More GM Woes

[Jim S.]

Re: More GM Woes

GM also needs to look at their customer satisfaction index. I know after buying my new 04, it will be a long time before I ever set foot in a GM Showroom again.

[Duke W.]

Re: More GM Woes

That's the XLR-V with a supercharged Northstar - 440 HP. The XLR is an excellent car - at least equal if not better to anything in its class, but in that market segment it's all about "perceived status" and apparently most of those potential customers would rather have something with a three-pointed star in the driveway for all the neighbors to see.

Duke

[Chris H.]

Re: More GM Woes

"GM is also deeply burdened by health care costs. The company covers 1.1
million Americans, or about 0.4 percent of the population, and is the
nation's largest private health care provider, with annual costs of over $5
billion."

Wow, and that is only GM. There is also Ford and Chrysler which would make the big 3 support about 1% of the US directly with health care. Does not even count the suppliers. The transplants probably are about 0% due to no retirees and few plants. In fact I read that Toyota only had about 35 retirees last year to support.

Chris

[Chris H.]

Re: More GM Woes

Was it a dealer issue? They are independent of GM and they have very little control. All they can do is hand out awards and try and control inventory. Try another dealer.

GM's Customer Satisfaction is higher than most of the Asians, especially Toyota. (But Lexus is very high)

Chris

[Mike M.]

Re: More GM Woes

I agree GM's customer satisfaction is the pits. I own a 2002 Trail Blazer and it lived at the dealership the first year. Everything from Transmission went at 40miles on it. Took a week to fix. A lot of computer problems, all new brakes and rotors at 18000mi, transmission problems again. The list goes on to. Last GM product I own for a while.

[Chris H.]

Re: More GM Woes

I looked back at my post and I see that I should have said DEALER Customer Satisfaction is high per independent measurements. (JD Power)

[Jim S.]

Re: More GM Woes

My issue was with GM and not the Dealer. Several complaint letters to GM Headquarters resulted in nothing more than a phone call from the so called Executive Office indicating they wouldn't budge on a rebate issue so I will take all future purchases elsewhere. The new Mustang and Super Duty may be next.

[Collin MacDonald]

Re: More GM Woes

Like everything else, the GM Woes are caused by several diffent problems. I have been follow GM Corporate a long time, especially their management. Here is my bottom lines on the issues.

First: Management at GM DOES NOT LISTEN....I don't mean to be cruel, but they are made of of egotistical people who all have the answers, but none of them are really car people. They are beancounters. One of the differences between Ford and GM, Ford has several SVT programs in place that are focused on GO FAST, LOOK GOOD, and BE DEPENDABLE. Chevy is the closest to a program with the C6R Racing progrem....Jon Moss' program has dried up since he Camaro died. Jon is not really producing any "supercars".... GM refuses to listen to what the people want, instead they continue to build SUVs, and force them done your throught, why Tax reasons and profits. Cars just cost more to develop, test, certify, and bring to market.

Second: Lutz...he is not the answer, nor will he be. Lutz still must get approval for ANY project he does or any CHANGES he wishes to make. Good example is the C6. During its development, the "rumor" was LUTZ was introduced to the C6 and thought it was a C5, and the rumor continues he stated this was unacceptable, it had to be different then the C5...well what you got was a C5.5. I really don't see a change that would want me to trade my C5 for a C6 and pay more money for a few styling cues and few more HP. THAT IS THE PROBLEM. There is NO design at GM with imagination. Cars are cookie cut out of base computer (CAD) Concepts. OK here we go: Chevy introduces several great designs from 2000 - 2003. The SS, the NOMAD, the BELAIR...where are they? The SS became reality for Mazda, the NOMAD althought slated for 2007 will never be build after the dismal failure of the SSR, and the Belair is just plan forgotten, and was taken from production to build the Colorado. Lutz does not have the pull or the real agressive nature anymore, face it the gentleman is over 70 years old, he must be slowing done.

Third: The general attitude of GM is simple, we will never fail. Sorry the days of being one of three boys on the block is over. The car business of today is global, and GM fails at this...look at their sales overseas...they have very poor market share compared to the Japanese or German share. People just don't like cookie cutter cars.

