What Should GM Keep?

I'm being realistic here, what should GM keep with their several brand lineup?

Here's what I think.

Buick: The Lucerne and the LaCrosse, those are selling well, ditch the Enclave, GM doesn't need 4 of the same vehicle.

Cadillac: Keep the CTS, DTS, and STS, Ditch the SRX, XLR, and Escalade.

Chevy: Keep everything but the Colorado, Trailblazer (its on its way out the door anyway), Tahoe, Suburban, and Avalanche

GMC: Keep everything, its the truck division. They make everything from a crossover (Acadia) to medium-duty trucks (Top Kick)

Hummer: GET THE FUCK OUT

Pontiac: That decision has already been made.

Saab: Probably should sell

Saturn: Doing rather well, but would say that they should dump the Outlook.

drop all the nameplates except for cadillac, chevy, and gmc.

take the saturns and leverage them into the chevy brand. have chevy encompass the cars. hatchbacks, family cars, sporty cars

gmc = trucks (protip: buy jeep, if nissan doesn't step up, which they probably won't but should, because the VQ belongs in a jeep)

remake cadillac in the vision of the latest cts. have 3 levels of a high-end sedan. fuck that escalade bullshit; it's gay.

gm has the technology and the talent to build some good shit, if they can make themselves competitive.

gmc trucks pwn. acadia pwns.

That's my toss up in two years, new Camaro or GMC Sierra 1500.

i love the camaro. sierra is awesome, too, but if you don't need to haul shit, get the car.

Buick: Keep the Enclave and the upcoming Invicta (which is replacing the LaCrosse). Keep the Lucerne but give serious consideration to shifting it to a RWD platform next time around.

Cadillac: Keep the CTS, Escalade, and the new SRX. Ditch the DTS...the Lucerne can be the big floaty old people's car. Keep the STS with the intent of going RWD next time. If not, chuck it. Develop a world-class 3-series fighter to slot below the CTS.

Chevrolet: Product plans can stay as they are, except for the Aveo, which needs to be replaced with the upcoming Beat. I'm iffy about the Impala, as the new Malibu is practically the same size as the Impala is now, and I'm not sure they need an even bigger car. New car needs to slot between the Cruze and the Malibu. Offer a few more premium trimlines on models lacking them because of my plan for the next division in my list....

GMC: Kill it. Every bit of their product is offered in other divisions, and their marketing money and cross-platform changes need to be freed up for use everywhere else. Customers who want premium trucks can get a premium trimline from the Chevy stable, customers who want full-on luxury crossovers and trucks can get them from Buick or Cadillac.

Hummer: Sell it off or kill it. Its day in the sun is over.

Pontiac: Specialize exclusively in performance cars and give them more autonomy from the rest of corporation in product planning and development. The G8 and Solstice can stay, and a car that slots in between them is great if it's RWD. Otherwise, no trucks, no vans, no FWD, no goddamned G3 Wave bullshit...if dealers start whining that they need entry-level cars to bring people into showrooms, they can sell Chevys.

Saab: Sell it off ASAP

Saturn: Too much product overlap to feasibly keep it going. Might be able to work it out if its dealer network and brand management is kept completely isolated from the other brands. But with the overlap and its money sapping all of the other brands, its hard to justify its continued existence.

Aristotle wrote:i love the camaro. sierra is awesome, too, but if you don't need to haul shit, get the car.

That's the problem, I need to haul shit. But I like the Camaro too much.

JaysonAych wrote:
GMC: Kill it. Every bit of their product is offered in other divisions, and their marketing money and cross-platform changes need to be freed up for use everywhere else. Customers who want premium trucks can get a premium trimline from the Chevy stable, customers who want full-on luxury crossovers and trucks can get them from Buick or Cadillac.

Really? I would keep it as solely the "truck" division. I'd say sell the Chevy Silverado up to a premium 1500 series platform (mainly because they are not going to get rid of that nameplate) and then anything above that GMC takes care of. I say this also because I think that the Sierra looks 10 times better than the Silverado.

It also seems that companies purchase GMCs over Chevys for some reason. My company uses GMC vans and there is a concrete construction company near me that uses only GMC Sierras for their light duty service. I know NICOR gas uses GMCs for fleet vehicles as well.

what should gm do?

buick: keep any that sell in large numbers, otherwise the line dies outside of china (where it sells popular models and rebrands others)
chevy: stays in north america as the core brand, as is, unless there is a better equivalent in another brand, in which case it's swapped in.
caddy: continue on its present path to recovery.
gmc: axed. there is nothing from gmc that isn't also a chevy, ergo, save cash on the separate branding and just kill it.
hummer: axed. it has nothing of value. either sell it, or kill it.
pontiac: axed. too many brands, and does nothing on its own. move good models into chevy if that brand doesn't have something better.
saab: sold back to the swedes or axed.
saturn: same fate as pontiac.
holden: as current. australian gm, with the current strategy intact.
vauxhal: axed, unless a compelling case can be made why this brand shouldn't just fade off and be replaced with opel.
opel: as current.

there's what i think...

