Buick-Pontiac-GMC Channel Officially Goes Public With New Face

[Ming]

Premier Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealership opens in Florida

Carl's Buick-Pontiac-GMC Reborn after Hurricanes
Mar 2007

The first all-new Buick-Pontiac-GMC showroom in the United States will open its doors here Thursday.

After being destroyed by hurricanes Francis and Jeanne in 2004, Carl's Buick-Pontiac-GMC at 2445 S.E. Federal Highway has put the finishing touches on a completely new, modern exterior and interior design.

"I'm proud to participate in this great occasion," said John Larson, general manager of GM's Buick-Pontiac-GMC divisions in Detroit. "Carl's is part of a growing number of dealerships that have combined the three brands under one roof. He is also one of the first to invest in an all-new facility image design."

Channel Strategy
In 2002, GM announced a strategy to group the Buick, Pontiac and GMC brands into one preferred distribution channel. Currently, about 1,600 dealers are aligned, and together they sell about 65 percent of the volume for the three brands.

"We believe this provides a competitive advantage for our dealers," Larson said. "The Buick- Pontiac-GMC channel allows GM to optimize each brand by developing distinct yet complementary vehicles that reduce product overlap, broaden the appeal of each model and reach new customers."

Each brand in the channel has it own defining characteristics:

• Pontiac: Athletic, bold designs with great performance
• Buick: Premium vehicles that offer classic, timeless designs, and exquisite levels of craftsmanship and high quality
• GMC: Professional Grade trucks, SUVs and crossovers engineered to provide superior capabilities and innovative features.

New Facility Design
The Buick-Pontiac-GMC team worked with dealer input, GM Design Staff and a nationally recognized design firm - Pavlik Design Team of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. - to come up with the design. The new showroom exudes a clean, modern feel, with distinct areas for the three brands.

The dealership's exterior features a black, white and gray color scheme, constructed of brushed metal panels with bright metal inserts, and black metal accents.

The interior design includes a modern balance of light cherry wood and a ceramic tile floor. The interior also takes several of the visual design elements from the exterior and incorporates them into the interior, such as the arch over the receptionist's desk.

The overall result is an efficient facility design program that provides Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers with consistent brand identification, as well as a modern and pleasing environment for their customers.

http://www.prdomain.com/companies/G/...0073239394.htm

Can an automaker make more money by merging three brands into one? General Motors will soon find out. Having combined Pontiac and GMC some 10 years ago, GM is now quietly folding in ailing Buick to create what it hopes will be a more competitive and profitable sales channel, Buick-Pontiac-GMC.

GM expects combined B-P-G dealerships to save money through shared "back office" functions at the corporate level and to earn money through combined dealerships that can be more profitable than separate Buick and Pontiac-GMC points. GM now has almost 14,000 dealers in all, way too many for its much-reduced sales volume and market share. B-P-G is intended to help reduce that to a realistic level in an orderly fashion.

Many B-P-G dealers will be remodeling showrooms, customer waiting areas and other facilities around an identifiable new look. More significant to consumers are the trimmer lineups planned for Buick and Pontiac, which will no longer try to be everything to everybody. As Pontiac-GMC general manager John Larson explains, the B-P-G strategy aims to "focus the lineups on the core models that embody the best of each brand."

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...nquer-cga.html

[Lewie]

That article is a little misleading. They've been doing business for the past 2+ years under the name Carl's Suburban or Carl's Suburban Buick, but they just recently finished renovations and have now changed names.

I work for the ADI that services West Palm and they've been a good customer, and have really picked up business since last August.

[thedivibird]

Check out the design sketches at the architect's website:
http://www.pavlikdesign.com/automotive/bpg.asp

[camaro_freak]

so GMC have a Lambda and Buick has a Lambda. Both will be in the same showroom. Isn't that product overlap?

I'm just confused on why Chevy doesn't have a Lamdba if GMC-P-B are going to be configured as one dealership

[Ming]

Originally Posted by camaro_freak

so GMC have a Lambda and Buick has a Lambda. Both will be in the same showroom. Isn't that product overlap?

I'm just confused on why Chevy doesn't have a Lamdba if GMC-P-B are going to be configured as one dealership

It is extremely lame, except when you consider the Rendezvous and Rainier going away and 30% or so of the Buick dealers are stand-alone.

I don't agree that Chevy needs a clone of everything in BPG, however (and vice versa). Of course, the habit of GM fans is to assume that any Chevy that comes out will spawn a Pontiac, Buick - and if its a truck, a GMC.

Solstice, Vibe, Enclave, Acadia --- these are a few cars that actually give someone a reason not to go to the Chevy dealership instead for a cheaper deal. Unfortunately Buick has no truly unique cars to itself in the U.S. market unless you count the outgoing Rendezvous that outlived its Aztek platform mate.

[rsbaker]

What happens to the remaining stand alone Buick or Pontiac dealerships. There is actually a stand alone Buick Dealership where I live. It sells only Buicks and no other brand, Foreign or Domestic. I'm amazed it is still in business.

