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As with its predecessor, the Statesman will be exported as the Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Royaum and Daewoo Statesman. The Buick may be exported as CKD kits for assembly in the People's Republic of China. It is possible General Motors may export the Buick Royaum to the United States as a next generation Bucik LaCrosse.
Reuters / December 8, 2006 - 5:00 am
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DETROIT (Reuters) -- General Motors said it expects new products to account for nearly 40 percent of showroom sales in 2007 as it rolls out vehicles designed under a new system to cut costs and revive brands.
GM executives, meeting with reporters and analysts Thursday evening, also said a key push for the automaker in 2007 would be to take steps to drive gains in the residual value of its vehicles -- a key consideration for new car buyers and lease underwriters.
The steps outlined by senior GM executives are part of the automaker's strategy of moving beyond the cost cutting that has characterized its turnaround effort this year to show that it can grow revenue without resorting to costly sales incentives.
GM's overall U.S. sales were down 8 percent in the year to November and the company is banking on the success of new cars and car-based "crossover" vehicles -- including models for its Saturn, Buick and Cadillac brands -- to grow revenue.
GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said GM had increased its capital spending by $1.5 billion over the last two years and would continue to invest more to drive sales gains.
"Next year will be a very important year for us on the revenue side," Wagoner said, adding GM expected its sales from launch models to rise from 20 percent of U.S. sales this year to nearly 40 percent next year.
ONE 'LEGO SET', MANY VEHICLES
GM's product development chief Bob Lutz said GM intended to stake out a reputation for exciting design even as it drives down costs by building more vehicles on common platforms -- an area where rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. are seen as having a large lead.
Lutz said future versions of GM's current-generation of small cars -- the Astra built by its Opel-subsidiary and the Aveo built by Korean affiliate Daewoo -- would share a single platform. "They will all come from the same Lego set," he said.
Lutz also said GM had earmarked elements of its global development to teams in different countries seen as having particular expertise.
For example, future mid-market sedans would be developed by a team based in Germany, he said. Development work for small SUVs and light pickup trucks would be done mainly in Brazil, leaving engineers in the United States to focus on full-size pickups and SUVs, he said.
GM's board rejected a proposed alliance with Renault and Nissan Motor Co. two months ago, and Lutz said GM's progress in integrating its own operations showed that was the right choice.
"We said we didn't need an alliance to achieve this," Lutz said. "And this is why -- we are achieving an international alliance within GM."
Separately, GM sales chief Mark LaNeve said GM had increased its net pricing in every segment of the U.S. auto market this year except mid-sized sport-utility vehicles, a category still reeling from higher gas prices.
GM has also improved the residual value of its vehicles -- a measure of the percentage of the original sales price remaining on trade-in -- by 8 percentage points over the last year and a half, he said.
Some of that gain came after GM rolled out a five-year, 100,000 powertrain warranty in September for its entire 2007 model line-up, executives have said.
Driving further gains in residual values will be a priority in 2007 for GM, LaNeve said, without specifying what further steps the automaker might take.
"There's a big effort underway in that area," he said.
I would assume the WM platform Statesman would be tapped for the Lucerne rather than the Lacrosse?
What is the difference between the Statesman and the Commodore?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Statesman
Previous attempts included half-hearted attempts and with little success. That included mid-size sedans with either lack of needed powertrains, lack of quality, or simply lack of style. Other attempts were no more than design exercises that did nothing but generated money loss for GM, like the Aztek, Chevy SSR, and GMC Envoy XUV.
I have one reservation on the Lamda crossovers though. How come no Chevy version? And why does GMC need a soft crossover? Wouldn't be better if the Arcadia was sold as a Chevy? Any thoughts?
The saturn and GMC, although different, are a bit too similar when comapred to the AWESOME Enclave. I hope they do something to make the chevy unique.
Now, biuck should do something to continue the Enclave styling. Meybe a large convertible? Any platform it can share???
One thing: Take that V6 and put it in the Lacrosse and Lucerne, and put the current Northstart V8 into the Lucerne, to make up the power difference. It is about time Cadillac came out with a revised Northstar with at least 380hp (Mercedes has 382).