SBF wrote:I'm being realistic here, what should GM keep with their several brand lineup?

Here's what I think.

Buick: The Lucerne and the LaCrosse, those are selling well, ditch the Enclave, GM doesn't need 4 of the same vehicle.

Cadillac: Keep the CTS, DTS, and STS, Ditch the SRX, XLR, and Escalade.

Chevy: Keep everything but the Colorado, Trailblazer (its on its way out the door anyway), Tahoe, Suburban, and Avalanche

GMC: Keep everything, its the truck division. They make everything from a crossover (Acadia) to medium-duty trucks (Top Kick)

Hummer: GET THE FUCK OUT

Pontiac: That decision has already been made.

Saab: Probably should sell

Saturn: Doing rather well, but would say that they should dump the Outlook.

Buick - The Lucerne and LaCrosse are selling well??? No they fail buick is dead except for the Enclave. Buick just needs to go...

Caddy - The SRX is dead or will be soon, Keep CTS STS Keep New Crossover thingy, Keep Escalade. add another to replace DTS

GMC - Drop all of it

Saturn - Keep company, drop Outlook, add more cars.

Saab - Sell, whatever who cares

Chevy - Keep Obviously, Replace Aveo soon with better car, get better small cars. Keep the good parts of Pontiac here

Hummer - Actually Keep, ditch H2, add some smaller real SUV's, GM could really kick Jeeps ass if done well.

Pontiac - They still make cars?

Who allows more Impalas to sell than Malibus? I wish they'd break this down into fleet and non-fleet. Still, though. The Impala is a truly atrocious car for 2008.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=2&docid=51161

nice of you to finally show up for class, stan. >\

Stan McKay wrote:Who allows more Impalas to sell than Malibus? I wish they'd break this down into fleet and non-fleet. Still, though. The Impala is a truly atrocious car for 2008.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=2&docid=51161

not as disgusting as a 2009 w-body with the 3800, Yes they exist i process a purge valve return a few weeks ago

might have been a grand prix too, but those shouldn't exist


http://service.gm.com/dealerworld/vincards/pdf/vincard09.pdf

SBF wrote:

JaysonAych wrote:
GMC: Kill it. Every bit of their product is offered in other divisions, and their marketing money and cross-platform changes need to be freed up for use everywhere else. Customers who want premium trucks can get a premium trimline from the Chevy stable, customers who want full-on luxury crossovers and trucks can get them from Buick or Cadillac.

Really? I would keep it as solely the "truck" division. I'd say sell the Chevy Silverado up to a premium 1500 series platform (mainly because they are not going to get rid of that nameplate) and then anything above that GMC takes care of. I say this also because I think that the Sierra looks 10 times better than the Silverado.

It also seems that companies purchase GMCs over Chevys for some reason. My company uses GMC vans and there is a concrete construction company near me that uses only GMC Sierras for their light duty service. I know NICOR gas uses GMCs for fleet vehicles as well.

I don't think they need a truck division. Chevrolet has been seen as a full line division for some time, and I don't see why you need a separate division for trucks. I just don't see GMC having such drastically higher brand cachet than Chevrolet to necessitate keeping it around. Instead of supporting another division and another dealer network, that money is needed elsewhere.

It'd take far less work to take, say, an LTZ Silverado--which is already a very comfortable leather-decked truck--and just add another trimline to fill in the void left by a high-end Sierra, than to have the Silverado and Sierra both sold as separate vehicles. They're both practically identical except for packaging, grilles, and trim tweaks, and the medium duty vehicles (such as the Chevy Kodiak) differ pretty much in badge only.

I hate it when people say the GMC looks Better/worst than the Chevy. Its the same fucking truck. they look the same now.

Aristotle wrote:nice of you to finally show up for class, stan. >\

LOL. It seemed like entirely too much effort to change my bookmark.

1300ZUK wrote:I hate it when people say the GMC looks Better/worst than the Chevy. Its the same fucking truck. they look the same now.

from the a-pillar back they look exactly the same, the front ends look totally different and it makes the difference.

Dump Buick altogether. No need for the division. Cadillac has enough choice to slot into the upper tier products.

