Which GM Brand(s) Do You Think Should Get The Chop?

[kain01]

Just my 2 cents, but I agree with most of the people on this thread. My solution to the matter would be as follows:

Buick: Entry level luxury, directly competetive with Lexus, NO suv's that's GMC's place.
Cadillac: High end luxury targeting the Germans, All RWD!
Chevrolet: Entry level cars with the broadest range of the brand. If Chevy doesn't have it they don't make it yet. Camaro & Corvette keep around struggling with the idea of a high end performance division to throw these into. If price didn't go up dramatically keep with Chevrolet.
GMC: Luxury trucks, yes rebadges but you can't get a Silverado or Tahoe with nearly as nice.
Hummer: Follow jeeps example start making more effecient xovers, keep the H2 around as a niche sale.
Pontiac/Saturn: Entry level performance, the poor man's Porsche. Sourced by Opel/Holden. All RWD!
Saab: Performance luxury, directly targetting BMW/Infiniti, All RWD with strong emphasis on AWD!

Now you can't just fix the cars, you have to fix the dealers also. Personally I'd shoot for as many new dealers as I can that have no experience with GM's past cars, and as quickly as I could I'd fire all the old dealers. Walk into any GM brand, new car dealership right now and they are practically pushing you to anybody else. They know nothing about the cars they are selling (ask anybody at a Chevy dealership if the Cobalt is supercharged or turbocharged wand watch them cringe) and for the most part they don't want sell anything less than a Silverado.

Dealerships would sell Cadillac's solely, Pontiac/Saturn along with Saab and Hummer pushing the pure car/truck message, and then that would leave Chevrolet/Buick/GMC. Internationally Holden/Opel=Pontiac, everyone else would have to stand on their own two feet, and only the smallest Hummer's and GMC's would make it overseas. Petition daily that all Japanese car brands get pulled from the American car market until we can fairly get the opportunity to sell in Japan. Never will happen because the Japanese care who's making profit, but we should still be afforded the opportunity to fail.

[jgill16]

Get Rid Of Buick, Buick Is Dead! Gm Already Has A Luxury Icon Yeah It's Called Cadillac.

[Caleb02]

I still say that GM should cut Chevy and move its products to GMC so that then like toyota, ford, honda, chrysler, nissan, etc they all have a full line car divison named after them with trucks, cars etc.

[fastball]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

GMC is SELLING. Get that into your heads. They're GM's 2nd best selling division. Why do you think they sell so many Sierras every year when people could just get a Silverado? Bottom line: People like the upscale feel. The Chevys will always feel like work trucks, even the LTZ models. The Sierras feel like upscale, luxury trucks that can still tow/haul. Since they're just Chevy rebadges, they don't even need to do R&D on them, it's like free money coming in just by slapping a GMC badge on the truck.
Face it, GMC HAS to offer something that Chevy just can't. Otherwise, nobody would buy their vehicles.

Okay, so make the LTZ trim Silverados with the same sound insulation additions and softer suspension tuning that the Sierra gets.

There's still no need for GMC. You are going by past sales charts - you wait. When the numbers come in for the next few months, we'll see if GMC is still selling. At $4.20/gal, GM absolutely needs to pick and choose what gas hoggs they are going to keep, because they will be left with a crapload of trucks on lots if they keep making them when no one buys them. Even people who can afford 15 MPG are getting sick of it.

Chevy and Cadillac. That's it. Put all your money, resources, blood, sweat, and tears in to those two divisons, and make the absolute best cars and trucks under those two and ONLY those two divisions.

[gardnet1]

Who designed the Poll? The Florida election commision?

Saab was left off because it would have been on 97% of everyones list.

Throw out the ballots and try again!

[steve333]

Pontiac
CAFE makes having Holden imports a liability.
Plus, G6, G5, G8.......................who cares? No legacy in those boring names.

[gmhummer]

Even with the Enclave, I can't see Buick fighting Lexus or Infinite. The name of the brand doesn't even sound luxurious to me.

[GMusa]

Originally Posted by Kamshaaft

Only GM divisions are included

Saab is part of GM

[pic18]

People here voting Pontiac and GMC are nuts! Just jump on the bandwagon and kill Pontiac. Who are these people?

Get rid of Saturn and Hummer. Make Pontiac exciting again with small cars as well as larger cars. Keep the Buick Pontiac GMC network going. GM needs to get back to it's core brands.

[FBODYRULES]

ok first of all I know all the GM brands have to be included but who on earth would actually vote for cadillac or chevy?? must be some stupid kids on here.

and regarding pontiac, I say see what happens with the G8 first, dont want to loose pontiac!

Hummer can become hybrids.

