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Here’s a little-known marketing secret: satisfied customers usually provide very little word of mouth, but those customers who are truly dissatisfied really get people talking. And it takes 12 positive visits/experiences to overcome a single bad one. General Motors is trying to combat this by providing 24 vehicles to GM employees at 40 North American manufacturing facilities for overnight test drives as well and ride-and-drive events.
The GM Vehicle Plant Tour, as the program is being called, will run from March to December 2010 and will stop at 40 different plants. All 40 facilities will be North American plants which include assembly, powertrain, stamping, and metalworking for each of the six vehicles on the tour. The cross country program was kicked off on the first of March.
Developed and run by UAW employees and salaried members, the GM Vehicle Plant Tour was piloted in the Flint Michigan area last year by the GM Vehicle Advocate Program. This venture aims to promote vehicles through word of mouth and personal experience between GM employees and their friends, family, neighbors, and greater communities. The program is similar to the Company Vehicle Ambassador Program launched by GM corporate earlier in 2010 wherein GM employees are able to take home launch vehicles and supporting materials.
By the end of the tour, the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, Chevrolet Camaro, Equinox, Malibu, and GMC Terrain will be exposed to over 40,000 employees and countless community members. GM employees are encouraged to let friends and family drive said vehicles as long as employees are present.
The program will run through the Tonawanda, NY, Arlington TX, and Defiance, OH plants this month. So if you don’t know a GM factory employee, our suggestion is to find one within the next nine months and request a test drive. Or visit your local Chevy, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac dealer.
We have a gallery and the full presser after the break!
Saying that the Chevrolet Corvette is a legend may be an understatement. Having been in production for over 50 years, the ‘Vette has become the be-all end-all racing vehicle, especially in the naturally aspirated 7.0-liter/LS7 Z06 trim. When Chevy introduced the mighty ZR1, many a Z06 owner began to lust after the greatest Corvette of all time and its carbon-ceramic brakes, carbon-fiber body panels, Magnetic Ride damping system, and – of course – its supercharged 6.2-liter LS9. Thankfully, Chevrolet realized that there are some who prefer the LS7 powerplant of the Z06 but would rather have the lightweight benefits of carbon fiber. Enter the limited-edition Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon.
The Z06 Carbon fits in right below the ZR1 and is philosophically similar to the Grand Sport – taking bits from trim levels above and below it. The Z06 Carbon has the engine of its namesake but inherits the chassis of the ZR1. In fact, chassis may sound simple, but this time around it includes GM’s fantastic Magnetic Ride Control – which gives the car adaptive ride and handling capabilities while making a better daily driver at the same time. The Z06 Carbon also gets certain pieces of body work passed down from the mighty ZR1 in order to reduce weight. Unfortunately the carbon goodness will be hidden underneath black paint as opposed to the ZR1′s pricey clear coat. (more…)
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For March 7, 2010
The General has been served!
GM has renamed its Service Parts Operations (SPO) division – the name that entailed ACDelco, Goodwrench, and GM Performance Parts – to Customer Care and Aftersales.
In a press release, Steve Hill, newly-appointed President of the department, said, “Our new name better reflects GM’s critical role in customer retention and service after the sale. It’s going to be less about selling parts and more about taking care of customers, hence the name customer care,” Hill said of the former SPO. “All successful organizations are centered on the customer. If you’re not customer focused, you’re just not going to win.”
Expressing the value in retaining owners of the now-defunct Saturn, Hummer, and Saab owners, Hill said, “If we’re not taking care of these customers and their service needs, they’ve told us flat-out to forget about selling them a new car. If you’re not meeting their needs, there’s a zero chance of selling them a new car. Our name change is a signal that we’ve changed the way we’re doing business.”
That statement – in and of itself – makes perfect sense, especially as owners of the now-defunct brands may feel alienated by GM. Will a divisional name change keep them GM customers? We’ll find out soon enough. We have the full presser right after the break! (more…)
Welcome to the first installment of GM Authority By The Numbers! Over the next few days, you will see sales results for February 2010 for all the GM geographic sales regions! In the meantime, enjoy the following sales stats from GM India!
| Chevrolet Model | Volume % | February 2010 | February 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | +35.74 | 11,111 | 4,921 |
| Beat | * | 4,431 | 0 |
| Spark | +16.05 | 3,412 | 2,940 |
| Tavera | +68.47 | 1,592 | 945 |
| Cruze | +726 | 726 | 0 |
| Aveo | -43.70 | 420 | 746 |
| Aveo U-VA | +411 | 411 | 0 |
| Optra | +10.11 | 98 | 89 |
| Captiva | -89.55 | 21 | 201 |
It may be an understatement to say that Cadillac is an under performing brand. It’s the fourth biggest luxury brand in the United States, almost non-existent in Europe, and most recently recorded a 32 percent drop in sales (in 2009) compared to an overall 30 percent decrease for GM. Yet even though Cadillac’s launch models are experiencing record growth, the brand is still growing slower than two of GM’s other core brands (Chevrolet and Buick). In an effort to rectify this problem, the luxury brand is in the process of distancing itself from parent company GM, which was bailed out by the U.S. government to the tune of $50 billion last year (taking a 61 percent ownership stake in GM in the process). (more…)
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Here’s the second part to the Chevrolet ad campaign that ran during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada. There’s not much to say except what we’ve said already: these ads are awesome and that any true GM fan should be proud that this company has a sense of humor despite going through the toughest time in company history. Watch it after the jump! (more…)
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For Thursday, March 11, 2010
Today, Manoli and Alex discuss the pros and cons of auto shows and unveiling a vehicle before its general availability. Most importantly, Alex outlines a better strategy for General Motors to change consumer perception in light of negative public reactions.
Listen to the show and cast your vote after the break!
GM is offering zero percent financing for sales that occur during the month of March. Interestingly, GM’s announcement comes days after Toyota introduced the same incentive to help alleviate the sales dive experienced by the automaker due to recall afflictions and PR atrocities. When coupled with GM’s exclusive sales incentives for disgruntled Toyota owners, it becomes clear that The General is making a commitment to conquer as much market share (from Toyota and company) as possible.
The zero percent financing move is said to cover roughly 55 percent of all 2010 GM models currently on sale. Moreover, The General is also offering 0 percent financing for 72 months on remaining 2009 model inventory. In total, both incentives cover about 97 percent of what’s left on dealer lots.
Top top it all off, March is also Chevy and GMC truck month, with GM Vice President of U.S. marketing, Susan Docherty, saying “We’re going headstrong into truck month for both Chevrolet and GMC, which is a traditional play that we have normally done during March.”
But not only is March truck, reading, and college basket hoops month, it also marks the end of the first quarter of the year. Both GM and Toyota are most likely striving to capture as many last-minute sales as possible before the quarter comes to a close in an effort to have as strong a bottom line as possible. If GM succeeds, it will pile onto the previous booming months of January and February.
[Source: Automotive News via Autoblog]
Although Hummer’s tires are sinking into quicksand – and may remain there if a qualified new buyer does not come forward soon – an undisclosed buyer (or maybe even many buyers) have given GM reason to kick-start the Shreveport, LA plant back into action. The plant, having been idled since January 2010 upon ceasing production of H3 and H3T models, will reopen from April 12 to May 13 to fulfill a rather eye-opening 849 unit order.
The recent fall-through of the Hummer sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong, in no small part thanks to the Chinese Government, presents quite the mountain to climb (even for a Hummer). And though the future of the uber-SUV brand remains uncertain at best, this writer still has a few ideas on how Hummer could become an off-road juggernaut over Jeep and Land Rover once again.
[Source: Hummer Guy via Autoblog]
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