GM: Still Making the Same Mistakes
08-14-2009 | 01:52 PM
#1
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GM: Still Making the Same Mistakes
Some very good points...
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GM's Turnaround: Always Four Years Out
The worst mistake is that by the time the Chevy Volt comes to market it won't be the all new and potentially most exciting introduction of 2010. And it needs to be, to attract the techno-impulse buyers—or those who could become mobile evangelists for GM. Why won't it be knocking socks off? Because by the time dealerships actually receive their Volts, the impulse buyers will have been seeing the vehicle for almost three years. To GM's most cherished buyer demographic, the Volt will be old news by the time the first one hits the streets.
GM should know better; in the 1980s the Chevrolet Lumina minivan was called the "most introduced" vehicle in America. GM started using photos of that unique minivan almost four years before actually having them available to sell. Again, by the time it came out it was old news, not something new and exciting. GM made the same mistake with its SSR pickup truck: The impulse buyers couldn't acquire one when their passions were high and by the time they could, years later, the mood had left them.
When we learned that Toyota (TM) had created the first modern hybrid electric with its Prius, the word leaked out mere months before it went on sale in Japan—and no pictures were available.
Note to GM: If you really want impulse buyers, you raise their emotions when they can actually purchase something. Asking them to hold on to that excitement for three or four years demonstrates a profound ignorance about how excitement for new automotive products can be transitory at best.
The worst mistake is that by the time the Chevy Volt comes to market it won't be the all new and potentially most exciting introduction of 2010. And it needs to be, to attract the techno-impulse buyers—or those who could become mobile evangelists for GM. Why won't it be knocking socks off? Because by the time dealerships actually receive their Volts, the impulse buyers will have been seeing the vehicle for almost three years. To GM's most cherished buyer demographic, the Volt will be old news by the time the first one hits the streets.
GM should know better; in the 1980s the Chevrolet Lumina minivan was called the "most introduced" vehicle in America. GM started using photos of that unique minivan almost four years before actually having them available to sell. Again, by the time it came out it was old news, not something new and exciting. GM made the same mistake with its SSR pickup truck: The impulse buyers couldn't acquire one when their passions were high and by the time they could, years later, the mood had left them.
When we learned that Toyota (TM) had created the first modern hybrid electric with its Prius, the word leaked out mere months before it went on sale in Japan—and no pictures were available.
Note to GM: If you really want impulse buyers, you raise their emotions when they can actually purchase something. Asking them to hold on to that excitement for three or four years demonstrates a profound ignorance about how excitement for new automotive products can be transitory at best.
08-14-2009 | 01:56 PM
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Well, there's also Camaro - raised emotions in 2006, first on sale in 2009, doing very well.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
08-14-2009 | 02:17 PM
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Well, there's also Camaro - raised emotions in 2006, first on sale in 2009, doing very well.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
08-14-2009 | 02:31 PM
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It's a double edged sword. In the case of the past it sounds like GM might have been premature about their marketing campaigns. Right now GM almost needs to turn heads no matter what the future cost because they're widely regarded as a lost cause, a failure of a company, and 'not very green". Marketing the Volt has changed a lot of that perception, got people talking about GM, etc. Sure it may reduce Volt's actual impulse buyer sales when the time comes for it to go to market, but in this case the good may outweigh the bad. Especially if Volt is going to be limited to a certain number of sales before the $7500 tax credit wears off and GM is forced to either start selling it at even more of a loss, or forced to watch sales plummet.
08-14-2009 | 02:46 PM
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Thou shalt not say questionable things about GM or ye shall feel the wrath of the forum . . . 
Seriously though, GM needs to find a happy middle ground. I understand developing a car slowly so it's a good product, but often times like we've seen, the product is stale by the time it hits the market and is already 3 years behind. Or, they do that who super-generic platfrom sharing thing and the product is a hunk of crap with plastics thrown on and only superficial features.
The Camaro is unique because of its name, heritage and following, so it's not really a fair example to cite to the contrary.
Seriously though, GM needs to find a happy middle ground. I understand developing a car slowly so it's a good product, but often times like we've seen, the product is stale by the time it hits the market and is already 3 years behind. Or, they do that who super-generic platfrom sharing thing and the product is a hunk of crap with plastics thrown on and only superficial features.
