I just caught a blurb at MSN Money that mentioned GM boosting its August sales by 6.1% over August 2006. In contrast, I think Chrysler was down 6% and Ford was down 14%!
The article mentioned that Toyota had a bit of a weak showing too, but didn't throw any numbers out.
Yeah, I saw that in the NY Times. GM is up (5.3%), Toyota (-2.8%), Chrysler (-6%) and Ford (-14%!) down. Oddly, GM is cutting back production for the fourth quarter while Ford is increasing it.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
#7052 of 7057 Re: I stand by my claim......... [rockylee] by xrunner2 Sep 04, 2007 (10:53 am) Bookmark Replying to: rockylee (Sep 03, 2007 11:34 pm)
As far as GM, goes they have a couple of home runs with the 08' CTS, Enclave, Acadia, Outlook. I think the 08' Saab 9-3, will be a strong seller finally just like I think the new Malibu, will sell well.
You don't like the G8 or Lacross super?
I like them both including the Lucerne Super, but the ones I mentioned above along with new Malibu, should be the big bright spots for 2008'.
I saw that in the NY Times. GM is up (5.3%), Toyota (-2.8%), Chrysler (-6%) and Ford (-14%!) down
Says here GM was up 6.1%.
A double digit decline in fleet vs a 7.4% decline in total market share so far this year probably means that GM retail is up or even for the year. Pretty good news in a market that is down a total 2.3% for the industry.
I still do not see any business sense in dropping the 2nd most profitable division, GMC. Trucks are still almost 50% of the US market. Trucks still sell at great profits. Sorry, just do not see it. Sure many will just go buy cheys but many GMC buyers will never buy the low model Chevrolet. Too much risk in dropping GMC. Besides it makes sense to dual the dealerships with low volume Buick and Pontiac.
But: Chevy is the low end value leaders of the everymans vehicle segments.
GMC/Buick/Pontiac are the uplevel leaders of the affordable premium market. Above Chevy but below all those Cadillacs/BMW's/Mercedes. Sorta the volume part of Lexus/Acura segments.
Cadillac/Hummer/Saab are the high end with Saab starting at jsut below $30k and hitting $45k with Cadilac doing the same except reaching much higher with some models. Hummer does what it is doing.
Saturn, always the division that confounds me but it is doing great at turning over those import buyers w/o stealing sales from other GM marques. Guess it's working.
Now are all the products right for the above? No way.
Buick is going in the right direction with the Enclave and the next LaCrosse. Hopefully a few more great products coming. If Pontiac does do the RWD G8 and G6 with an even smaller G5 that would be great. GMC needs to do a bit better with differentian from Chevy trucks. My biggest beef with GM. They sell so many GMC's they should make them look really different.
Cadillac needs a car that can beat the 3 series at it's own game. Infiniti gets there but not good enough to beat the BMW brand equity. Cadillac also needs a 7 series competitor. Let CTS take on the 5 at a lower price.
Let Hummer and Saturn continue on with what they are doing but get wome more Saturn dealerships. Need a bunch more to get volume up.
All I can say is GOOD, it has long since deserved to die. I stopped reading it a few months ago after my wife had heard one too many complaint from me about the "man with a number for a name." Insulting to everyone else, good riddance! :P
It's pretty obvious to me that the core competancy of GM is to build big and powerful vehicles- be it cars, trucks, CUV/SUV's. That is where they are doing well, that is where their most loyal customers reside, and many people and companies will continue to buy those types of vehicles (almost) regardless of fuel costs. Where GM has failed has been in the small vehicle categories. So why would you drop a division like GMC which is in their sweet spot? Plus the profits to GM when people spend upwards of $35K on big vehicles may be 5 times more than if they put their resources into a real Honda Civic competitor.
