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1. Get complacent. Save money by reusing the same old technologies.
2. Give the unions all they ask for. Don't push back, you can afford it. You're number 1.
3. Get conservative in your styling. It's selling, right?
4. Raise profits even higher by saving money on interiors, switchgear. Squeeze your suppliers.
5. If big SUVs are selling well, focus on those. The car market doesn't make much money. Don't upgrade the cars, it's too hard to compete. Make more big vehicles. Make big profits.
6. Don't waste time on new technologies. Let somebody else play with that hybrid crap.
7. If market share begins to falter, chase trends. If somebody else comes out with retro designs, do it too. Just wait a few years to make sure the concept sells well. Then take a few more years to design and put out the product.
8. If sales are falling and Wall Street is worried, tell them your next models are going to be home runs. If those models end up striking out, then the next models will be home runs.
9. Have a lot of divisions. Spend your money here. Don't waste it on new technologies or quality interiors. Use the same old hardware, put lots of different bodies and taillights on the same engines and frames. It's more efficient that way.
10. Buy some foreign brands. This adds to your divisions. Slowly shut down their designs. Rebadge your own hardware in these new divisions.
11. If sales continue to fall, your PR department knows that the next models will be the big home runs.
12. If other companies are successful with hybrids, react quickly (see "chase market trends"). Find the cheapest way possible to create your own hybrids. Put a battery charger on a truck and call it a hybrid. Put a big generator on a small SUV and call it a hybrid.
13. If your sales continue to fall, make sure everybody knows that the new models coming out next year are going to be home runs.
14. Keep the factories busy. Sell lots of cheap cars to fleets.
15. If sales continue to fall, discount your product. Make sure you maintain some market share by adding rebates.
16. Make sure advertising appeals to the construction worker, the midwest patriot. Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick? It's the Heartbeat of America.
17. If sales continue to fall, remember that the next new models are going to reverse the trend.
Come to think of it, I don't see as many new Volvos around the area here. Poor ol' Ford. They improved the Jaguar and they are selling less. They bought Volvo, and I think it is not profitable, though I may be wrong. Buying SAAB seemed like a strange move. Only buying into Fiat would seem stranger. I guess Yugo is no longer available to buy.
Loren
PS: I did not make this up. These are the exact words from GM vice chairman minimum Bob.
So it's possible for a company to dominate its home market, become complacent, get slaughtered by an influx of imports, but shrink and focus and finally project a profitable year.
For those who don't know, Italy's market was protected by the government until recently due to EU regulations. The unions had it good, Fiat had it good... everyone had it good except the consumers. From what friends there tell me, they wavered before defecting to foreign brands, but Fiat had fallen so far that buying Italian was just too much of a personal sacrifice. Fiat was months away from bankruptcy before GM gave it a lifeline, which they used mainly on one single core product, the new Punto. It's a hit. The new Panda (low end volume car) came out a year or two ago and they did a good job with it too. Somehow they've managed effective alliances with a couple of companies that have led to a good product or two.
The fun stuff like the Barchetta haven't been changed for years, so they're old and outdated, and they won't be touched until the important stuff is taken care of. It took a lot of sacrifice, because they had so little time for the turnaround, but it's working out. But even if they make great products, they're not going to grow much in the next decade or two. It's too late to change that.
GM's management seems to be way too optimistic to go into crisis mode anytime soon, and that scares me.
I hope you aren't serious. The only outsourcing that was done was by Lexus for their styling for the last 15 or so years!
M
And how is Fiat's good fortune good for GM :confuse:
Maybe he thinks only those who caused a problem know how to unravel it?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
How long have you worked for Toyota??
The words "Astonishing" and "Toyota Styling" have never been mentioned in the same sentence before you just posted them. The new Camry looks a lot better than the last one, but it's still bland, derivative and ordinary. It is sure to remain a favorite for elderly women, chunky forty-something single mom's and rental car companies everywhere.