Pontiac: Keep only G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, Montana.

Chevy: Corvette, Camaro, Impala, Cobalt, Aveo, Traverse, HHR, Van, Chevy trucks.

Cadillac: Keep all models.

Hummer: H2 and H3 but ditch the truck versions.

GMC Trucks: Keep same versions as Chevy Trucks.

Saturn: Ditch the lineup, all versions can be found in Chevy or Pontiac form.

SAAB: Keep the lineup as is for its niche




Dealership models should be:

Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks

or

Chevrolet, Hummer, Saab

spaced cowboy wrote:what should gm do?

buick: keep any that sell in large numbers, otherwise the line dies outside of china (where it sells popular models and rebrands others)
chevy: stays in north america as the core brand, as is, unless there is a better equivalent in another brand, in which case it's swapped in.
caddy: continue on its present path to recovery.
gmc: axed. there is nothing from gmc that isn't also a chevy, ergo, save cash on the separate branding and just kill it.
hummer: axed. it has nothing of value. either sell it, or kill it.
pontiac: axed. too many brands, and does nothing on its own. move good models into chevy if that brand doesn't have something better.
saab: sold back to the swedes or axed.
saturn: same fate as pontiac.
holden: as current. australian gm, with the current strategy intact.
vauxhal: axed, unless a compelling case can be made why this brand shouldn't just fade off and be replaced with opel.
opel: as current.

there's what i think...

vauxhall is literally just a different badge

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:Dump Buick altogether. No need for the division. Cadillac has enough choice to slot into the upper tier products.

Pontiac: Keep only G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, Montana.

Chevy: Corvette, Camaro, Impala, Cobalt, Aveo, Traverse, HHR, Van, Chevy trucks.

Cadillac: Keep all models.

Hummer: H2 and H3 but ditch the truck versions.

GMC Trucks: Keep same versions as Chevy Trucks.

Saturn: Ditch the lineup, all versions can be found in Chevy or Pontiac form.

SAAB: Keep the lineup as is for its niche




Dealership models should be:

Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks

or

Chevrolet, Hummer, Saab

What possible good could come from keeping Hummer around?

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:Dump Buick altogether. No need for the division. Cadillac has enough choice to slot into the upper tier products.

Pontiac: Keep only G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, Montana.

Chevy: Corvette, Camaro, Impala, Cobalt, Aveo, Traverse, HHR, Van, Chevy trucks.

Cadillac: Keep all models.

Hummer: H2 and H3 but ditch the truck versions.

GMC Trucks: Keep same versions as Chevy Trucks.

Saturn: Ditch the lineup, all versions can be found in Chevy or Pontiac form.

SAAB: Keep the lineup as is for its niche




Dealership models should be:

Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks

or

Chevrolet, Hummer, Saab

these choices befuddle the shit out of me.

you want to get rid of overlap, and yet you are clearly just fine with a ton of overlap.

keep cadillac and chevrolet. anything good [very little] from the other brands can be rebadged as one of those. no other car company has so many and such confusing overlaps and there's a good reason for that.

i've changed my mind.

everything should just be badged 'GM'.

that's it. no brands.

big_jesus wrote:

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:Dump Buick altogether. No need for the division. Cadillac has enough choice to slot into the upper tier products.

Pontiac: Keep only G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, Montana.

Chevy: Corvette, Camaro, Impala, Cobalt, Aveo, Traverse, HHR, Van, Chevy trucks.

Cadillac: Keep all models.

Hummer: H2 and H3 but ditch the truck versions.

GMC Trucks: Keep same versions as Chevy Trucks.

Saturn: Ditch the lineup, all versions can be found in Chevy or Pontiac form.

SAAB: Keep the lineup as is for its niche





Dealership models should be:

Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks

or

Chevrolet, Hummer, Saab

these choices befuddle the shit out of me.

you want to get rid of overlap, and yet you are clearly just fine with a ton of overlap.

The dealer network is broken into different groups. In other words not every GM dealer sells all divisions. So since they want to keep a larger dealer network GM will likely want to keep it divided among its lineup so as to be able to say have TWO dealers in a town, one a Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC truck dealer and another a Chevy , Chevy truck, Hummer, Saab dealer. So in this way some overlap will need to be maintained in order to offer customers of all GM dealers products from a wider price range and this why I have carefully chosen what products will overlap and what products will be supplied as a niche over others from dealer to dealer.

If you do not do this the dealer network must then be shrunk greatly and that is not what GM probably wants to do.

