GM Inside News Forum - View Single Post - Business Magazine Suggests GM Should Close 5 Of Its 8 U.S. Brands

t-rex · 05-15-2008, 04:05 PM

There's no reason why all of GM's brands, even the now-defunct Oldsmobile, couldn't survive, or even thrive, as full-line brands. GM damaged its brands, not the market.

Buick: soft, refined luxury. Priced between Chevy and Cadillac.
Cadillac: expensive luxury cars
Chevrolet: mainstream family cars and retro-themed models
GMC: upscale SUV's. Remake GMC along the lines of Land Rover/Range Rover.
Hummer: move to mainstream, competing with Jeep. Sell in Chevy showrooms.
Oldsmobile: midsize and up Opels, with new flagship models to be shared with Opel
Pontiac: the smaller Opels, and RWD products shared with Holden
Saab: Highly individualistic, aircraft-inspired cars, with no pretention of being "upscale"
Saturn: Inexpensive Daewoo-sourced subcompacts and compacts plus Opel's MPVs.

It'd take some fanagling to get the dealer channels right...

But if rationalisation is the answer, sell off Hummer and Saab (sadly, I don't think anybody would want either), kill GMC (I refuse to believe the vast majority of GMC buyers wouldn't migrate to Chevy), reshape Buick, and kill either Saturn or Pontiac, with the survivor of the two selling Opels and Holdens (I'm thinking Pontiac could do a better job of doing this).

Have three sales channels: mainstream Chevrolet, upscale/import Buick-Pontiac, and luxury Cadillac.

05-15-2008, 04:05 PM	#44 (permalink)
t-rex 6.2 Liter LS9 Supercharged V8 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New Orleans Drives: 2005 BMW 325i. Posts: 7,515	Re: Business Magazine Suggests GM Should Close 5 Of Its 8 U.S. Brands There's no reason why all of GM's brands, even the now-defunct Oldsmobile, couldn't survive, or even thrive, as full-line brands. GM damaged its brands, not the market. Buick: soft, refined luxury. Priced between Chevy and Cadillac. Cadillac: expensive luxury cars Chevrolet: mainstream family cars and retro-themed models GMC: upscale SUV's. Remake GMC along the lines of Land Rover/Range Rover. Hummer: move to mainstream, competing with Jeep. Sell in Chevy showrooms. Oldsmobile: midsize and up Opels, with new flagship models to be shared with Opel Pontiac: the smaller Opels, and RWD products shared with Holden Saab: Highly individualistic, aircraft-inspired cars, with no pretention of being "upscale" Saturn: Inexpensive Daewoo-sourced subcompacts and compacts plus Opel's MPVs. It'd take some fanagling to get the dealer channels right... But if rationalisation is the answer, sell off Hummer and Saab (sadly, I don't think anybody would want either), kill GMC (I refuse to believe the vast majority of GMC buyers wouldn't migrate to Chevy), reshape Buick, and kill either Saturn or Pontiac, with the survivor of the two selling Opels and Holdens (I'm thinking Pontiac could do a better job of doing this). Have three sales channels: mainstream Chevrolet, upscale/import Buick-Pontiac, and luxury Cadillac. Last edited by t-rex : 05-15-2008 at 04:11 PM.