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For Tuesday, December 1, 2009
- U.S.-bound Chevy Cruze revealed
- GM completes rollout of variable valve timing in its truck small-block V-8
- Breaking: GM CEO and President Fritz Henderson steps down
It’s no secret that GM is in the process of winding down four of its eight brands: Pontiac and Saturn are set to take a trip to the automotive graveyard while Saab and Hummer are currently being sold off. As I was perusing GM’s Media site, I noticed an interesting design change in the page navigation for the four non-core brands:
Navigation of GM's Media Website (click to expand)
As you can see, the links to Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac, and Saab (my emphasis with the red arrow) have been stripped of their logos, shoved off to the side, and walled off by a separator – almost as if they’re being jailed.
As some of you may already know, I’m a huge stickler for design, which – for me, is often the first element that represents the quality of companies’ products. More importantly, however, is that the new design of the Media site navigation shows where GM is placing its focus – on the recently-identified four core brands – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. As such, it’s my opinion that the new design of the site reflects a pivotal cultural change within GM – one that directs attention to the four core brands.
That’s it for today’s GM Authority Quick Break. Back to work now!
We just reported that upon releasing its November 2009 sales results, GM also let us know that nearly 50 percent of Equinox buyers traded in a non-GM vehicle.
To our luck, we also found out that the new hot-rod on the block – the all-new Chevy Camaro – is just as much of a sales conquest success as the Equinox, with VP of Sales Susan Docherty saying that 50% of Camaro buyers “traded in a competitive vehicle.”
As if that isn’t enough, the new Camaro has sold 35,000 copies and has outsold its cross-town rival, the Ford Mustang, for six consecutive months.
Again, we can’t emphasize enough how important conquest (also known as switcher) sales are to The General at this point in time. We hope GM continues the trend of taking sales away from competitors and, with the amount of class-leading products coming from The General, there’s no reason why this shouldn’t continue to be the case. That said, GM still has a lot of work to do in the foreseeable future and beyond.
[Source: GM]
When GM reported its November 2009 sales results, one of the more interesting details was the sales performance of the all-new Chevrolet Equinox: retail sales were up 247 percent compared to last year and up 27 percent calendar year-to-date.
More importantly, Vice President of Sales Susan Docherty reported that nearly 50 percent of Equinox buyers traded in a non-GM vehicle.
This is good news all around for The General: all GM brands need as many “switchers” as possible – especially at a time like this. (For those not current on the latest marketing speak, “switchers” are people making the switch from one brand to another.) And while we don’t know how many switchers actually traded in a competing compact or mid-size CUV (like a RAV4 or a CR-V, or Highlander), a sale is a sale – and we’re glad these buyers picked a GM product.
[Source: GM]
Sales results for the month of November are in: GM sold 151,427 vehicles in the U.S. - a decline of 2 percent compared with November 2008. While overall sales were down, retail sales were up by 1 percent for the month. Total sales of GM’s four core brands (Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Chevrolet) increased by 6 percent vs. the prior year, with retails sales for these brands increasing 10 percent in the same time frame. What this means is GM is selling more vehicles to end-users and individual customers as opposed to fleets. In fact, fleet sales declined 9 percent when compared to November 2008.
It’s also encouraging to hear that GM’s six launch vehicles (Chevy Equinox and Camaro, GMC Terrain, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac SRX and CTS Sport Wagon) accounted for more than one out of every five retails sales. That said, GM recognizes it still has a lot of work to do when it comes to changing consumer perceptions as well as increasing the competitiveness of its product line, with Susan Docherty, GM Vice President of U.S. Sales saying
Consumer interest in our launch vehicles remains solid. We’re working to strengthen our Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands by providing cars, crossovers and trucks with the sales and service experience that our customers deserve. We have more to do, but we’re committed to earning consideration and future sales by delivering great products in every segment.
Non-core GM brands (read: those we’re selling or shutting down as fast as humanly possible) represented 8 percent of sales compared with 15 percent in November 2008.
Something interesting that caught our eye: the press release says that the GMC Terrain replaces the Pontiac Torrent in GM’s product portfolio – a testament (in our opinion) of how terribly-positioned the Pontiac brand was in the first place. A GMC replacing a Pontiac? Really?
