TRENDING NOW:
General Motors is officially taking Chevrolet, the automaker’s leading global vehicle brand, into Korea. GM Daewoo Auto & Technology President and CEO Mike Arcamone said that the bow tie brand will be introduced in Korea in 2011 and will infuse the market with a plethora of new vehicles such as the hot-selling Chevy Camaro.
The move will provide more options for car buyers and is part of GM’s long-term strategy to increase sales and market share in Korea. GM expects that the decision will net additional revenue and strengthen employee job security (in Korea) as well as create new jobs (also in Korea).
Having accounted for more than 44 percent of GM’s total global sales in 2009, Chevrolet is considered to be GM’s most valued core brand. The brand was founded in 1911 (named after race car driver Louis Chevrolet) and is one of the world’s most historic marques. Last year it registered a 21 percent year-over-year sales jump.
According to Arcamone, Koreans are already very receptive of the Chevrolet brand:
“According to our market research, half of all Koreans are familiar with the brand and more than 80 percent are aware of Chevrolet’s distinctive logo,” said Arcamone. “This is indicative of the positive brand image that already exists among consumers in Korea toward Chevrolet. We see tremendous upside with its introduction.”
GM already offers vehicles in Korea under the GM Daewoo brand name, the latter having been bought in 2001 from the then-bankrupt Daewoo Motors. Most interestingly, however, is GM’s statement that GM Daewoo and Chevrolet will co-exist going forward, with the former not being phased out in favor of GM’s most popular global brand. This doesn’t make much sense to us and will be the topic of a future article.
The announcement comes on the heels of GM having opened its an all-new design studio in Seoul.
We have GM’s full presser after the break! (more…)
Staying true to its renewed focus to design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles, General Motors has announced that the opening of an Advanced Design Studio in Seoul, the capitol city of the Republic of Korea. The studio, located in Seoul’s Gangram region that’s widely considered to be the most exciting, stylish, and trendiest part of the city as well as the heart of the nation’s culture, arts, fashion, and industry, will be one of GM’s 10 global design centers.
The new Seoul studio is actually a relocation of the GM-Daewoo Design Center from Bupyeong, Incheon. It will employ 30 designers who will work on exterior and interior styling of The General’s global mini and small vehicles. The designers will also research trends in color, materials, and advanced electronics, as well as lead the way in digital design and studio engineering.
According to General Motors, the move to Seoul was sparked by a desire to enhance the design center’s function and specialty. Given that Seoul was named the World Design Capital for 2010, the decision to relocate the center makes sense to us. What the heck is the World Design Capital anyway? We knew you’d ask: according to Wikipedia, it’s a city promotion project by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design that recognizes and awards accomplishments made by cities around the world in the field of design. Italy’s Torino was awarded the title in 2008 and Finland’s Helsinki is slated to supersede Seoul in 2012. Glad we could clear that up. (more…)
On this episode of Back To Basics, we discuss air induction systems – specifically the one on a 2001 Chevy Camaro SS. Enjoy!
Podcast: Download
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For Friday, April 23, 2010
Today, Manoli and Alex discuss exactly why the Cadillac CTS needs an engine upgrade. Specifically, a V8 in a non-V package. Here’s the article that sparked off the entire debate!
Listen to the show and cast your vote after the break!
Click to watch the video
Cadillac’s Tunnel ad is one of our collective favorites here at the GM Authority global headquarters. The clip highlights the sports-oriented personality of the first-gen Caddy CTS and does so in a very simple yet upbeat way. And if nothing else, the commercial exemplifies Caddy’s constantly-changing mottos: this ad presents the Break Through tagline, after which Cadillac began to use the Life, Liberty, And the Pursuit campaign. But even this one may go away as Cadillac’s newest ad agency gets ready to launch all-new print ads and video spots.
In any event, watch the ad after the jump! (more…)
Lula Gardfrey of Detroit gets ready Sunday to test drive a GMC Acadia outside the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. GM partnered with the church to show church-goers exactly what The General has to offer.
A big part of General Motors’ new marketing strategy involves reaching out to potential customers in non-traditional ways. Take, for example, the fleet of GMs that is currently making stops at The General’s vehicle manufacturing facilities throughout North America. Or GM’s program where employees at the Ren Cen have the ability to take out cars for a few days and show them off to friends, neighbors, and family. But GM isn’t stopping there. It’s enhancing its efforts in bringing cars to the public.
GM recently teamed up with the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and the GM Minority Dealers Association to provide the attendants of the church the opportunity to test drive more than twelve new GM cars and SUVs. Pastor Charles Adams and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, a member of Hartford Memorial, said that the purpose of the initiative was to encourage buying The General’s cars to promote the local economy and support the community.
The test drives elicited positive responses. One church-goer even changed his mind about buying a large, powerful SUV, going instead for a smaller, more efficient Chevy Equinox. The event even had local banks on hand to provide financing information to consumers. Contrary to its approach with the soon-to-be Test Drive Studios, GM made the decision not to offer competitive comparisons at the event.
GM is becoming a lean, mean (creative) marketing machine. Any major automaker can do TV and online ads. But what we see here are grassroots efforts that eventually can lead to a transformation of direct selling and marketing. We’ll watch this one closely, and we suggest you do as well.
