Our man Mehta recently ran into a GM PR flack at an industry event. When Sajeev revealed TTAC as his spiritual home, the GM underling shook with rage. Still, it being the South and all, pleasantries were exchanged. After sweet talking the spinmeister, Sajeev promised I’d call and oil the troubled waters. During the ensuing conversation, I [once again] offered GM the right to reply– unedited– and promised to correct any factual errors. And then, quite out of the blue, she lost it. “Why do you hate domestic cars so much?” she demanded.
I asked my antagonist if she’d read our reviews of GM products. She admitted that she hadn’t visited the site “in about a year.” I pointed out that we’ve praised many a domestic product, and eviscerated plenty of imports and transplants. I also reminded her that several "foreign" cars have a higher domestic content than GM's wares (e.g. the Honda Odyssey) and mentioned GM's Canadian Buicks, Korean Aveos and European Astras.
I also told her I'm a patriotic American who’d love to see General Motors build a vehicle– any vehicle– that stands head and shoulders above all comers. “What about the Corvette?” she interjected. Yup, the ‘Vette offers unparalleled bang-for-the-buck. But clock that plastic craptastic interior. Could she honestly say a Corvette's cabin was even half as welcoming as a Porsche Boxster's? The silence was deafening. Not because she’d been trumped; she simply didn’t know.
“Have you ever been in a Porsche?” I asked, succumbing to the knife twisting urge. Faltering slightly, she admitted she hadn’t been in “one of the new ones.” An Audi? “My neighbor has one, and she’s had problems with engine sludge.” Volvo? Viper? Mustang GT? Clearly, the GM factotum had never spent seat time in much of anything that wasn’t sold by GM.
Although I find ignorance, arrogance, defensiveness, paranoia and aggression an unappealing combination, I blame nurture, not nature for the spinmeister’s ‘tude. Any automaker that doesn’t expose its front line workers to their competitors' cars gets the representation they deserve. Is it any wonder that GM makes a huge range of “nearly there” cars when even the people charged with their public promotion do so with their eyes wide shut?
When Toyota developed the new Tundra, they based it on information provided by a research team that traveled America to see how "real" pickup truck buyers use and abuse, love and loathe their vehicles. Once the Tundra was finished, ToMoCo then made sure all their dealers' staff– right down to receptionists– spent seat time in the new vehicle. And now they're organizing the Mother of All Ride and Drive Events, inviting anyone who so much as glances at the big rig for an extended test drive.
Meanwhile, GM's importing yet another Australian RWD sedan, re-badging it a Pontiac and sticking it on the showroom floor. The fact that they've done this before without success (GTO), the fact that the G8 has no visual connection to Pontiac's hit Solstice, demonstrates the company's profound inability to learn from mistakes AND capitalize on success.
Car Czar or no, GM lacks Fingerspitzengefuhl: an intuitive sense of what's happening on the battlefield. Put another way, they don't understand the automotive landscape in which they work. They are, quite literally, lost.
Of course, GM's uninformed and misguided executives could simply read The Truth About Cars. I’m serious. If GM wants a road map back to reality, they could do a lot worse than ask TTAC for directions. Our writers are deeply immersed in American car culture. They call it like they see it, without fear or favor. And our commentators add invaluable perspective.
Better yet, GM could actively engage TTAC and its audience. They could provide us with press cars and then publicly address our criticisms. Hell, what’s to stop The General from participating in ALL car enthusiast sites? Why not assign a team of literate, experienced and open-minded experts to demo the metal, confront critics, answer problems, correct mis-impressions, quash unsubstantiated rumors and, yes, toot their own horn?
Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot: all statements must be approved by GM PR. And GM PR's too busy whining and dining beating up the buff books for “unauthorized” new product leaks to monitor a fast, frank and open exchange of ideas.
Anyway, for some reason, Sajeev's PR contact called me back. She told me Flack Central had declined my invitation to post on this website. “They prefer to use their own blog,” she announced, with no small amount of smug self-satisfaction.
