Buick’s sales are eight up percent this year, while GMC sales are up 10 percent. As you can imagine, that makes Vice President of Buick-GMC Sales, Service and Marketing, Duncan Aldred, very happy. He recently sat down with Autoline This Week for a lengthy interview where he discussed his two brands’ success so far this year, the future of Buick-GMC marketing and disclosed some details on future product plans.
Aldred said he expects the sales momentum of Buick-GMC to continue through to year’s end, rounding off a “solid year with good growth on both brands,” which will set both brands up for more success in 2015. Aldred also said GMC sales have been bolstered by lower oil prices as of late, providing further growth for the full-size Sierra pickup.
Autoline also inquired about the future of GMC in regards to growth. Aldred said GMC will sell around 500,000 units in the U.S. this year, making it a valuable asset to GM. Because of this, GM will invest more heavily into the brand, launching a new advertising campaign next year which “tell the GMC story,” Aldred says and “position it very much as a premium brand.”
Buick was also a hot topic of discussion throughout the 26-minute interview. Aldred believes Buick’s model lineup, which consists of 5 vehicles, is already big enough. He doesn’t want to get to a point where the lineup is so large it “cannibalizes itself, and everyone gets too confused.” A large lineup can also mean advertising dollars “just get spent in ways that aren’t efficient.” Aldred is happy with 5 models in the lineup and says a rapid expansion for Buick is not right. Instead, he’d rather have a smaller, more refined group of products, allowing them to focus more on each individual product.
Aldred drops too much information to cover it all, so check out his 26-minute interview below. There’s talk on the success of the Buick Encore, taking GMC outside of the North American market, Buick’s stronger alignment with Opel and more.
Comments
The GMC Canyon and Acadia should be exported to Australia and sold under Holden in 2018 and beyond.
A strong business plan , the only GM division to win a place in the top ten manufacturers , for customer satisfaction , they were sixth . Refined yearly , a limited selection of models , to include in 2015 the new middie sized Envision . The hottest market segment trending now is the CUV/SUV type . In it , Buick will have three superbly placed models , the small but best selling Encore , the new Envision , and the large Enclave . Buick is setting the benchmark for the entire company and though Duncan didn’t talk much about China , it is the best selling GM brand there …… congratulations !!
We should see a GMC Wrangler fighter at some point. Keep an eye open for it.
The key to the GM version is they will not have to be a slave to the styling and can take liberties the Wrangler is stuck with.
Great for both brands! I think Buick in particular will keep trending upward. The Encore’s segment should keep growing and the Envision should be competitive in a big segment. The next gen Verano and other variants of that car from Opel should only help too.
When will Buick ever get a true flagship sedan above the Lacrosse.