GM Studies Killing Saab, Saturn, Pontiac

[saturnd00d]

A vanilla volume division doesn't need a low-cost roadster...in my opinion, if it weren't for the heritage involved, Chevy shouldn't have even had Corvette, but Chevy back then was a different animal, and too many people would be upset to have Corvette removed from the lineup now. So Corvette and new Camaro aside, Chevy doesn't need to have sports cars, they should have left those to another division, or streamlined them seperately under the GM umbrella.

[Z-06]

A vanilla volume division doesn't need a low-cost roadster...in my opinion, if it weren't for the heritage involved, Chevy shouldn't have even had Corvette, but Chevy back then was a different animal, and too many people would be upset to have Corvette removed from the lineup now. So Corvette and new Camaro aside, Chevy doesn't need to have sports cars, they should have left those to another division, or streamlined them seperately under the GM umbrella.

I disagree. In modern terms the success of a platform, or a car judged by its volume not by its exclusivity. Those plain vanilla brands bring volume because the number of people showing up in the vanilla showroom is higher than those showing up in specialized one, thus having higher probability of people looking, knowing and purchasing the product. Low cost vehicle can bring money back that is spent in the R&D of the platform by their sheer volume. As can be seen from the Sky-Solstice example, despite being a better looking product, Sky was outsold by the Solstice. I have met some people who in 2008 did not know that Saturn made sky, despite being in the market for nearly three years. This is the exact reason why Toy is working on a RWD along with Subaru or that Porsche builds Cayenne on Tuareg's platform.

Edited December 17, 2008 by smallchevy

[haypops]

IIRC there were several months where the shy did outsell the solstice. The idea of the roadster going to Chevy is an interesting one. One complicating factor is that the original presentation of these cars had Chevy getting the gorgeous Nomad like wagon. It wouldn't have been impossible to switch to the roadster but awkward.

The real mistake was making kappa so in-flexible.

[saturnd00d]

That's the whole problem, everyone thinks of volume this and volume that. Volume aside, is there any surprise as to why none of GM's divisions have a clear focus on their products?

[Z-06]

That's the whole problem, everyone thinks of volume this and volume that. Volume aside, is there any surprise as to why none of GM's divisions have a clear focus on their products?

Will you please clarify?

[saturnd00d]

What I'm trying to get people to understand is that if you just offer everything under one roof (AKA Chevy), the brand loses focus. Offering everything to everyone isn't a way to gain focus on your brands direction.

Pontiac lost their focus when they offered chevy-rebadges like the G5, G3, and Toyota-based Vibe. They were supposed to remain performance oriented, but because Canada likes Pontiac over Chevy, why not offer Chevy-like vehicles over at Pontiac so they don't lose market-share? I'll tell you why, it's because that's exactly precisely why no one truly understands what Pontiac stands for anymore.

The same can be said for Saturn, who were never meant to sell in volume. They were supposed to offer something different to the types of people who despised buying American cars, for fear of their subpar quality. Enter into a Saturn showroom and you won't have several salespeople bombarding you with helpfulness, they left you alone. They answered your questions only when you asked them to, they went through all of the waybill to pinpoint what you were being charged for so as not to leave any surprises for the end. They trully were ahead of the sales industry. Their products, while not exuding quality, were meant to be simplistic and different. THe interiors were japanese-like in design, the polymer panels provided owners with eyars of trouble-free exterior maintenance, etc. Then GM starved them of product and people didn't see anything new or exciting from them for years.

Anyways I'm probably way off track, but when you try to be everything to everyone, and so is the next GM brand, and the next one, then there's too much overlap and not enough focus on what you were trying to achieve and who you were targeting with your products.

Edited December 17, 2008 by saturnd00d