GM may kill a brand besides Hummer

[The_Blur]

GM will likely ax 1 brand. Article is by Leftlane.

Which should GM keep?

[Rallysport]

Ditch Saab and Daewooooo.

[Emher]

^Hey! Saab is finally getting their act together!

I say ditch Daewoo. We DO NOT need rebadged Daewoos as Chevys.

[Iroczlover]

I say they need to ditch Buick (which is sad for me since I own a buick Grant it its not sometihng that is still made)

[Myka]

Chevrolet - obvious reasons

Buick - a new standard of luxury for older people(no offense intended)

Cadillac - a new standard of luxury and performance for any age group

Pontiac - I said no. I know a lot of people would disagree, it's just that I haven't been impressed with them since the death of the TA. BTW, I'm aware of the G8 - sorry.

Saab - I'm not Jerry Seinfeld.

Saturn - Finally getting there act together. I'm looking forward to their future.

Hummer - A virtually pointless vehicle. (ditch it)

GMC - Awesome line of trucks and vans for those that need them.

Daewoo - I said no because I didn't know they existed but I bet they are ugly. They must not be very important if they are not advertised, so just put them out of their misery.

[The_Blur]

Chevrolet is the flagship company. In Durant's formation of GM, he intended a car for everybody. The main line is Chevrolet, which features a few performance cars, a lot of family cars, and a focus on the middle class.

Buick is the first company Durant opened. For heritage reasons, it has to stay. If Ford went out of style, Ford wouldn't cancel it. GM needs to revitalize the company some more with a hard-hitting supercar designed by Buick. This would produce new interest in the brand. Buick also needs to build a luxury muscle car. Buick's audience seems to be above the middle class, but not quite exclusively upper class drivers.

Cadillac is GM's luxury brand. It needs no improvement. Since GM plans on ending the Northstar V8, look forward to an LS7 XLR-V.

Pontiac is directed toward middle class buyers who seek performance cars and see the Chevrolet brand as too broad. Pontiac makes some of the same cars as Chevrolet and sells them using a more performance-oriented approach because they don't have to sell to soccer moms who want minivans. Pontiac should continue to go RWD with high horsepower in all their cars. Pontiac should introduce an AWD car to compete with Subaru.

Saab is a unique segment of GM. It fills the same role as Buick in the lineup with less name recognition. To keep this brand alive, GM should style it more like BMW. If Saab can compete directly with European brands, it will create a better image for GM as a whole.

Saturn needs to get back those dent-resistant panels. Apparently, several models, if not all of them, do not have dent-resistant panels anymore. That made their cars light and fast for their output. Saturn tends to market safety and should stick to that, with the addition of their recent "rethink" advertisements. The introduction of the Saturn Sky was genious.

Hummer needs to compete with both Land Rover and Jeep to be successful. If GM doesn't want to hand all their competitive SUV sales to other brands, they need to keep a high-profile SUV brand around. Hummer needs to produce more platforms with lower production to build demand for their new models. They should have a response for the Wrangler, the Liberty, and the Range Rover in addition to their current models to more directly compete with opposing brands.

GMC is a Chevrolet copy. It has made some cool trucks in the past, but it is redundant in the sales world. While there may be some backlash for losing GMC, the trucks are not selling. People demand Hummer for style. People demand GMC for the same reason they would buy a Silverado. GMC is unnecessary.

Daewoo has the same reputation as Geo. These cars are considered to be the lowest quality and bring down the GM name. GM should sell Chevrolets and Saturns where it sells Daewoo.

[Mythic]

I am pretty much in agreement with most of that except as follows:

Axe Hummer(brand), its a niche market. A name plate built around 1 vehicle. Following which, said vehicle has been down-engineered to attempt to give greater market appeal. Pull the H# line (all 3 of them) into Chevy

Buick, I have always seen as everyman luxury. Fair priced comfort for the average consumer.

To me Cadillac is the GM upscale brand. It offers luxury and performance-luxury to the affluent, decerning american buyer.

But don't forget out there is still Opel, Vauxhaul and Holden.

[Dave McFly]

i agree about Buick they only have more 'suvs' than cars! if Buick were to come out with a version of the G8 like they did with the park avenue in china MAYBE it could stay. if they do the Chevelle for Chevy, how about bringing the 'skylark' back give it a LS7 and call it the GS!

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Mythic

But don't forget out there is still Opel, Vauxhaul and Holden.

Well, in that case, we need to specify whether or not the brands we chose to axe is in the US alone, or the whole world.

[1GTEC]

Buick, as sad as it would be to lose it, would make the most since to stop manufacturing.
I'd like to see GMC be the sole truck manufacturer in GM's stable.

[stovt001]

Keepers:

Chevy: obvious why it should stay

Buick: would have ditched 2 years ago, but the Enclave and new Lacrosse/Invicta earned it the right to stay. They are that good.

Caddy: They really are close to being the "Standard of the World" once again.

Pontiac: If they can change their minds on the Aveo rebadge, get a version of the Alpha, refresh the G6 decently, and turn the Vibe into the hot hatch it deserves to be then they can stay as a nice little performance niche brand. If they keep on their present course though, its questionable.