[Source: Freep]
Even though Bob Lutz still hasn’t found the time to join us for our Weekly podcast, he recently sat down with Autoblog for a look at his lifelong career. Apart from learning about his past endeavors, Autoblog was able to score a few more details about Bob’s plans for retirement (that begins May 1st). What, exactly, do those plans entail?
No golfing! Apparently Bob has no intention of being the typical retiree. He does not want to end up in Florida, has never golfed, and would prefer not to sit around idly… which still leaves a lot of opportunities open.
Bob’s second book is first on his agenda. This will also lead to a lecture series run by Leigh Speakers Bureau. From a more long-term perspective, Lutz considers leading another company – albeit from a slightly different role. The legendary exec says he has been approached by several companies offering him positions on their boards.
General Motors has also asked Lutz to advise once in a while, although he has not been approached by any other automotive company as of this writing. As is usual for those not officially in the market for a new job, Lutz said that his involvement with another company in management “depends on the size of the wad of money.”
Doesn’t it always?
[Source: Autoblog]
What defines a successful vehicle? Is it a car’s popularity, the respect it commands in the industry, the per-unit profits, or the good-ol sales numbers? For many mainstream brands, the scale on which a model’s success is measured is the last one in that list – the annual sales results. Ford’s F-150 and Toyota’s Camry are perfect examples of vehicles that are sales leaders in their respective classes, the latter selling close to half a million units in a single year! Since Chevrolet, along with the automotive press, have been touting the advantages of current-gen Malibu, emphasizing that it’s a better midsize sedan than the competition from Japan, some may be surprised to learn that our favorite bow tie-wearing midsize sedan has been outsold by the Camry by a wide margin for (at least) the last ten years in a row (numbers available after the jump)!
But things are on the up and up for the Malibu, since for the first three months of 2010, GM’s U.S. dealers delivered more than 49,000 copies of the midsize sedan. This represents a 58 percent increase over the same time period last year, resulting in the return of a third shift of nearly 1,050 jobs at GM’s Fairfax, Kansas plant. While that’s an astounding percentage increase, it should be noted that in 2009, Chevy sold a measly 161,568 Malibus in America, compared to 356,824 Toyota Camrys.
Nevertheless, the Malibu looks to be on track to move 200,000 units in 2010. Even though that’s still nowhere near the projected sales amount of the Camry (about 350,000), it’s still a hefty increase (that all Chevy and GM fans should welcome with open arms). In the mean time, Chevrolet has tons of work to do in catching up with the competition (read: Toyota).
Currently, we know that Chevy is hard at work on the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu, which should be revealed sometime in 2012. Most recently, GM announced that it will invest $136 million in its Fairfax, Kansas plant to build the next-gen ‘Bu. And just in case demand outstrips supply in that plant, The General also invested $121 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant for extra production capacity of the Malibu. Let’s hope that the 2012/13 model, along with GM’s creative marketing efforts, will close the tremendous sales gap between the ‘Bu and the Camry.
We have competitive sales charts of the Malibu vs. its most direct competition after the break! (more…)
Click to watch the ad
General Motors is at it again, this time running an ad that highlights the company’s repayment of loans to the U.S. and Canadian governments. As some of you may know by now, certain media outlets (read: Fox) have come to criticize this particular minute-long clip, saying that The General used TARP funds to pay off the debts.
While this may indeed be so, the GM Authority team is of the opinion that such elucidations are story-baiting, plain and simple. The fact of the matter is that GM’s balance sheet currently has a big fat zero next to the Liabilities to U.S. and Canadian Governments line, with the federal governments’ $50 billion in TARP funds having been converted to an equity stake.
PS: But are we the only ones who find the lack of easter eggs in this commercial a bit boring? C’mon GM, how about those in-ad spy pics?
Watch the ad in its glory after the jump.
Podcast: Download
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For April 24, 2010
The General has been served!
Future Product Guide: GMC Vehicles For 2012, 2013, 2014 Model Years 
Rumormill: All-New Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra To Resemble Cheyenne Concept 
Spied: The All-New 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 
Spied: A Better Look At The 2014 Chevy Silverado 
The 2014 C7 Corvette: What We Know 
Officially Official: 2012 Corvette Sees Much-Needed Upgrades 
Spied: Buick Enclave Gets A Redesign For The 2013 Model Year 
Alex Luft on Ad Break: Hard To Argue With Volt Facts Yes, of course ;)
But one doesn't have to pay $40,000 (or $33,500 after federal tax credit), as the...
Alex Luft on Analysts Estimate GM Europe May Cost $1 Billion To Fix And Britts have definitely heard of Opel. Problem is, Vauxhall, like Holden, is deeply engrained in ...Babersher on Ad Break: Hard To Argue With Volt Facts Obviously......
Babersher on Akerson Donates $1M To Habitat For HumanityWell, he can afford to do both....Babersher on Analysts Estimate GM Europe May Cost $1 Billion To Fix I asked the same question of Richard, why drop Vauxhall.
I think theres a bit of confusion about ...
Alex Luft on Feature Spotlight: The Buick Encore And Its Single ArmrestJim, that 9-10 seconds to 60 figure is right about average for most passenger vehicles in North Amer...Alex Luft on Ad Break: Hard To Argue With Volt Facts New technology always has a premium; just give it a few years and it will be at Cruze-like levels....
by 
by 
