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

[Archangel]

I say GMC or Saturn. GMC are re-badges most people can't even differentiate from Chevy trucks. If they keep GMC, they should kill Saturn and re-badge the Opels as Pontiacs, along with Holdens. Now, with both Hummer and GMC gone, GM should make higher-end sub-models of Chevy trucks and SUVs. Kind of like a Denali option for Chevy.

[give_it_all_]

I say Saturn and Hummer. Hummer, just because of image and sales dropping very quickly. Saturn because even after an entire lineup revamp, sales still aren't doing well. The public just doesn't seem to like Saturn.
GMC should stay as they still make up pretty decent sales. In Canada they sell more then Chevy trucks as well. People still like GMC.

[The Law]

I'd say kill GMC or sell Saab. Chevy could easily fill the gap left by GMC and so could Opel-Vauxhall-Saturn if Saab was sold.

the thing is if they put PB with Saturn, Pontiac will need some serious attention as it will be hard to sell three cars on the same platform with different metal and such.Pontiac would have to go full RWD sporty (lower end Caddy) and Buick mid-high end Asian fighter, with Saturn as Euro brand featuring AWD models.

now, if they sold Saab they wouldn't lose much of a market as Saab is a niche brand and doesn't produce many sales.On the other hand Saab is great and unknown for their turbos and fuel efficiency doesn't seem like a brand to can rightnow. GM needs to play off Saabs past to bring in sales and technology back to the brand.

[TaHoE]

Looking at just core models here I would really focus them like this:

Chevrolet: Main-Stream, Covers all the Bases (Toyota Competitor), Chevrolet SS: V8 Performance Models
Saturn: Slightly Upscale, Euro-Brand. Seperate it from being "American" as much as possible. (VW Competitor)
Pontiac: Light, Nimble & Sporty (Mazda Competitor)
GMC: Chevrolet's with more technology, plus off-roaders (Jeep) with more fuel efficient engine choices (diesels).
SAAB: Utilize global brand reputation, FWD/AWD Performance (Audi)
Cadillac:RWD Ultimate Luxury & Performance (BMW, etc.)


AT MOST that is what you need.

[Caleb02]

Originally Posted by Kamshaaft

Only GM divisions are included

dude last time i checked GM owns sabb so they are like a division of GM along with... all of these

Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall

Gm only needs three divisions..

kill chevy use GMC as does Ford with Ford, toyota with toyota, etx

make Buick a high end Lexus/Bently fighter

make caddy a porscha fighter

kill the rest

[Saturn69]

Originally Posted by Caleb02

dude last time i checked GM owns sabb so they are like a division of GM along with... all of these


Gm only needs three divisions..

kill chevy use GMC as does Ford with Ford, toyota with toyota, etx

make Buick a high end Lexus/Bentley fighter

make caddy a porsche fighter

kill the rest

Kill Chevy? You have to be kidding. Chevy, Saturn and Cadillac. What more do you need? I give it 10 years.

Kill GMC for sure. Save millions on advertising and making GMC badges to fit the Chevy trucks they are. Stupid. Never understood why GMC was around when they had no unique product AT ALL and they were simply gussied up Chevy's. Caddy a Porsche fighter? Caddy is aimed at BMW, Porsches market is way too small to justify re-targeting Cadillac. I know you're going to come back and say you were being sarcastic, you have to.

[demonspeed]

Ford will be doing just fine with Ford and Lincoln. We can do just fine with Chevrolet and Cadillac.

I think they should keep Saturn around as well.

I think Buick is just as rebadge and useless as GMC. If you want a luxury SUV, get a Cadillac. If you want a Luxury car, get a Cadillac. See, we don't need Buick or GMC.

[FenwickHockey65]

I honestly love how some people have been saying the same thing over and over, but yet others are completely ignoring them.
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.

[ksr]

Originally Posted by jbartley

That would definitely determine my answer. GMC is like free money. They just need a new crossover truck and small SUV (coming!).

I'd remove saab from the US, sell hummer, and rename Saturn..OPEL. New name, new face. Public would forget about the plastic cars. And GM would save money.

When Saturns were selling relatively well (GM even claimed a Saturn profit around '93 or '94), they were selling the "plastic" cars.

Is Saturns reputation problem really related to the plastic cars? I always got the impression that people liked them, with their dent-resistent sides. That was when the brand was known for great customer service as well.

I don't know what Saturn's perception problem stems from. Just years of neglect and falling out off the public's radar?

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by ksr

When Saturns were selling relatively well (GM even claimed a Saturn profit around '93 or '94), they were selling the "plastic" cars.

Is Saturns reputation problem really related to the plastic cars? I always got the impression that people liked them, with their dent-resistent sides. That was when the brand was known for great customer service as well.

I don't know what Saturn's perception problem stems from. Just years of neglect and falling out off the public's radar?

