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Over the last year, the GMC brand has been nothing short of a hot-button topic among GM fans. After exiting bankruptcy, many wondered why The General decided to keep GMC over Pontiac and Saturn. As we later found out, GMC is a very profitable brand for General Motors – something the automaker wouldn’t want to send to the automotive graveyard (to join Pontiac, Saturn, and Oldsmobile) for obvious reasons.
Shortly after that, GMC released the Terrain, followed by the Granite Concept, and the GM enthusiast community became a bit intrigued, if not confused. After gathering up all the bolts in a single jar, I believe I’ve figured out the purpose of the GMC brand now, and into the future. Before we get there, however, let’s briefly go over GMC’s most recent history.
GMC is a very old brand with a long history. It has built coach buses, specialty war vehicles, and even motor homes. But let’s set our time machine back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile vehicles shared retail floor space. It just so happened that dealers of these three GM brands – only one of which has survived to this day – didn’t have a pickup truck to sell. One option was to allow these dealers to sell Chevy trucks. But to dealerships already selling three brands this wasn’t an option, as Chevy’s lineup had more models than the entire model range of Buick, Pontiac, and Olds combined. Moreover, doubling showroom space for the addition of a full-line brand such as Chevy was cost prohibitive for dealers. And that’s how the “new” GMC was born – an exclusive truck brand for Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile dealers. In essence, the GMC as we know it today came into fruition to market Chevy trucks and SUVs to Buick, Pontiac, and Olds customers under the GMC brand name. (more…)
Here’s the introductory video of the heavily-revised 2011 Silverado Heavy Duty (HD). As we let you know last week, the 2011 Silverado HD is bigger, heavier, and more powerful in every dimension. Whether you’re talking about the updated 6.6L Duramax engine that’s rumored to make upwards of 700 lb.-ft. of torque and 400 horses, the new full box frame, or the beefed up suspension, the reworked HD is more truck, any way you look at it.
The last few words in the video sum it up perfectly:
Bar none, we are gonna be the biggest baddest truck out there.
Check the video after the brea and expect a few 2011 Silverado HD videos soon!
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For the week of February 8, 2010
Our sincere apologies for the sound quality of the this episode. We’ve corrected the problem so it doesn’t happen again, but couldn’t go back in time to fix this show. Sorry about that. 
Sometime in the beginning of February, Chevrolet Chief Jim Campbell announced that the bow tie brand will no longer use its ‘An American Revolution’ tagline. Citing a new communications strategy, Campbell told Automotive News that
There’s not really an all-new theme … It’s really communications focused at those target customers.
Essentially, this means the plan is to use different marketing approaches to reach the various target markets (customers). You could also say that the Chevrolet brand name will become the tagline in and of itself.
This humble blogger was a fan of the ‘American Revolution’ motto, but its time has come – and gone. If executed properly, customers can be reached with targeted ads by promoting the Chevrolet brand name alone. And given the recent slump in the American auto industry, identifying Chevy’s American roots may not be a strength, but rather a weakness (as much as it saddens me to say that).
However, GM’s recent ‘May The Best Car Win’ promotional (and marketing) campaign may be considered a unifying catchphrase between all of The General’s brands. But even then, I think it’s a fairly established and agreed-upon fact that each GM brand must be able to stand on its own from both the sales and financial perspectives.
For the sake of nostalgia, here’s the commercial that kicked off the American Revolution campaign. Michael Bay and Transformers fans will undoubtedly catch a few Autobot references.
[Source: Automotive News]
Vauxhall Motors, the Colonel leading The General’s British invasion, is set to cut jobs at its commercial van manufacturing plant in Luton. With a population of 230,000, the Bedfordshire county locale is 32 miles north of London. Reports conflict on the precise number of jobs on the chopping block, but the best estimates suggest that 154 administrative, sales and marketing positions and 354 manufacturing positions would be cut. The manufacturing loss was announced last November, but the number continues to be adjusted. Vauxhall currently employs 1,458 people in Luton, and hopes to pare down its workforce there through voluntary means.
These cuts come amid the British marque’s own restructuring plan, made possible by £500 million in loans from British banks, all of which the government has agreed to underwrite. That money comes in addition to €2.7 billion in financial support from European governments, including the United Kingdom. Vauxhall chairman Bill Parfitt is currently negotiating the terms for the company, and the final plan is expected to be ready in a few weeks. (more…)
The vehicle diagnostics feature of GM’s OnStar system is not widely publicized, but it’s extremely useful. In a nutshell, OnStar emails subscribers a monthly vehicle status report, complete with service reminders and any maintenance requirements. After using the system to collect data, GM recently reported that 99.3 percent of Chevrolet vehicles enrolled in the program revealed no problems with the engine and transmission systems of those vehicles. This is an important number, as it not only demonstrates the quality of Chevy vehicles, but also the constant improvement in quality enabled by the diagnostics program.
What’s really valuable here is OnStar’s ability to collect data through the remote diagnostics feature and hand this data over to engineers, who in turn make constant improvements in quality and reliability of the vehicles at the design and engineering stages. This is just another situation proving that knowledge and information is power, facilitating improvement by recognizing weak spots.
Moreover, these numbers represent the importance of quality and reliability at Chevy and the rest of The General’s products. Chevrolet General Manager Jim Campbell said:
At Chevrolet, we have significantly reduced customer warranty claims over the past few years, as we continually strive to make the most dependable cars and trucks on the road. A key part of that success is OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics, which helps Chevrolet and our customers keep vehicles in top running condition.
