Suggestion Box For GM: Brand Building

GM must definitely add Chevy SS to the Chevrolet product line. I sent an open letter, suggesting this, to Susan Docherty. Besides a lot of cash problems with the pre-bankcrutcy GM and the unavailability of a RWD platform at that time(this is during the days of 2003 Detroit Auto Show), the AWESOME SS Concept was proudly displayed to public and that was it... This fabolous concept now can find itself a proper RWD platform and a range of efficient engines for to be powered with to become a hot seller iff there is a crunch of it left in the dark & dusty garages of GM. Pls see at http://the-new-gm.blogspot.com

Cadillac is the only brand that GM has that could get respect in the short term. The Cadillac line has to be expanded. Cadillac needs a new STS and DTS. Cadillac needs sport versions of every CTS. The idea that sport means gigantic horsepower has to go. The cars have to be refined and balanced. Cadillac's design language needs to be updated from the idea that maximum chrome is "classy". Cadillac needs an EV.

GM should drop the Buick in the US, build and sell it in China where it does sell well. They should make only one copy of a car or truck, not Chevy, GMC, and Caddy versions. They should not rebadge any cars. Import the Opel and Holden models that are currently rebadged as Chevys etc. All GM dealers should be listed as GM dealers, not Chevy, Caddy, etc. Each dealer should be able to sell whichever car they wish - Chevy, GMC truck, Caddy, Opel, Holden, etc. These changes would reduce costs and eventually return GM to profitablity

Few manufacturers seem to fully embrace the notion that the sales and after-sales experiences are as important as the vehicles they produce. Dealers are the ongoing touchpoint for owners, and efforts by GM to build a culture that TRULY places the highest priority on COMPLETE customer satisfaction would be well rewarded over time. The goal should be to take on the current leaders in sales and after-sales experience, figure out what they're doing right and one-up them. Re-write the rules, GM. Flip the status quo on its ear, then clearly articulate the new rules of the car selling and servicing game to dealer principals, and aggressively weed out operations that don't measure up. Let the market know what that internal process looks like from a consumer perspective, and publish quarterly reports that show where every dealer ranks relative to their peers. When a dealer in my city shows up in the Top 10, I promise I'll at least test drive a Z06 and give it the consideration it's due based on pure technical merit and performance per dollar. Until then, I'll be sticking with Porsche and BMW.

Its probably too late but... The original brands should be trim trim levels in a GM line up. For instance - Chevrolet Impala and Buick Lucerne. Replace the names with maybe GM Lucerne or something that makes sense. Then, sell different trim levels. Lucerne Chevrolet - value priced like Toyota CE. Lucerne Pontiac - Performance Options like TRD. Lucerne Buick - Luxury options package like XLE. Visually differentiate the models, but don't insult your customers by calling them a different brand and product. Don't keep content that would benefit one product trim level from crossing to another one just for the sake of exclusivity. Sales, Marketing and Design should be located in areas where leading edge design is happening in all areas. New York, Los Angeles, Miami. Product engineering should be done in places known for technology - Boston, San Francisco. The idea is to make the best cars - play to win. The home team isn't always the best team.

Mike -- I think your point is interesting. But I might misunderstand. Is the problem that GM hasn't honestly named cars that are the same (e.g. Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra) as trim levels? Or is the problem that people think GM cars are the same when they aren't (e.g. the Impala and the Lucerne are different cars).

Both are correct. GM pretended they were selling unique models long after everyone else gave up. It was an in your face deception ploy that did not work. Offensive. I am proposing that instead of offering the same model at two divisions in 3 trim styles each, they offer one model with 3 trim lines (Buick-Luxury, Pontiac - Sporty, Chevrolet - Value). The elegance is that by naming the trim lines for the former brands, GM keeps the brand loyalty and brand image cultivated over years, but does not need to play shell games. Honesty. I used the Lucerne vs. Impala as a talking point. They are distinct products.

Take ALL your designers,vehicles,accountants, upper management,decades of poor quality and sticking it to your customers put them in a car crusher, crush all of it and sell the scrap to CHINA . I hope I'm not being to direct.

Don't worry that is not direct. Direct is when you say hurtful things that are true. Your post is flamming. Flamming is when you convey an emotion without any purpose but to be hurtful.

