jpd80 Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 (edited) GM President Frtiz Henderson came squeaky clean about the state of GM's brand portfolio, hurdles and losses. On the issue of too many brands, he admitted that the reason GM still has so many is that it is simply too expensive to kill any one of them. GM spent almost a billion large putting Oldsmobile to sleep, and with The General coming off a $3.25 billion Q1 loss, every half penny counts. In the mean time, GM will have to make do with its four new brand czars. Henderson and CFO Rick Young also admitted that sales projections could be described as "rosy," the word "Delphi" is beginning to rhyme with "albatross," and that the intergalactic rise in gas prices has changed consumer buying habits "faster than we thought." Fritz summarized the situation with: "We have to adjust. We have to learn how to make more money in cars and crossovers and tighten our belts with regard to cost expenditures." That's not the writing on the wall, that is the wall itself. Courtesy of: Autoblog.com Ford and GM are poles apart, I now think GM is 12-18 months behind Ford. GM hasn't done the hard yards yet and don't look like starting anytime soon. Edited May 4, 2008 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-150 Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 GMs problem is the strength of their dealer networks. That so many dealers may be stand-alone brand dealerships. They can't just let one brand die as there would be too much pushback from the dealers. The only thing I think they can do is to have all dealers convert to full line GM dealerships selling all GM models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonj80 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 The only thing I think they can do is to have all dealers convert to full line GM dealerships selling all GM models. Good luck with that, I know they have been trying in certain areas to accomplish this and all it takes is one dealer of the 17 they want to consolidate into 1 mega dealership (with all the brands) and the whole process stalls, the Millions they try to give out mean nothing to some of these dealers, they are family dealerships and the owners great grandfathers started them; they are unwilling to sell, at any price. Then you get into some minority owned dealerships and they have different rules which can make it even more complicated even if that dealer is 100% behind selling their dealership toward the main new dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-150 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Good luck with that, I know they have been trying in certain areas to accomplish this and all it takes is one dealer of the 17 they want to consolidate into 1 mega dealership (with all the brands) and the whole process stalls, the Millions they try to give out mean nothing to some of these dealers, they are family dealerships and the owners great grandfathers started them; they are unwilling to sell, at any price. Then you get into some minority owned dealerships and they have different rules which can make it even more complicated even if that dealer is 100% behind selling their dealership toward the main new dealership. they need to do something, and fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JW Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 (edited) Back when it was announced that Olds was getting the ax, I thought either Cadillac or Buick would have been a better choice (Olds actually had a couple of somewhat promising cars out at the time). Cadillac has since made a resurgence (though there still isn't anything in their lineup I'd EVER buy), and Buick still blows, Tiger Woods or not. And why are they still bothering with GMC? Once upon a time there was differentiation between the trucks, now it's really just a different grille. Drop that, or maybe make that the medium truck division. Edited May 5, 2008 by JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TStag Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Back when it was announced that Olds was getting the ax, I thought either Cadillac or Buick would have been a better choice (Olds actually had a couple of somewhat promising cars out at the time). Cadillac has since made a resurgence (though there still isn't anything in their lineup I'd EVER buy), and Buick still blows, Tiger Woods or not. And why are they still bothering with GMC? Once upon a time there was differentiation between the trucks, now it's really just a different grille. Drop that, or maybe make that the medium truck division. In a way GM and VW would be good partners for each other. GM has too many brands in the USA requiring to much capital expenditure. VW is struggling in the USA but has lots of fairly sucessfull brands. So rather than spend any more cash developing new Pontiacs or Buicks simply start rebadging models from Seat and Skoda and but also keep a few larger US only models. VW gets read mde US sales with little investment in new models, GM gets investment and the whole closure nightmare goes away...... Won't ever happen but expansion by mergers in Europe in particular maybe a route to helping GM make some cash out of all it's brands and a European car maker open up the US market..