The lacrosse should be redesigned on a more modern platform and have some of the lucerne style.
Anyone?
The lacrosse should be redesigned on a more modern platform and have some of the lucerne style.
The 3.8 is dieing fast. 3.6 is already in the LaCrosse but is the less tech version. New LaCrosse will be gorgeous. Watch for hints out of the press. Most likely it will be Zeta based (find my previous entry). Not sure about Lucerne.
Remember Buick is doing great in China as a premium, affordable vehicle and GM is really going international with design and style. Hope to see that momentum brought back here.
Chevy, however, should have a version immediately. This vehicle could really help Chevy pull away from Toyota, Honda and Ford.
GM needs to realize that Chevy is still its big gun.
But on the road, those pounds seem to melt away. The Outlook drives smaller than it looks. Acceleration is brisk (no numbers are available yet), the steering is well-balanced and the handling is surprisingly responsive. You don't feel like you're in a sport sedan, but you won't get that lumbering minivan sensation either. The view from the driver's seat is enhanced by one of GM's new-look instrument panels that is both handsome and informative.
Here are 10 telltale signs:
• When Wagoner can boast about a $4-billion year-to-year earnings improvement and not have the prior-year comparison be a $2.3-billion LOSS.
• When the new 2007 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups are still selling at sticker price six months from now. The new large pickups are off to a rip-roaring start, with transaction prices around $36,000 during the first two months of launch. But as Chrysler Corp. and Ford Motor Co. slap huge incentives on their big trucks -- and Toyota launches its new Tundra in February -- can GM maintain pricing discipline? This will be a big test of resolve.
Doubt this will happen. Too much competition with Toyota AND Ford / Chrysler will be selling with huge incentives just to compete.
• When Saturns finally start selling. Saturn dealers get kudos for friendliness, but the brand has been a bust otherwise since GM launched it in 1990. Annual sales slumped to 200,000 vehicles in recent years, but now GM has punched up the product lineup with the Sky roadster, the Outlook crossover, the Aura midsize sedan and the 2008 compact Astra. Saturn is GM's best chance to pick up market share. Can sales hit 300,000, or even 400,000 Saturns some year soon?
• When crossovers catch on. Watch sales numbers for the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Outlook crossovers. GM needs these vehicles to lure buyers in the space vacated by GM's disappointing minivans -- can you even name any of them? -- and the Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy in the slumping midsize SUV segment.
• When GM is still offering a 5-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty in 2008. GM sales boss Mark LaNeve says customers are placing a value of $2,000 on the extended warranty rolled out in September. By 2008, when vehicles sold in '06 start passing the previous 36,000-mile warranty threshold, GM will see what the longer warranty is costing. It will still be here. GM warranty is way down and dropping.
• When GM's credit rating emerges from junk status. The turnaround can't be considered complete until then.
• When GM executives stop whining that they have lots of vehicles with 30-m.p.g. fuel economy but can't seem to get that message across.
• When GM gets a labor contract that makes the company cost-competitive with key rivals, without having to lose zillions of dollars to convince the UAW that GM will die soon without emergency help. Will be tough since by contract time GM will be looking so much better than Ford/Chrysler and the UAW has already decided not to keep the even contracts between the companies.
• When annual sales to daily rental fleets drop to 500,000 -- from 650,000 this year and 800,000 a couple of years ago -- and GM doesn't lose any market share as a result. That will take a few years since GM needs to close some plants to drop capacity and they cannot do it quickly.
• When the public relations staff is so confident nothing can thwart GM's progress that it lets Lutz go on the David Letterman show and do his impression of Borat, the outrageous main character in the hit movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Now that would be swagger.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061211/AUTO01/612110331
More than 85,000 GM rental cars sold this year had sunroofs; none did just four years ago. The automaker is pushing well-optioned Chevy HHR wagons in California, where it's trying to pick up market share. And the automaker is now including heated seats, aluminum wheels, power windows and satellite radios in more rental cars.
