantly why is GM not making their high mileage engines available to the US market? One has to wonder.
One day soon people will stop buying the SUVs, cross-overs, and trucks and the company with the biggest manufacturing capacity for small up-scale cars will the winner. Fuel economy will be the #2 consideration when buying a car. Where doe GM play in this new game?
The Camaro is a beautiful car, but ain’t gonna make GM a profitable company and neither will closing plants. I don’t even know if GM knows what they are supposed to be doing anymore. Maybe the blog has them confused.
June 5th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
FredS

I grew up in a GM town during the mid to late 60’s. It used to be fun to ride with my parents at night and try to figure out the make and model of the cars in front us. It wasn’t that hard to determine the make. They all had their own distinct identity. Two round side-by-side tail lights and it was a Chevy. Solid horizontal bars and it was a Pontiac. Split horizontal bars were Buicks. Split horizontal corner blocks meant Olds. Vertical corner bar was the rare Cadillac. As for Ford and Chrysler, who cared? This was a GM town.

Looking at the tail lights of today’s vehicles, during the day, I can barely tell one manufacturer form another. Let alone one brand from another. At night it’s impossible. Granted, there are some exceptions. However, for the most part, today’s low to mid level sedans all look like they were designed by the same team. A lot of imitation and very little imagination!

Each of your brands needs to get their design identity back. The Outlook, the Acadia and the Enclave lack brand distinctiveness. I do like these vehicles. But they are way too much the same to be three different brands. When I see a Vette, I know it’s a Vette. When I see a Viper, I know it’s a Viper. When I see one of these new CUV’s I have to read the nameplate.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:25 am
fred_kanter

In days gone by when Buick was # 3 in sales in the US and their amrket share was 9.2%their slogan was “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” Today with Buick hovering in the low 1% market share and the sales falling 30% in the first 5 months, the public’s resounding reply to that rhetorical question is a resounding NO!!!

The Enclave is being introduced targeted towards 40 something women. I’m wondering what youngish 40-something woman would want to buy a car associated with the geriatric set?? The AVERAGE age of the Buick buyer is 73, that means there’s probably a significant percentage over 80 to have an average of 73.

The Lucerne was supposed to be THE car to revive Buick, it resulted in sales falling 30%. GM just doesn’t have a clue. In 1955 when Buick ruled the road and again in the 70’s they had sharp, sexy, colorful cars.

The NEW Super designated Lacrosse and Lucerne have marginally more power so the owners can get nowhere faster.
Didn’t GM learn anything from the GTO experience , blazingly fast .. looked like a lump?. Dead on arrival.

My money is on Buick to continue it’s rapid sales slide. Can GM really be that clueless? The answer is resoundingly YES . Buick has the most notable design legacy of any American make, It’s a real shame .

Buick’s used to be a car to aspire to, now they’re cars to retire to.

Sad
June 6th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Cotham

Ok where are the diesels? It appears diesel cost less than gasoline. And diesel has better BTU’s than gas/alcohol fuels. GM needs to get a diesel or those ISUZU diesels in cars, and light duty trucks. I am hungary for a Colorado/Canyon with a diesel. Stay away from Detroit Diesel, they are not fuel efficent (the DD Italian licensed diesel are in Jeeps).

What about cars? I don’t see any diesel in them. VW and MB has theirs, granted the EU influences.
June 12th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Art Matus

GM whats wrong. How come your not listening, can’t you see or hear. Your a great company but when did you guys loose it. Your behind in market share, quality of cars, fit and finish, miles per gallon, warranty coverage and vehicle selecton. You cut the quality of materials being used to build cars to save money, and in return the word got out that american cars are unreliable, interior and exterior trim parts fall off, break or tear and that american cars don’t last long. How is that for free advertisement. You brought out a few new crossovers. The GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook and the Buick Enclave but their gas engines and with gasoline prices reaching almost $4.00a gallon and probably passing $4.00 a gallon in April of 2008 as gas prices go up every year for some unforseen gas shortage right before the most traveled week in the year Memorial Day weekend, you would think you would of antcipated that, but no you did’nt. Do you really think that people want to pay $4.00 a gallon and only get 17 to 25 miles a gallon, you should of made these Hybrids. How about your warranty Five Years or 100,000 which every comes first. Toyota offers a 10 year warranty on their new Hybrid, eliminating any worries of huge repair cost and geting better mileage than their gas only competitors and because of the word on the street is that they build solid vehicles,its a name you can trust. Well there went your market share. Lexus also came out with a new car that will go from zero to sixty in 5.2 seconds and its a Hybrid. Can you see that they are giving us what we want without compromise, reliablity, style and peformance. Again your a great company but face it the problem is interanl not external. Where is the velite.
June 12th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Gregg