Say Mike, I've owned a couple of GM cars and they were pure garbage. I wasted allot of money just trying to keep them running and have no remorse for speaking with an open mind, screw GM, if they had built quality cars they wouldn't be taking tax payer bailout money to keep running an already defunct company. Not only will they not be able to repay their tax payer bailout loan, GM needs that money to open plants in CHINA. Yes CHINA, GM wants to use cheap Chinese labor to build cars then export them to the U.S.A. If you like seeing your tax money used in a foreign country to create jobs overseas fine with me. If you ever owned a GM, you would remember the problems owners had. Premature rust,breakdowns,unreliability,cheap materials and expensive replacement parts. Now if your one of those people that believe in brand loyalty and you feel like I've insulted your loyalty by what I said,well get over it. If my words were not TRUE GM wouldn't be in this situation. Look at decline of sales over the decades and the sales of foreign car sales,they speak for themselves.GM put themselves in this position, not me.

I'm an American , I buy American cars, I will never buy a GM car again . GM had the electric car and killed it THEY BLEW IT. GM would have been the company to beat, instead of you know who..............

Does not matter what GM does its too late. In discussions with friends, most have decided to NEVER buy ANY car assembled by UAW after what the rigged bankruptcy did to shareholders to protect the people who did their best to destroy GM.

I think you missed the title of the thread "Suggestion Box For GM: Brand Building" You could have saved some typing by copy my first line "I think its too late'

GM you need to really focus your attention on product quality and not just advertising product quality. You can claim to have quality vehicles by running millions of dollars worth of ads and you may indeed convince a good number of people. At the end of the day however it is their experience with their automobile that leaves a lasting impression. Your problem was not created over night and you will not be able to fix it over night. It will take you years of building quality products to regain your market share and trust of the consumer. You should be concerned not only with providing the initial buyer of your cars with a great experience but also the third and even fourth owner of that vehicle. That is why Honda, Toyota and Subaru have such a great reputation. The story goes like this...Twenty years ago mom and dad gave their young adult the old Honda hand me down. The young adult was able to drive that car all the way thru college with litlle or no problems. Now this young adult is a successful consumer and is looking for a new auto. It only makes since that this person is going to either return to a product that was reliable or move away from a product that was nothing but problems. Point is your quality needs to be span generations so you can win over the high school and college kids of today. If you don't get it now you never will!!!

GM - it's too late - I don't want your junk, and few people do. Looking back over the last 25 years of my driving life, the last ownable products you made were in the truck segment, 20 years ago. GM = Government Motors now, something that shouldn't even be legally allowed because it's unfair to responsible corporations trying to make it through the "recession" in one piece (i.e. Ford, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, etc). Most Japanese manufacturers build and source parts in the US, and you don't hear them whining about the amount of money they're losing partly thanks to the likes of you. The Japanese manufacturers that source and build products in the US should rightly be considered American - as they operate factories here and we never hear a squeak about how "awful" their profit figures are. So overall, if you high-level corporate crooks want to sabotage a long standing US corporation, and take an icon down - feel free. But if anyone ever blows my hard earned tax dollars to buy your bad debt again, and keep you running so you can move to China, their mailbox will be as full as I can make it. I will never buy your products, and I wouldn't own one if it was given to me for free, it's an issue of pride. Now run off to China before people get too wise about your junk products, we're already paying the unemployment load you created.

It well may be too late for GM. But if they are to have any chance at all (and for American taxpayers to have any chance of recouping our investment), then my recommendation to Ms. Docherty is for absolute transparency in everything GM does. "New GM" employees must understand that they are all in this together. Ed Whitacre is no more critical to the future of GM than assembly-line workers or corporate buyers or (though GM does not control them directly) salespeople and service writers at dealerships. Get rid of "perks" like "executive" dining rooms and funds which pay employees for not having jobs. And watch for old habits creeping back. Even a whiff of the "old GM" (like prepping special vehicles for C-level execs) must be addressed and progress (?) in that direction halted. New GM must realize that anyone even considering buying one of their cars, and especially those signing on the dotted line, is placing a bet on GM. Not to put too fine a point on it, but GM hangs by a thread. Customers need to be treated with respect and honesty. That means not just pasting a badge on one model and pretending it's different ('talking to YOU, Pontiac G3). (This could be difficult with GMC in the mix, but there are some feature/engineering decisions which could be made to minimize similarity with Chevy truck models). That means that when problems come up, the response should not be to blame the customer or cover up the problem, but to address it as honestly as possible and to do what must be done to rectify the situation. Finally, consider altering the dealer landscape substantially. I like the suggestion above that any GM dealer be able to sell any GM model which they can service. I think strong consideration should be given to the old Saturn model of sales (no-haggle customer-centeredness), which inspired a huge amount of loyalty around what was, to be frank, a mediocre vehicle. Make the experience at least painless and maybe even fun. Nothing less than all-out won't cut it. Good luck.