Not sure it I would give Toyota credit for this but Mark hopefully will do the right thing here and let GM get to the market share it deserves. If it goes to 20% OK. Just downsize the rental fleet to a size that is OK for GM and price the product where they sell. Keep the incentives competitive with the imports and price competivly. It will take a few more years but soon enough the buyers will get over it and not expect wholesale incentives. GM needs to only put incentives on individual products/segments that need it. Trucks need it now. Toyota has been out incentivising GM in a down truck market. Put the incentives on old uncompetitive products until they are replaced. (that is a triple whammy for the trailblazer)
General Motors is taking a lesson from the Japanese carmakers in a new incentive strategy to stay ahead of an inventory glut rather than react with a big blowout sale.
Toyota "never really got a ton of inventory on the Tundra and yet they were burying it in incentives," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing in an interview with Automotive News. "They'll put it on and still keep their days supply down."
And that got LaNeve's attention. He's now applying that strategy to GM's incentive game plan.
"We've got to do a better job," La-Neve said. "The lesson I've learned watching the Japanese over the years is they put incentives on before they get a lot of inventory."
The key will be timing it so as to add incentives at the point where supply starts to peak.
Historically when its inventory levels got high, GM tended to react by tagging on a lot of incentives, LaNeve admits. Now GM will "lean in more and feather incentives in to keep the turn rates high," he said, as opposed to waiting until there is a lot of inventory and then having to overreact to the market.
GM will follow the incentive strategy with its three new crossovers - the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave - which have been selling well since launch with minimal incentives. GM has put $500 customer cash on the Outlook and offers financing rates of 5.9 to 7.9 percent on all three vehic
The problem was a few people who weren't there for anything positive about GM and repetitively countered anything positive with their negatives. Once or twice you've heard about their 1995 Jimmy problems is enough.
What do you read from Toyota's numbers with their decrease? Here they've had a "new" Camry style, and a new Tundra truck... but the numbers are down despite their incentives.
Just read that also. The rentals tend to buy in huge allotments so there are huge peaks during the year. Bottom line is that GM did not do as well as the 6.1% would portray. Probably down like everyone else.
What do you read from Toyota's numbers with their decrease? Here they've had a "new" Camry style, and a new Tundra truck... but the numbers are down despite their incentives.
I read the entire market sucks!!! Car sales for pretty much everyone will be down this year. Remember when GM is down 10% and Toyota is up 10% that means there is still a large overall loss in vehicle sale volumes.
Gas prices are hurting the trucks. House building is in the tanks which is hitting the truck sales. Many cannot make their house payments. More sales are going to foreign made products which is putting many out of work and putting a lot of others on edge.
Brian MacDonald is one driver attracted by GM's new crossovers. An investment-fund manager in California, Mr. MacDonald has driven nothing but BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes for the past 20 years. But last month, with the lease on his Mercedes ML-Class winding down, Mr. MacDonald leased a $45,000 Enclave, the most luxurious of GM's three models.
"If someone had told me a few months ago I'd be driving a Buick, my reaction would have been 'no way, no how,' " says Mr. MacDonald, 46 years old. The Enclave, he said, offers the roominess to haul around his three young children and the styling and interior comforts he was accustomed to with the Mercedes. Because the Mercedes ML sells for about $30,000 more than the Enclave, his monthly payment on the Buick was almost $300 lower. But it is an uphill battle. About two-thirds of the vehicles GM sells through its dealerships go to customers who trade in GM vehicles, according to data from the Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power & Associates. Only a fraction – less than 3 percent – go to people trading in vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. or Honda Motor Co. The three new crossovers do much better. Half of all Acadias and Outlooks go to customers who trade in GM vehicles; about 20 percent go to people trading Asian-brand vehicles. For the Enclave, the numbers are slightly lower but still better: 44 percent of all trade-ins are non-GM brands; 14 percent of the trade-ins are Asian vehicles.
That means a sizable chunk of GM's past customers are buying something else. I would have bought a BMW wagon myself, but the nearest luxury import dealership of any kind is more than 300 miles from here one way. However, now that I have the SRX, which is more of an SUV than a wagon, and burns more fuel than a wagon would have, I am happy with it. I am looking forward to seeing what it will do in some snow.
The auto market is only going to get worse, as the damage from the bursting housing bubble spreads. Note that while Honda's sales are up, they are practically giving away 2007 Accords to make way for the new model. GM is not alone in suffering from the fallout.