Bring back Oldsmoble with the 442, Cutlass, and others…if you put the power and looks in it, they will buy…I would love a Cutlass convertable with a 5.3 V8 in it…
June 12th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
noel park

I just heard on NPR that Ford has hired investment bankers to advise it on strategies for selling Jaguar and Land Rover.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Walter Pietorek

Brand strategy isn’t the problem - executive strategy (or lack thereof) is the problem. When everyone from the top down is forced to follow in the misguided direction of the Swedish Beancounter Czar, GM suffers. Sales suffer, quality suffers, and the customer gets shortchanged. You don’t get anything for nothing - something has to give. And the more you focus on cost cutting, the more your market share will dwindle down to nothing. You won’t have to worry about your brands, because GM will no longer exist. It’s just a matter of time before Toyota puts you out of your sorry misery.
June 14th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
James

Buick an Cadillac should be used to double team premium European cars. Cadillac should move upscale and be benchmarked against Mercedes. Buick should be benchmarked against Audi.
Cadillac should have mostly
v-8s and Buick should handle
the 6 cylinder luxury market.

Chevy should benchmark against Toyota and Pontiac should be based on Chevy but with unique styling, better performance and luxury.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Horli

I’ve always been a GM fanatic but it seems like all the cars now are performing poorly compared to others in their class.

Chevy:
C’mon guys let’s put some protein in our diets and make cars with more muscle. I drive a Cobalt now, nice car but I’m embarrased to stop at a light next to a Lancer or a Civic SI. Camaro is what I’m waiting for but why buy it when dealers will mark it up at least $10,000. Chevy needs to start bringing back some tradition. I would love to see a Chevelle or Nova emblem on a new Chevrolet. Also, please don’t put an SS badge on cars just to make them look good. SS=Supersport if you put that emblem on be true to it.

Pontiac:
I’m sorry to say is a lost cause. All their vehicles are just clones. Unless GM loosens the noose around designers necks this brand won’t survive.

Cadillac & Buick:
Cadillac should be the brand everyone wants to own one day. Kind of like a Mercedes or BMW. All luxury and performance no substitutes. Please make Cadillacs that rival other luxury brands. Cars like CTS and DTS are nice but deserve a Buick touch and badge. I agree the Efijy would do wonders for GM if brought to the States.

GMC:
Why do we need this brand? These are Silverados, Tahoes, and Suburbans with different styling.

Saturn:
Great innovation in style. I actually think this is the one brand that deserves credit.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 am
James S.

The blame is with GM management for not understanding the consumer.

That, and with Bob Lutz who mispronounced “Camaro” on Autoline Detroit, it’s no wonder that the market share is slipping.

Never present yourself as a “car guy” if you can’t pronounce “Camaro”. No-one at Ford, especially anyone who talks to the press, would mispronounce “Mustang”.

Where are the cars that people want to buy? Only a few years ago GM sold more LeSabres than all Saabs, yet Buick is allowed to languish.

Cut the overlap, add content, and V-8 cars should be Rear-Wheel Drive.

I didn’t stop buying GM vehicles, GM stopped building cars I wanted to buy.
June 23rd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
John Franklin

Listen up GM!
I’m your target market.
I’m 20 years old, successful, and will one day be buying a car every two years. You need to install brand loyalty in me TODAY! Toyota made an entire Company (scion) for that very reason, You must do something more drastic!

Your are only doing ONE thing wrong. Do you know what this is? Do you want to be unchallenged as the greatest car company in the world?

You have many assets, the most important of which isn’t on your balance sheet.
Car brands are so big, they go past name recognition/differentiation/brand loyalty. there is a 4th catagory of percieved value. this asset was used up when you blended all your car companies together, confusing us which of your makes are better then which, every time you let the bean counters touch the cars, and everytime someone complaines to their friends about their american car the broke down again. sure these things have short term gains in cash, but you sacrifice something far more valueable, your credibility as a car company.

how do you fix this? It won’t be easy, its a long road. far more expensive then the small rewards you got for selling your credibility for short term profits. you need to:
load up your cars with tons of features, passing costs along to consumers with no mark up. throught special contracts: pay suppliers for features when vehicles are actually sold to us. everyone complains about trim. fix this.

here is some small things you can do:
You need consultants in every demographic for their opinon on different marketing strategies. they need to be at the bored level. I know, being humble is difficult, I don’t think I’ll be able to do it when I’ve been in the industry as long as you guys, but sometimes you need to listen to a guy/girl with the same point of view of the people you are trying to sell to!

for my demographic:
you have:
pickups (you all ready have these guys keep up the good work!)

you need: flashy sports cars:
styling is HUGE.
2+2 coupe, with 300hp, so we don’t get beat by a 270hp mazdaspeed 6. light. fuel efficient. thats the magic equation. mercilessly steal styling from ferrari. market it under saturn and chevrolet (with a different shell), it will perpetuate saturn towards the european feel you are sending saturn towards. while we are on saturn, the Sky is beautiful, my dad wanted one until he found out it was called the “sky.”

