Hey GM, One Truck Brand Only Please!

[Oracle of Delphi]

I would prefer that GM only have one truck brand, either Chevy or GMC, I don't care which. Both trucks are made at the same assembly plants and on the same assembly lines for the most part, no matter what model we are talking about. So the only thing that is really different is the badges. Let's get rid of badge engineering once and for all, shall we Mr. Lutz?

[Northstar]

I would prefer that GM only have one truck brand, either Chevy or GMC, I don't care which. Both trucks are made at the same assembly plants and on the same assembly lines for the most part, no matter what model we are talking about. So the only thing that is really different is the badges. Let's get rid of badge engineering once and for all, shall we Mr. Lutz?

You just totally nullified your own argument. It takes next to nothing to produce the GMCs and they appeal to a totally different clientele. Lutz said that the Denali owners have a higher income than Escalade owners. You're not going to see many people with that kind of money wanting to drive around in a "measly" Chevy.

GMC and Chevy trucks are both extremely profitable, and killing one of them could kill GM.

WTF is up with all these "kill these brands GM!" threads, anyways? None of the people calling for the brands to be killed have many good reasons for the brands to be killed, and this thread is a complete joke.

[Sixty8panther]

You seriously need to get off the pipe!

GMC & Chevrolet customers often do not cross shop, it's sad

but true, to kill either brand would be financial suicide for GM.

The financial savings would be about 0.00001% of the losses.

[FAPTurbo]

No. Please don't.

Both trucks exude different personalities, and it would be totally dumb to get rid of either brand.

And really, WTF is up with these 'kill brands' threads lately?

[BigPontiac]

Maybe GM should kill Opel and roll it into Chevrolet since Opel isn't a "global brand".

[Oracle of Delphi]

Maybe GM should kill Opel and roll it into Chevrolet since Opel isn't a "global brand".

I have no problem with that, in fact I hear rumors that some inside GM are saying that is exactly what needs to happen to Opel, Holden & Vauxhall. :AH-HA_wink:

[Cory Wolfe]

PCS, you are a strange, strange man. That's all I'm going to say.

[VenSeattle]

I have no problem with that, in fact I hear rumors that some inside GM are saying that is exactly what needs to happen to Opel, Holden & Vauxhall. :AH-HA_wink:

AH! There’s a dose of info not provided before... Hmmm... That makes things very interesting. (At least one caveat... what would happen to Saturn if Chevrolet was a single global line-up after absorbing Holden and Opel? Would Saturn end up being absorbed by Chevrolet as well?)

Back to what you were saying though... Why didn't you include Cadillac's Escalade line? Or is it Okay for Cadillac to have versions of Chevrolet SUVs and not GMC? Or are you saying no more stand-alone truck brands when they're just rebadged from a full-line brand?

[Oracle of Delphi]

AH! There’s a dose of info not provided before... Hmmm... That makes things very interesting. (At least one caveat... what would happen to Saturn if Chevrolet was a single global line-up after absorbing Holden and Opel? Would Saturn end up being absorbed by Chevrolet as well?)

Back to what you were saying though... Why didn't you include Cadillac's Escalade line? Or is it Okay for Cadillac to have versions of Chevrolet SUVs and not GMC? Or are you saying no more stand-alone truck brands when they're just rebadged from a full-line brand?

Only to affect globally, outside North America. Ed Welburn has spoken many times about Chevy becoming GM's world brand. I'm surprised more people don't know this.

I didn't include Escalade simply because Cadillac should still be the brand that everyone aspires to.

[bobo]

GMC is the most promising thing going for the BPG dealers. Sometimes I wonder if the B and P go away, whether these will be turned into Saturn-GMC dealers.

[AxelTheRed]

Hey, that's actually not a bad idea. I'd keep Chevrolet as it the brand that sells in the highest volume, but I wouldn't necessarily say "kill GMC". It might work more efficienty as GM's commercial brand.

[buyacargetacheck]

On the one hand the investment in badges and grills to make a Silverado into a Sierra must be very little. Yet, the payoff is big.

