Ask The Best And Brightest: Does GM Need A Manhattan Flagship Salon?
According to BusinessWeek‘s David Welch, GM’s New York market share has slipped below ten percent for the first time, prompting The General to consider a 5th Avenue GM “salon” showcasing the company’s products. Now, the arguments against the idea are too easy: spending government money on some of the world’s most expensive real estate isn’t great PR-wise. Besides, isn’t GM trying to emphasize the individuality of its brands, and break down the monolithic image of GM as the all-seeing, all-rebadging automaker? Wouldn’t a GM “salon” go against the alleged independence of, say, Cadillac? On the other hand, GM does finally have some good products, and can’t afford further erosion in market share in America’s affluent coastal cities. Would it really hurt to showcase them in a prominent setting? It’s a debate that’s surely racking the RenCen at the moment, so why not weigh in before a decision is made. Is this a plain bad idea? Should a variation of the idea move forward, possibly highlighting individual brands in a more targeted manner? Or does GM need a world-class flagship retail outlet in order to manifest itself as a world-class automaker?
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Why? GM has plenty of other places to move its vehicles https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/location/index.jsp?targetPage=locationTabView.jsp
I think it would be a GREAT idea for all of the GM Marching band, flag -waving followers of special Ed and "harder,faster" Henderson . Christy Garwood, are you listening?
I've been saying this for a while now, but I think that instead of a tasteful "GM , ain't we got purty cars?" display in Manhattan GM needs to do something dramatic and gimmicky - Put a CTS-V or a new Buick LaCrosse on display in Times Square on a display stand with engine running, radio playing, lights flashing on and off, and robot arms opening and closing the doors, trunk and hood for "the equivalent of" 100,000 miles nonstop or with stops only for normal service intervals. The details of the gimmick don't matter - it's the show that counts. A few references back to the original "standard of the world" test of 100 years ago. The stated idea being to show how great the quality of the car has become (again), with the real idea of getting the car shown on Good Morning America, USA Today, et al with happy reporters talking about how confident GM has become in their quality nowadays. I'd bet that you could pull this off - including the cost of secretly building a ringer car - for the cost of leasing and staffing the salon in Manhattan for a year while getting far more positive press out of the equation. FWIW
@Lokki: Hmmmmmm....although it sounds ridiculous, it's actually a quite interesting idea. Though, other companies might take up on the whole "ringer" thing, make a stink.