Topic: So many GM brands.....

[tenpenny]

I can only assume that you were scared by a GM car as a child, because you seem to have a mental illness about them now.

Still, it's always entertaining to follow. 

Carry on as you were.

[ArticSteve]

I once bought a brand new 87 Chevy Caprice Classic.  What was I thinking. 

[Dante]

I once bought a brand new 87 Chevy Caprice Classic.  What was I thinking. 

One would think that it was better than anything Toyota was selling at the time. Right? Wrong?

[tenpenny]

I once bought a brand new 87 Chevy Caprice Classic.  What was I thinking. 

Hey, at that time, I had an 87 Celebrity.  Burned a bit of oil from day one, but other than brakes it was pretty damn good up to 275,000 km, when it was sold to a taxi driver.

Maybe you just have bad taste in cars.

[zapplez]

You said "Find something other than JD Power" . I did. Your response? "I disagree with JD Power".

I ask "what should we use then". Your reply? Sales figures?

I present to you, the best vehicle of all time. The Ford F-150. And of course, these following low sold therefore terrible vehicles. Bentley, Buggatti, Lamborghini, Porsche etc.

You don't want to argue reliablity studies, just anecdotes, when confronted, you talk about sales figures being a measure of quality. I am glad you are not a researcher or a doctor.

[Triple Bob]

This thread has gone a tad off-topic...

So lets say if you were GM CEO, what would you sell off, what would you keep, and what would you change?

From my very limited knowledge, I would:

Sell: Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, Buick & Daewoo, to raise funds.
Streamline, invest in and re-market: Vauxhall/Opel, Saturn, Cadillac, Chevy, GMC & Holden.

I feel that these brands would have the most to offer new and upcoming comsumers who haven't formed a strong manufacturer loyalty yet, whilst still maintaining a strong brand identity to those that have.

 

[DockMan]

My 2 cents for NAO....


Chevy - Core passenger product (Sub-compact, Compact, Midsize, Fullsize, CUV and Mini-Van offerings)
Cadillac - Premium Passenger Product (Compact, Mid-Size, Fullsize and SUV offerings)
GMC - Truck and Bus only (Pick Up Truck, Truck Based SUV, Commercial Truck, Full Size Van, Bus offerings)
Opel - Sport focused Passenger Product (replacing Saturn, Saab and Pontiac) (Sub-compact, Compact, Midsize, CUV and Mini-Mini-Van offerings)

Hummer - Sell
Buick - Abandon

[tpl]

So we have an Opel Corvette ?

[Dante]

My 2 cents.....

Chevy - subcompact, compact, mid-size, compact CUV, full-size CUV, minivan, Corvette, Camaro (can't kill these two iconic names for the brand). Price them slightly under the Japanese to make them attractive (does not apply to Corvette and Camaro).
Caddy - compact, mid-zise, full-size RWD, compact SUV, full-size SUV
Buick - No other value but the image in China. I'm not sure if they stop selling it in NA would be able to preserve the brand image in China (an American brand that is not sold in America). Give it a mid-size/full-size car and a full-size CUV. If China is not an issue, kill it.
GMC - all the trucks, truck-based SUVs, vans and other commercial vehicles. Trim the production to reflect the demand. Kill some old models in the process.
Pontiac - keep it for now as the RWD/sport division. Keep G8 and Solstice, but kill the G5 and G6.
Saturn - Ideally I'd say convert it to Opel as the name doesn't have any strong resonance anyway (besides it sounds like crap and it reminds of Ion) and bring Corsa, Astra, Insignia, Zafira. Get rid of Outlook and Sky. Rename Vue to Antara (and make it lose some weight in the process). Build the cars in N/A, trim the features and keep the price in line or slightly higher than Honda/Toyota/Mazda/Nissan, but cheaper than the VW.
Hummer - keep the H2 for posers if it's worth (I don't know that), but scrap the H3 as it doesn't have a place in the marketplace. Alternatively, kill it.
Saab: Put it up for sale.

[ArticSteve]

My 2 cents for NAO....


Chevy - Core passenger product (Sub-compact, Compact, Midsize, Fullsize, CUV and Mini-Van offerings)
Cadillac - Premium Passenger Product (Compact, Mid-Size, Fullsize and SUV offerings)
GMC - Truck and Bus only (Pick Up Truck, Truck Based SUV, Commercial Truck, Full Size Van, Bus offerings)
Opel - Sport focused Passenger Product (replacing Saturn, Saab and Pontiac) (Sub-compact, Compact, Midsize, CUV and Mini-Mini-Van offerings)

Hummer - Sell
Buick - Abandon

Buick - Abandon

What choice is there but to abandon.  Can't sell it because there is nothing to sell.

Essentially, GM needs to abandon Pontiac, Buick, GMC as these brands are often bundled in one dealership.  The 1/2 ton market must stay with Chevy.  The brand is just too strong.

However this is just theoretical because GM can't afford to buy out all these dealers.  GM will soldier along until it runs out of cash and then declare bankruptcy and maybe then a smallish Chey/Cadillac entity will emerge.  It's gonna be weird, but after all that's what America voted for .... twice; failure.

[RunsinLight]

Buick - Abandon

What choice is there but to abandon.  Can't sell it because there is nothing to sell.

Essentially, GM needs to abandon Pontiac, Buick, GMC as these brands are often bundled in one dealership.  The 1/2 ton market must stay with Chevy.  The brand is just too strong.

However this is just theoretical because GM can't afford to buy out all these dealers.  GM will soldier along until it runs out of cash and then declare bankruptcy and maybe then a smallish Chey/Cadillac entity will emerge.  It's gonna be weird, but after all that's what America voted for .... twice; failure.