Years of plastic cars ended up with Saturn today. Everyone still thinks that they're plastic rattleboxes.
And the fact that they almost never advertise individual cars. Just the whole Saturn brand.

[2002 Caddy]

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Lets see, when GM cut Oldsmobile, we
1) Lost market share equal to 100% of Oldsmobile sales (it was like we lost every single customer)
2) Became even less profitable
3) Didn't reduce costs one bit
4) Had to pay out MILLIONS to dealers to get out of existing contacts.

To review, costs when up, and sales when down... Great

CUT GMC and the same thing will happen.

A better move would be to phase out Chevy Trucks, take Chevy back to making comfortable cost effective cars for the masses. After all Chevy trucks are all just re-badges of GMC offerings.

If they haven't already, Trucks will become a "Professional ONLY" tool in the near future... We have been beaten over the head for years that GMC is "Professional grade" Now that this marketing might actually mean something we want to cut this division?

Cutting truck production is only 1/2 of the problem. We need to build small cars that are as nice as the new Malibu. The best way to do that is to have the Chevy engineers stop working on trucks and FOCUS on the next Cobalt and a Aveo.

I wouldn't kill anything... Killing divisions hasn't helped the in past and it won't in the future. I would sell off useless divisions like SAAB, Saturn and Hummer

[ksr]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

Years of plastic cars ended up with Saturn today. Everyone still thinks that they're plastic rattleboxes.
And the fact that they almost never advertise individual cars. Just the whole Saturn brand.

Maybe I'm wrong, but if Saturn had a heydey, it was the days of the plastic cars. I don't think they were so hated by the public.

Those great customer satisfaction scores had to come from something other than just putting out doughnuts int he service area.

If GM had invested more marketing money here on a good campaign (money it probably just doesn't have), I think Saturn could be successful. But the lack of marketing money to support eight divisions is the real problem tough, isn't it.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by 2002 Caddy

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Lets see, when GM cut Oldsmobile, we
1) Lost market share equal to 100% of Oldsmobile sales (it was like we lost every single customer)
2) Became even less profitable
3) Didn't reduce costs one bit
4) Had to pay out MILLIONS to dealers to get out of existing contacts.

To review, costs when up, and sales when down... Great

CUT GMC and the same thing will happen.

A better move would be to phase out Chevy Trucks, take Chevy back to making comfortable cost effective cars for the masses. After all Chevy trucks are all just re-badges of GMC offerings.

If they haven't already, Trucks will become a "Professional ONLY" tool in the near future... We have been beaten over the head for years that GMC is "Professional grade" Now that this marketing might actually mean something we want to cut this division?

Cutting truck production is only 1/2 of the problem. We need to build small cars that are as nice as the new Malibu. The best way to do that is to have the Chevy engineers stop working on trucks and FOCUS on the next Cobalt and a Aveo.

I wouldn't kill anything... Killing divisions hasn't helped the in past and it won't in the future. I would sell off useless divisions like SAAB, Saturn and Hummer

Agreed, however, I did consider the same thing, to have GMC producing trucks for GM only. But a lot of people are loyal to Chevy trucks as well as GMC trucks, so that might not go over well. Plus, Chevy's always been the best seller over GMC.
I think my solution works pretty well. Have GMC truly become the exclusive, upscale version of Chevy by having customers special order their GMCs to their specifications. It would solve the problem of overproduction since you wouldn't have produce thousands of GMT-900s for dealer lots to just sit there and rot in the sun. Give GMC options and package truly worthy of the "Professional Grade" motto, like the All-Terrain package on the Sierra. Basically, keep Chevy as the volume seller, but truly make GMC into the upscale, professional grade truck.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by ksr

Maybe I'm wrong, but if Saturn had a heydey, it was the days of the plastic cars. I don't think they were so hated by the public.

Those great customer satisfaction scores had to come from something other than just putting out doughnuts int he service area.

If GM had invested more marketing money here on a good campaign (money it probably just doesn't have), I think Saturn could be successful. But the lack of marketing money to support eight divisions is the real problem tough, isn't it.

People did indeed love them, and they were good cars, like our '93 SW2. But people still think that they're the same plastic cars of yesterday, and that doesn't go over well in today's day and age. I blame lack of advertising because of this.
Honestly, I would've bought an Aura over the Malibu, but the Malibu was just a better deal at the time. Plus, Saturn's repair jobs at dealers are freaking expensive...

[Ed753]

Looks like GMC is in the lead so far!?

This I can not understand, owning 3 GMC's in my life so far........

Hummer should have never been pushed like it was, I didn't know the push for stand alone dealers was wrong, but I sure questioned it. Hummer has 2 vehicles, and they are entirely "fashion over function" - Huge vehicles, with minimal attributes, other than "being noticed" .............. interior room and one can't even tow!? (anything big)

Anyway back to GMC - Why not make GMC "The Truck Division" then make every Chevrolet Dealer "Chevrolet Cars & GM(c) Trucks"

Trucks are not going away ....................