Business Magazine Suggests GM Should Close 5 Of Its 8 U.S. Brands

[Lunden]

Originally Posted by jkennedy293

The 2009 Traverse

But the Outlook came first. If anything the Traverse is the rebadge

[t-rex]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

YES. Sell it to BMW!!!
It'll fill the gap in between Mini and BMW. Nor would it overlap the BMW lineup.

Have you lost your marbles?????

Germans have NO IDEA how to make anything that's not German.

The Mini is as British as Bratwurst. My colon tightens every time I see one of those wannabes on the road, paling in comparison to my original beloved "brick".

Rolls-Royce is just a German clothed in English drag (rather like the royal family).

GM's done a bad enough job with Saab, I shudder to think what the Germans would do to it...

Und now on Sprockets, a vord from our noo sponsor, Saab, ze car zat is born from ze jets.

Part of Saab's current ennui comes from the fact that Opel as too much of it hand in Saab design.

If you want Saab around simply as a business case, then sell it to the Huns. But as a longtime Saabista, I'd rather see it go than turned into some nasty Bavarian interpretation of what a quirky Swedish car should be.

[jlt0x]

Originally Posted by zete

The number of brands isn't the issue, instead it's the fact each was a full line brand.

What we're seeing now is a niche strategy for specific brands -- Buick, Pontiac, Saturn -- while Chevrolet becomes the full-line brand.

With a niche strategy it will work fine. GM has the reach since they can spread the costs of a specific model around the world. The old GM would have each area have their own cars, but that's slowly disappearing. Pontiacs will be rebadged Holdens, which means Holden has an avenue in North America for their cars. Saturn are rebadged Opels, again, Opel gets an avenue in North America. Buick ends up being a total niche luxury player, focusing on comfort and unpretentious luxury and the Chinese market while Cadillac can go after everyone globally along with Chevrolet.

Killing Pontiac will hurt Holden. Killing Saturn hurts Opel. Killing Buick hurts Buick. And Buick is massive in China.

The article is written by someone who is so fixated on the North American part of GM they don't see the global picture. If the author had dug a bit deeper he'd have realized that what GM has been doing isn't simply consolidating dealerships but consolidating platforms. No longer are we going to see design and manufacturing replicate a small car for every market, instead they're looking at global platforms and global vehicles.

That's what Toyota does. And Toyota has started into niches with Scion.

Niches are the future. They won't sell like the main line, but they will keep people in the family when they no longer want the Chevrolet but want something more exotic. The niche brands will provide that, selling 200,000 - 300,000 vehicles a year tops. And as niche vehicles, GM can keep the supply limited and the profits high while Chevrolet can focus on those looking for a deal. Cadillac, once it regains its old luster, will simply charge a premium for being Cadillac.

And if you want to look at where the niche strategy currently works at GM look no further than Hummer. If that's not a niche vehicle, nothing is.

I like your reasoning. GM needs the core brands, but the other brands should be niche products (in the US) sold in far smaller numbers. Because there are so many different brands to chose from, consumers have come to expect GM to make full lines for each brand...and that's where GM has lost a lot of its focus.

[srd275]

You can kill of as many brands as you like, but it is not going to help GM here.

The time of killing off brands is over. I think GM is on the right path on consolidating their dealers into brand groups.

GM needs to build the cars people want irespective of CAFE.

I would rather pay the blasted Gas Guzzeler tax than drive around in a stupid Chevette any day.

[Rocket 88]

Originally Posted by Astra RL

Killing brands fails. .

No it didn't. Oldsmobile is really dead.

[Yarddawg1987]

Originally Posted by jkennedy293

What is this guy smoking? except for the Outlook, no Saturn is a rebadged Chevy.

actually the aura is a rebadged malibu

[CobaltSScrazy]

ummmm...no. GM should better manage all brands and if they are so inept as to not be able to do that. Sell off every brand save for

Chevrolet=Toyota
Cadillac=Lexus
Saturn=Scion
GMC(*very cheap addition, turns over tons of volume and profit)
Keep Buick in China and if you can reinvigorate it in USA (as evidenced by Enclave) do it otherwise keep it alive 'over there' on the 'other OTHER side of the pond'

CobaltSS

[CobaltSScrazy]

Originally Posted by Yarddawg1987

actually the aura is a rebadged malibu

LMAO which is why Aura is 2007 NACOTY and Malibu is 2008 COTY ...

get your facts straight.

CobaltSS

PS: G5 is rebadge of Cobalt. Aura/Malibu look NOTHING alike.

[ksr]

Does it really hurt GM from a marketing standpoint if the continue the merger of Buick, Pontiac, and GMC into single dealerships?

[GM-Joe]

Not a good article, not even accurate. GM sells 8 brand's in the U.S. not six. Toyota sells 3, Lexus, Scion, and Toyota. GM doesn't not have r/d cost for every single model, much of it is through product sharing, meaning many models on general platforms. So this was a wasted read. But I will say that GM does have too many "brands, " I guess that is why Buick, Pontiac, and GMC are merging into one channel and SAAB, Hummer, and Cadillac are merging into another marketing channel; thus another inaccuracy of this article.

[t-rex]

Originally Posted by ksr

Does it really hurt GM from a marketing standpoint if the continue the merger of Buick, Pontiac, and GMC into single dealerships?

Other than selling three disparate brands with no commonality between customer bases under one roof.... nothing.

[Ambalanche]

Those of you who are still lamenting Oldsmobile's demise and say Saturn should also die, do you realize that GM has essentially turned Saturn into Oldsmobile?

[HotCarNut]

Originally Posted by windvale

I'm going to go ahead and nominate this for the dumbest comment of 2008.

I'm going to ask why? I don't mind good disagreement (as I fully expected when I made the post), but I really hate stupid replies that don't make a counter argument.

Last time I checked, Chevrolet offered more incentives at a higher percentage of the purchase price than any other brand. Last time I checked, Chevrolet had the worst resale value (as a percentage) of any GM brand except Saturn's prior lineup, none of which exist anymore. Neither of those items adds up to profitability or brand image. Last time I checked, those 1,000,000 customers could buy a nearly identical GM product from one of the other GM brands besides Chevrolet (with the exception of the Corvette). Last time I checked, GM had more standalone dealerships than any other brand by a HUGE margin.

If GM's goal (as they've stated) is to reduce the number of dealers by 30-50%, to discontinue "badge engineering", and to increase profitability then it makes more sense to eliminate Chevrolet than any of the other brands. Get over the emotional attachment to a brand that sold it's soul better than 30 years ago and take an honest look at what Chevy is today. Outside of the Corvette, there is not a single unique segment leader in the lineup. The Silverado is a duplicate of the GMC Sierra and the Malibu is a twin for the Aura, with the next generation Aura getting some outstanding styling to truly match the Malibu.

[skylark68]

Sell Saab to Tata and call it a day. It will fit in nicely with Jaguar.

Don't kill off any brands. GM killing off Buick and Pontiac will make zero sense when those Chevy guys want to move up in the world but don't want a Caddy.

[I-Love-Pontiac]

I am so tired of hearing this. How in the heck is this going to make things any better?

The only things GM needs to do is make their brands more unique from each other, as well as get more product for some of their brands. Buick is going in a good direction. They just need way more. Hummer is good, again they just need more. Cadillac is fine, and is always getting better. Right now Pontiac is borderline useless. Even their best cars have nothing unique about them and could have very easily been a Chevy. Saturn is the same way, but with Opel moving up a step that should make them more interesting.