And there you have it. GM will not “break the fourth wall” (as theater folk call it). The General’s majordomos will continue to hold tight to the reins of power, sheltering inside The Kremlin The Renaissance Center, relying on their toadies, spies and consultants to tell them what’s going on in the real world, and then communicating pre-approved responses through "official channels." Thus empires do fall.
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Indeed they do fall in that manner Robert. You called it dead on again.
I hate this knee-jerk generic response to any criticism of a domestic product with “why do you hate domestics”… it isn’t that I hate Domestics… I LOVE CARS and they keep making cars only they, or a rental fleet manager can love.
I want better than rental-fleet quality when I go lay my money down thank you.
–chuck
Excellent article; the comparison of GM to Soviet leadership is definitely apt.
What bugs me most about GM’s (and other domestic) management attitude is the notion that they think they can convince people to buy their crappy, second-rate vehicles by waving the flag around and doing nothing else.
The Japanese win because they deliver what Americans want.
What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they have any clue about anything? Were they absent from their b-school classes when they were supposed to learn about what drives companies into the ground, and what keeps companies happy and smiling, and their customers likewise? Are they so engulfed in their (sick) notion about “everybody’s-out-to-get-us” that they don’t dare open their eyes and ears to the real world and to what is going on in the marketplace where real people put down real money to buy real cars? Are they so smug and self confident that they STILL think they are right and the rest of the carmakers just sell “imported junk”? Jeez…they say the world moves ahead, but to me it seems that the geezers at GM (and to a certain extent at the other 1.5) are still stuck in 1970, when the Vega was the solution to all threats from the furrin’ brands! It was just a question of time before they were run back into the Pacific, and by G.. – I think they are telling each other that this is still the case. Come on guys (and gals) – if you don’t know how to do your job, at least have the courtesy of vacating it for somebody who can! The other option is to make a PowerPoint presentation of some of the great GM cars form the sixties for your next department meeting. The title should read:” GM – It Was Fun While It Lasted”!
Yet another great article. Sad to see, but that’s not TTAC’s fault!
Wasn’t it last year that there was a piece in one of the auto news sites online, stating that TATA’s capitalization exceeded General Motors’?
For those not in the know, TATA is a small, Indian truck and SUV maker.
Therein lies the core of GM’s eventual epetaph.
There seems to be a pervasive Detroit mind set and attitude that negative media coverage has turned people against their cars. I find that whole mind set sickening and in many ways the big 2.5 are getting exactly what they deserve. Their arrogance and ignorance is mind numbing
Makes one wonder if the small 2.5 arent throwing the fight. What with globalism and outsourcing being the disease that it is to our once great country. C’mon, you cant be this stupid. Even if GM flipped coins in the boardroom, half of the decisions made would make sense. Does anyone really believe the G8 (the first ever I assume) will be around in 5 years, much less more refined each year, as the decades old camry’s and accord’s are? Nope! It will be pull the plug, on to THE NEXT BIG THING! Perhaps a diesel powered terazza with 4 moonroofs and a built in fax machine.
Surprise, surprise! GM doesn’t want to upset the insular thinking processes that brought it to ruin’s doorstep.
Chrysler’s Tom LaSorda, in a revelation heralded like the Second Coming, ordered 250(!) top executives to drive a meticulously maintained three-year-old Chrysler product annually for two 10-day periods, “to put themselves in the customer’s shoes.” They would better appreciate why Chrysler’s customers are fleeing if they bought and drove a Chrysler FOR three years and experienced first hand the horse pukky salesmen and service departments routinely dish out.
Last week we learned Ford CEO Alan Mulally will spend a couple of days selling cars at a dealership sometime this year. It’s a start, if the flacks don’t turn it into a public relations stunt.
There is a glimmer of hope! Advertising Age reports Ford, GM, Chrysler and Toyota have started monitoring their Internet reputations. Not directly, of course. They hired BrandIntel to study Internet traffic for related chatter.
Have you challeneged Ford to boldly move into conversing on TTAC?