>That means a sizable chunk of GM's past customers are buying something else
Did I misunderstand the data? It's saying the 2/3 of the vehicles traded for GMs are GMs. That doesn't mean there is 1/3 being traded with other brands. That means 1/3 of the cars traded into GM dealers are from other brands. Then for the news group more of the other brands are being traded into the GM dealers than for overall GM dealerships.
GMC is just a clone of Chevy. Nothing more. You just end up competing with yourself. There is NO reason why you couldn't have a Chevy Denali if you wanted one. Since I would kill Pontiac, losing GMC isn't a problem. Buick would get a luxury crossover to compete w/ the Lexus RX330. Actually,they already have one.
SAAB is dead, Hummer is a dead end. Caddy should be able to make it on their own.
SAAB certainly isn't dead here in Europe and Cadillac are now selling cars here which are, mostly, re-bodied SAAB's, but uglier.
On the other hand, Vauxhall, (UK badge for Opel - why does it still exist ?), is selling some very smart cars now after years in the doldrums. Also some fairly hot stuff; Astra VXR @ 240bhp and the 6.0 Ltr Monaro with 398 bhp, (just been refreshed I think). The Monaro is actually an Australian Holden re-badged for here.
Going in the right direction Toyota and Honda continue to get stronger.
I guess that I am not sure exactly what the meaning of the data is. What is generally true is that GM is selling fewer and fewer vehicles in the US market. Year to date sales are down a lot from 5 years ago as well as last year.
So, my thinking was that only 2/3 of the old customers are buying a GM vehicle (actually less than 2/3) while 1/3 are new customers, but they do not make up for the lost old GM customers. This may not be a logical conclusion though.
Cars Worth Waiting For – 3 GM Models Make the List CNNMoney.com recently compiled a list of 10 new and redesigned cars that “look so enticing you should consider holding off other purchases until you’ve had a chance to check them out.” Three GM vehicles are featured, including:
2008 Chevy Malibu, available this fall 2008 Cadillac CTS, arriving in dealerships now 2008 Buick Enclave, in showrooms now To read the story and check out these vehicles yourself, click here.
I'm not adverse to the GMC killoff, but I wouldn't say SAAB is dead, nor Hummer. Both seem to cater to a niche audience.
I still wonder though, would pairing up Chevy and Cadillac dealers increase sales for both??? W/ the exception of the Vette, Chevy would have anything you need under $30K, Caddy over.
I still wonder though, would pairing up Chevy and Cadillac dealers increase sales for both??? W/ the exception of the Vette, Chevy would have anything you need under $30K, Caddy over.
Not a good idea. If you want Caddy to be a real Luxury brand,then Caddy has to have a stand alone store and sales staff. You don't see Toyota's and Lexus sold from the same store do you?
I think there is enough business for a stand alone Chevy store,and a stand alone Caddy store.
We have a Chevy Cadillac dealer here in town but I agree - completely different things. The one we have is the result of a combination of a local dealer going belly up right at the time GM was creating Buick-Pontiac-GMC combos. After a couple of tradeoffs you ended up with the Chevy-Caddy dealer.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
I'm just fine with Saabs, being reskinned Opels. They have enough uniqueness to not be considered plain rebadges. Some Acura's are rebadged/reskinned Honda's, and same goes for some Lexus products are reskinned/rebadged Toyota's. I don't think this is neccessarily a bad thing as the company's are able to have very competitive and affordable products for customers due to the reskinning process.
At least Oldsmobile got a decent funeral. Saturn got nothing.
A lot of people don’t realize General Motors killed a second division, Saturn, recently. That’s because there was never an obit. Why? For some reason, G.M. wants people to think that Saturn is still alive. But G.M. has not only killed it, it has dismembered the body and dumped pieces at undisclosed locations, and replaced it with an impostor.
I still wonder though, would pairing up Chevy and Cadillac dealers increase sales for both??? W/ the exception of the Vette, Chevy would have anything you need under $30K, Caddy over.