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHV 16V Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I've long wondered what the hell is going on over there. And apparently, no over there even knows... SAAB should've been sold off a long time ago, as GM alienated their core customer base by "GM-izing" the brand... GMC has no differentiation from Chevrolet anymore, just kill them off, commercial line and all... Saturn makes nothing but red ink and always has, so just put them out to pasture and end the suffering... Buick's prime age demographic is the exact reason that no matter what they get as far as models go, they'll never attract enough of the younger crowd to be what's "in", so just let it die off with it's age group... HUMMER might actually have kept a few more minds open despite their nasty fuel economy if they had gotten off their ass by staying ahead of the crunch and offered turbodiesels (H1 excluded) as an option from the get go, but even then, they are what they are, and because of that, they're already marked for death, so I guess it may be pointless... Chevy= The do-all, be-all brand to everyone. Trucks handled here as well.. Pontiac=The sporty division. RWD a must here.. Cadillac=Obvious.. HUMMER=If it can somehow survive.. Just my $0.02. Hope your day is going well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TStag Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Yes tend to agree on SAAB in a way it's problem is that it's an international brand. I actually think GM needs to buy local non US brands to maximise investment in Brands like Pontiac. So in a way they should have sold off SAAB and bought a brand like MG from the receivers. This way the Pontiac Solstace could have become the MG B in Europe and all the other models MG saloon cars. I think that for 50 million quid that would have been a clever use of resource. Pontiac and MG would have been a perfect match. Shame GM didn't figure that one out. But I bet GM wish it had bought Fiat now....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97svtgoin05gt Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Once again I feel GM stands for their situation. GM = GREAT MESS. Even tougher to clean up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfeg Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 It is easy to say they need to cut some brands, but in many states (Ohio is a great example) state law makes it impossibly costly. The hands of the manufacturers are tied up by the various state laws that the dealers and dealer groups spent a lot of time and money lobbying for over the years. Really the only way to cut a dealership is to buy them out at the price that the dealer wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goinbroke2 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Chevy= The do-all, be-all brand to everyone. Trucks handled here as well.. Pontiac=The sporty division. RWD a must here.. Cadillac=Obvious.. HUMMER=If it can somehow survive.. Kinda like getting back to their roots to consolodate like... Ford=The do-all, be-all brand to everyone. Trucks handled here as well (mercury trucks are gone) Mercury=Step up in elegance (or performance) Lincoln= obvious Volvo=If it can somehow survive(and it will) I can see in this day and age, both companies getting back to the roots of the business and concentrating on quality. (the sun is peeking through the clouds) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
156n3rd Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 GM has been a ponderous, sleepy giant for years. Now, with the advent of 4 bux a gallon and higher, everyone, not just GM is scrambling. I feel that there always be a place for puck trucks in this country. I do recall, however, they were once the absolute cheapest new personal transport years ago. They have become gentrified and many ride better than more expensive cars. Well, GM knows what it has to do, and so does the American buying public. I worked as a Chevy salesman for a few months in 1979. It wasn't for me, but before I left, it was during the gas crunch, people were trading Catalinas, Sedan de Villes and everything else big for Chevettes! These little cars were GM's domestic puddle jumpers. They were ordered with auto and air and the new owners screamed that they had no power! Today's technology is so much better. I know it is for sure in Europe where diesels get 50+ mpg and our smallish gas engined cars have a hard time obtaining 30mpg. Another reason for that is the style of driving in many parts of the U.S.. (That and most Europeans drive manual.) Very scary things happen from running stop lights to passing on the shoulders just to be first. So, while we continue to burn up the road, GM has to make up it's mind to buckle down aznd to the right thing to stay alive. I have said many times, only fall on deaf ears, that European cars are better than ours in many ways. Fuel management, power delivery and content. Of course they're expensive, and decent is these days. Fuel prices/production first needs to stabilize then all car builders can focus. Ford HAS a Focus, but that line needs more offerings to take the place of large crossovers. BTW, isn't Buick the diviison with the best record of repair? Least repairs per mile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherminator98 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 that European cars are better than ours in many ways. Fuel management, power delivery and content. Of course they're expensive, and decent is these days. The problem is that most European cars are focused on just city driving and short distances... I'd hate to be stuck out in the midwest on a wild open road in a B-car or a Microcar like you find in Europe. And that better MPG is due to unit of measure that the UK uses for Gas which is slightly larger then our gallon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
156n3rd Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 All valid pojnts. This country is far humongous compared with Europe. But, the nature of econmy will prevail and driving habits will change. Mass-transit is the answer to covering those distances. Many people resort to airlines just to tarvel within their own state because of the driving distances. Our driving has been influenced by this fuel situation forever. Less and less Sunday drives just to see where a road will take you. Those days are disappearing. Wish I had a Sportser to drive to work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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