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:
The dealer network is broken into different groups. In other words not every GM dealer sells all divisions. So since they want to keep a larger dealer network GM will likely want to keep it divided among its lineup so as to be able to say have TWO dealers in a town, one a Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC truck dealer and another a Chevy , Chevy truck, Hummer, Saab dealer. So in this way some overlap will need to be maintained in order to offer customers of all GM dealers products from a wider price range and this why I have carefully chosen what products will overlap and what products will be supplied as a niche over others from dealer to dealer.

If you do not do this the dealer network must then be shrunk greatly and that is not what GM probably wants to do.

GM doesn't want to keep a larger dealer network, though. The size of the dealer network is greatly out of line with the demand and market share they command. Around the time the bailout talk was bandied about, they were looking to slash a quarter of their dealer network. They have to downsize that to survive. Overlap is unnecessary if you bundle the dealerships and divisions properly.

Here's what really needs to happen, IMO. Dealers alienated by this can elect to sell Chevrolets or go fuck themselves.

Kill all Pontiacs but G8 and rename it Chevy Caprice

Kill all Saturns but Sky and rename it Chevy Sky

Kill all Buicks but Enclave, see if it can replace Traverse as Chevy's Lambda, and if not, kill it

Kill all GMCs and rebadge, as a Chevy, anything not presently sold by Chevy

Keep Chevy, but kill Trailblazer and Aveo right now to preserve image (shittiest offerings, IMO). Consider offering Impala as fleet-only. Maybe replace the Traverse with the Enclave, if possible. Welcome the Sky and G8 (Caprice). Highest priority should be given to ensuring Cobalt replacement doesn't make people want to die as much as GM small cars always have.

Don't touch Cadillac

Sell Saab

Sell/Kill Hummer

JaysonAych wrote:

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:
The dealer network is broken into different groups. In other words not every GM dealer sells all divisions. So since they want to keep a larger dealer network GM will likely want to keep it divided among its lineup so as to be able to say have TWO dealers in a town, one a Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC truck dealer and another a Chevy , Chevy truck, Hummer, Saab dealer. So in this way some overlap will need to be maintained in order to offer customers of all GM dealers products from a wider price range and this why I have carefully chosen what products will overlap and what products will be supplied as a niche over others from dealer to dealer.

If you do not do this the dealer network must then be shrunk greatly and that is not what GM probably wants to do.

GM doesn't want to keep a larger dealer network, though. The size of the dealer network is greatly out of line with the demand and market share they command. Around the time the bailout talk was bandied about, they were looking to slash a quarter of their dealer network. They have to downsize that to survive. Overlap is unnecessary if you bundle the dealerships and divisions properly.

Yes, a general shrinkage in dealer network is likely and maybe desirable but you must have a differential in divisions offered to your network. In other words not all GM dealers must only be say Chevy, Cadillac, Buick etc. If GM is going to split the retail of divisions it will need some overlap in product so that each dealer has models to cover a wider range of budgets and desires. This is why I chose to base retailing on either Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks or Chevy (Chevy trucks) Hummer, Saab. It allows all dealers to have proper group of products and even certain niches covered by such division.

i've again changed my mind.

i'd like to see all the us automakers go under. gone. then i'd like to see michigan removed from the union and sold to canada.

Yeah right, like Canada would buy it.

Sell it to the Palestinians, so they can move there and leave Israel alone. I like the idea of them praying towards Alpena.

GM has decided not to import the Ute. This means Australia is officially bankrupt and now reliant on Middle East loans via the IMF.

Keep GMC.

thewalrus wrote:

Les_Vipers_rule wrote:Dump Buick altogether. No need for the division. Cadillac has enough choice to slot into the upper tier products.

Pontiac: Keep only G8, G6, G5, Solstice, Vibe, Montana.

Chevy: Corvette, Camaro, Impala, Cobalt, Aveo, Traverse, HHR, Van, Chevy trucks.

Cadillac: Keep all models.

Hummer: H2 and H3 but ditch the truck versions.

GMC Trucks: Keep same versions as Chevy Trucks.

Saturn: Ditch the lineup, all versions can be found in Chevy or Pontiac form.

SAAB: Keep the lineup as is for its niche




Dealership models should be:

Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC Trucks

or

Chevrolet, Hummer, Saab

What possible good could come from keeping Hummer around?

The H2 and H3 are not like the original army Hummers. Though I despise SUV's I realize there is a market for them. As you may notice my dealer concept has a dealer either being a Chevrolet, (incl. Chevy trucks), Hummer and SAAB dealer. The Hummers offer a more upscale and niche product of SUV for those dealers. Where as the Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC dealers offer an upscale Escalade as their higher end niche SUV. It's really quite strategic my breakdown of models and grouping of division products for dealer network.