I’m guessing that I drive a better (certainly larger) cross section of cars than the GM PR flack, and I’m not in the automobile business.
Fire that person. If I ran GM, I’d want every employee (CERTAINLY a mouthpiece) to be so $%&#* passionate about cars that somehow that passion would contribute to a better product, a better company building the cars, a better company marketing the cars, etc…people who are passionate about cars figure out ways to get seat time in every ride that comes along.
Fire that person. If you have to follow it by firing thousands of others, do it. Get people excited about what you do, from engineers, to PR, to accountants, all the way to janitorial services, and you’ll get better.
Might I recommend “The Discipline of Market Leaders” by Tracy and Wiersema(sp?) as recommended reading for everyone at GM.
As an American driver, I want nothing more than for our cars to be the best in the world. But at this point, I’d much rather align myself with the Odyssey and ML500 and Santa Fe and Sonata, which are built right here in my home state (these are WINNERS). I feel much closer to them, from a patriotism standpoint, than some also-rans living in an ivory tower in Detroit. The badge means little to me, and I look around and I see its brand erosion among even the most grizzled “buy American” codgers.
By the way, does the importation of Holdens and Opels strike anyone else as a last resort? It does to me, no matter how great the cars are…because it raises the question “Why did you wait so long to do this?”
denial |diˈnīəl| noun
the action of declaring something to be untrue : she shook her head in denial.
• the refusal of something requested or desired : the denial of insurance to people with certain medical conditions.
• a statement that something is not true : official denials | his denial that he was having an affair.
• Psychology failure to acknowledge an unacceptable truth or emotion or to admit it into consciousness, used as a defense mechanism : you’re living in denial.
Been there. Seen that.
A shame, really. GM has the resources, the talent, the smarts, the know-how. They just don’t have the willingness to face facts.
There is no way a brand can force its customers to ignore reality – thus the brand ends up in denial.
Gardiner Westbound -
Close, but not enough. Mulally should drive a typical 5 year old Focus for a couple of days, and a typical 5 year old Civic for a couple of days. Then move up the scale until he completes the model line up.
Same for DCX, and GM.
(I say this as I’m shopping for used car for my teenager…the experience has been enlightening – domestic quality may have gotten better, but Honda & Toyota weren’t standing still – and while new versus new is always interesting and more relevant to me previously, far more telling is the used versus used comparison.)
GM and the domestic carmakers can solve this perceived bias problem with product. The goal should be that any car introduced should be the segment leader for one year. Example, the Mazda3 was the best small car for a year (maybe two) until the Civic came out. The Cobalt was never considered the “best in class” by any reputable source. The Camry and Accord trade “best in class” honors back and forth in their years of new model introduction with Nissan maybe slipping an Altima in there when not up against another all new model.
You can’t stay in the lead forever but if you can’t put out a segment leading product on it’s year of introduction then you are going to ultimately lose. Why doesn’t GM understand that? I have a feeling that Lutz just might “get it” but he’s not breaking up the bureaucracy enough to make a real difference.
In my position at the bottom of the employee food chain we are not privy to much inside info.I do know that the culture at G.M.is one of the “you don’t question the person/persons above you”The lady from PR was just conveying her bosses view.
One of TTACs most popular ongoing pieces is infact the GM deathwatches.
I’m sure it won’t come as a shock that this isn’t gonna win you a lot of friends at the upper end of G.M. management.
The products being produced today are as good,some cases better,than any of the import/transplants.
Its gonna take a long time for the media,and more important the buying public to catch on,but it will. My self and the thousands of other employees,dealers,and stock holders are counting on it.
Lutz is the problem, not the solution. From today's Automotive News, re: the decision to import the Astra:
"We just had to tell ourselves this (car) avoids a ton of investment," Lutz said. "It gets us a highly competitive car into the Saturn showroom with minimal delays for the easy federalization that we had to do.
"The profitability isn't great," he admitted, "but profitability is there, which is a tough trick to do on a small car. The reason it is profitable even at a low margin is because of the investment avoidance."
