UPDATE 6/21!: GM Cutting Another Division?

[Ming]

K-1, GM should take that advice to heart. Good lineup. No redundancy, no waste.

[eaton53]

I know market share isn't king but killing off GMC or Pontiac is a sizable chunk of sales, considering they are still rebadges of NA products so there is little cost involved in slapping a new bumper on a car.

Slapping on different bumpers isn't the problem, marketing all of these divisions is. That is expensive.

So what do you see? An initial push (or in the Astra's case, not) then nothing. Were there only 5 worldwide divisions the push could be continuous and unabated.

The reason I would keep Opel and Holden and get rid of the others is simple: Europe. Toyota is learning that Europe does not stab their own in the back... whereas I don't think Americans would have an issue with accepting those brands.

[WishIhadatruck]

GM was just barely going to survive before gas prices skyrocketed the last several months. I wouldn't be suprised if a buyout or bankruptcy is in the future at this point. They must be losing money at a furious rate at this point. The huge erosion of the truck market is killing them. The whole situation is pretty depressing.

As someone already stated, they have such mismanaged brands partly because the dealers were not consoldidated properly and all the dealers want to sell everyting from small cars to trucks. I hate to see some or all of BPG disappear but it might be necessary to save the company. The most difficult part is making sure those customers don't feel abandoned and leave to buy Honda's, Toyota's, Ford's etc. A certain amount of market share was lost when Oldsmobile was closed (on top of already declining market share).

We constantly complain of lack of marketing, lack of updated products, etc. This is due to too many car models just as much as too many brands. Perhaps all dealers need to be combined into Chevrolet/BPG dealers and some brands will have only 1-2 cars and even eventually phased out? There is no good solution. I think all roads lead to a bad story in the short term. Lets just hope they can stay afloat long enough to finish the product revival and keep it going.

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted by Ming

K-1, GM should take that advice to heart. Good lineup. No redundancy, no waste.

I agree that is a reasonable line up as well. I've always worried where the old Cadillac customers are going to go. I can't the older generation buying the new edgy Cadillacs. If Buicks were sold along side as softer FWD models with conservative but elegant styling it would make sense.

Some of the BPG dealers can convert to Chevrolet/Saturn dealers if they shouldn't just close anyway.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by Ming

K-1, GM should take that advice to heart. Good lineup. No redundancy, no waste.

That's the engineer in me - optimize everything! One could argue that Buick isn't necessary with Cadillac around (with reason), but I do think there's a market for comfy luxury.

[osv_alero]

What if GM dropped the bottom three worst selling brands by number rather than try and make something that isn't from brands that don't sell?

Dump Saturn, Saab & Hummer.

Funnel Opels to the PBG group. This makes it really simple for GM. It gives them only 3 divisions really. GM wanted Pontiac to be more BMW / European like. What is more BMW like than giving them Opels?

Saab & Hummer would be easy to sell because of their previous history. Saturn has a small enough dealer network that it would costs the least to dump. Plus Saturn has NOTHING that makes it stand out from the other divisions anymore.

Pontiac could get the;
Solstice
Corsa
Tigra
Astra
Insignia
G8

GMC could have
Antara
Combo
Vivaro
Movano
Acadia
Yukon
Yukon XL
Sierra
Commercial grade vehicles

Buick could have;
All the same products offered in China.

[srd275]

In case any one was wondering about May sales. Here is a link. http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_...Deliveries.pdf

Interesting to note that on Pontiac most of the sales lost is the soon to be discontinued Grand Prix. From 12,230 to 1,298. The G6 and Vibe Went up. The G8 is too new. Down the rebadge G5 by about 600 units (almost too close in price to the G6), and Solstice by about 600 units as well. The Torrent is down by around 1200 units.

GMC, not really good news, even the Arcadia is down? Surprised by that one.

Buick, The Enclave sold almost 1,100 units more. The Lacross went down around 1500 and the Lucerne 2000 units.