The XLR was only meant to be a 4 or 5 year run. The line the XLR was built on was suppose to be used for the new Camaro/Firebird line that was to be introduce in 2008/or 07. The Camaro or F-Body Committee was disbanded after Lutz arrived and was never really regrouped, as all efforts went to the Solstris (SP) Pontic on Lutz's request. Lutz never will and has never had the intention to go head to head with the Mustang. GM took the line that Ford can have that market we will stay with the truck and SUV market. If I told you 10 years ago that Cadallic is going to produce a truck and a SUV you would think I was nuts.

Fourth and Final. GM repeats EVERYTHING. To many cars to many divisions to compete in todays market. For example, look at the Monte Carlo, same parts and frames use by Pontiac, Buick and Chevy, most of the cars look the same. The G6 is a big bomb, why, it looks cheap compared to established Japanese cars its competing againts. Why do they sell the same trucks under GMC as you can buy from Chevy...this is waste. I would much rather see GM slime down and produce DOMESTIC quality cars limited in the model, eliminate some nameplates and be much more forward thinking. NEW gadgets...why is the secondary market making more money then ever, because people buy what they don't offer when you buy a new car.

Sorry for long post, but I have been studying this situation for a long time, and its simple, GM does not listen, has no concept of what really sells, has overpaid egotistical management, union and benifit troubles, poor relationship with dealers, poor post sales service, and most of all, hire beancounters not car people. GM the passion is gone.

[Paul B.]

Re: More GM Woes

I "DID" make the Super Duty next!!!

[David G.]

Re: More GM Woes

There's an F250 puliing my trailer with corvette inside.

[Gary C.]

Re: More GM Woes

I have a 05 Powerstroke Super Duty as well. Tried real hard to convince myself I could be as happy with the GM product. Even have a GM supplier code number that allows for a great price on the truck. Paid significantly more for the Ford truck. To me they were not really comperable, the Ford was that much better. I know many are very happy with the Duramax but I found the Ford far better.

[Joe L.]

Re: More GM Woes

Gary-----

The PowerStroke diesel is actually a pretty old, tried-and-true design. It's origin is the International ("Navistar") diesel truck engine. I had heard, however, that Ford had experienced some trouble with this engine and they were looking for another diesel to replace it in the future.

I'm surprised that you found the Ford trucks to be so much better than GM. I always felt that light trucks were one of GM's strengths, although trucks have never really been of much interest to me. I'm not a "diesel guy", either. If I were buying a truck (and that's purely hypothetical since I could never envision myself buying one), I think that the GM 8.1L gasoline engine with Allison 1000 transmission would be hard to pass up.

[Barry Chappell]

Re: More GM Woes

Interesting read.....

GM Retools Marketing
Automaker Determined to Reach More Diverse Customer Groups
By Greg Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 24, 2005; Page E01

NEW YORK, March 23 -- Mark R. LaNeve, a fast-rising executive at General Motors Corp., gestured at a group of gleaming Cadillacs.

"When we first came out with those, 50 percent of the people hated them," he said. LaNeve ran Cadillac when the once-stagnant brand used its polarizing new look to remake itself into one of the hottest around, with an advertising campaign set to Led Zeppelin music and the unexpected endorsement of pro athletes and rap stars.

Now GM is hoping LaNeve, 46, can bring some of that cross-cultural magic to all eight of its brands, putting him in charge of a revamped marketing department to help rescue the world's biggest automaker from a pronounced slump.

GM's sagging fortunes, laid bare last week when the company warned that it expects to lose money during the first three months of 2005, are the hottest topic of this year's New York International Auto Show, which opens to the public Friday.

Some of the problems afflicting GM are structural -- soaring health care costs, too much factory capacity -- but the company also suffers from an urgent need to come to grips with a changing marketplace. Thanks to its size and status as an icon of American industrial might, GM's struggles are emblematic of fundamental shifts in the nation's consumer landscape.

The company needs to reach consumers who are ethnically and culturally diverse, and who demand an unprecedented degree of personal attention, said Gary L. Cowger, head of GM's North American business, in a speech Wednesday at the auto show.