Cuts

Saab: Their heritage calls for them to be far more unique than a rebadging machine like GM can handle. They deserve an owner that will allow them to be who they are. GM could probably get pretty good money for it though...

Saturn: Given that they're almost all stand alone dealerships, killing Saturn would be legally and financially very painful. The Saturn faithful would also be pretty pissed. However, they do nothing but compete with Chevy, GMC, and Pontiac, so they really have no purpose. Keep the good things about the dealerships and instill them in the other brands' dealers, but get rid of the brand itself. Of course this can't happen, as I already mentioned, but it would be nice.

Hummer and GMC: Simple, with the direction the truck and SUV market is going Chevy can fill the needed volume there. GMC could be kept for commercial truck distribution though. As long as Hummer's new owners bring us the H4, we're set. I'm sure an Indian or Chinese company would love to have such an indulgent product line.

Daewoo: They still exist?!?!

Anyway, Sell Saab and Hummer and use the cash to bring out some truly amazing products as groundbreaking as the Volt. Kill off the others I mentioned, and GM will be lean and mean.

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by Mythic

I am pretty much in agreement with most of that except as follows:

Axe Hummer(brand), its a niche market. A name plate built around 1 vehicle. Following which, said vehicle has been down-engineered to attempt to give greater market appeal. Pull the H# line (all 3 of them) into Chevy

Buick, I have always seen as everyman luxury. Fair priced comfort for the average consumer.

To me Cadillac is the GM upscale brand. It offers luxury and performance-luxury to the affluent, decerning american buyer.

But don't forget out there is still Opel, Vauxhaul and Holden.

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

Well, in that case, we need to specify whether or not the brands we chose to axe is in the US alone, or the whole world.

As I said before, Hummer can be saved. Jeep is based around the old GP (general purpose) vehicle, which evolved to the Wrangler. Hummer needs to make a small vehicle that directly competes with each of Jeeps platforms. Jeep is the most successfully branded member of Chrysler and GM needs to take that SUV persona away from Chrysler. If Hummer makes both large and small SUVs, it can fulfill an important role with the company. Imagine if the Mustang only made the V6 and the GT. There would be no press about performance Mustangs to help Ford sell production models. Hummer could be the performance SUV brand that sells all GM SUVs. GMC does not successfully fulfill this role. Moreover, Chevrolet produces the exact same platforms with similar interiors and exact exteriors (minus grills and emblems).

Also, I wasn't intending to include Opel, Vauxhall, or Holden. These brands are successful overseas and need to continue their independent growth. They vary significantly from their American counterparts and sell cars.

Apparently, everyone else on here thinks that Daewoo should go and that Hummer is pointless. From a business standpoint, can someone explain to me why a redundant brand like GMC is not a waste of money while a different market niche like Hummer is? If Chevrolet sold every single GMC with a different badge, wouldn't GM make exactly the same amount of money without paying for the extra personnel?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by The Blur

Apparently, everyone else on here thinks that Daewoo should go and that Hummer is pointless. From a business standpoint, can someone explain to me why a redundant brand like GMC is not a waste of money while a different market niche like Hummer is? If Chevrolet sold every single GMC with a different badge, wouldn't GM make exactly the same amount of money without paying for the extra personnel?

I think Hummer is known as being snotty and obnoxious where as jeep has a cult following. Of course, advertising is everything. Maybe it could be done if Hummer wants to downsize a certain amount and possibly come out with a hybrid model to make gas mileage reasonable. If gas mileage was noticeably better than Jeep could offer, then GM would have a nice thing going.

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by Myka

I think Hummer is known as being snotty and obnoxious where as jeep has a cult following. Of course, advertising is everything. Maybe it could be done if Hummer wants to downsize a certain amount and possibly come out with a hybrid model to make gas mileage reasonable. If gas mileage was noticeably better than Jeep could offer, then GM would have a nice thing going.

Absolutely, it can be done. GM needs to rebrand Hummer just like they did for Saturn. For a while, the Saturn name reduced the value of cars that were shared among Saturn, Chevrolet, and Pontiac. Now, Saturn is known as safe and smart for fuel consumption, as well as the classy Sky. With such a diverse image, Saturn no longer looks bad.

All GM needs to do is introduce a small Hummer that looks like a Wrangler. If it can take away part of the Jeep market, GM has a whole new way to market Hummer. GM should still sell limited existing Hummer brands, but a new, small Hummer would be very successful, especially if it had the backing of GM's brilliant branding team.

I still argue that GMC is redundant and unnecessary. Everything that Chevy says about trucks, GMC says about trucks. Everything that GMC produces, Chevy produces a counterpart. It's ridiculous. I've heard arguments that GMC is more luxurious. The truth is that every luxury in a GMC truck can be installed in a Chevy truck. This would allow GM to cut a significant segment, truck production, and save Chevrolet numbers so that the brand looks better than the competition. Think about this: Chevrolet continues to produce as many trucks next year as this year even as demand falls; meanwhile, GMC does not exist, leading to lower overall truck production for GM; thus, Chevrolet can still grow in sales, making GM stock look great, all the while Ford is still cutting production of its trucks, making Ford look bad. Over a couple of years, investment in GM would grow, allowing GM to overcome market problems, strikes, and an image of rebadging everything.

Besides, Silverado sounds way more masculine and tough for a truck than Sienna.