Chevy, and Buick, finally have a really good looking car. At 20 feet out it could be mistaken for a fine european car. At first I thought Passat. However, wehn you pull up closer to the rear of the car you see a large, dull colored, anodized gold bow tie. It is my feeling that a whole lot more of those cars could be sold if the bow tie were a high quality, smaller chrome one. Here is why; Chevy's are sold to Chevy people. Many of those are not very descriminating, they will always be back. People that like finer cars would never drive a car with that stupid looking dull bow tie on the back, no matter how good the car is. So, if the car is a good car, give us a chance. we might buy it if the value is there. Your repeat Chevy buyer will hardly notice the difference.

Why is Buick now being rechristened as a performace, import-driven brand? Sorry, but no BMW 3 series or Acura buyer is going to go to a Buick showrrom - no matter what the product is- it makes very little sense; there is no need for Buick in the US-it should have been left exclusively for the Chinese market. Performance-oriented, import-driven products could easily be marketed under the Chevrolet brand- maybe by calling the G8 GT a Chevrolet Europa GT, for instance, or the Regal GS, as a Chevrolet Alpine GT. And keep Cadillac as home to more exclusive technology- the SRX is a good car, but we all know its roots are plebian, and it will not drive as well an Infiniti EX, Acura MDX, or BMW X3/X5. And price Cadillac cars in a more realistic fashion; the CTS-V price is very reasonable, but a well-optioned CTS is not. Friends who have driven the car and liked it, and then hear the dealer is willing to knock off 8-10 grand, lose confidence in the brand and the product. Reasonable pricing from the beginning would help- look at Infiniti or Acura. And what is the demographic for GMC? What is the purpose of a division that just sells rebadged Chevy trucks? Maybe add some street-cred to the division with a Wrangler or FJ-Cruiser type vehicle. And make sure that there is a Chevy product that is good as and roomier than than a Corolla, Camry, and Avalon; this is what Americans want from Chevrolet- honest, world-class products.

US taxpayers who state that they refuse to buy GM products because GM took government money need their heads examined: We're all investors now, and the only way we'll ever be able to recoup our investment is for the New GM to become successful again - otherwise it's our money that's been thrown away and GM itself could end up in the hands of the Chinese when it goes IPO again. That said, Here's what I'd do with GM: Chevrolet needs to remain an entry-level division - Nothing more than $30,000 for a fully loaded Malibu or Impala, with the exception of certain SS performance models, large Trucks/SUV's and the Volt (which really should have been a Buick or Cadillac due to it's pricing and new technology) Chevrolet desperately needs a new basic small truck which I would build based on the existing GMT355 platform - but with far simpler bodies and fewer luxury options - a real work truck. Corvette should be spun off as it's own sportscar division, with the C6 as the large V8 model and something along the lines of the old Sky/Solstice reskinned/rebadged as the new Corvette Stingray. Buick is pitching itself as a competitor to Lexus - Therefore Buick needs to eliminate base models with cloth seats, and plastic wheel covers and forget about the 4 cylinder LaCrosse unless it's a hybrid - that's the Chevrolet market. Buick models should start at $27,000 for a well-equipped Regal and extend up to $55,000 for a loaded RWD sedan along the lines of the Chinese market Park Avenue or a Riviera Coupe/Convertible based on the LaCrosse. Buick can also have it's performance brand to compete with Audi S-Series and BMW M-Performance with it's GS-Series - and hybrid versions of each model should be dubbed the Electra-Series. Buick should not have SUV's/CUV's/Trucks at all - that's the GMC market - but Buick must have Sportwagons/Estates, such as the Insignia Estate. Cadillac needs to stand for something truly premium again - with pricing from $40,000 for a CTS on up to $100,000 for a true RWD/AWD competitor in the 7-Series/S-Class/A8 segment. Cadillac should be the line where new technologies and avant-garde styling is introduced before it trickles down to the rest of the GM brands, and it's own V-Series performance series would compete w/ AMG and the like. Cadillac should have a semi-custom premium option (like Audi Individual) with extensive paint selections, multiple hand-finished wood options, premium leathers, Alcantara headliners, etc - and hybrids of each model should be available as the HE-Series. ...and finally, Cadillac needs it's names back. Who really knows what an XLR or a DTC is - but we all know what an Eldorado, Seville and Fleetwood are.

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