This further drives the point that OnStar’s vehicle diagnostics is useful to GM, allowing for the constant improvement in quality as well as keeping customers aware of the status of their vehicles. It is a largely successful program for both parties, and one that we hope will see even further improvement by The General now and in the future.
Vauxhall is capitalizing on the UK’s scrappage scheme – a government-run program similar to that of the US CARS (Cash for Clunkers) program – by expanding the eligible models.
The Vauxhall Insignia, Meriva, and Zafira join the new Astra, Astra Sports Hatch, and Corsa as eligible models for the swappage offer. The Meriva and Zafira are MPVs while the world-class Insignia (aka Buick Regal) has won the Car of the Year award in 2009. Unfortunately, the Meriva in question is not the (awesome) all-new model, but rather the last-generation of the Gamma-based vehicle (available in the gallery after the jump).
Vauxhall introduced its own Swappage scheme February 5 as a play on the UK’s scrappage program. The Vauxhall program applies to new cars ordered or registered before March 31 – the official end date of the UK’s car scrap allowance initiative – and allows buyers to use any seven-year-old UK-registered vehicle with insurance, road tax, and MOT certificate as currency to reduce the cost of any of the six models by at least £3000 (no matter the condition or value of the old product).
In some cases, however, the deal is even better! For example, the Swappage price on a Zafira Life 1.6 (regular retail price £18,670) plunges to merely £12,995 when the buyer has an eligible trade in – a savings of £5,675! Rory Harvey, Vauxhall’s Retail Sales Director said, “There’s never been a better time to buy a new Vauxhall. Better still, buyers can take full advantage of the Swappage programme just in time for the new ‘10’ plate on March 1.”
So if you’re in the United Kingdom and looking for some amazing deals on some of the best cars in the world, here’s your chance!
[Source: European Motor News]
Remember when we received tips of a Buick Regal coupe late last year? Well, it looks like our sources were right after all – as The General has officially gone on record about considering a Buick coupe.
According to John Cafaro, director of design for Buick and Chevrolet, Buick is undergoing a transformation similar to what Cadillac has gone through. (Actually, we think Cadillac is still going through its Renaissance period). “Cadillac said: ‘What we are doing is not working. Our customers are dying off. We have to carve a new image.’ That is where Buick is right now… A coupe is definitely where you say, ‘I’m back,’ said Cafaro.
Moreover, a coupe would make a strong statement for Buick “and a statement means it is going to be the flagship. All the design cues and everything would drive themselves down into all Buicks.”
To be honest, Buick has been on a roll lately, delivering hits such as the all-new LaCrosse and Enclave as well as announcing gems such as the all-new Regal. And no Buick article can exist without mentioning the (unconfirmed) Verano (compact sedan that will share its architecture with the Chevy Cruze) and a rumored small crossover. A coupe, which may become the flagship of the Buick line, would most likely be based on the Epsilon 2 platform used by the Regal and LaCrosse.
The only question is – should the coupe be a Regal or a LaCrosse?
While a coupe is definitely a step in the right direction, Buick is not where it should be, since brand positioning is still unclear. The best approach, in my humble opinion, would be to position Buick as a pure luxury brand that puts luxury first. Cadillac, on the other hand, would target the performance-luxury market – the crowd that wants some spice mixed in with its luxury. Furthermore, my proposition calls to join the dealer networks of Buick and Cadillac, making the resulting stores the ultimate luxury car shopping experience. When a customer walks in to a Buick-Cadillac dealer, s/he would be offered the biggest choice in luxury transportation – be it pure luxury (Lexus style) or performance-luxury (BMW, Audi style). But I can’t do my strategy justice for GM’s luxury divisions in a single paragraph, that’s why we released an entire podcast about it that you should listen to right here.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req.]
With tax returns due two months from today, many investors remain confused as to what to do with their “worthless” (read on) stock in the Old GM. Many people thought that, like governments and their debt, shares of the Big Three automakers would always have some value, or in the very least, if any of those entities were to go belly up, the value of their shares would be the least of their worries. Moreover, there was some perception that the US government would intervene to save shareholders. Indeed, the government intervened to save The General, but did little to buoy investors interests. These misperceptions partly explain the prevalence of outstanding GM stock despite the disappearance of the historic, “GM” stock ticker symbol. Sort of. (more…)
Yesterday, we reported on a recent interview by Chevrolet Brand Director Jim Campbell in which he discussed how Chevrolet will manage the supply-demand pressures of the new Volt when it comes to market. Part of the solution is to roll out the Volt in three initial markets: California, Michigan and Washington, DC (which sounds like a political move more than a marketing one to me). In any event, a staggered introduction to market may indeed help manage the initial demand for the Volt, but what would you say if I told you that the first customers to plunk down a deposit in those initial launch states will not necessarily be the first to drive the car home?
As absurd as this may sound, this is exactly what will happen. You see, behind the roll-out of any model lies a process used by GM called Dealer Allocation. Dealer Allocation is quite simply the number of units of a particular model a dealer will be able to acquire (and thus sell) in a given period of time. This number is usually formulated based on a combination of things. With respect to the Volt, I believe the allocation criteria will be formulated on the three following attributes: overall dealer performance, dealer sales of GM hybrid vehicles, and Toyota Prius sales in the area. (more…)
Future Product Guide: GMC Vehicles For 2012, 2013, 2014 Model Years 
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Rumormill: Next-Gen Lexus ES Will Make Buick LaCrosse "Laughable" 
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