On the other hand, GMC's brand equity is limited - GM will never be able to leverage the GMC name worldwide and growth here has limited potential. If you made GMCs into Chevrolets and changed the GMC signs to Chevy ones and lost half your buyer base because of it, you'd still have 200,000 additional vehicles on the road wearing the bowtie. That's not insignificant. The extra exposure is a cheap way to advertise Chevrolet. People like a winner. The next few years will be the perfect time to do this as fuel prices and recession kill demand for trucks - especially leather-lined and Nav-equipped Denalis.

[K.C.]

PCS, just curious but are you employed with Cerberus? That company seems to be all about restructuring and realigning and removed brands and companies. If you don't work for them, maybe you should consider it?

[balthazar]

>>"On the other hand, GMC's brand equity is limited - GM will never be able to leverage the GMC name worldwide and growth here has limited potential. If you made GMCs into Chevrolets and changed the GMC signs to Chevy ones and lost half your buyer base because of it, you'd still have 200,000 additional vehicles on the road wearing the bowtie. That's not insignificant. The extra exposure is a cheap way to advertise Chevrolet. People like a winner. The next few years will be the perfect time to do this as fuel prices and recession kill demand for trucks - especially leather-lined and Nav-equipped Denalis."<<

GMC has been growing it's sales steadily- setting historical sales records in something like 10 of the last 12 years. If the potential is limited, GMC hasn't hit that limit yet.

200,000 more Chevrolets is one way to look at it. 300,000 LESS GM trucks is another.

[Oracle of Delphi]

PCS, just curious but are you employed with Cerberus? That company seems to be all about restructuring and realigning and removed brands and companies. If you don't work for them, maybe you should consider it?

No sir, I do not work for Cerberus, nor would I ever. Shame on you, you haven't figured out where I work? Don't kid yourself, so is GM working on restructuring, just not as open about it. As we speak, Chevrolet is being built as a World Brand and there are countless efforts in continuous quality improvements throughout GM. Change is in the wind my friend, can't you smell it? I can and I thrive on change.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Pontiac Custom-S

[AxelTheRed]

No sir, I do not work for Cerberus, nor would I ever. Shame on you, you haven't figured out where I work? Don't kid yourself, so is GM working on restructuring, just not as open about it. As we speak, Chevrolet is being built as a World Brand and there are countless efforts in continuous quality improvements throughout GM. Change is in the wind my friend, can't you smell it? I can and I thrive on change.

Ah, I still don't think its a good idea for Pontiac to get the axe though.

[ZL-1]

You seem to be in full tick-tock mode, PCS

As much as I love all of GM's brands, I can see this Chevrolet-OtherDivision-Cadillac as GM's business model, with OtherDivision being any of the brands in the current portfolio: Buick for China, Holden for Australia, and so on... Maybe markets such as Europe/US/China you can have two or three badges that fall into the OtherDivision bracket, with extremely focused product and marketing...

There would still be tricky issues though: my beloved Saab has a small, but global presence, and I think it would be be a very, very interesting global brand between a globalized Chevy and a globalized Cadillac, but I don't know what will happen to it. Maybe Saab is part of the "tick-tock group" as well, as I don't see GM selling it to other manufacturers and the Wallenberg family is apparently not interested in buying it back...

[GMTruckGuy74]

No, please keep GMC alive. It is doing well and making money for GM. Plus I know many people that won;t buy one or the other.

PCS, I can understand your position on Chevy-as-the-global brand. When the GMC Typhoon was exported outside of the US, it was rebadged as the Chevy Typhoon (and the grille had a Chevy bowtie instead of the three ruby red letters). I don't agree with it, but outside of the US GMC has little brand awareness. I still don't want to see GM kill off GMC.

[Sixty8panther]

Right... as Balthazar said GM would loose truck sales!

