GM Inside News Forum - View Single Post - Rumblings & Rants: Saving money, Cutting brands, and what GM SHOULD do to survive

goatgary · 09-06-2008, 05:30 PM

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! Kill off the oldest existing GM brand with the highest customer loyalty, 2nd highest sales volume with a very large dealer network. Why didn't I think of that.

Of course the assumption is that all those customers would go to Chevy. Not. WE know that it is essentially a Chevy but many many buyers don't...and as efforts have grown to differentiate the sheet metal and interiors, less people see it as a rebadge. "Professional Grade" has been the theme now for 10 years...long enough for a large percentage of truck shoppers to believe it. The suggestion that Chevy and GMC buyers are "ever so slightly" different is an erroneous assumption. For the the most part, these people clearly see themselves a "cut above". For that reason, F150 is not on their radar either. No, these are either Tundra or Dodge converts if GMC were to disappear.
To many GMC buyers, the yellow bow tie is cheesy and a considerable step down.

So.......sell Saab and Hummer, continue to refresh the Chevy line-up, bring out the Volt, flesh out the Buick and Pontiac lineup with a car unique to each line and consistent with brand heritage, reinstate a new flagship for Cadillac and call it a day.

09-06-2008, 05:30 PM	#152 (permalink)
goatgary 2.8 Liter Turbocharged V6 Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 844	Re: Rumblings & Rants: Saving money, Cutting brands, and what GM SHOULD do to survive Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! Kill off the oldest existing GM brand with the highest customer loyalty, 2nd highest sales volume with a very large dealer network. Why didn't I think of that. Of course the assumption is that all those customers would go to Chevy. Not. WE know that it is essentially a Chevy but many many buyers don't...and as efforts have grown to differentiate the sheet metal and interiors, less people see it as a rebadge. "Professional Grade" has been the theme now for 10 years...long enough for a large percentage of truck shoppers to believe it. The suggestion that Chevy and GMC buyers are "ever so slightly" different is an erroneous assumption. For the the most part, these people clearly see themselves a "cut above". For that reason, F150 is not on their radar either. No, these are either Tundra or Dodge converts if GMC were to disappear. To many GMC buyers, the yellow bow tie is cheesy and a considerable step down. So.......sell Saab and Hummer, continue to refresh the Chevy line-up, bring out the Volt, flesh out the Buick and Pontiac lineup with a car unique to each line and consistent with brand heritage, reinstate a new flagship for Cadillac and call it a day.