Originally Posted by pic18

People here voting Pontiac and GMC are nuts! Just jump on the bandwagon and kill Pontiac. Who are these people?

Get rid of Saturn and Hummer. Make Pontiac exciting again with small cars as well as larger cars. Keep the Buick Pontiac GMC network going. GM needs to get back to it's core brands.

exactly right.

[2b2]

I voted NONE
(since Saab wasn't listed...
& that would almost be as much for Saab's sake)
&
emphatically DISagree with

Originally Posted by demonspeed

Ford will be doing just fine with Ford and Lincoln....

if JUST F&L was meant ...obviously if you know me
&
AGREE with

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

...To be clear, there's nothing wrong with the brands. There's a whole lot wrong with underworked, overpaid, visionless, uninspired executives at the RenCen. Whole lot of fancy MBA-style titles, not a lot of convincing output. The real chopping's got to start with impunity on Jefferson Avenue in Michigan.

&
made a "My/Your Ideal Lineup" thread (with AmericanRevolution's agreement)
if anyone wants to post their consolidation-integration/KillKillKill ideas in a lineup format:
my/your 'GM-I' Lineup: GM-Integrated: BPGmc ± ?
mine tries to Save Everything...sorta

[JoeT]

Why didn't I include Saab as a Poll option? Because Saab is a wholly-owned, independent company of General Motors based in Europe (where the majority of it's sales lie) just like Opel and Vauxhall, unlike GM brands Buick, GMC, Pontiac, etc, in North America. The same thing applies with Mazda and Volvo to Lincoln and Mercury in the Ford empire. Apples and Oranges.

GM selling Saab is a totally seperate issue to GM sending another of it's North American brands to join Oldsmobile in car heaven, and that's why the question is 'Which GM Brand(s) Do You Think Should Get The Chop?

[Neanderthal]

Originally Posted by D C

Frankly, you do NOT get ride of GMC in a logical scenario.

Yes, they're all rebadges. But look at the sales. Why are that many people buying a rebadged Silverado instead of buying the Silverado? Why are they buying an Acadia over an Outlook? A Canyon over a Colorado? There is a perceived difference between GMC and those other brands. And being re-badges, their cost delta is low relative to their counterparts. If they can command a higher transaction price that justifies the increase in production cost, it's a net win for the company.

Kill GMC and those GMC buyers would NOT go to other brands, just like Olds buyers opted by & large for non-GM brands.

I agree, D C.

Buying a vehicle is partly the rational brain and mostly the emotional brain. To ignore that is like ignoring the clubhouse chemistry that got mismatched when the Detroit Tigers brought in Sheffield and then Cabrerra, and got rid of The Mayor (Shawn Casey). While the talent may be there, the chemical reaction isn't and the brand is not working.

That may be a stretch, but I think not. People have emotional reasons why they will buy a Camry or a Lexus ES350 or a Toyota Avalon, despite the fact that the guts are the same.

And so with GMC vs. Chevrolet trucks. I think killing GMC would extremely piss off too many folks who have been lifelong customers, and they would not go meekly to another division to shop. I think this applys double for trucks, particularly working trucks.
When you kill folks' favorite brand, you piss them off. They do not then have kind, warmfuzzy thoughts for your corporation.

OTOH, this is about one brand getting the axe. I would kill Saturn. It has lost the cachet they tried to create when they created the brand. It has lost its dentless body panels. It means nothing to me today, and the nearest dealer is 30 miles away. Not like other GM brands, which are a few miles away.

If GM gave greater control to the divisions, as the feds need to do with the states, and if there was strong and competent management in those divisions, I believe their odds of revival--I'm speaking specifically of Buick and Pontiac, the most ignored--would improve significantly.

But I still see Saturn as of little significance, nothing that could not be acquired by Pontiac or Buick.
I see GMC as a strongly identified macho division, distinct and different from Chivvlay.

[Beau]

Hummers can be converted to Hybrid diesels.

[Captain_Willie]

They should just make Hummer a commercial division.
Keep Chevy the way it is and maybe just axe some vehicles.
Axe Pontiac and give GMC the Solstice and G8.
Axe Buick in the states and keep it as an overseas operation like in China.
SAAB should be axed in the states if it is in the states.
Saturn should just consist of hybrids and future vehicles that will have alternative fuels and what not. They should implement it into their other brands, but try and build up Saturn's image in the process.
I see GM good with GMC, Chevy, Saturn, and Cadillac in the states. Try and make GMC/Chevy compete with Toyota, Saturn with Scion, Cadillac with Lexus. I can see Hummer as a commercial division for trucks. Pontiac is dead to me and I hardly see anybody driving a new Pontiac if it isn't a Solstice.