First why??? Chevrolet has plenty of product and overfills the showroom. No need to add more models for the salespeople to learn. 2nd why would anyone mix a premium product with a dreg low level product(unless you are in an area that has few buyers)? As far as I know there are no Bloomingtons with Targets in the store. There are no Lexus with Toyotas(unless again the market is small enough).
Are you in a small sales are like out in the sticks? Are the Chev and Caddy showrooms separated?
I really feel that GM has done the best they can w/o really taking some huge risk. Dropping brands is very expensive it you do not let them die a slow death.
they have the low end store Chevy The mid end store GMC/Buick/Pontiac and the high end Cadillac/Saab/Hummer
and the one that always confounds me Saturn, but it does seem to be doing its job and if they open more stores they could really get some volume.
BUT if Saab sent away here in the states not a big deal. Hummer probably has a few more years and if they do what they say they will it should do great (hybrid/high MPG).
Also they need to separate/move Caddilac higher to leave more room for the mid models.
They must have offered Jim the carrot of running Chrysler once Nardelli leaves in a couple years. Wonder how this will effect Toyota. Jim left with all Toyota's future product plans. Also wonder if Toyota will hire americans for high positions again. Toyota employees(exec's) do not leave unless it is in a box or retirement.
Jim Press, Toyota Motor Corp.'s top executive in the United States, today was named a vice chairman and president of Chrysler LLC. In his new job, Press has the same title as Tom LaSorda. Chrysler said LaSorda will be responsible for manufacturing and suppliers, while Press will be responsible for sales and marketing. Both will report to Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli. Press worked for Toyota for 37 years. Toyota today said it named Shigeru Hayakawa to replace Press as president of Toyota North America.
Does anyone think that any mags will do a comparison of the new CTS to the 5 series or will they all go up against the 3? Nt an expert at the high level segments but it seems like most think that the new larger CTS is really in the 5 series size segment.
Does the CTS stand a chance against the 5 in the lux sports segment? All long term reviews coming out have only good things to say and lots of surprize. In fact the only complaint is that they bundled options. Does BMW bundle options or are the ala carte? I know Toyota/Honda/Lexus/Acura do it.
the biggest GM conglomerate I can think of is this one.
Once upon a time, they only sold Cadillacs, but added other divisions over the years. There used to be another dealer about 10 mins away that sold Pontiac/GMC and Dodge. That dealer jettisoned Pontiac/GMC, and I think picked up either Jeep, Chrysler, or both. Then I guess they just got Hummer when that brand first came out...makes sense to pair something expensive like that with Cadillac. And once Buick volume dropped to the point that their stand-alone dealers were no longer viable, I guess they just picked up Buick as well.
We do have a toyota dealer here, but the nearest lexus is more than 300 miles away. If the local Cadillac dealer was not paired with Chevy, it would probably be 300 miles away. The nearest Saturn is over 300 miles from here.
There's a dealership in Lehighton, PA that sells the entire GM lineup short of SAAB and Hummer. The same family that owns the dealership manufactures fire engines in a nearby town.
So what was Capitol Cadillac is still around? I still remember their radio commercial jingle from around 1980 -- amazing how things like that stick in your mind!
So what was Capitol Cadillac is still around? I still remember their radio commercial jingle from around 1980 -- amazing how things like that stick in your mind!
Yup, that's them, on Greenbelt Road just off the Beltway! I remember back in the day they used to put their logo in cursive on the trunks of Caddys, trying to match the Cadillac font. It would say...
A Capitol Cadillac
Their font didn't quite match the Cadillac font though, and I think they used a cheaper plastic, so it would look pretty bad after a few years.
Does anyone think that any mags will do a comparison of the new CTS to the 5 series or will they all go up against the 3?
The CTS may line up against the 5er, E-class, M, and GS in size, but Cadillac is too low-rent to play in that league. The V6-only engine choices disqualify it, since the others all have regular V8 options. The existence of the STS also holds the CTS down in fact and perception.
