Quote of the Day: They Shoot Horses Don't They Edition?

by Robert Farago

Published: June 22nd, 2009

quote of the day they shoot horses don t they edition

From Bloomberg’s irony-free (Saturn Aura, geddit?) article entitled “Car Buyers Spurn GM, Ford as Japan Brands Retain Aura”:

“It is very hard to open minds and get people to consider a domestic vehicle again, no matter how good,” GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said. “The product and fuel economy deficit, reliability deficit, styling deficit — all those deficits have been erased. What has yet to be erased and is going to be the biggest challenge of all is erasing the reputational deficit.”

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4 of 34 comments

Cory02 on Jun 22, 2009

Bob also forgot about the decisions that GM still makes that show how out of touch they still are with the market. I don't think its any one thing that keeps people from buying American but rather the sum of the bad parts. I am in the market for a new car and love the way the G8 looks as well as its power and handling. I can live with the sub-par interior, brutal depreciation, and fears (unfounded or not) about quality and availability of parts. But the lack of technology was the last straw: no optional navigation, only some of the 2009 models have Bluetooth, no SmartKey-type system. All on a car thats stickers for $35k fully-loaded. And all are options available on sub-$20k offerings from their foreign competition.

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Happy_Endings on Jun 22, 2009
“The product and fuel economy deficit, reliability deficit, styling deficit — all those deficits have been erased. What has yet to be erased and is going to be the biggest challenge of all is erasing the reputational deficit.” Of this list, I would say the styling deficit has definitely been erased. GM's cars are generally better looking that Toyota's or Honda's offerings. However, this is a subjective viewpoint. But in the fuel economy and reliability arenas, GM still trails Toyota and Honda. Particularly using real world numbers, not the government's calculations. Yes GM has made good strides in the last few years, but they still trail. In the end, GM is largely competitive with Honda and Toyota's offerings. But competitive isn't good enough. Competitive keeps your customers in house, but it doesn't attract widespread defections from your competitors. The only way to achieve that is to be better than your competitors.

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Signal11 on Jun 22, 2009

Styling is definitely subjective. I find GM's offering MUCH more bland than Toyota or Honda's. OTOH, I've had several recent "That's a Ford?" double take moments. That said, I'm still not interested in buying a domestic. It looks like Hyundai, of all companies, will be getting my business for the Genesis sedan.

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Mattstairs on Jun 23, 2009
Like the saying goes about GM: made by rednecks for rednecks … so other than rednecks I doubt anyone will ever buy GM That's an interesting comment. I wonder how many sales are lost because people think of Chevy (aka Chivy), Ford, and Dodge as pickup truck brands driven by rednecks. OTOH, most of the transplants are built in the South, where most "rednecks" are thought to live. (I'll be the first to say not all folks in the South are rednecks and not all rednecks live in the South!)

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