In its last sales call, GM officially admitted the Astra will not make a profit. Period. Is Bob lying, did he fail to get the memo or just plain ignorant?
Anyway, if you think about it (a painful exercise for all concerned), Bob's kinda saying the car will lose LESS money than a theoretical small car started from scratch– especially if GM had to build it in Belgium and Germany (like the Astra set to enter Saturn's orbit).
Bottom line: GM better hope that the Astra isn't a hit. The more they sell, the more money they lose.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that denial is a form of insanity. And GM's got it BAD.
I wonder how Nissan is doing (profitability) on their Renault Versa. That would be the real apple-to-apple with the Astra.
denial |diˈnīəl| noun
1. Default to mental laziness.
What bugs me most about GM’s (and other domestic) management attitude is the notion that they think they can convince people to buy their crappy, second-rate vehicles by waving the flag around and doing nothing else.
See #1 above.
Patriotism just bugs the heck out of me. It is primative like a bunch of pack-wolves or Nazis or something. When somebody waves the flag in my face, it just reveals to me that they are lying. The last refuge of a scoundrel and all.
I got an interesting view of Toyota’s full-on assault on the domestic truck market this January at the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
As you can imagine by the name, the NWSS is truck-customer nirvana (or should be) to any truck manufacturer. Interestingly, only two were represented: Dodge and Toyota. Dodge had a nice lineup of all their products, including not only their oversized “dooley” diesel crew cabs, but also their mid-sized Dakotas and even a Caliber and a Nitro.
Toyota, however, dominated the show by placing huge Tundra ads on virtually every available surface. The Tundra “T” logo (completely different from Toyota’s car logo) likewise seemed to be plastered everywhere. And they staked out a prime corner in the main display hall to show every possible variation of the new Tundra. Two things struck me about the display:
First of all, the new Tundra bears more than a passing resemblance to the 1997-2003 Ford F-150. So much so, in fact, that from a distance they’re hard to tell apart. And the second thing that struck me was the absolute, utter, and complete absence of any mention or image of any other Toyota product in the display. These displays were all Tundra, all the time. No cars, no minivans, none of their SUVs (there was a duded-up FJ cruiser in a different part of the hall, but it was being displayed by an aftermarket accessories dealer, not by Toyota), not even their new-ish mid-sized Tacoma truck. And don’t even ask about their hybrids (to this crowd “hybrid” means a kind of corn.)
This full-on focus on the Tundra showed Toyota’s determination to break in to the heart of Truck-buying America. Whether they will succeed or not remains to be seen, but there was certainly a lot of interest generated by their mega-displays.
I wonder how Nissan is doing (profitability) on their Renault Versa. That would be the real apple-to-apple with the Astra.
You would have to compare the EU built product (Clio? Tiida?) vs Astra; NA market Versa is built in Mexico. The Euro to dollar exchange ratio that makes it tricky to sell EU built vehicles in the US.
I read somewhere VW has lost a few billion $$$ this decade in the US market and that those German built Rabbits are also losing money.
GM, was cutting apart ML500s, dissecting Priuses and Corollas (claiming that Toyota made no money building economy cars that kind of manufacturing tolerance). I remember reading about how GM cut apart a liquid-filled bushing from a Jetta and copied that into the Cobalt. You would think they’d do as well as Japanese companies who copied their designs back in the 60s and 70s.
Maybe they’re so obsessed with building a better product to the point where they forget that humans operate them and that competitors constantly come out with new things.
starlightmica
It’s called the Renault Versa over there, too. Nissan just changed the marque…
Isn’t VW still building cars at the huge Puebla plant in Mexico? I just don’t see how you can hit a $15k US price point coming from the Eurozone. Ouch.
Could she honestly say a Corvette’s cabin was even half as welcoming as a Porsche Boxster’s? The silence was deafening. Not because she’d been trumped; she simply didn’t know.
Had she ever sat in a Corvette ? Did you ask her that RF ?