Toyota earlier this month launched a redesigned Web site to promote its hybrids, and suggest more reasons why consumers would want the technology. Toyota hopes to increase sales of the Prius by 40 percent next year to about 170,000 vehicles, while nearly doubling sales of the Camry hybrid to 60,000 vehicles.
"As we grow our sales and introduce hybrid powertrains to our vehicles there is a more mainstream buyer we have to pull in," Ms. Migliore says. Simply touting the environmental benefit isn't enough.
To promote its hybrid technology, Toyota plans to send a mobile hybrid hands-on exhibit, packed into two semi-trailers, on an 18-month tour of the country as part of an effort to fertilize grass roots interest in Toyota's technology and vehicles.
What share of all this is hype, and what share reflects a substantive commitment to changing mainstream automotive technology, remains to be seen. Car makers can't ignore economics for too long. At some point, Toyota and GM will need to make hybrids that cost less, or cut petroleum consumption substantially more.
But in the meantime, if the economic justification for hybrid technology is that they are more effective to promote a car maker's brands than television commercials, where's the harm?
Minivan sales are falling, down to nearly 850,000 so far this year from a record high of 1.4 million in the United States in 2000.
Auto industry analysts predict that sales of minivans will not top 1 million again.
Toyota executives, at an international motor show in Geneva last year, declared the minivan "dead." General Motors and Ford are pulling out of the minivan business in 2007, leaving the segment to their lone American rival, the Chrysler Group.
But all is not lost for consumers in need of big family haulers. A new vehicle segment is rising. Auto industry people call it the "crossover" market – a name that seems more appropriate for a group baptism at a religious revival than it does for a vehicle of any sort.
I prefer calling the new models tall wagons, because that is what they are – wagons with sport-utility-vehicle pretensions. And here in the seat of San Benito County, along roads winding through the vineyards and agricultural fields of central California, I had the opportunity to drive what arguably is one of the best of the new breed – the 2007 GMC Acadia.
I was not surprised by the Acadia's road performance or build quality. It shares a platform with the 2007 Saturn Outlook, a tall wagon I drove and wrote about in this space two weeks ago.
I loved the Outlook, a commodious work of unitized steel construction that drove and handled in the manner of a much smaller, tighter sedan, although it offered ample seating for eight people with enough space remaining behind the third upright seat to accommodate 19.7 cubic feet of cargo.
The Acadia has the same capabilities; and I have every reason to believe that the Buick Enclave, which I have not driven but is built on the same tall-wagon platform, will prove to be as capable as its siblings, all of which are available with either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
What, then, distinguishes these three?
In the bad old days of General Motors, the answer would have been easy – absolutely nothing, with the meager exceptions of their identity badges.
But that GM is dead and gone – and good riddance to it. The new GM has mastered the art of computerized engineering and design. It has discovered what many of its better foreign rivals have long known – that with the right sculpting and component tweaks, consumers can be offered visually and behaviorally distinctive vehicles built on the same cost-efficient platform.
Thus, the Acadia, with its bold but tasteful upscale trim, its enhanced four-wheel suspension and its array of electronic gadgetry, such as a heads-up display system that projects vehicle speed and other operational information on the windshield, looks and feels richer than the Outlook. Its exterior design, in keeping with the heritage of GM's GMC Truck Division, is more aggressive than that of the Outlook.
The Buick Enclave, on the other hand, has a look that is jazzy and upscale, decidedly more urban and urbane than either the Outlook or the Acadia. No one will have trouble telling the three vehicles apart. And it's a safe bet that the Acadia, Enclave, and Outlook buyers will be demographically different.
But they are likely to have two things in common – their dislike for minivans and their disdain for truck-like sport-utility vehicles.
And something else: Buyers of the Acadia and its tall-wagon relatives will have a keen appreciation for style. After all, that is what the turn away from minivans to what the industry calls "crossovers" is all about – style augmented by performance, reliability, safety, utility and fuel economy.
The tall wagons, or crossovers, have it. The minivans don't.
Wonder what they will build there? GM must be planning on staying in business since they are redoing a plant with no product.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061212/AUTO01/612120312
This could make the 4rth quarter profitable even though the volume is so low. (and some said they were going to be bankrupt by now).