marketing: People are really nationalistic. (thats the only reason that I support you guys.) use it to your advantage: in every foreign country you sell to, create a manufacturing plant if you don’t have one, and then promote the hell out of it with marketing. show them making their own cars. countries without their own car companies will feel national pride for your company!

load up your cars with tons of features, passing costs along to consumers with no mark up. throught special contracts: pay suppliers for features when vehicles are actually sold to us. everyone complains about trim. fix this.
June 24th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
w carroll

I have been gm buyer since 1965 olds starfire new. lots of olds 4 new cadys. what is gm thinging about. no olds they were only #3 for years no eldorado since 2002 ! no v-8 coupes . gto does not count.the new 2008 cts sits low in adds but will come up in the air like a 4-wheeler when it gets here! COME ON GM GET WITH -IT GO TO SOME CAR SHOWS SEE WHAT CAR PEOPLE WANT
June 26th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
David B

GM needs to build some exiting cars that also have utility. Look at Audi, all wheel drive sporty cars that also can haul your stuff. GM needs to build some rear wheel and all wheel drive cars that appeal to those of us who want a Corvette, or Solstice, but must have 4 seats and a trunk. The Camaro may do this, but you also need a forward looking vehicle. Die hards won’t like this idea, but make the Camaro rear dominant all wheel drive.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Jason Zebersky

I concurr with the comments about the dealership consortiums and associations having way too much power and sway.
I also think GM should consider microbrands.

CHECKER…..At Chevrolet or GMC dealers…full size hybred diesel for fleets

VEGA……Available a Saturn dealerships High tech RWD BMW smashers at VW prices American and PROUD of it, refinement goes into powertrain and suspension, interiors deliberaly spartain, Structural metal dash pannel annyone?

Dawoo….Available at Pontiac dealers Asian through and through and PROUD of it Not a captive import but the moral equivilent of Opel by Buick in the 1960’s
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:02 am
gtjeff

USA Today was correct in question GM’s brand strategy, they just came up with an incorrect analysis of the situation.

Only one GM brand should be eliminated in North America, Saab. A brand with only 260 dealerships in NA that is losing money, should not be receiving the attention it is getting. Getting parts for these cars in an issue, with your great distribution system, why is that?

The current problem with some of your other brands is that you have chosen to ignore a large segment of your existing customer base.

Saturn buyers that liked the plastic panels are now shopping other brands, ask your dealers. With less than 500 dealers nationwide, this brand is being overfunded. Buick buyers that want their same reliable car, now find out its been eliminated.

Pontiac claims to be a brand with great passion. It’s great heritage has been bulldozed, replaced with generic alphabet soup.

I question the Buick/Pontiac/GMC channel strategy. With a few thousand dealerships, why are these brands being starved for products? Pontiac and Buick could again be volume brands with the right product mix. Is the ultimate goal of this channel strategy to shut down another major brand?

Chevy looks to be on the right track, although the one thing that could be improved here and also with other GM brands is to stop exiting a market segment without a replacement. The impending exit from the minivan segment by GM is a perfect example of this.

GM has been improving in many areas recently. I would argue that the above mentioned issues have actually slowed the companies recovery down. The solution, admit you could use help. You know who to call.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
mike

I had a 2000 buick regal, and it had a tire pressure monitor system, but I recently traded it in on a 2006 Buick Lacrosse and it does not have the TPM I wonder why gm skipped this inmportant safety feature on the Lacrosse??? I used it several times in the Regal and it was the best safety feature I thought!! But I was totally surprised my Lacrosse did not have it what happed GM???? By the way the Lacrosse is a great car its a dream Buick I do not tell the difference in ride from the Lucerne great job Buick but please put the TPM back on the Lacrosses please!!!!Also come back with seat covers too

Thank You,
I love my Buick!!!!
January 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
msgee

I am sitting here in the Uk , having just purchased a new Cadillac.
Car is full of minor build-quality problems, but biggest problem of all is that the local GM dealers just do not understand how to market a premium USA brand in the UK.
Unless this fact is sorted out GM will never sell Cadillac here in the UK where we have many Japanese and European premium brands to choose from.

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FastLane

UPDATE: Questioning Our Brand Strategy?

31 Comments

Frank

getalifeagain

Rom Marks

Rene Curry

krivka

Alex

JohnP

edvard

krivka

noel park

jg

Luke

jg

krivka

FredS

fred_kanter

Cotham

Art Matus

Gregg

noel park

Walter Pietorek

James

Horli

James S.

John Franklin

w carroll

David B

Jason Zebersky

gtjeff

mike

msgee

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