The CTS will be getting the new V8 soon so that excuse will be gone. STS is not going to be around forever and will be replaced by a STS/DTS combo which will be more 7 size.
So other than a "low-rent" price tag will the mags do a comparison to the 5 class or will they wait for the Cadillac 3 series vehicle to be built before they do the comparison? And I missed one other issue, the cupholder location.
Cannot wait for the first comparo. Should be exciting whichever way it works out.
We were out in the sticks. The place bas built up considerably in the last decade. The Chevy - Cadillac dealership is kind of a leftover relic in that respect. It's still a single building.
Heck, when I moved down here 27 years ago the Dodge dealer still had gas pumps in front of it. They not only sold Dodge but also were a regular service station.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
Comments
The article mentioned that Toyota had a bit of a weak showing too, but didn't throw any numbers out.
Keep Chevy, to face down Honda Toyota
Dump GMC Truck,Pontiac, SAAB and Hummer
Saturn becomes your Euro fighter VW wanna be division.
Buick goes after Lexus
Caddy goes after the Germans.
Bookmark
Replying to: rockylee (Sep 03, 2007 11:34 pm)
As far as GM, goes they have a couple of home runs with the 08' CTS, Enclave, Acadia, Outlook. I think the 08'
Saab 9-3, will be a strong seller finally just like I think the new Malibu, will sell well.
You don't like the G8 or Lacross super?
I like them both including the Lucerne Super, but the ones I mentioned above along with new Malibu, should be the big bright spots for 2008'.
-Rocky
Says here GM was up 6.1%.
A double digit decline in fleet vs a 7.4% decline in total market share so far this year probably means that GM retail is up or even for the year. Pretty good news in a market that is down a total 2.3% for the industry.
Chevrolet. Too much risk in dropping GMC. Besides it makes sense to dual the dealerships with low volume Buick and Pontiac.
But:
Chevy is the low end value leaders of the everymans vehicle segments.
GMC/Buick/Pontiac are the uplevel leaders of the affordable premium market. Above Chevy but below all those Cadillacs/BMW's/Mercedes. Sorta the volume part of Lexus/Acura segments.
Cadillac/Hummer/Saab are the high end with Saab starting at jsut below $30k and hitting $45k with Cadilac doing the same except reaching much higher with some models. Hummer does what it is doing.
Saturn, always the division that confounds me but it is doing great at turning over those import buyers w/o stealing sales from other GM marques. Guess it's working.
Now are all the products right for the above? No way.
Buick is going in the right direction with the Enclave and the next LaCrosse. Hopefully a few more great products coming. If Pontiac does do the RWD G8 and G6 with an even smaller G5 that would be great. GMC needs to do a bit better with differentian from Chevy trucks. My biggest beef with GM. They sell so many GMC's they should make them look really different.
Cadillac needs a car that can beat the 3 series at it's own game. Infiniti gets there but not good enough to beat the BMW brand equity. Cadillac also needs a 7 series competitor. Let CTS take on the 5 at a lower price.
Let Hummer and Saturn continue on with what they are doing but get wome more Saturn dealerships. Need a bunch more to get volume up.
AHHHHHHHHH
General Motors is taking a lesson from the Japanese carmakers in a new incentive strategy to stay ahead of an inventory glut rather than react with a big blowout sale.
Toyota "never really got a ton of inventory on the Tundra and yet they were burying it in incentives," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing in an interview with Automotive News. "They'll put it on and still keep their days supply down."
And that got LaNeve's attention. He's now applying that strategy to GM's incentive game plan.
"We've got to do a better job," La-Neve said. "The lesson I've learned watching the Japanese over the years is they put incentives on before they get a lot of inventory."
The key will be timing it so as to add incentives at the point where supply starts to peak.
Historically when its inventory levels got high, GM tended to react by tagging on a lot of incentives, LaNeve admits. Now GM will "lean in more and feather incentives in to keep the turn rates high," he said, as opposed to waiting until there is a lot of inventory and then having to overreact to the market.