The Camaro is unique because of its name, heritage and following, so it's not really a fair example to cite to the contrary.
08-14-2009 | 02:52 PM
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I dunno. Camaro has found a lot of buyers who would have never before considered the car. We're rabid Camaro guys, but a lot of buyers and interested parties of today's Camaro certainly never looked twice at a 4th Gen, or lamented its hiatus. The first Transformers movie might be what got them hot for the car.
08-16-2009 | 01:55 PM
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Seeing a car in concept form up on a stand is different than seeing it on the streets and actually being able to buy it.
There is a good point about a model being introduced to the public too far ahead of it going on sale, but as we see from the Camaro, it's not an etched in stone conclusion if you have a highly desireable model in the 1st place.
If the Volt actually does get 230 mpg, that alone is going to drive intrest... regardless as to it being 2 or 3 years before the public can buy it.
There is a good point about a model being introduced to the public too far ahead of it going on sale, but as we see from the Camaro, it's not an etched in stone conclusion if you have a highly desireable model in the 1st place.
If the Volt actually does get 230 mpg, that alone is going to drive intrest... regardless as to it being 2 or 3 years before the public can buy it.
08-16-2009 | 02:28 PM
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08-16-2009 | 03:11 PM
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08-17-2009 | 12:50 AM
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Camaro concept was out there on the auto show circuit, in the magazines and the blogs.
On the other hand, GM has actually been advertising the Volt for three years. This wasn't really ideal, but they were more worried about saving the company than selling the car.
On the other hand, GM has actually been advertising the Volt for three years. This wasn't really ideal, but they were more worried about saving the company than selling the car.
08-17-2009 | 11:00 AM
#12
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Well, there's also Camaro - raised emotions in 2006, first on sale in 2009, doing very well.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
Volt's success or failure is predicated on whether or not greenies and techies will be willing, en masse, to lay down entry-lux money for a compact. I don't think it has much to do with when it was first shown.
I dont think its all about the greenies and techies anymore. Hasn't there been over 1 million priuses sold now? And its still on fire, thats hardly a niche anymore. Its really the tax credit thats gonna move the car, My wife and I are thinking of one, $32,500 after the credit isnt very far off of the $27500 prius. And for so many people now its all about a number they can throw out.
"Oh my prius, yeah it gets 50 mpg."
Versus:
"Yeah its the new volt, well it says 230 mpg but I have only put gas in it once when we went to Lansing, So I dont know."
I can hear the salesman, well after its all said and done it only costs $5000 more than a prius but gets 4 times the MPG's. And its made in America IF you care about those kiind of things.
08-17-2009 | 12:43 PM
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Another article same topic...
"The problem isn't that 34 is too many models; it's the number of distinctive models," said Maryann Keller, an auto consultant who has authored two books on the company. "It just feels like the same old GM." She noted that several models under each of GM's brands are butting heads with similar models at sibling brands. For example, the new Chevrolet Traverse is up against its sibling at Buick, the Enclave, and GMC's Acadia. "The problem is they overlap and compete for the same buyer."
Ms. Jacobs said GM failed to take a valuable lesson from its main competitors, which each have just two car brands. She cited Toyota and Lexus; Honda and Acura; and Nissan and Infiniti. Because GM did not trim further, it is giving a leg up to competitors who will be able to react quicker to the market because they only have two brands, she said. Moreover, GM would have been able to maximize its shrinking ad budget with just two brands. The company spent more than $424 million in U.S. measured media during the first quarter of 2009, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
Focus should be vehicle brands
Auto experts agreed the carmaker should quit talking about the tainted GM brand and get on with the business of promoting its vehicle brands. "They shouldn't even identify themselves as GM. People don't buy GM cars; they buy Cadillacs and Chevys, and that's what they ought to be talking about," Ms. Keller said.
Auto experts agreed the carmaker should quit talking about the tainted GM brand and get on with the business of promoting its vehicle brands. "They shouldn't even identify themselves as GM. People don't buy GM cars; they buy Cadillacs and Chevys, and that's what they ought to be talking about," Ms. Keller said.
