GM "Mark of Excellence" RIP

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The Detroit News reports that GM is removing its “Mark of Excellence” badges from its entire lineup, starting with the new Chevy Equinox. “We are just really focused on the four core brands and this provided us with another opportunity to make sure they were at the forefront,” say GM spokefolks. “Plus people on Twitter were making fun of them.” Okay, so the last part is made up. Still, about time, no? As industry commentators never tire of mentioning, consumers don’t buy GM as a brand, they buy Chevys, Buicks, Cadillacs and GMCs. Okay, they buy Chevys. Anyway, what’s the point of having four separate versions of every platform if there’s a badge reminding everyone that they’re all basically the same? Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. Instead, hit the jump to learn how to de-Mark of Excellence your ride.

Flickr user X-Caiver explains:

The main steps are to heat the badge up with the hair dryer, which makes the double-sided foam tape loosen up, and then to use the floss to cut it.

The trick with the floss is to go slow, pulling it like you were trying to saw through the foam. You need to also be pulling the floss away from the car so it is rubbing against the bottom of the badge and not the car at all.

This took a few minutes, alternating between heat & floss and snapping a few pieces of floss as it got shredded by the bottom of the logo.”

Once it’s off, clean up the area with microfiber chamois and some WD-40. Congratulations! Your Chevy now has no visible signs of the corporate mothership. It’s almost as if there weren’t extremely similar versions of the same vehicle being sold as Buicks and GMCs now. Almost.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Newsie23 Newsie23 on Aug 26, 2009

    When did the Chev Bowtie change from Blue to Gold?

  • Yankinwaoz Yankinwaoz on Aug 26, 2009

    I always wondered why GM started doing that. I think they got their idea from Intel with those stupid "Intel Inside" stickers they put on your computer. They could change them to "GM Inside" stickers and put them on the bumpers.

  • Ceipower Ceipower on Aug 26, 2009

    I can remamber when GM decided some years back to begin installing these GM logo's to all their cars. If was a stupid idea at the time that just showed how GM was unwilling to tackle their core problems and continue to play the smoke and mirrors game with the products they were hoisting onto the market. Removing the logo now pretty much says the same thing. Did a 1 inch square logo attached to GM products make any difference? Will removing it make any difference? GM can do nothing that will get me into the fold after personally suffering thru decades of poor design and advertising/marketing bologna. New Camaro SS convertibles at $1,500.00 couldn't get me into the showroom. How can you trust these guys? Their own record says you can't.

  • Boyphenom666 Boyphenom666 on May 04, 2010

    Lookie what I found! The "Mark of Excellence" is even gone from signage: http://www.gm-dileasing.com/signsforlease.htm (Check out the new Buick-GMC and Cadillac sign panels while you're there.)

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