Quote:
Originally Posted by m6-lt1
The final sentence you wrote is exactly why she’s been a successful CEO. It would lose the company money (because the resources could be used on another bland vehicle development for the masses that would be more profitable) if she green lighted something cool like a 7th Gen V8 Camaro, Chevy SS/Chevelle remake, Silverado with an LT4, etc. There just aren’t enough buyers for those types of vehicles. If we think Camaro sales are bad go look at Supra, Nissan Z, etc sales. It’s even less. There just aren’t many buyers for 50+k sporty cars anymore.
If I were a board member with a lot of shares in the company and she presents to me a slide with profit/loses by each vehicle in the lineup and I saw how small the profit was on the Camaro/CT4/5 I’d ask her why. After she tells me why I’d tell her she better drop it from the lineup and make something more people want if she wants to keep her job as would the rest of the members. It’s just the unfortunate truth.
The only way a car company can make multiple cool enthusiast products is if they either don’t go public and/or charge a high amount for each vehicle (Porsche for example).
|
In GM'S case I believe an element or two were missed. The first element is innovation. GM used to be seen as innovators in the automotive field. Remember these examples? The Golden Chevrolet, Corvette; Oldsmobile Toronado, Buick Riviera, Pontiac Tempest GTO, Chevelle, Gran Sport, 442. All of these examples signaled leadership in the field with innovation. Innovation in technology, design, appeal and attracxtion of the masses. This is an element that is
no longer apparent in GM's products; At least in the magnitude that once was in ALL of GM.
The second element that seems to be missing is enthusiasm, in the form of excitement, lust, aspiration. Long gone from the company's portfolio are products that used to inspire all of these feelings of enthusiasm. From the innocence of Chevelle, the sense of upward mobility from Buick and Oldsmobile, the sense of achievement from Cadillac. For specific models, the mystery of desire and lust from Caprice!, Impala, Wildcat, Electra 225.
The last element missed is the sense of effortless logic and timeless style; Properly exemplified by Oldsmobile Cutlass, Buick Century, and later Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
It is the essential absence of these aspects that has GM in its predicament right now. There is little that is special with GM's portfolio, and anyone can buy products from its competitors that can match and even excel with current goals of today's car market. I am afraid that if GM continues with its current business "think" it will one day face extinction, being shut out of business, much the same way as once great businesses have now been shuttered in other markets. Think of the late, great Sears, Roebuck and Co., JCPenney, and many of their contemporaries being wiped out of existence by competitors with better and more profitable business plans: Amazon, Costco, WalMart.
Interesting to ponder.