[stevecmh]

looks fancy.. i hope it works for GM combining the dealerships.. thats a huge undertaking on many levels

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by Ming

It is extremely lame, except when you consider the Rendezvous and Rainier going away and 30% or so of the Buick dealers are stand-alone.

I don't agree that Chevy needs a clone of everything in BPG, however (and vice versa). Of course, the habit of GM fans is to assume that any Chevy that comes out will spawn a Pontiac, Buick - and if its a truck, a GMC.

Solstice, Vibe, Enclave, Acadia --- these are a few cars that actually give someone a reason not to go to the Chevy dealership instead for a cheaper deal. Unfortunately Buick has no truly unique cars to itself in the U.S. market unless you count the outgoing Rendezvous that outlived its Aztek platform mate.

Chevy doesn't neccessarily need a Lambda, but a PBG dealer doesn't need two-the Acadia probably shouldn't exist.

[JonathanRohr]

I always thought it would be really cool, albiet tacky, to have a very dynamic split-personality showroom.

Modern luxury decorating on the right for Buick (nice couches, lamps, floors, etc), rocky and industrial in the middle for the GMC's (sheetmetal floors, very utilitarian), and racetracky with mufflers and rims on the wall for Pontiac on the left.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by rsbaker

What happens to the remaining stand alone Buick or Pontiac dealerships. There is actually a stand alone Buick Dealership where I live. It sells only Buicks and no other brand, Foreign or Domestic. I'm amazed it is still in business.

I think their goal (whether stated or not) is to starve the standalone dealers of product, so that if they want a full lineup, they either have to become a BPG dealer, or sell their franchise to a larger dealer and fold up shop. It's hard to imagine a standalone Buick dealership being viable, with basically only two cars and a crossover in the immediate future. Yet they don't want a RWD Zeta-based model when it's offered to them?

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by rsbaker

What happens to the remaining stand alone Buick or Pontiac dealerships. There is actually a stand alone Buick Dealership where I live. It sells only Buicks and no other brand, Foreign or Domestic. I'm amazed it is still in business.

By law, GM can't pull thier franchise without buying them out. So the goal is to let them struggle until they are willing to close it down. If they are making a profit, they could remain indefinitely.

[tgagneguam]

There's a Buick-Pontiac dealership in my area about 2 miles from a GMC-Cadillac dealership. I'm interested to see how the brand-folding will occur, especially since they're both small dealerships that seem ill-equipped to spend significant money on construction/renovation projects.

It [almost] goes without saying that any brand reorganizations that occur at GM will hinge on supplying each brand with strong product that enhances clearly-defined brand identities and missions. I've seen enough brand reorganizations gone awry that I'm left to wonder how well GM is reflecting on this move. Like several potential brand strategies, I think B-P-G Group could do well, but again it's going to rely more on product than it will specifically on how GM's eight brands are banded together. I hope this one works well.

[Xeper]

Originally Posted by Ming

Is that a GMC concept behind the lady (cant remember the name of the concept)? Looks nice though. So BPG is one, does that mean that every other brand is stand alone? Cadillac, Chevrolet, Hummer?

Where I live, there is a truly nice combination of GM vehicles at the dealership...

Cadillac / Pontiac / SAAB
Luke Fruia, Brownsville, TX
www.justaskforluke.com

I think those three fit nicely together.

[Geotpf]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

There's a Buick-Pontiac dealership in my area about 2 miles from a GMC-Cadillac dealership. I'm interested to see how the brand-folding will occur, especially since they're both small dealerships that seem ill-equipped to spend significant money on construction/renovation projects.

It [almost] goes without saying that any brand reorganizations that occur at GM will hinge on supplying each brand with strong product that enhances clearly-defined brand identities and missions. I've seen enough brand reorganizations gone awry that I'm left to wonder how well GM is reflecting on this move. Like several potential brand strategies, I think B-P-G Group could do well, but again it's going to rely more on product than it will specifically on how GM's eight brands are banded together. I hope this one works well.

Well, in that case, nothing needs to be done (except maybe combining the two into a single BPGC dealer). The thing that's really a problem are the rural, stand alone, Buick dealers that have been there forever. Those probably only survive on sales of used cars and on the parts and service department-they probably sell one new car a week or even less.

[SUPERBADD75]

this is the most important part of it all, right here....

More significant to consumers are the trimmer lineups planned for Buick and Pontiac, which will no longer try to be everything to everybody. As Pontiac-GMC general manager John Larson explains, the B-P-G strategy aims to "focus the lineups on the core models that embody the best of each brand."

as long as they stay true to this, it can work, and work quite well. as far as Lambda overlap, i never thought GMC should have one, since it's not a "real" truck, but if the Envoy is going away in a few years, they need to transition Envoy buyers into something, so i guess they might as well have it for that purpose. the Enclave is, IMO, styled so differently in and out, and is upscale enough to justify its coexistence with the Acadia. other than that, once the Rainier is gone i think they will have a good mixture of vehicles without a ton of overlap, and each brand should represent itself pretty well. i think what they're doing with those 3 brands has them on the right track. once the newer, better products make their way to the lots (Zetas, EPIIs, and so on..) they should really be on a roll.