GM Denies Refutation of Denial of Brand Termination
You can't make this shit up. The Wall Street Journal publishes an article saying GM is considering killing some of its "damaged" brands. GM spinmeister Tony Cervone categorically denies the story. The Detroit News says nope, it's true. And now CNNMoney reports that GM Marketing Maven Mark LeNeve sent a letter to The General's store owners denying the denial of the denial. In other words, the Wall Street Journal story isn't true. (They aren't killing brands.) "We engage you, our dealers, in this process of improving our business," the intercepted missive assures. "That is the extent of the 'examination' that is going on at this time for Saturn or any other GM brand. There is no breaking news here." That said, if one were inclined to read between the lines… "It is true that we constantly review our plan for improving volume and profitability for Saturn and all our brands," he wrote. Constantly reviewing as in checking results against targets? Nah, couldn't be. He must mean revising their sales targets downwards. Anyway, there is either more or less here than meets the eye. I think.
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My local Saturn store has sold more of the current available models this year than last, more Aura's, more Vue's, more Sky's and more Outlooks than 2007. The volume has dropped vs. last year because the Ion is no longer available and it represented 30% of their business. They are only 10% behind last year without the Ion. They just had a great June and a solid start to July. Saturn has a purpose and if given solid product and solid marketing it can take on the imports. roar
TR3GUY: Yes it is too late. Chapter 11 is GM's only hope. I've got an Infiniti and a Jeep in my driveway. I don't have any particular loyalty to any company - just make a good car - and support it well. GM is just starting to fill my first criteria. The CTS, Malibu, and G8 seem like damn good cars. The final criteria is the dealer experience. GM's dealers are AWFUL. Many I've been to are dirty and run by, what seem like, bad used car salesmen. They are run like high-pressure boiler rooms. It seems like the guys don't care what you buy as long as you also buy the extended warranty and the "underbody, rust-proofing" protection plan. Hell, the Caddy dealer in my area also sells Hyundais! How can GM allow their premier brand to be sold side-by-side with Hyundai? I can tell you that buyers WILL cross shop the Genesis with a Cadillac if they are RIGHT NEXT to each other. Chapter 11 will allow GM to get rid of these AWFUL dealerships. It is working for VW - they had really terrible cars AND terrible dealers. They are now in the process of fixing their cars and cleaning up the dealer experience. Unfortunately for GM, their dealer network is too big and too broken to fix in a timely manner. Time is not on GM's side. -ted
I guess they found out the hard way dealers do read the WSJ in the morning. Shades of Oldsmobile dealerships being shuttered came to mind.