No please don't. I'd have to buy a Ford if only the bow tie's were left

[ArticSteve]

No please don't. I'd have to buy a Ford if only the bow tie's were left

That's if Ford is still there.  Man, it's getting very weird.   FredyMac and FannyMae, who hold 50% of US household mortgages (5 trillion USD)  are seeking and will get Fed backing and a huge Bank in Californa went bust.

[Zoo]

Buick - Abandon

What choice is there but to abandon.  Can't sell it because there is nothing to sell.

Essentially, GM needs to abandon Pontiac, Buick, GMC as these brands are often bundled in one dealership.  The 1/2 ton market must stay with Chevy.  The brand is just too strong.

However this is just theoretical because GM can't afford to buy out all these dealers.  GM will soldier along until it runs out of cash and then declare bankruptcy and maybe then a smallish Chey/Cadillac entity will emerge.  It's gonna be weird, but after all that's what America voted for .... twice; failure.

No please don't. I'd have to buy a Ford if only the bow tie's were left

What difference does it make?

This isn't the 1960s where a Pontiac had a Pontiac engine in it and lots of other differences. Compare a G5 to a Cobalt and see how different it is.

Decades of badge engineering has nearly killed Pontiac. For years I could only tell if I was in a Pontiac by the miles of "performance" cladding pasted onto the body and the red interior lighting.

Sadly GM has done this to itself. Which brands to save? Definately Chevy and Cadillac. I like what Saturn has been doing with their lineup but it may be a day late and dollar short. Why keep GMC when Chevy is already know for trucks anyways? Buick seems just as redundant now as Oldsmobile was before it got the axe. Hummer? Boy oh boy has the bloom ever gone off of that rose. Axe,axe, chop, chop there...

Chevrolet, Cadillac, and maybe Saturn or Opel.

Streamline like this and market the excellent cars really well. This way marketing dollars don't get spent on the Aura, then the Malibu while the Aura gets forgotten (excellent car BTW). Too bad so many great vehicles under the Saturn umbrella are flying under the radar.

[toolatecrew]

Chevy - Sub Compact (Need a new vehicle to compete with Fit/Yaris but for now sell the Cobalt at a subcompact price like VW does with City Golf), Compact Rebadge Astra as Chev,Midsized Malibu,FullSized Rbadge G8(in V^ and V8) as Chev, Camaro, Crossovers OutlookVue rebadged as Chev Dky/Solistice (I'd keep the Sky and rbadge as chev

Pontiac: Gone Can't sell it

Buick: Gone in NA its just a name no reason why you can't trash it in NA

GMC Trucks and Full sized SUV

Caddy Full sized Lux SUV (for as long as they sell) Mid Sized sport sedan CTS, decontent a DTS to replace Buick market STS

Saturn - Gone as a brand. If GM wants top bring a few nice Opel products in change the Saturn Dealers to Opel so that people who WANT to buy import and would never buy a GM can shop there so you grab the "import" market

[RunsinLight]

What difference does it make?

This isn't the 1960s where a Pontiac had a Pontiac engine in it and lots of other differences. Compare a G5 to a Cobalt and see how different it is.

Ok I will! Ones ugly and the other... Well its not a Chevy Cobalt so thats a plus in itself.

[Thinking Out Loud]

Look at the sales banner(s) that the Saturn is tied to:

Saturn Saab Isuzu (who can remember Joe Isuzu - dam fine commercials, unfortunately all American Cable).  

Then Saturn Saab Passport - enough said.

Then Saturn Saab Hummer - well, I can still smell the fresh paint at the Saturn dealer on the $1,000,000 addition they put on to showcase these animals and service them.  

At one point Saturn was down to the Ion and the Vue, and Hummer showroom was still being built onto the dealerships.

SO:

The supposed import-fighting orphan becomes an import brand from Germany; a Swede that's been GM'd from quirky into banality with the added insult of Subaru and Trailblazer stepsisters; and the 800lb gorilla in the room no body wants to mention or buy.

The newest brand 'batching' is the weakest effectively, gets little comparative advertising dollars to it's bretheren, and gets stuck in the shade of the Oak like brands in GMs stable.

What's the saying - last in, first out?

[Mitlov]

Buick - Abandon

What choice is there but to abandon.  Can't sell it because there is nothing to sell.

A Chinese domestic manufacturer would pay big bucks for Buick.  Brilliance, Chery, Hong Qi, etc.  Both to dominate the Chinese domestic market and as a path into North America, with an already-established name and dealer network.

[ArticSteve]

There would be no path left to follow in the States if the "Chinese" bought the Buick operation in the US which is totally intertwined with Chev and Pontiac.  Same parts and same assembly plants for the most part.  It's a mind boggling challenge.    

[dr_spock]

If Lenovo can buy the PC Company from IBM, that could be a possibility.   I wonder if they'll wait for the fire sale and get Buick cheap as a brick.

I think GM needs to hire someone who can turn the company around if they are serious about staying in business.

[toolatecrew]

Buick - Abandon

What choice is there but to abandon.  Can't sell it because there is nothing to sell.

A Chinese domestic manufacturer would pay big bucks for Buick.  Brilliance, Chery, Hong Qi, etc.  Both to dominate the Chinese domestic market and as a path into North America, with an already-established name and dealer network.

Why does GM have to sell the Buick worldwide operations off?

To me its quite simple. In NA no more Buick. No  ore Buick dealers, no more Buick NA HQ, staff factories no more Allure etc. You can continue to sell and manufacture whatever you want under the Buick name in China.