In the part of your article about not having been in a competitions car is that persons fault. I see more competitors cars then GM’s when at the Tech Center in Warren or the Proving Grounds in Milford (not in the employee parking lot either). There are bulletins saying what car will be on display where and when. You can not wrap all of GM into that blanket, there are plenty of opportunities to drive, get in a competitors car.
I will agree with you on GM needs to get out of the old school way of you can not speak your mind about anything, but at times it is also a good thing, because of the way society is today. They may say something and some group complains and sues GM (the robot add during the superbowl, GM pulled the jump scene because some group complained) so i would say GM is taking the easy road and not saying anything that way they dont affend anyone.
Howz about that wonderbody designer of the Solstice pictured over at Jalop? Gosh! The curves, the headlights!
Well, if you really wanted to have fun with that PR’er, you could have asked her why the new Saturn Opel has the Vauxhall name? She might have spontaneously combusted however.
I believe the old dot-com mantra was to sell things at a loss but make it up on volume. How did that go anyway? The Astra actually looks pretty good, but it should be a Chevy complete with a hot-hatch upper end (in other words, what the Cobalt line should have been), but given how badly Ford fubar’ed the American Focus, it would be asking too much for GM to get it right. The old saying was that generals are always fighting the last war, GM is fighting at a level of 3 wars ago.
“For those not in the know, TATA is a small, Indian truck and SUV maker.”
– Glenn A.
Tata is an Indian conglomerate, it’s steel subsidiary just purchased Corus (itself containing the bones of British Steel, pretty ironic, eh?) which will make it the 2nd largest steel company in the world, behind Arcelor-Mittal. Small Indian truck and SUV maker, indeed….
“Bottom line: GM better hope that the Astra isn’t a hit. The more they sell, the more money they lose.”
- RF
If the Astra is a hit, they will start building them here, just like the G8.
So GM have their own blog then. I must remember that next time I want an honest and unbiased opinion or review of one of their products.
As a GM loyalist, for a variety of reasons, I had a similar reaction as the referenced GM PR person when I first started reading TTAC-GMDW. It’s certainly strong medicine, and often, though not always correct. And after reading enough of the DW, I’ve concluded that i don’t think it’s personal. (but not absolutely sure about that). GM execs could do worse than sitting back with a stiff drink and reading it…
GM has the features of many sclerotic, command-driven, centralized, extremely heirarchical bureaucracies.
Organizations like this don’t do “fast, frank and open exchange of ideas”, they issue tightly-controlled edicts approved through multiple layers of management and expect them to be believed without question because they are the mighty GM.
They are pathologically intolerant of criticism.
They don’t want their PR people to experience competitors’ products because that would be ‘disloyalty’ in their neurotic, conformist mindset.
Organizations like this breed mediocrity, and the results are all around you.
The products being produced today are as good,some cases better,than any of the import/transplants.
And here we see the latet version of the “We can push the imports back into the sea” delusion. Unfortunately, I’ve heard this stock PR cliche so many times and they have yet to deliver. GM has sold its credibility cheaply proclaiming so many ‘false dawns’ that few but the terminally gullible believe their PR spin anymore, but the company apparently has no awareness of this.
GM skated on its reputation for decades after it started building junk, and it may take an equally long lag time of building decent cars for them to get a good reputation back. When GM cars start delivering a quality driving/owning experience surpassing those of its competitors AND shining in Consumer Reports reliability surveys, the customers will return. But the company has burnt a lot of people through the years substituting the cheap sugar-rush of marketing and flag-waving for the hard slog of product development, and they’re going to have to earn their way back with real results instead of PR spin.
I think it’s a mistake to interpret the reactions of a PR person as indicative of the entire corporate culture over at GM. She can’t compare the interior quality of a competitor’s vehicle because it’s not her job. These are the questions that you should be asking a chief engineer, or the head of a design department, not somebody who generates press releases. If they haven’t been looking at what the competition has to offer, then there’s a problem.