A RWD DTS_deVille platform will differ from the STS in that it will have a larger rear seat area. The STS does not have a lot of rear seat legroom, as is the case with most sport sedans. I don't know that the sigma platform is designed to be larger than the STS. One thing for sure is that the sigma factory is designed to produce about 150,000 units annually. Currently the CTS+STS+SRX production is more than 100,000. Adding a DTS to this would limit production to a much smaller number than the current sales rate is.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
A GM dealer criticizing the Toyota Camry for being dull, appealing to unglamorous customers and relying too much on rental car companies to boost sales?
What's next?
Jennifer Lopez criticizing someone for marrying too often?
Hugh Hefner criticizing someone for being too promiscuous?
Donald Trump criticizing someone for a lack of humility?
The mind reels at the mere thought...
Not sure about the 'kidding,' but here is the reason I was confused about 2000+ being an "H" designation...
http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.asp?Style=&Mfg=GMC&Make=BUI&Model=LESA&Year=2- 003&Category=&Keyword=&Module=&mscsid=LA6FD881X0S49KFMNC66HGFD5UAV5D3D
In the first item for purchase if says
"2003 Buick Lesabre Hb-Platform Service Manual
Price: $135.00 In Stock
(English, Paper, GMP03HB)"
Note the 'Hb.' The Bonneville carries 'Hp'; DTS, KS; STS, AS.
Thanks for explaining.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I WISH I worked for Toyota. Not too many companies are as well managed as Toyota, very few are as innovative, and even fewer are actually bringing jobs to the U.S.
I'm stuck in an (unnamed) American corporation that thrives on layoffs, outsourcing, undeserved executive bonuses, poor employee morale, and ever escalating management stupidity.
Sounds like Rome is burning
at the (for Lexus) lower end.
I like cars and I know cars. And when a 20K car and a 50K car look so similar you have to look at the name plate, it quickly loses my interest. The Asian brands are too generic for my taste.
I haven't liked Toyota's styling theme since the 02 Camry. Toyota's looked ok in the 90's.
"I like cars and I know cars. And when a 20K car and a 50K car look so similar you have to look at the name plate, it quickly loses my interest.I like cars and I know cars. And when a 20K car and a 50K car look so similar you have to look at the name plate, it quickly loses my interest.
What 50K car looks like a 20K car?
"The Asian brands are too generic for my taste."
What so you mean generic? The Mazda 6 is generic? The RX-8? The Altima? The TL? Maybe in the 1980's I could agree with you but not now. I don't think the Domestics are much better at styling cars better than the Japanese. Even the new Civic Coupe blows away any domestic compact in terms of looks. VW/Audi once had an edge 5 years ago on the rest of the industry but since their cars have blown up size with the new generation Passat and Jetta they don't look as sharp as they used too.
Look at the Domestics cars and their styling since the early 90's between Pontiac's overstyling and Ford use of too many oval shapes of their cars in the late 90's their styling was not much better than the Japanese in the 90's. Only Chrysler styled the only good looking domestic cars in the 90's. Mazda for a Japanese brand had good styled cars back in the 90's with the Millenia and 93-97 MX-3. Honda/Acura had the Legend and the Integra back in the 90's. Mitsubishi had the Diamante and the Eclipse back in the 90's. I don't get why people say Asian brands are generic. The only desireable domestic brand for me is Chrysler and Ford is getting there but has more work to do in my opinion. GM=they ain;t worth my time for the most part but there are exceptions. I wouldn't have even looked at a Ford in the 90's except the 94-98 Mustang.
Honda's have looked like Acura's forever not started to look like. GM does a worse thing and rebadges the same car 2 times over.
It sounds like you work for GM :P
So, what I am getting at is that the 95 Aurora platform was developed into 3 distinct grades of refinement. I think the old B & C body names were GM's way of lumping similar body designs into a set of manuals for repair purposes. However, the letters do not mean much regarding a platform. The Park Avenue up to 1985 was RWD, from 1985 to 1990 it was a first generation FWD platform. In 1991 the Park Avenue was restyled and I think the platform was upgraded some. From 1997 forward, the Park Avenue was on the 95 Aurora platform. I do not know if any of these platforms had a name other than C-body and then G-body.
I'm not sure that is a complete sentence, but we'll leave that issue for another forum.
What I mean by generic was probably best expressed by my business friend who said:
"They all look like jelly beans. You can have cheap little jelly beans. Or big expensive jelly beans. But they look like jelly beans. Boring".
