Hammer Time: Dead Brand Pool 2010
by
Steven Lang
I don’t know how they did it. Nobody’s crazy about a Mercury. Suzuki is still a one niche car company, and most Mitsubishis look like Chryslers that were drawn by stoned orangutans. Does anyone want a Volvo? No, you can’t have one made before 1995. How about a Dodge? A Ram? A Tonka? Oh, you think Chrysler WILL survive the year. I beg to differ. Speaking of which, who wants to bet that GM pulls the plug on one more brand before 2010 is done. Any bets? Any five brands will do . . .
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Yes, GMC and Chevy Trucks are redundant... but on the other hand, everybody knows they're the same vehicles and it isn't costing GM more than about 50 cents a vehicle to put a different nameplate on. Both brands have significant sales. What's the harm in keeping them? Buick has a good reason to exist. They have different body styles and some different mechanicals from their Chevy cousins and from Cadillac. They appeal to entry luxury to mid luxury customers who want graceful, classic styling instead of edgy in-your-face styling of recent Cadillacs. Giving the $30-$50k market to Buick leaves Cadillac free to move upmarket. Most makers have a separate brand for under $30k cars and $30k+ cars. Maybe Scion should be next to go. Sales haven't been that great, and Toyota discovered that they haven't been selling to the young adult market they were hoping to attract. 30+ year olds would probably happily buy the Scion vehicles at a Toyota dealer.
Subaru is not going anywhere. There will always be a niche for AWD Wagon/Crossover vehices. Their residuals are up there with Toyota and Honda. Browsing a salvage auction site last week I was amazed how many Subarus had 200+k on the clock.
i agree, Subaru isn't going anywhere. as long as Toyota let them do their thing. a car company doesn't need to be the top seller to be profitable as long as they're well managed. i think that Suzuki will stay in the US market, once they're rid of GM Daewoo product and Kizashi and new Swift come on line i think they will develop a mini cult following. mitsubishi is in trouble everywhere imo. they need to sort their interior quality/presentation, the Colt has been around since 2002 and the facelifted model eventually coming is not all new and obviously done on a low budget. the Lancer is the biggest sedan offered in most of the world, the Galant was old, boring, dated and not competitive when it first came out and is in dire need of replacement asap. i think they need a major alliance with another automaker to survive