Check out the full sales report from GM after the break. (more…)
We have to admit – Tuesday’s news of Fritz Henderson stepping down as GM’s CEO took us by surprise. Besides Ed Whitacre’s statement on the matter and some rumors, no one was really sure of the reasons why Fritz decided to resign except for – of course – Fritz and certain GM execs in the know. As such, we were grasping at straws while trying to find out more concrete information and facts about what really transpired.
So you could imagine our excitement when instead of Fritz Henderson, it was Maximum Bob Lutz who took the stage at the LA Auto Show keynote address. That’s right, the same Lutz who – if left in a room filled with journalists – would probably end up slipping hints about the future of every vehicle in the product pipeline.
To our dismay, Lutz stated “I know you’d like the true, inside story of what really happened at General Motors. I’m not giving it to you.” Perhaps we’ll get the story in Bob’s next book.
But then, in typical Lutz fashion, he went on to say: “I think all of us were surprised. The whole General Motors team is genuinely saddened over what transpired. Fritz is without question a great executive.”
Make of that what you will, but if Henderson’s departure has GM employees feeling down, who should we blame – Ed, Fritz, or the entire board of directors?
[Source: Jalopnik]
If you can’t wait to put your money down on a Chevy Volt and you live in the State of California, you’re in luck! Chevrolet announced today at the Los Angeles International Auto Show that its upcoming Volt EV will initially be made available late next year in the Golden State – the country’s largest new-car market.
Chevy will announce other lead markets for the Volt as we get closer to the launch of the much-anticipated EV. At the present time, Volt production is scheduled to commence in late 2010.
Here we go folks! It goes without saying that the Volt is very important for The General. And we’ve just witnessed the first step by GM in bringing the Volt to market. Since the success of the Volt (and other plug-in EVs) is highly dependent on the surrounding electric infrastructure, it’s important that GM go about picking the initial launch markets carefully. A slow and steady roll-out and development of said infrastructure in the primary launch markets will ensure that Volt owners have the tools they need to refuel recharge their vehicles. In fact, Chevrolet is working with three utilities and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to tackle the whole infrastructure issue – more about this in a bit!
Check out the high-resolution gallery of the Volt after the break!
[Source: GM]
We have to admit – we can’t wait to drive the CTS Coupe come spring 2010. In fact, the entire CTS range – including the sedan, sport wagon, and coupe – are our favorite sport luxury products in the marketplace today! Yet for those wondering when they will be able to get a convertible CTS, the answer may be a harsh never.
At least that’s the answer from a (mystery) Cadillac official who is quoted as saying:
Nope, no convertible. With the arrival of the coupe, the CTS line is complete.
While we don’t mean to discredit the Caddy official, we think there is still some hope left for a drop-top CTS. Here’s why:
So if you’re still lusting for a CTS cabriolet, I’d recommend not getting completely disheartened: Cadillac will need to be there at one point (or another).
[Source: Inside Line]
That didn’t take long: after being the CEO and President of General Motors for the last eight months, Fritz Henderson is stepping down. In the meantime, Chairman Ed Whitacre is taking over Henderson’s duties in the Renaissance Center headquarters on a daily basis. Whitacre said that “an international search for a new president and CEO begins immediately.”
GM last saw a change in chief executive officers when Rick Wagoner was asked to resign by the Obama Administration’s Task Force for Autos in April of 2009.
At the present time it is unclear why Henderson has resigned. Whitacre has been quoted as saying that the board is was going to give Fritz an opportunity to showcase his abilities. In several interviews with reporters, Whitacre has even voiced support for Henderson: “As Mr. Whitacre has stated several times, Mr. Henderson has the full support of the board,” GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said.
But while that’s the public face to the internal affairs at GM, it is possible that the leadership styles of Henderson and Whitacre simply didn’t match. And could GM’s recent attempts to offload Opel, Saturn, and Saab (all of which have so far failed) have anything to do with the resignation? We’re not sure yet, but you can bet we’ll be following this one closely and keeping you up-to-date through the blog and the podcast.
In the meantime, check out Ed Whitacre’s statement after the break. (more…)
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For Monday, November 30, 2009
- Saab under GM a total mess – lost $5000+ on every Saab ever sold
- Chevy Camaro Convertible to start production alongside 2011 Buick Regal in Q1 2011 at Oshawa
- Buick goes green with 2010 LaCrosse, uses recyclable materials
- The Holidays are here, and all GM brands are on sale!
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