To be honest, I thing the G8 has a greater chance of success than the GTO. For one thing, it doesn’t have the legendary nameplate to live up to. For another, it’s not ugly. And for a third thing, American enthusiats have looked across both ponds for a long time at what GM and Ford offers to the European and Australian markets and they were not happy that they sold more interesting cars over there than over here. Commodore, Monaro, second-generation Focus, second-generation Mondeo, Falcon, it goes on.
I think GM has been listening. The most desirable cars have been sold down under. I hope Ford has been listening. Their most desirable cars have been sold there and on the other side of the pond. It’s not going to fix everything, but it can help shake the stigma that Detroit has going against them.
ya, as soon as anyone starts waving a flag in my face (or a religious symbol, for that matter), I know they are covering up SOMETHING.
Good for you all to call them on this. No wonder they keep making bewildering decisions!
Bravo to you!
@ quasimondo
Let’s trust GM to change.
They’ll have to — but there’s no reason to think that this PR person’s reaction was a one-off. GM is pathologically leary of criticism (anyone remember the ads they cancelled in the LA Times over a bad review? And they have an elephant’s memory).
I know from personal experience how unwilling they are to hear their products criticized! :-)
Looks like GM is doing “Groundhog Day” all over again.
As previous comments have noted, GM is ignoring the problem, blaming their workers and proclaiming that the Next Big Thing will fix everything.
I wrote an article about GM’s 30-year+ history of doing this over and over for TTAC, but that was right before RF announced the site redesign, so I think publication will be delayed until things settle down.
Clearly the crew here ‘get’s it’ (and GM PR does not) about GM’s continuing problems.
I think the core concept of this article is a bit flawed. PR flacks are paid to be tireless cheerleaders of the official company line. This is true of all car companies and all corporations. Those people have no power or influence in the organization. They are just paid mouthpieces like Tony Snow is for the White House.
The people that matter are the product design heads, the upper management, and the accountants. The accountants cut design and development budgets so much that good product designs are bastardized and ruined by the time they reach the public. Upper management could change that but they are so focused on stock value and such that they can’t act for the long term success. I imagine that GM execs feel like fireman stomping out brush fires. Little do they realize there is a forest fire just behind them.
Captain Tungsten:
And after reading enough of the DW, I’ve concluded that i don’t think it’s personal. (but not absolutely sure about that).
On the other hand, I believe it IS and NEEDS TO BE personal. Anyone who loved the US car industry in its heyday is saddened by what it has become. Yes, mikey and others, it’s on its way back. But, until the results are in the showroom and in the sales figures and in the resale value, they have a long row to hoe.
Obviously, from this article, all the right pieces haven’t been implemented just yet at GM.
That’s why I appreciate reading the DW and SW series. We’re looking at you, Lutz, Mulally & Zetsche. Now, what are you going to DO about that? Roll up your flag and get busy. We’ll be watching.
@ tech98
GM has the features of many sclerotic, command-driven, centralized, extremely heirarchical bureaucracies.
Organizations like this don’t do “fast, frank and open exchange of ideas”, they issue tightly-controlled edicts approved through multiple layers of management and expect them to be believed without question because they are the mighty GM.
They are pathologically intolerant of criticism.
They don’t want their PR people to experience competitors’ products because that would be ‘disloyalty’ in their neurotic, conformist mindset.
Organizations like this breed mediocrity, and the results are all around you.
Large organizations that exhibit most or all of these traits usually cannot be reformed by any way other than a complete, systematic collapse. Which is why I’m not waiting around for GM to suddenly rise from the ashes like some corporate phoenix. Too many people with the old bureaucratic mindset around — and they’ll fight to the bloody death against change (and the eventual loss of their jobs).
Most of GM still assumes that the average American customer is a total dunce who’s easily swayed into buying their less-than-adequate vehicles by feigning patriotism and nationalistic guilt trips, never mind that most of the cars are built in Mexico and Canada.
