ellives

Market cap actually has more to do with profit than revenue. Renaming the 500 to the Taurus actually makes sense to me. Killing the Taurus to begin with was stupid. For the lemming crowd who don't research anything and buy what they've heard others talk about, the Taurus was perfect. They just need to make the product and price competitive. Remember it took Toyota 20 years to build a competitive Camry. They never changed the name of the model.

As he should. What an idiot. What benefit could there have been to releasing pictures like this?

The problem with the strategy is brand recognition. What will this "B-G-P" division be called? BGP? (This means Border Gateway Protocol in the IT world.) I suppose BMW can get away with it somehow.

They should check in with Mr. Spock about getting a sense of humor. Even his was better.

Excellent article on the CTS. Nice fluff piece by Angus MacKenzie. Nice focus on the details of the CTS. I'm convinced this is going to be a winner product for Cadillac. Let's hope for some momentum. Go GM!

They've done a decent job with all the ads I've seen so far. The quality ad made my wife laugh. They're figuring it out. http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/postseason/superads

The Broncos suck. (Just kidding - notice I'm a spoiled Patriots fan.)

Um - this site already exists (existed?) Google "GM high mileage" and you'll see the results. Not sure it's still online but it ended up being a focal point for the Econo-Nazis to claim GM contributes to global warming. Another group of deceitful human beings.

And therein lies the problem. It's obviously working for Toyota - It's time GM stuck it right back in their face. Toyota is actually selling vehicles by convincing people with their ads that Toyotas last longer by showing people with lots of miles on their vehicles. GM needs to counter that argument every chance they get. Remember, figures lie and liars figure. You got it! Toyota! Are you LISTENING GM?

I have grown weary of watching those damn Toyota ads talking about high mileage cars. I also REALLY dislike those ads about how 90% of XXX Toyota models are still on the road since 19-whatever year. They're both dishonest ads because they don't compare to any other manufacturer (Toyota does a lot of things on the line of dishonesty.) Nevertheless the ads leave an impression on consumers. It's about time GM hired a marketing team and ad agency that knows what the hell they're doing. GM never seems to understand the thoughts of the consumer and they let Toyota treat them like a punching bag and never attack back. They need to go on a serious offensive and attack Toyota merciliessly. This is a life and death struggle for survival and they need to start acting like it - not desperate but in a well-planned out organized attack that will expose the wolf in sheep's clothing that is Toyota and the dirtbag Americans that work for Toyota. How about an "in your face" ad campaign featuring these people? Go GM!

I see quite a few here in the Northeast - of course they're all yuppie moronic lemmings that can't think independently.

What's wrong with my math?

Oldsmobile is a perfect example of how to do everything and I mean everything wrong. Back in the '70s every middle class family in America owned an Olds Cutlass. This ubiquitous market acceptance gave way to (at the end) building a beautiful Oldsmobile called the Aurora that didn't even have the Olds nameplate. A sad, sad legacy for a proud brand. It's astonishing that those who steered the ship at GM over the last 30 years weren't able to figure out how to right the ship when they had so much time to figure it out. It has to be a case study in colossal mis-management. And the sad part is the people who had the ability to do something about it are now sitting on their fat asses on a GM-paid pension on top of the King's ransoms the were compensated for their deeds. The countdown to September continues - tick tock.

I agree GM can be hip again but I vehemently disagree with one comment in the article: "Few Americans have not heard of GM -- and the image they have is often less than flattering." While on the surface it's true, a serious majority of Americans have no idea what brands GM actually makes. This is really at the heart of the challenge GM has to overcome. Toyota has 3 brands but the real focus is on the Toyota brand. Every time someone buys a Toyota, it helps spread the word about the Toyota brand and the company. When someone buys a GM product, the really don't get the connection between say Chevy and GM. Hell GM doesn't even manufacture a product under it's own nameplate. There is no "GM-branded" car or truck (excludng GMC - I said "GM.") As a result GM gets no real brand recognition benefit when they sell products under all those brands. Toyota does with their marketing what they do with their manufacturing and by that I mean they standardize more components around the product line. Consider an analogy between platforms and brand name plates except the platforms are used across the brands (Think Camry, Highlander, RX 330.) They've really covered all the necessary bases from a product standpoint. With Toyota they range from the total economy beat box all the way up to the Avalon (the Buick lookalike.) The Lexus brand is the pure luxury brand and I find it a bit odd when I see GM-ers talk about Buick being the competition for Lexus. I don't see it. Cadillac as to be the direct competitor. GM needs to really work hard to figure how the identities for all the brands they're carrying. While the Oldsmobile debacle wasn't pretty, they must have learned something about how to consolidate brands from the experience.

This was a big duh. They're all trying to do the right thing - they've all tried to cover these things up in the past and paid the price as a result. The humorous thing about the Toyota recall is it's 500k units (and even Evok's tirade didn't reflect GM numbers this high) and the fact Toyota is considered to be so infallible.... (Apparently there is a tear in the armor... ) I'm just waiting for the backlash against Toyota that's coming. I'm having a magnetic sign made up for the rear deck of my car that says "Driving a Toyota is un-American " Personally I'm so tired of seeing that Toyota television ad that talks about how many miles these people have on their old Corollas. I'd love to have Cadillac do an ad featuring my '97 with 130K miles on it.

LaNeve is right about selling at higher prices. There's absolutely no sense giving cars away.

Well by all means - do share the numbers. Include what issue and page you're referring to. Otherwise the dialog is just noise. Shouldn't be too tough since they jump right off the page.

OK - I admit it. You grossed me out. Actually the whole article was completely worthless. Notice the "industry" information was quoted from "Laurie Harbour-Felax, president of the Harbour-Felax Group" which is clearly a rinky dink outfit that probably is paid by Toyota for their (her?) "consulting." Would kinda explain why Toyota had "no comment." Dirtbags.

Hmmm - "GM is lagging in hybrids" I suppose this is true.... at least until all those Prius batteries need to be replaced. Then all them lemmings will start bitching and whining about their "great" purchase. They deserve what's coming to them. "GM doesn't have a good environmental reputation." Amazing insight. I suppose reputation is based in fact somewhere. Maybe it's the poor gas mileage their full size trucks get (best in class.) Or maybe it's the number of E-85 vehicles sold compared to their competitors. (Nope - not that one - they have sold more than anyone else.) I guess sarcasm is contagious.

I suspect Toyota already HAS the number one spot without the overhead of number 1 volume.

Sheesh you guys are getting a little violent aren't you? The CR comparison was totally unscientific and therefore totally useless. We've obviously seen recently with the baby car seat fiasco that CR simply can't be trusted. I agree totally with Lutz' ascertion in the piece however... the domestics have a huge hurdle to overcome getting the attention of buyers who jus want the "safe choice." They need to be devious and sneaky just like Toyota has always been. They need to push every button they can. They need to make the American buying public think it's un-American to buy Toyota... which it is.

RWD is what it needs.

All his posts are like this. Must be a journalist. Maybe it's John DeLorean?

Interestingly I was casually trying to hunt down a GTO using gmbuypower.com and couldn't seem to find one anywhere. It's annoying they still show the product as if it's a current model but then you can't find inventory anywhere.

LMAO! I love it - apparently Toyota isn't infallible after all? How 'bout them apples Consumer Reports? Hey and by the way reg, that's *my* word.... "lemmings..." Glad to see you using it in the right spirit...