If this crazy scheeme is NOT going to increase profitability

or sales & they would end up ALIENATING customer base

while --HOPING-- to recoup some of thise sales, which

realistically as we learned with the Oldsmobile fiasco would

NOT happen... so what;s the damn point.

This would be another throwing the baby out with the bath

water scenario, there's no other way to look at it IMHO.

GMC is the most promising thing going for the BPG dealers. Sometimes I wonder if the B and P go away, whether these will be turned into Saturn-GMC dealers.

Dude, Stop it.

The last thing we need to do here is give some left over bean counter at GM bad ideas!

[Z-06]

No sir, I do not work for Cerberus, nor would I ever. Shame on you, you haven't figured out where I work? Don't kid yourself, so is GM working on restructuring, just not as open about it. As we speak, Chevrolet is being built as a World Brand and there are countless efforts in continuous quality improvements throughout GM. Change is in the wind my friend, can't you smell it? I can and I thrive on change.

Versucht GM, sein Hauptquartier zu Zürich zu bewegen?

[Oracle of Delphi]

Versucht GM, sein Hauptquartier zu Zürich zu bewegen?

GM europäische Hauptquartier ist Zürich.

http://www.gmeurope.com/download/gme_corpo...pack_and_go.pdf

Es ist ein Jahr oder ein so alt. Seite 10, es betrachten erklärt.

[Z-06]

GM europäische Hauptquartier ist Zürich.

http://www.gmeurope.com/download/gme_corpo...pack_and_go.pdf

Es ist ein Jahr oder ein so alt. Seite 10, es betrachten erklärt.

Ich habe das ganze GM nicht nur GM Europa bedeutet.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Ich habe das ganze GM nicht nur GM Europa bedeutet.

Was du bedeutetest und was du sagtest ...

[buyacargetacheck]

So many of these brands have lost their original meaning and usefulness. GM taking the Google approach for Chevrolet worldwide might be the ticket. As the Google name is everywhere and applied to multiple products (Google, Google Earth, Google Labs, Google Finance, iGoogle, etc) so should Chevrolet. Expanding the Chevrolet brand domestically and worldwide while improving quality and processes would have the effect of making the brand stronger organically. If Ford can have the number one selling pickup with the Ford name alone why couldn't Chevrolet by itself do just as well (esp since it's a better product)? GM needs to get ahead of the curve and make this happen.

Weed out the brands that have no future. Does anyone really miss Marshall Fields, Grants, Rich's or Woolworth? All brands that got axed after a long period of decline.

[Justin Bimmer]

GMC = Grown Man's Chevrolet....

I liked that when I heard it the other day.

[dimitri0917]

No one mentioned GM's sluggish and stupid third truck brand, Hummer. That should go long before GMC... If you want to drive a Humvee, go to Iraq and help the country instead of driving them here and keeping America in trouble. GMCs are on constuction sites helping build America and oil sucking Hummers are a part of the reason the nation is falling apart. GAH!

[buyacargetacheck]

Hard to argue with that.

No one mentioned GM's sluggish and stupid third truck brand, Hummer. That should go long before GMC... If you want to drive a Humvee, go to Iraq and help the country instead of driving them here and keeping America in trouble. GMCs are on constuction sites helping build America and oil sucking Hummers are a part of the reason the nation is falling apart. GAH!

[Sixty8panther]

Let's not go comparing Google to General Motors.

General Motors has been selling cars/trucks for almost a century.

Google-Chevrolet is about as apples-to-oranges a comparison as

you can draw up... there's no corolary there. In Europe Opel has

much more weight than Chevrolet will ever have and vice versa

here in the USA.

Why do people on this forum always try to reinvent the wheel...?

Let's NOT forget Killing Oldsmobile co$t GM more money than it

would have to keep the brand alive, & they would still be making

& selling new Oldsmobiles, but instead GM lost hundreds of

thousands of sales & long term customers to Mercury, Chrysler,

Lexus and oher entry-level luxury brands.

GM will learn from their mistakes even if you people keep

-

Edited August 26, 2007 by Sixty8panther

[FAPTurbo]