Quote:
Originally Posted by Buickman
Our problems have nothing to do with the number of brands in the portfolio or the number of franchised dealers. It's not the economy, fuel prices or legacy costs. It's not raw material expense or exchange rates, It's really not even the competition. The trouble is, and has been, with the marketing. The current Memorial Day Sale is a perfect example, the rebates/ incentives are mind blowing in complexity. Private mail offerings where no one knows who is on the list for $2-3,000 cash offers, or how the list was generated...(can you say collusion Mr Gerosa, now of the Al Serra Auto Plaza). There are special finance rates and "alternative" rates with varying attachments, old invoice credits which penalize dealers who properly managed inventories, differing lease factors and residuals depending on ie. reg cab, ex or crew, engine size, etc..., and even more/worse.
Figuring a car deal is much like a New York Times crossword puzzle, no exaggeration. The distress pricing ads are just now hitting, so much for "Value Pricing". GM talks from both sides of the mouth, has no credibility, alienates dealers and confuses the hell out of customers. And of course here come the pins, signs, posters, etc...who has the brother owning a print shop (can you say corruption Mr LaNeve?)????
Until the marketing changes dramatically, we will never experience a "turnaround". Walk into any GM dealership and see if the salesperson can explain stabilitrack. Who's got time for product knowledge when it takes three hours to decipher the daily dilemma of "the deal"?
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GM's marketing is poor and without focus, it is trying to sell pickups in SoCal instead of building on the high MPG of the Cobalt XFE and Malibu 32 MPG LTZ models and when GM does do ads for the high MPG cars they are lumped together and lack a separate ad with a holiday sales promotion like Toyota does out here with the Corolla.
The Corolla ads are straight forward showing you the car (inside and out) with a simple text and voice over telling you about the MPG and lease price which is all most customers want - they know what kind of car they can get, what the cost is and how much the MPGs are, bet they sell a lot of cars from that ad with customers just picking out colors, giving the sales staff more time to properly sell accessories boosting dealer profit and sales staff morale and salaries.
Toyota also spends a lot of ad money on building up the "dealer experience" and shows the "ALL NEW LARGER" dealers with full amenities for waiting customers with new, clean service bays staffed with friendly employees - now I do not know that is what customers actually experience BUT it is interesting that Toyota spends so much ad money on it.