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Old 05-04-2012, 12:10 AM   #82
JusticePete
 
Drives: Camaro Justice
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Virginia
Posts: 20,171
Quote:
Originally Posted by nester7929 View Post
A horrible business model. Badge engineering was one of the main causes of GM's bankruptcy. The biggest problem is that you pretty much kill your brand identities by having the same looking car in each lineup.

No badge engineering involved. It is a Chevrolet in the Middle East and in China.



GM owns Holden. Holden is the Chevrolet brand in Australia. You probably already knew that. When the G8 came to the USA they changed the fascia and hood to badge engineer a Pontiac. Those that purchased the Pontiac G8 are passionate fans of the car. It never should have been a Pontiac. It should have been a Chevy back then. Sales would have been more than double if the Holden was in the Chevy Dealer network and not sold through Pontiac in a desperate attempt save the brand.

Badge engineering is bad when the car is the same in the Chevy, Pontiac, Buick group with only cosmetic changes. Well executed brand engineering works when the cars share vital components, but are very different. A Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade are badge engineered and they do very well for GM. GM is selling the Malibu and Cruze world wide. mostly as a Chevy, but also as a Holden. It may be sold under other names I am not aware of. It is a great business model. The New yet-to-be-named Chevy IMHO should be sold in AU as a Holden and the rest of the world as a Chevy. GM leverages the home town brand in AU and, aside from the badging, sells the same car around the world. Where they would get in trouble is if they tried to sell the Holden Commodore as a Chevy and a Buick here in the states without the same significant brand differences we see in the GMT900 SUV range.
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