"The mass market of yesterday has split into a mosaic of mini-markets. To win the day you've got to connect with all of them," he said.

LaNeve was named earlier this month to lead GM's effort to figure all that out. A brash Pennsylvanian who played football at the University of Virginia, LaNeve pumped new life into another stodgy brand -- Volvo -- before taking over Cadillac in 2001.

GM has sometimes suffered from an identity problem, he said. "I think we've done a weak job at times of really differentiating the brands."

Industry watchers have long criticized GM's overlapping nameplates; what's the difference, for instance, between Chevrolet trucks and GMC trucks?

Cadillac is the one label that broke out of the pack in recent years. The luxury carmaker shed years of decline into white-shoe irrelevancy by creating in-your-face cars that were not always admired but were impossible to ignore -- sort of like Donald Trump, who made a surprise appearance Wednesday to unveil a new Cadillac convertible.

Now, executives must try to carve out similarly distinctive personalities for the rest of GM's brands, LaNeve said. Buick will be "pristine quality, with quiet tuning," he said; Pontiac is "gritty street performance, authentic Detroit-built iron;" Saturn, now sharing designs with Europe's Opel, will be "sophisticated European flair, and no-hassle selling."

If one of the brands fails to pull its own weight, the company eventually could consider phasing it out, GM vice chairman for product development Robert A. Lutz told an investor conference Wednesday, according to a transcript provided by the Associated Press.

To avoid such a drastic step, the company plans to get more aggressive in its marketing techniques. A new advertising campaign with the tagline "Only GM" is debuting to emphasize safety features such as stability control and the OnStar roadside assistance program being offered on new models.

But big, broad-brush ad campaigns are no longer enough, Cowger said. During his speech, he showed a 1964 TV ad for the Buick LeSabre, featuring a suburban white family and dad-stroking lines such as, "People will think you were promoted before you actually were" and "Parking attendants will call you 'sir' instead of 'buddy.' "

"Clearly, that commercial is intended to attract upwardly mobile white males," Cowger said. "It's a much different world out there today. And by the way, it is a better world, but it's incredibly tricky for marketers."

Hispanics are soon expected to wield annual spending power of nearly $930 billion, he said. GM recently announced Spanish-English sales training programs for dealers in Chicago and New York, and Cowger said the company is emphasizing advertising on Spanish-language television networks.

The company also is using new media to try to reach smaller and smaller interest groups. When a new Corvette debuted in January, for instance, enthusiasts with video-equipped cell phones were able to sign up for a live simulcast of the event and special extras such as interviews with designers.

Remarks Cowger delivered in Chicago about the company's plans were "podcast," or converted into MP3 format and posted on the Internet for people to download into their iPod music players.

And when Cadillac sponsored a contest to create five-second movies touting the brand's high-speed cars, the brand's Web site saw a 350 percent increase in traffic and generated 43,000 requests for dealer information, Cowger said.

GM deserves credit for pioneering such marketing techniques in the auto industry, said Jack R. Nerad, editorial director for the Kelley Blue Book information service. But LaNeve's success making Cadillac popular with both businessmen and rappers won't translate to other brands unless GM makes more fundamental changes, Nerad said.

"When you have an industry that still has middle-aged white guys making a lot of the decisions, I don't know that they necessarily have the feel for what a 20-year-old Hispanic woman is going to want to buy," he said.

[Mike M.]

My wife on the new STS-Is that the front or back? *NM*

[Dick W.]

Re: My wife on the new STS-Is that the front or ba

Joe my local dealer service manager told me this week that GM pretty much has the drive train bulletproof, both the gas and the Duramax diesel. He said what they are having quite a bit of problems with are the electronics and wiring. He came from a Ford dealership and said the reverse is with Ford. They pretty much have the electronics down pat (with the exclusion of the 03 Powerstrokes) and are having drive train troubles.

FWIW Ford has a contract with Navistar International Engine Corp to build the light duty engines thru either 2010 or 2011. They also have a joint venture in Mexico called Blue Diamond that is building a light duty truck that each is selling with their name badge on it.