Assumptions tend to make an a$$ of the people who make them. Thus, I won’t shed a tear when GM declares bankruptcy. I know they can do better — but how can you convince a corporation that can build better products when they don’t want to?
duckfat:
I think the core concept of this article is a bit flawed. PR flacks are paid to be tireless cheerleaders of the official company line. This is true of all car companies and all corporations. Those people have no power or influence in the organization. They are just paid mouthpieces like Tony Snow is for the White House.
I don’t expect GM’s PR flacks to be open-minded (God forbid). But I DO think they should be informed.
I don’t expect GM’s PR flacks to be open-minded (God forbid). But I DO think they should be informed.
Especially when SHE said:
“Why do you hate domestic cars so much?” she demanded.
You better be a bit informed before asking for it…..
Large organizations that exhibit most or all of these traits usually cannot be reformed by any way other than a complete, systematic collapse.
You may be right. I hope you are wrong. One would think the shareholders would revolt before…. Ahh… never mind…..
OK Captain Tungsten, point taken about TATA being a conglomerate.
But you’ve got to remember, too, that before GM started selling off the furniture, the family silver, the china, and lastly the only profitable thing they had going in North America (GMAC), they were the largest conglomerate Corporation in the world.
Busses. Trains. Automobiles. Computers. Radios. Televisions. Refrigerators. Spark plugs. Diesel engines. Air conditioning systems. Etc etc ad nauseum.
Now, their brightest star is a 50% owned operation in a communist nation?!
How the mighty fall.
I was reading in the Free Press this morning. A short little blurb about the Toyota Tundra’s icy reception (clever). Apparently they trudged out a new Tundra between periods at the Red Wings hockey game. Not a brilliant marketing move by Toyota but the crowd reaction tells you everything you need to know. They boo’d it. Loudly. If they weren’t worried, it would have been ignored.
OK there are a few problems with this DW.
1. which PR person was it? Is she regional to the South? meaning she’s not in Detroit/higher up.
2nd. I bet somewhere in 108 other GM Deathwatches RF asked GM to bring over more global products. Now we get “the camry is built more in America” line. Sheesh.
3rd. There’s nothing wrong with the G8. GM NEVER said the Solstice was the brand’s new styling direction. The G6 is a handsome car, not mindblowing but attractive. The G8 shares a similar look to that. Also it is different than the GTO. It is replacing the Grand Prix, an already decent seller. It will most likely be priced like the GP too. So all those problems the GTO had (too expensive, didn’t fit in the marketplace) theoretically won’t exist. And as someone that saw it in person, I thought it was pretty damn hot.
4. As someone that has spent a lot of time with the flak armies none of them are product managers. If you want to get in depth on product the PR person will say “would you like to talk to a product manager about it” then those guys with the hands on expertise of building the product can talk intelligently to the reporter. The PR person is there to help the reporter get access to the information they need, they’re not all spokespeople.
5. GM is spending a lot of time with bloggers, meeting with them, greasing their palms so I hear. Don’t think that’s good it’s just what I hear.
6. And RF I’d take a Vette over a Boxster any day of the week especially the Z06. I’d guess that next gen will finally have the interior you desire as every other GM platform that has been redesigned lately certainly does.
The Pontiac GTO (base price with automatic gas guzzler tax $34,590.00) was way overpriced compared to the Mustang GT and other similar cars!
What will the imported G8 cost with the V8 and automatic w/guzzler tax??? Probably more than the GTO! Nobody is going to buy an overpriced Aussie buggy with a dated design and bare bones technology.
Why does GM continue to shoot itself in the same “bullet- riddled” foot???
Not to rub salt into the wound (much), but here’s an update on the GM inventory situation, in reference to GM DW 108 (again from Automotive News):
GM had a whopping 107-day supply of vehicles as of Feb. 1, up from 81 days. Most of that inventory was in trucks, where GM showed a 117-day supply. But GM’s car supply isn’t light, either, at 94 days.
Ford Motor Co. had a 93-day supply of vehicles as of Feb. 1, compared with 69 on Jan. 1. The Chrysler group is carrying the lightest load, with a 78-day supply of vehicles as of Feb. 1 vs. 74 days a month earlier.