Mr. Peterson said the Malibu, launched in fall 2007 and backed in 2008 with well over $100 million in advertising, was the cornerstone of Chevrolet's marketing, but GM hasn't advertised the midsize car in nearly a year. Meantime, GM crows about sales of its "red-hot" modern Camaro, but the car is backed by only a smidge of advertising online and in auto-buff books.
That could be a missed opportunity, since the new Camaro is a model that could lift interest in the entire Chevrolet brand. U.S. buyers pushed sales of the car to 7,113 units in July, Mr. Peterson said. It outsold all of Buick (7,099 units) and Cadillac (6,171).
That could be a missed opportunity, since the new Camaro is a model that could lift interest in the entire Chevrolet brand. U.S. buyers pushed sales of the car to 7,113 units in July, Mr. Peterson said. It outsold all of Buick (7,099 units) and Cadillac (6,171).
08-17-2009 | 03:31 PM
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Forgive me for the somewhat uninformed question but just what is significant about the Volt as compared to any existing hybrid?
I understand than you can “plug it in” and recharge the battery but so what? Is that really such a big deal? Does that really make the car that much better than any current hybrid?
Sorry but I just don’t get it. The Volt just seems like an expensive also-ran/late to the party vehicle to me.
I understand than you can “plug it in” and recharge the battery but so what? Is that really such a big deal? Does that really make the car that much better than any current hybrid?
Sorry but I just don’t get it. The Volt just seems like an expensive also-ran/late to the party vehicle to me.
Last edited by Route66Wanderer; 08-17-2009 at 03:33 PM.
08-17-2009 | 03:47 PM
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You could make the argument that GM is still doing the same mistakes but on a smaller scale.
The excellent...VERY excellent point above is that GM needs to promote it's BRANDS, not GM.
People really do by a Chevrolet, or a Buick, or a Cadillac. They don't buy a "GM".
I can see the confusion GM has. Ford is both a Brand and a Company. So is Chrysler. So is Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, and most every other automotive company.
GM is (for lack of a better term) the "parent" company. Imagine buying a Cerberus... a company that makes Chryslers and Dodges. The focus isn't on the brands, and the brands seem weak.
In a regular Hybrid, there are 2 powerplants. How it's being used will determine which powerplant is used and when.
The Volt hybrid is essentially a straight electric car that has an onboard conventional engine whose only purpose in life is to recharge the batteries if you drive too far without plugging the thing in.
You drive across town in a hybrid, the gasoline engine will come on line for part of that drive (acceleration, hill climbing, etc...).
You drive a Volt across town, and the gasoline engine won't likely come on line.
In theory, you could fill the tank up once, and if you have short to modest commutes, you might not have to fill the tank up again for a month... or months.
The excellent...VERY excellent point above is that GM needs to promote it's BRANDS, not GM.
People really do by a Chevrolet, or a Buick, or a Cadillac. They don't buy a "GM".
I can see the confusion GM has. Ford is both a Brand and a Company. So is Chrysler. So is Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, and most every other automotive company.
GM is (for lack of a better term) the "parent" company. Imagine buying a Cerberus... a company that makes Chryslers and Dodges. The focus isn't on the brands, and the brands seem weak.
Forgive me for the somewhat uninformed question but just what is significant about the Volt as compared to any existing hybrid?
I understand than you can “plug it in” and recharge the battery but so what? Is that really such a big deal? Does that really make the car that much better than any current hybrid?
Sorry but I just don’t get it. The Volt just seems like an expensive also-ran/late to the party vehicle to me.
I understand than you can “plug it in” and recharge the battery but so what? Is that really such a big deal? Does that really make the car that much better than any current hybrid?
Sorry but I just don’t get it. The Volt just seems like an expensive also-ran/late to the party vehicle to me.
The Volt hybrid is essentially a straight electric car that has an onboard conventional engine whose only purpose in life is to recharge the batteries if you drive too far without plugging the thing in.
You drive across town in a hybrid, the gasoline engine will come on line for part of that drive (acceleration, hill climbing, etc...).
You drive a Volt across town, and the gasoline engine won't likely come on line.
In theory, you could fill the tank up once, and if you have short to modest commutes, you might not have to fill the tank up again for a month... or months.
Last edited by guionM; 08-17-2009 at 03:56 PM.