If you like the repetitive jelly bean look of Toyota products, then that is your privilege. Certainly there are some worse looking cars. And certainly some better.
Jelly beans are fine - but not for my personal vehicle.
Huh?
Honda Ridgeline. Honda Element. Toyota Yaris. Toyota Echo. Toyota LandCruiser. The Scion XB. This forthcoming Toyota FJ thing. Nissan 350Z. Nissan Versa. Fiat Multipla. Almost every one of the Kei cars deemed even by the Japanese too ugly to export to the US. Renault Megane. That square Benz truck that Dodge imports as a Swift. The Bangle Butt BMW 7 and 5 Series.
These are all butt ugly cars. And this is only off the top of my head.
Again, the shame of GM-just when they get a product right, they kill the line. I was looking for a late-model Aurora, ans they were hard to find..imagine how much money GM would have saved if they just kept the Aurora going as a Buick!
Agreed. Avalon and Prius look good also as do many Lexi.
Last Aurora was nice looking. Too bad it could not have been saved and then evolved, if not Olds name, in some other GM division.
GM is doing better than in recent past and has some nice styled cars, but still too many such as Malibu, Monte Carlo, Aveo, Lucerne, Grand Prix, GTO, that are not.
Ford, Chrysler and GM do have a number of cars with good styling. Europeans, such as Audi and VW, are going backwards in styling. As example, latest issue of Automobile has picture of Audi A8, with drooping mouth tongue-out front end with heavy vertical bars. Not much they could add to add more grossness except perhaps mount a set of steer horns on front of hood. Maybe Audi thinks that ugly is in and "bland" and "elegance" are passe. Another example of gross is big Mercedes S sedan with dramatized front and rear fender lines, kind of like a Mitsubishi SUV.
The FJ is a great example - virutally identical to the concept model. Toyota has a Wrangler and Xterra killer on its hands. The RX-8 is, well, it's a $30K car for $25K if you haggle that blows away most of the competition in driving and looks. And, no, it's not a true sportscar like the 350Z, despite its looks. It's a coupe looking sports sedan that does 90% of that the Z does. Heh.
So there are good examples.
The easy way to pick a winner? If it can be rented, pass on it. Every last car built for fleets is a compromise-designed jellybean. Just say no to fleet models and you'll be fine.
The shame of it is that they put cars out thinking that they've got a couple of years to get it right.
That basically, it's possible for a company to run itself into the ground in its home market, but save itself before dying completely.
Slapping Grand Am front-end on Holden Murano was Bob's brilliant idea. It single handedly kick started neo-muscle car resurgence of 00s;)
HUH?...the GTO?...Not even close.(maybe your joking?)
With January and February traditionally slow sales months, it seems like GM is going way overboard advertising on prime time TV. Tonight (Sunday) it seemed like all the major networks were airing those "Chevy sells more cars than any other brand" ads, along with the "we've lowered prices on all our models" ads. Is that a wise choice of spending ad dollars? I'm asking because who else runs an extensive ad program during what is actually the slowest time of the year? If results are what counts(we all know they are) I guess the January-February sales figures will tell the tale. Bill C.
A muscles car is more like the Mustang, which is to cram a large engine in an existing car, and add some sporty theme to it. The Holden car won't sell well in the $35K plus range, as there are too many others to choose from.
Maybe Mr. Lutz should have re-introduced the 2000 Camaro SS. Now that is a muscular car. Maybe Bob will do something brilliant and amaze one and all ! Is he suppose to be that good? Taking GM designs out of the doldrums is a rather lofty task indeed. How long has the old boy been at GM during this latest effort with this company?
Loren
Wait, so getting a 400hp Corvette engine on the current GTO/Holden for just over 30k is a bad thing :confuse:
If Bob resigns before getting fired will amaze us all.
The current GTO is a basic Holden product as sold in Australia, including the "Corvette" engine. The Monaro's changes to make it a GTO are the Pontiac grill and other modifications to meet US standards. The Corvette engine was already standard.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Someone has dropped a V8 into the Solstice.
For the Camaro 1967 was the first year with the largest motor the 396 and the 302 was in a Z-28. In 1969 the 425 was available in certain versions.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,