Among the top Japanese carmakers, American Honda Motor Co. started the month with a 62-day supply, Nissan North America with 78 days and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. with 53 days.
That flackette, like so many others currently infesting American industry is doubtless another byproduct of the recent and perhaps ongoing fascination with brand management, wherein a kid with a degree in French medieval history or Women’s Studies gets a job out of college placing ads for Cheerios or Tampax and thereby becomes a marketing specialist, eventually to be hired by one of the 2.5 for that blip on their resume and perhaps to satisfy the multicultural cravings of the HR department. It fits right in with a management that sees their offerings as a portfolio of brands, rather than as individual products. If one is just in the brand business, no product knowledge is required.
The lack of media savvy is tragic but not surprising. The 2.5 are huge corporate institutions which do not change direction very readily. It should also be noted that the maximum rate of reform for such commercial monstrosities is limited and no CEO, no matter how talented and committed, can make it happen in a year or even two. And not all is doom and gloom – from a product point of view, GM has definitely made improvements and it looks as if they have focused their energies to improve their offerings. To some extent that goes for Ford too.
The company that I am most worried about is DCX. While they are busy brand badging a bewildering variety of slow selling SUVs they have also just unveiled the new Sebring/Avenger as the their weapon of choice to take on the rest of the mid-size competition. When comparing the Aura/08 Malibu, Fusion/Taurus to the Sebring/Avenger it becomes very obvious who is still in denial.
I was reading in the Free Press this morning. A short little blurb about the Toyota Tundra’s icy reception (clever). Apparently they trudged out a new Tundra between periods at the Red Wings hockey game. Not a brilliant marketing move by Toyota but the crowd reaction tells you everything you need to know. They boo’d it. Loudly. If they weren’t worried, it would have been ignored.
That’s nothing new. They tried it before at Detroit Lions game and got the same poor reception.
They boo’d it. Loudly. If they weren’t worried, it would have been ignored.
I disagree they boo’d it loudly because toyota is the other team, as in any sporting event if the visitor team is a “threat” or not they are going to get boo’d.
Also seeing all fullsize trucks i put the Tundra ahead of Nissan and Dodge (barely) but still behind Ford and GM, the percieved quality is terrible. Slam shut the tailgate and it sounds like you are throwing a beer can at a brick wall. The inside is laid out terribly and horrifying ugly. Looks like 2 people design it and never talked. The quality of the nobs and buttons are late 90’s GM standards.
The only thing that GM and Ford should be worried about is the 5.7 and 6-speed. Other then that they tried to morph the Ram with the F-150 and got ass ugly. Nothing on this thing is break through, even the big breaks and huge tow hitch you get.
Robert,
Easily the GMDW in ages! The course of the conversation you describe is very accurate when you try to tell anyone at GM anything. That being said, this is the standard reponse you would get from any company if they perceive you to be the enemy.
To be honest, GM looks at all of their competitors very carefully. Do you think the C6 team did not have a Porsche 911 or two when they did the design and engineering work? Do you think GM doesn’t do consumer styling clinics and ride and drives?
Do you think GM designers and engineers don’t wince when they’re told to cut corners?
But this site and others have said it, GM builds cars to a dollar figure and each car must at least come in around those figures?
I would say that at some level, GM is listening to the criticism. New designs are attractive, new engines and transmissions are at least as good as the competition’s. Interior designs and materials are getting better (not superb but better). Finally, build quality is also improving.
The PR person’s responses and lack of competitive knowledge is very disappointing but she would not be the first person who worked at a company that could care less about what he/she was building or selling.
My guess is after this post, her performance review will not the best.
Again, great editorial!
CJ
Instead of the performance review of the PR flack suffering, it should be the management of GM’s performance reviews that suffer. IMHO. She’s just doing a job, trying to get by in a dying company and probably wishes upon the nearest star, that she’d gone on-board with Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, Subaru or Honda.