Newly appointed product head of General Motors, Mark Reuss, would be the first to tell you that the company put infotainment on a pedestal over the past four of five years, and not enough focus on the engineering, dynamics, safety and other major components of its vehicles as they could have.
“we went through an era here where there were certain people who thought that if we just did the coolest telematics and driver infotainment thing that we would win [in the market],” Reuss mentioned in a Car Advice report. Things like Cadillac CUE, Chevrolet MyLink, Buick/GMC Intellilink and the recently announced 4G LTE connectivity feature would all fall under this category.
More to the point: “If someone says ‘I’m buying it because it’s got the coolest screen in the industry’, they might buy that car for that, but if they buy that car and they live with that car for two years and it drives terribly or they get into an accident and someone gets hurt because it crashes terribly, that puts at risk the loyalty of that customer coming back.”
Who was to blame for all of this? Reuss wouldn’t name names, but noted that the problem stemmed from personnel being.
“We had … administrators in product development instead of executive chief engineers that were trained engineers who go after ‘winning’ with the car [itself], instead of an administrator who may or may not have been an engineer who looked at acceptable trade-offs in terms of the matrix that flat-out didn’t work.”
Though there is a selling point with the technology shtick, hopefully with everyone’s favorite car guy at the helm, we’ll see a bit more balance to the Force.
Comments
I for one disagree with this statement and think not even attention was being placed on infotainment systems…..I could see if the latter was bad such as bad driving dynamics and safety, but mostly if not all of GM’s models that have come out in the past years have scored high in safety….offering more top picks and 5 star rated cars then both ford and toyota combined….and in driving dynamics department…uh, ATS ? CTS ? C7 ? camaro ZL/1 ? They dont drive good ? and i am sure future V-series models will be spectacular, but on to my original saying…..CUE I think didnt have enough attention was put into programing and processing for such a system…. and in a time of cadillac rising, releasing a new system that was slow and unresponsive was holding cadillac back in EVERY single review I have read…..it is getting better with every update and I hope more R&D goes into infotainment as the trend will grow for more technology to be intertwined in cars.. ..
CUE was a result of too much engineering?
They clearly had Mech. E’s trying to write code if that was the case. GM and other auto manufacturers need an iOS-like smooth experience if they expect to win over customers. If they continue to put out these systems that always seem like they are a step behind you whenever someone touches a button, then customers will be lost – not gained.
They need to step up their game in infotainment, not pull back….especially if they want early to mid 20’s people to start buying cars.
I have to say that in the ever crucial truck wars, GM has not delivered a hardcore enough off road truck. I am not convinced that GM builds even nearly close to Toyota in terms of off road toughness, suspension travel, axle strength. Until this happens, I will not buy a new GM vehicle. Comes from a GM fan/critic.
The truth is there needs to be a good balance of both here.
Your generation groups all have different wants and needs. Gen Y loves the tech aspect and placed great value here while boomers love the engineering aspect.
The real key to the future in all groups will be value and affordability. The real issue is each year the prices go up and the buying power goes down. Many CTS owners will be driving a ATS as they have had to down size.
I just read as survey study on this break down between the groups and it is amazing. While the younger people have been seen as hating cars the survey showed they love them but just can not afford them. They default to living close to work and public transportation if they live in a metro area as they can just not afford the new car and all the other things like fuel and insurance that goes with it. Even worse if they have to pay to park. With half the country living in cities this is a real dilemma for the future.
I love the Chevrolet MyLink in my Malibu! GM definitely needs to work on those small-overlap crash test ratings. .
I’d understand if GM’s infotainment systems were held as some of the best, and they are to a degree, but with all the negativity towards the CUE system, Intellilink and the newest My link system, I fail to see how they put too much attention on infotainment. This has become a crucial aspect of overall vehicle marketing and I don’t GM needs to let up on the focus of infotainment.
I have an iPhone, an iPad and a Mac. CUE is the reason I did not buy an ATS.
The only thing wrong with the Cue is the touch system of it. Add some buttons and alternative controls and it will change many minds.
While some of these modern things are futuristic there are some things that buttons and knobs still interphase better with the driver.