[prototype66]

I changed my mind.......Sell Hummer and Saab.
Buick Pontiac GMC truck stays as is. That way these stand alone dealerships have a truck available.

or just for kicks........sell all of these "Stand alones" to another Management company and rename it American Motors!

[tirediron]

"GMC, not really good news, even the Arcadia is down? Surprised by that one."

Most of us were out of Acadia's in May due to that lovely American Axle strike.

[Motownr]

In terms of NA only, does it matter what brand rebadges Opel? Saturn simply is not on buyer's radar screen, and GM lacks the marketing muscle to change the situation.

Is Saab just as valuable in Europe if it ceases to exist in the US?

IMO, GM's NA brand portfolio needs consolidation; globally, they seem to be comparatively well balanced.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by WishIhadatruck

Some of the BPG dealers can convert to Chevrolet/Saturn dealers if they shouldn't just close anyway.

Of utmost importance is getting the dealerships branded correctly.

Saturn would be the automotive equivalent of an Apple store; very clean, curvy, and bright.

Buick would be old country; lots of rich, dark woods and a cozy fireplace. Maybe an English pub type of vibe. Cadillac would be a more angular take on the Apple store; uber-modern, light woods, black and white trim, lots of glass. Both would separate the vehicles into an indoor viewing area (an actual "show room") and don't clutter up the welcome/waiting area. Free tea/coffee, pampering to the Nth degree.

Chevy would basically be a super store, just not as cheap as a Wal-Mart. A play area for kids (think McDonald's), free pop machine.

Customer satisfaction is first and foremost in all stores. No pressure to close the deal. No vultures waiting for "ups". No "let me check with my manager..." crap. No up-selling. Pick your model, pick your options, pick your color. Done.

[AndrewGS]

It's funny how everyone seems to think GMCs are rebadged Chevys. GMC was born in 1901 as Rapid and got the GMC name in 1912. Chevrolet wasn't even a car company until 1911.

[Silverado14]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

GMC is GM's 2nd best selling division...no way in hell are they axing it, even if is just a bunch of trucks. You have the Acadia and Terrain to cover the losses of the BOF trucks. Throw in a Holden Crewman-ish thing and you'll have even more success.
GM Board of Directors: GMC is made up of rebadges that people freaking buy. Get that into your heads. I know plenty of people who'll buy a GMC over a Chevy just because the designs are better. One of those people is me.

...I agree with you for most part, but GMC's designs are just different, not better. Some like Chevy's designs better. I personal like the Trailblazer (especially in SS trim) much better the Envoy. But that's just me (and others). That is why GM has always had so many divisions.

[Chaz_23]

They'll kill 'em all eventually, doesn't matter which one goes first. Probably GMC, then Pontiac, then they make it Buick-Saturn, which will completely fail, then Buick goes and finally, after spending billions to create and re-invent Saturn it dies, too, because no cares these days how great GM cars are.
Unless there's a mushroom clowd logo on the hood so called "Americans" won't buy.

GMNA in 10 years: Chevrolet - Cadillac

[drew770]

Originally Posted by TriShield

One of the root problems of GM is the sheer amount of brands it has, five too many.

If GM gets real about the reality of their place in the market and are serious about staying out of bankruptcy they will CUT ALL THREE BRANDS ASAP.

None of them do anything that Chevrolet and Cadillac aren't already doing or can't do better and none of them have any real goodwill or equity left in the marketplace.

The worst part? GM killed them (and itself) with decades of mismanagement, fundamental misunderstandings of each brand's place and heritage, failure to do them justice, and the crappy cars that were the result.

GM MUST allocate all of it's resources to it's core business which is the Chevrolet brand and Cadillac for luxury.

100% correct.
It might be a few years but GM will come to the realization that a brand for every purse/pocket is no longer viable.

Like it or not GM has to shift it's rapidly dropping resources into it's core brands and that means Chevy and Caddy.