NYT: G.M.'s Brands to Cut Back on Variety

[DeepModem Mom]

G.M.'s Brands to Cut Back on Variety
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: May 20, 2005


DETROIT, May 19 - Facing its worst financial outlook in more than a decade, General Motors outlined a new product development and sales strategy Thursday, saying that from now on Chevrolet and Cadillac would be the company's only brands to offer a full lineup of vehicles.

That means G.M.'s other six brands marketed in the United States will focus on a narrower selection of segments. GMC and Hummer will continue to sell trucks while Pontiac, Saab and Saturn will focus mostly on cars and smaller S.U.V.'s, with Buick offering some of both.

The plan indicates that G.M. is trying to wean itself from what has been a highly criticized product development strategy of keeping costs down by developing the same basic vehicle for many of its brands. It will also probably mean consolidation of the company's more than 7,000 dealers.

"GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Saab and Hummer can offer vehicles that are very specific rather than shipping millions of identical vehicles all over the world," said Mark LaNeve, G.M.'s new marketing chief, according to a transcript of a speech he gave Thursday in New York. "Our complementary brands won't succeed as 'Little Chevrolets' or less-expensive Cadillacs. They have to be distinctive, differentiated products."

Mr. LaNeve also said G.M. would push to make more progress in a continuing effort to package Buick, Pontiac and GMC together under the same roof so that the three brands can be positioned to offer
vehicles that each individual brand can not....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/automobiles/20auto.html

[KlatooBNikto]

1. They can succeed if GM would just sell those companies to the

people who love to make cars instead of the accountants running the show at GM.

[Kokonoe]

2. Since when did the marketing chief start designing cars.

Kinda sounds like more of the same cars.

[dbt]

3. Next on the Chopping Block: Buick or Pontiac?

I go with Buick, purely on alphabetical order.

:evilgrin:

[trapper914]

4. Chevy is a big part of the problem

Too many lines of trucks and an uninteresting line of cars. Take a page from the Chrysler playbook--get creative with car designs that are affordable.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. GM has failed to compete

I learned my lesson, "Searched" before positing a duplicate thread

The real challenge and opportunity for GM is where the New York Times reported that

DETROIT, May 17 - Toyota Motor announced on Tuesday plans to build a hybrid version of its Camry sedan in the United States, the first gas-electric vehicle that the automaker will manufacture outside Japan.

Toyota will start building the hybrid Camry in the second half of next year and plans to make about 48,000 of them in the first year of production. That is a healthy volume for an introductory vehicle, particularly a hybrid, and would equal about 11 percent of all Camrys sold in the United States last year.

For the most part, Toyota did not discuss the details of its new hybrid program, including specifics about the new Camry's powertrain. But a senior company executive did acknowledge that Toyota had plans to build other hybrids in North America.

"This isn't going to be the only vehicle of hybrid derivation that's going to be produced in the United States or in North America," Jim Press, chief operating officer of Toyota's American sales division, said at a news conference Tuesday morning. Mr. Press did not elaborate on when and where additional hybrid manufacturing might take place.

It is clearly a frontal assault on GM and a challenge to GM

How is it an opportunity for GM? The rumor is that GM has various contractual rights - with lots of "ifs" and "ands" and "wherefores" and "whereases" to buy Toyota Hybrids that are MADE IN THE USA and resell these MADE IN THE US TOYOTA HYBRIDS as GM products (like the Prizm/Corolla and the Vibe/Matrix).

But GM's real problem is that Bob Lutz is still selling "Your father's Buick" that was "designed by Harley Earle" into an older and older demographic.

[central scrutinizer]

6. they've all been the same for at least 20 years.

there are slight differences in the trim but the chassis and engines are all the same.