I love the docking DVD player. Wow, great for vacations.
Five plants will be building these puppies.
An engine vibration that is felt if water freezes on engine mounts has prompted General Motors to tell dealers not to sell the new GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook crossovers. GM said about 550 of the crossovers have been delivered to dealers, according to the Lansing State Journal in Lansing, Mich
pickup sales in 2007. GM is also competing with heavy discounting from Ford
Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, which are offering big
incentives on their older models.
General Motors Corp. expects to sell 1 million or more pickup
trucks in the North American market in 2007 even though analysts fear the
segment's sales will shrink, the automaker's product chief told Reuters on
Wednesday.
"We sell about 1 million a year and we are very well positioned to do at
least as well or better (in 2007)," Bob Lutz said in an interview.
"This level of discounting on the pickups is uncharted territory," Lutz
said, referring to the other Detroit automakers. "But the good news is that
incentives of $7,000 to $8,000 a vehicle is not sustainable. And I'm very
optimistic that we will be able to sell our vehicles at a very good
profit."
to rental-car fleets. The auto maker’s fleet sales have declined by 150,000
units this year, while total industry fleet sales have climbed, he says,
adding, “We’re going to take another major step (to reduce rental sales)
next year.”
LaNeve says he would like to lower incentives further while consolidating
brands into three channels. These include combining Buick, Pontiac and GMC
dealers into one channel, premium brands into another and Chevrolet into a
third.
LaNeve says all GM brands are profitable, or close, when analyzing
contributory costs. He defines this as revenue minus incentives and
material costs.
“That’s how my team calculates profits,” he says. However, this does not
include fixed costs. “How you allocate fixed costs is a very tricky
business.”
Saturn Aura
Toyota Camry
Honda Fit
North American Truck of the Year Finalists:
Chevrolet Silvarado
Ford Edge
Mazda CX-7
It has an aggressive stance and a sporting nature, thanks to a lowered suspension, bold 18-inch wheels, a powerful, 263-horsepower (196 kW) DOHC engine – backed up with a six-speed automatic transmission with manual tap up/tap down control – a tuned exhaust and unique exterior appointments. Details such as body color fascias and the elimination of the roof rack contribute to the sleek design, making the Equinox Sport an uncompromising performance vehicle.
Theta
The unibody crossover platform holds-up the Chevrolet Equinox, Saturn Vue and Pontiac Torrent. Theta’s have front/rear independent suspension and are powered by a 4-cylinder (Saturn Vue), a Honda V6 (Saturn Vue), or GM’s ‘good-ole’ 3400 V6 (Equinox and Torrent). All of which use a 5-speed automatic, however the Vue can be had with a 5-speed manual or a specially tuned 5-speed manual in the Vue Redline.
Things to know-
● Theta is such a good platform, Cadillac may use it for a future crossover!
● Expect the platform to be used for quite awhile.
The small SUV platform was not designed by Daewoo.
It was designed well after Daewoo ignominious liquidation by the engineering team at GM DAT lead by the former Holden engineering chief.
(1) If the next Equinox is NOT the rebadged DAT-based SX3 out of Europe, then what happened to that vehicle? Last I heard, they intended to sell it in America in some form. And at one point I thought they had actually SAID that it would be the next-gen Equinox, as well as serving to replace the now-gone Suzuki Samurai and its Chevy twin (what was the Chevy's name?).
(2) Read a little blurb in Autoweek this week that stated that through November 30, Toyota (L-T-S) had outsold GM and Ford COMBINED in California in retail sales. Which leads me to question some of the most rampant cheerleaderism I have read in the last 100 posts - (a) if 20% of GM's volume continues to be fleet sales, often with little associated profit and in the case of rental companies, sometimes with no profit at all, will they be able to stabilize with a strategy that is profitable overall, and (b) if the coastal areas (especially California, where 1 out of 8 vehicles sales occur) continue to favor imports over GM by a large margin, it seems like GM's latest strategy will be unsustainable, so before there is TOO much hooting and hollering, it might be good to wait and see if sales to retail customers on the coasts begin to rise.
