Quote:
Originally Posted by Ming
Clearly some brand cutting beyond Hummer must and will happen. It would make sense to combine Saturn with Pontiac and Buick, and let Chevrolet take on the full marketing mantle of trucks. There are more than enough Chevy dealerships out there t absorb GMC truck sales. If some GMC fans like the "look" of GMC trucks better (because there sure wasn't much else to be a fan of), then make sure the new Chevy trucks integrate the best of GMC truck looks.
A few people might rather see GM go down in flames on principle rather than lose their favorite brand.
I think a merging of sub brands under one header might be interesting.
In other words, Pontiac-Buick-Saturn would be SUB-BRANDS of new Brand Name X, like Scion in Toyota dealerships. BPG would be more than an oft-ignored "channel" it would be a brand.
All Pontiac, Buick and Saturn stand alone dealers would be forced to absorb all 3 sub brands and change their signs to reflect this.
For this Brand Name X, GM might extrapolate on their name like BP is now advertised as "Beyond" - not British - Petroleum. General Motors sounds so....generic.
Greater Momentum...something like that.
"Pontiac, Buick and Saturn are joining forces...
Head to your nearest Greater Momentum dealership for your Pontiac, Saturn, and Buick brands!"
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First let’s look at the truck market and what it will be in the future – not much different than the last 50 years.
The full size truck market in the U.S. is driven mainly by the construction/farm/housing/ranch/service market and the future truck market will rebound along with the construction/farm/housing/ranch/service market with 80% of full size trucks being used in one of three ways:
The construction/farm/housing/ranch/service market (including government and private business use)
Weekend recreational use (towing/hauling)
Occasional utility vehicle (runs to nursery/home improvement)
Trucks used in the construction/farm/housing/ranch/service market will be used often and replaced on a regular basis (unless the housing market implodes).
Trucks used for Recreational or Utility uses will be driven more on a temporary (2nd car) basis and not build up many miles and be purchased by individuals with higher discretionary income (BPG buyers).
The remaining 20% will be used for a variety of uses and will be used at near normal mileage rates.
Now GMC sells about 450,000 units at say an average $28K with a $7K profit per unit resulting in $12,600,000,000 in annual revenue generating $3,150,000,000 in profits and if GMC is cut all of this will be lost from either the 40 – 60 % of GMC buyers going to Toyota, Dodge or Ford and the Buick/Pontiac owners who will do likewise, not to mention to buyers GM will never see because many of them will think GM is shutting down since they think GMC stands for
General
Motors
Corporation (
I know it does not so save the posts).
Cut GMC you cut GM – No GMC = No GM
If you are convinced cutting GMC is a good idea, go to every BPG dealer combination that maybe in your area and ask the owner “If they would like to see GMC dropped”. Let me know what they say.
BPG dealers will continue to sell a lot of GMC trucks and SUV’s to it’s customers because they are older and have more discretionary income and in many cases will be selling personal use cars/SUV’s to the contractors, farmers, ranchers and small business owners who bought their GMC work trucks there. The truck sales and “supplemental” car sales they generate constitute a large portion of the actual profit BPG dealers make and they do not want to see GMC go away. Why would you replace a truck brand with a car brand, especially when this post is about too many brands – how many car brands do you need?
It is easy to justify two truck brands (one low end and one high end) and GMC has been pulling it’s weight and many have posted “make Chevy Trucks look like GMC’s”. Huh????!!!???
Isn’t that the same as keeping GMC?
This is not 1988 when Ford and GM were the only real players in the Full Size truck market, it is 2008 where Dodge and Toyota are viable players with attractive car lines complementing them, you cut GMC only if you are happy with 450,000 to 1,000,000 fewer annual sales and $3.2 Billion less in profits.
On top of that, look at how Toyota is responding - it cut truck production (predictable and logical), then it introduced a 500+ HP Tundra!
Sounds like they think the full size truck market will return to historical average sales levels when the housing market disaster plays out - and will be waiting to sell Tundras to anyone who wants one.