GM will follow the incentive strategy with its three new crossovers - the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave - which have been selling well since launch with minimal incentives. GM has put $500 customer cash on the Outlook and offers financing rates of 5.9 to 7.9 percent on all three vehic
But GM's sales to rental fleets jumped 24 percent in August. "That's just a temporary blip, and we'll continue to reduce daily rental," Ballew said.
>"Insulting to everyone else"
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
What do you read from Toyota's numbers with their decrease? Here they've had a "new" Camry style, and a new Tundra truck... but the numbers are down despite their incentives.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The Tundra has been steadily climbing and is neck and neck with the Sierra saleswise. One off month is not cause for alarm.
The Camry is on pace to remain the #1 selling car. The new Accord and Mazda 6 may slow that down though. Also, no cause for alarm.
I read the entire market sucks!!! Car sales for pretty much everyone will be down this year. Remember when GM is down 10% and Toyota is up 10% that means there is still a large overall loss in vehicle sale volumes.
Gas prices are hurting the trucks. House building is in the tanks which is hitting the truck sales. Many cannot make their house payments. More sales are going to foreign made products which is putting many out of work and putting a lot of others on edge.
2003: 472,427
2004: 406,623
2005: 355,180
2006: 368,776
2007: 388,168
The average is just under 400,000.
"If someone had told me a few months ago I'd be driving a Buick, my reaction would have been 'no way, no how,' " says Mr. MacDonald, 46 years old. The Enclave, he said, offers the roominess to haul around his three young children and the styling and interior comforts he was accustomed to with the Mercedes. Because the Mercedes ML sells for about $30,000 more than the Enclave, his monthly payment on the Buick was almost $300 lower.
But it is an uphill battle. About two-thirds of the vehicles GM sells through its dealerships go to customers who trade in GM vehicles, according to data from the Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power & Associates. Only a fraction – less than 3 percent – go to people trading in vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. or Honda Motor Co.
The three new crossovers do much better. Half of all Acadias and Outlooks go to customers who trade in GM vehicles; about 20 percent go to people trading Asian-brand vehicles. For the Enclave, the numbers are slightly lower but still better: 44 percent of all trade-ins are non-GM brands; 14 percent of the trade-ins are Asian vehicles.
Did I misunderstand the data? It's saying the 2/3 of the vehicles traded for GMs are GMs. That doesn't mean there is 1/3 being traded with other brands. That means 1/3 of the cars traded into GM dealers are from other brands. Then for the news group more of the other brands are being traded into the GM dealers than for overall GM dealerships.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You just end up competing with yourself.
There is NO reason why you couldn't have a Chevy Denali if you wanted one.
Since I would kill Pontiac, losing GMC isn't a problem.
Buick would get a luxury crossover to compete w/ the Lexus RX330. Actually,they already have one.
SAAB is dead, Hummer is a dead end. Caddy should be able to make it on their own.
On the other hand, Vauxhall, (UK badge for Opel - why does it still exist ?), is selling some very smart cars now after years in the doldrums. Also some fairly hot stuff; Astra VXR @ 240bhp and the 6.0 Ltr Monaro with 398 bhp, (just been refreshed I think). The Monaro is actually an Australian Holden re-badged for here.
Going in the right direction Toyota and Honda continue to get stronger.
So, my thinking was that only 2/3 of the old customers are buying a GM vehicle (actually less than 2/3) while 1/3 are new customers, but they do not make up for the lost old GM customers. This may not be a logical conclusion though.
CNNMoney.com recently compiled a list of 10 new and redesigned cars that “look so enticing you should consider holding off other purchases until you’ve had a chance to check them out.” Three GM vehicles are featured, including:
2008 Chevy Malibu, available this fall
2008 Cadillac CTS, arriving in dealerships now
2008 Buick Enclave, in showrooms now
To read the story and check out these vehicles yourself, click here.
-Rocky
I still wonder though, would pairing up Chevy and Cadillac dealers increase sales for both??? W/ the exception of the Vette, Chevy would have anything you need under $30K, Caddy over.
They are essentially re-bodied Opels.
Or rebodied Chevy's if you look at the 9-7.
