@gcmeninsr Whoa! Hold on a sec.
“I truly believe that unless Pontiac is revived – GM will soon see an erosion in sales to both domestic and foreign competition.”
Really? Is demand for performance vehicles increasing? I hope it is, but that’s not the case — unfortunately. I would give many things for this to swing the other way.
“Buick and Cadillac are seeking the same market share”
They’re not. Buick is targeting a “soft luxury” customer who doesn’t care about performance and the overall engaged driving experience. Cadillac is the opposite. With Buick and Cadillac, GM has the product to own (dominate!) the luxury segment and beat Lexus and BMW at their own game (respectively).
“GMC is the same as Chevy – yet the “rebadging” syndrome is not seen as problematic in this instance. Why not??”
It is seen as problematic. But there are a couple of things of note here:
1. GMC is more profitable (reportedly — as I would dispute this).
2. The rebadging will cease starting with the next-generation of full-sized trucks and SUVs and become better platform sharing. See here:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2010/03/rumormill-all-new-chevy-silveradogmc-sierra-to-resemble-cheyenne-concept/
“Chevy – however robust its sales – is seen as a poor man’s car. It will never shake that image.”
To say that there a place for such a vehicle/brand would be an understatement. It’s called a mainstream product to the tune of Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, and others. What’s wrong with that? Positioning is positioning.
“Pontiac has an established genetic following – my guess is at least 25 different clubs representing thousands just itching to by a new Pontiac.
I was at a cocktail party on Friday and neighbors (all DEMS) were discussing their new car interests – whereupon they excitedly talked up the new Nissan GT-R, the Honda CR-Z, BMW X-6 and the Volvo X-60, et. al.. Not a single domestic brand entered the conversation.”
It would seem that most of the vehicles mentioned in the conversation are of the luxury type (except for the CR-V). Perhaps the fact that Cadillac is just now getting to where it needs/needed to be in building performance luxury cars to challenge the world’s best (and beat them) has to do with this… Ironically, GM outsells all of the makes and models mentioned in the conversation.
“Pontiac’s new charter is there for the taking – reintroduce the line to compete head to head with all these foreign hotties. With G8 they proved they could do it. Indeed if GM can’t take this initiative and MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL – how are they going to remain viable ?”
With what foreign hotties? Performance luxury (BMW) is Cadillac’s turf. Volvo doesn’t need competing with — it has a hard enough time selling more than 5,000 cars a month and making a profit.
What foreign hotties would a newly-reborn Pontiac compete with? Is this something that’s not attainable via a couple of “passion sub-brand” Chevys?
“Romney was right – the Government should have stayed out of it. Foreclosure would have allowed restructuring – new a labor relationship – sans unions – like the aforementioned foreign badges – and far reduced operating costs. Obama is foisting his ideology on the auto industry – the irony is that none of his limousine liberal lock-step followers will buy a Government Motors car !!”
Puhlease. Let’s not even get politics involved in this, because it’s entirely irrelevant and pointless. Nobody is foisting anything on anyone — the “government” has no hand in running any automaker, including GM and/or Chrysler.
And for the record, Obama prefers a Shelby GT500 and a Camaro ZL1. So does Biden:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/09/vice-president-joe-biden-loves-him-some-cadillac-cts-v/
“Somehow even marginal brands like Suzuki, Volvo, Scion and KIA have been able to win in the automotive battleground – so can GM – with Pontiac.”
How is Suzuki or Scion winning? How about Volvo? Suzuki and Volvo haven’t been profitable for the last 3-4 years… Scion is an experiment that will probably not be around in 5-10 years.
If anything or anyone is winning, it’s Ford and GM. Both are making the best products on the market (yes, on the market) and both are making money hand over fist.