As someone (fintail?) said before, just playing a little devils' advocate to the enormous enthusiasm GM fans bring to the table. And just so you know, I think the new Lambda threesome are a very positive step forward for GM, going EXACTLY where the market will go for the next decade. AND I'm hoping for a resurgence at Saturn, because their dealers are the only ones IN THIS COUNTRY who know the meaning of good service.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Yes, California is not domestic country. For GM to succeed they must convince that other country that domestic products are equal or better and get them to buy them. Not sure what you mean by GM's latest strategy being unsustainable.
Rocky
Rocky
GM also made a smart move going in with the Germans on the two mode hybrid system. It sounds like the two mode hybrid is going to get better mileage than the Toyota system, and can easily be made into a plug in hybrid (when batteries get better). GM's farther ahead in the hydrogen fuel cell department also, and that could be a big game changer in 5 or 10 years. Toyota is way behind in fuel cells compared to GM, Honda, and BMW.
Rocky
Just look at Chevy598's and Rocky's responses for one meaning of what I said. GM has given up on Cali? Will it give up on other places then too? Can it afford to "go regional" as a way forward for its business model?
Or could it be that it has yet to tweak its offerings enough to meet the needs and wants of everyone as well as other companies like big bad ol' Toyota (and Honda, and yes, CHRYSLER, the only one of the domestics that has increased its market share in the last few years, even if it IS currently in a huge slump) does?
I hope it's clear to GM execs that regardless of how well individual models sell from now on, that it cannot just be the big truck company any longer. They have certainly demonstrated that they have discarded this notion in the last couple of years. They must be sure never to forget it though.
On the plus side, I am glad to see them finally stare square in the eye the notion that there are some things they don't do all that well (small cars and minivans for instance), and either farm out future models to foreign subsidiaries that do it a whole lot better than they do, or cancel them altogether (minivans). They should be producing only what sells, whether in small numbers or large as long as it is in demand.
Footnote: as I understand it, Ford is taking positive and public steps to weed out a bunch of its most underperforming dealers from a network that is WAY too large for present realities, and it appears that GM execs know they have the same problem, so what do the GM fans think: will they take steps to reduce the number of dealers in the next couple of years? Can they do it? How many is enough to get rid of? They are presently at 5000+ from what my fuzzy recollection can muster.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
GM has been woring on dealers for at least 5 years now in 'facilitating' the combining/buy out of independent dealers in certain markets. Many of the 5000? are small time dealers in small cities where the transplants have no presence. This is one reason why the heartland of the US still sells domestics.
As far as GM's strategies they are focused on cutting cost and improving the product. Also there are programs to increase volume in the now typically transplant markets. Will this be enough to get more volume in places like CA? We will have to wait and see. But I do not see the "latest strategies being unsustainable"
It takes time to turn around. The Japanese took 30+ years to get to a 35% or so market share with about 5 companies.
...GM will start the transition with the introduction next year of a new sport version of the Equinox compact SUV. The vehicle will have 42 percent more horsepower than the basic Equinox and other performance enhancing features, but will be labeled a sport as opposed to an SS..."
Do you have any knowledge of what the "smaller version" will be??? or look like??? and what year it (the smaller version) will be introduced????
A small sport wagon derived from a shortened Theta platform slots in beneath Equinox. Version also to be sold as a Saturn.
Sub-Theta
GM is working on a "Sub-Theta" platform that will spawn compact SUVs comparable to the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Both Saturn and Chevrolet will get a model off of this platform, and GMC may also get one. The platform is expected to debut for 2009.
Chevrolet 'sub-Theta' crossover
GM has a whole new 'family' of MPV/4x4 crossover-style family cars under development by GM Daewoo in Korea. These will be roomy wagons on a version of the Theta 4x4 platform, with European models to be badged as Chevys. Expect related models for Saturn, Pontiac and Suzuki (see below), with Opel/Vauxhall versions possible.
Spy Shot: http://www.channel4.com/4car/gallery/gallery.jsp?id=106