It would cost a ton to get SAAB competitive in the market.
both US and Europe.
Not a good idea.
If you want Caddy to be a real Luxury brand,then Caddy has to have a stand alone store and sales staff.
You don't see Toyota's and Lexus sold from the same store do you?
I think there is enough business for a stand alone Chevy store,and a stand alone Caddy store.
-Rocky
Especially when Opel is supplying Saturns already.
At least Oldsmobile got a decent funeral. Saturn got nothing.
A lot of people don’t realize General Motors killed a second division, Saturn, recently. That’s because there was never an obit. Why? For some reason, G.M. wants people to think that Saturn is still alive. But G.M. has not only killed it, it has dismembered the body and dumped pieces at undisclosed locations, and replaced it with an impostor.
Saturn, the automobile manufacturer, R.I.P.
First why??? Chevrolet has plenty of product and overfills the showroom. No need to add more models for the salespeople to learn. 2nd why would anyone mix a premium product with a dreg low level product(unless you are in an area that has few buyers)? As far as I know there are no Bloomingtons with Targets in the store. There are no Lexus with Toyotas(unless again the market is small enough).
No basic Marketing would tell you not to do it.
I really feel that GM has done the best they can w/o really taking some huge risk. Dropping brands is very expensive it you do not let them die a slow death.
they have the low end store Chevy
The mid end store GMC/Buick/Pontiac
and the high end Cadillac/Saab/Hummer
and the one that always confounds me Saturn, but it does seem to be doing its job and if they open more stores they could really get some volume.
BUT if Saab sent away here in the states not a big deal. Hummer probably has a few more years and if they do what they say they will it should do great (hybrid/high MPG).
Also they need to separate/move Caddilac higher to leave more room for the mid models.
Jim Press, Toyota Motor Corp.'s top executive in the United States, today was named a vice chairman and president of Chrysler LLC. In his new job, Press has the same title as Tom LaSorda. Chrysler said LaSorda will be responsible for manufacturing and suppliers, while Press will be responsible for sales and marketing. Both will report to Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli. Press worked for Toyota for 37 years. Toyota today said it named Shigeru Hayakawa to replace Press as president of Toyota North America.
Does the CTS stand a chance against the 5 in the lux sports segment? All long term reviews coming out have only good things to say and lots of surprize. In fact the only complaint is that they bundled options. Does BMW bundle options or are the ala carte? I know Toyota/Honda/Lexus/Acura do it.
Once upon a time, they only sold Cadillacs, but added other divisions over the years. There used to be another dealer about 10 mins away that sold Pontiac/GMC and Dodge. That dealer jettisoned Pontiac/GMC, and I think picked up either Jeep, Chrysler, or both. Then I guess they just got Hummer when that brand first came out...makes sense to pair something expensive like that with Cadillac. And once Buick volume dropped to the point that their stand-alone dealers were no longer viable, I guess they just picked up Buick as well.
Yup, that's them, on Greenbelt Road just off the Beltway! I remember back in the day they used to put their logo in cursive on the trunks of Caddys, trying to match the Cadillac font. It would say...
A Capitol
Cadillac
Their font didn't quite match the Cadillac font though, and I think they used a cheaper plastic, so it would look pretty bad after a few years.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/saturn-a-different-kind-of-car-compan- y-indeed/
The CTS may line up against the 5er, E-class, M, and GS in size, but Cadillac is too low-rent to play in that league. The V6-only engine choices disqualify it, since the others all have regular V8 options. The existence of the STS also holds the CTS down in fact and perception.
So other than a "low-rent" price tag will the mags do a comparison to the 5 class or will they wait for the Cadillac 3 series vehicle to be built before they do the comparison? And I missed one other issue, the cupholder location.
Cannot wait for the first comparo. Should be exciting whichever way it works out.
Although the last CTS manual I drove was like rowing a rod through a box of rocks, not having a manual on your high performance model is a dumb move.
Heck, when I moved down here 27 years ago the Dodge dealer still had gas pumps in front of it. They not only sold Dodge but also were a regular service station.