When Buick unveiled its all-new GL8 luxury people mover for the Chinese market, the brand also developed a very shrewd positioning strategy. Buick decided to divvy up the MPV segment into two distinct slices — luxury and upper-medium — and thus will not discontinue the last-generation GL8 (introduced in 2005),
While the all-new GL8 would compete in the luxury MPV space, the last-generation GL8 would serve the upper-medium MPV segment. To keep the last-gen people-hauler at least somewhat modern, Buick thought it necessary to throw a few upgrades in its general direction — including a new engine in the form of the 2.4 liter ECOTEC (LAF) and a six-speed automatic transmission.
According to Buick, “This “dual-vehicle strategy” will enable Shanghai GM to more fully address the MPV market, from the upper-medium to luxury segments.” We agree — two vehicles are usually more adept at taking on the competition than any one model is capable of doing by its lonesome. The all-new GL8 should be coming to dealer showrooms across China sometime in January of 2011, while the revised (old) GL8 should have been available since December 2010.
What do you think of this strategy? Let us know in the comments below!
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Comments
Keep the minivan in china. Americans dont need to see an unexciting new GM product.
So are the Traverse and Equinox “exciting”? Not by a long shot. How about the Orlando? Not that exciting either… but that’s all relative! If you’re in the market for a minivan, then the Sienna, Odyssey, Town & Country, and Quest ARE exciting to you.
The best approach — in my humble opinion — is to do a market analysis. Can a minivan be brought to market and sold at a profit? What’s the break-even? What technology, platform, and engines can GM use to bring it?
The Sienna — for example — sold over 8,000 units in the month of November and over 9,000 in the month of October. Heck, even Ford — which has said a few years ago that it won’t make a minivan — has the Flex. So while a van may not be as exhilarating to some of us, it is for those families that are looking for that kind of a vehicle.
Whether a minivan should be brought to the States under the Buick nameplate, however, is a totally different topic. I’d rather see a Chevy minivan — since up-market brands (like Buick, Caddy, Mercedes, Audi) lose their sex appeal by making these types of vehicles.
To consumers in america the equinox and Traverse are more exciting to own than any minivan.
Minivans are an old image that in my opinion would be better served by chrysler, Toyota and Honda.
Simply put….minivans are not seen by many americans as “cool” and as ridiculous as it sounds….CUV’s are seen as cooler by americans..and thats why the CUV market segment which basically serves the same purpose as a minivan (in reality) is growing where minivan segment is stagnant or declining in volume..
Even soccor moms what to be seen in “cool” vehicles and minivans are not it..
GM really does not need the stigma of being a manufacturer of minivans..
It needs to be seen as a cool new company rising out of the ashes..
Of course we’re just shooting the breeze….and this is just my opinion..
Right – I agree that minivans aren’t as sexy as crossovers… but Toyota, Honda, and — to a certain extent — Nissan — were all able to make their minivan offerings more appealing and more “cool & hip.”
So I think it’s unwise for GM to forgo 8,000-10,000 monthly sales and not offer anything to those looking for a minivan. What’s more, if they don’t have a competing van (or even any kind of model in a segment) — then they may be giving up valuable showroom visits, which could turn into a second vehicle purchase — the van for one parent and a Malibu/Tahoe/Camaro/Cruze/something else for another parent… or relative. Since GM doesn’t have a van in its lineup, van shoppers are probably not even visiting its dealers and are consequently not aware of Chevy’s awesome products.
China’s Buick can do no wrong at this point. In it’s costumers eyes it’s the best thing on wheels. So, they can get away with having 2 of the same. It will probably just bring more sales to them.
The same can’t be said about USA’s Buick. They are having hard time changing the perception of the brand. A minivan would be the last thing they need. Should GM offer a better minivan? yes… as a Chevy… where it is ok to have it and make it so it’s more desirable than the other offerings from Toyota, Honda and Dodge.
Actually I think the customer is more concerned about safety. We all know of Buick’s wonderful bells and whistles in an incredibly safe vehicle. This is the standard the customer has come to expect from the brand. The recent release of bad safety crash test PR about most minivans, including Town & Country and Grand Caravan has customer safety awareness on the increase. With Quest among the worst it was not limited to North American. Honda and Toyota got the best score I beleive. But in my world we want to buy domestic. As the dad of 3 youngsters, as much as I love our Yukon XL, I could see American’s coming to a Buick mini van that has the highest safety scores in the market along with the best features, lower purchase price and a bit better fuel ecomomy that the big SUV’s.