My suggestions for GM:

(1) kill Buick, the marketing plan of targeting middle class blacks isn't working overly well and the car colors are boring. No one under 45 years old would ever buy a Buick.
(2) keep Pontiac, but add to the excitement. If this is the excitement division, offer exterior colors Chevy doesn't offer. Bright orange, yellow, lime green, dark purple, even pink on a few of the models would spice it up and let people know this is the excitement division.
-add a Corvette/XLR equivalent to the Pontiac lineup. Don't **** off Corvette owners by making it faster than the Corvette, offer the same engine that is in the XLR, with a sporty model having an LS2.
-offer a V-6 version of the GTO
-offer a retractable hardtop GTO similar to the Lexus SC, Mercedes SLK, and Mercedes SL series
-offer a Cobalt equivalent in off-the-wall colors. How can this be the excitement division without the new exciting model for the kids? Call it the Sunfire, don't give in to this BS naming things **** serial numbers.
-the Solstice better be available as a coupe. I have that car in Gran Turismo 4 and good lord that car is hot looking. I don't like the convertible version, but might actually buy a coupe version.
(3) Merge GMC and Hummer into GMH. Change the grill of current GMC SUVs and Trucks to a Hummer brand identity.
-hack some fat off of the current Hummer models. The H1 needs to be lightened, a 0 to 60 time of 18 seconds is not even safe for use outside of the neighborhood or the outback (or wherever the hell these owners drive these things offroad). The H2 needs a version that is cheaper and lighter to be more fuel efficient. It also needs to be lowered so owners can park the monster in their garage.
(4) Lower the production of the Chevy Aveo, not many people are interested in American made tiny cars right now
- kill the SSR NOW
- come out with a hybrid Malibu
- come out with another car on the same chassis as the Corvette. If the Corvette chassis is going to be one of GM's most advanced, then stop developing so many new chassis and use what you have. What is so wrong with the Camaro running on a Corvette chassis?
-take advantage of the buying public's style trends when coming out with the next Camaro. By 2007, the retro Mustang will be having lower sales and the retro effect will come to haunt it if the new Camaro is techno-savvy. Heck, by 2007, it is unlikely that cars will be getting truck-like front ends anymore also. Design the Camaro to appeal to the tastes of 2007. Look at the side profile of that Ford chrome Shelby Daytona car (forgot the name), notice how the front end is the exact opposite angle of the '93 Camaro?? Follow that, and the Camaro will be in style! Make people's blood boil and get them excited! The new Mustang has very little blood boiling effect, it looks good, but it doesn't look like it is going 60 sitting still. Put some curves in the new Camaro that will make it look exciting! If it doesn't get the testosterone flowing, it won't be a success.
- revise the selling strategy and website to let people know that GM remembers its history. If someone drives up in a '78 Camaro, the salesperson at the dealership better damn well compliment the car and not try to tell the guy that the Malibu or Cobalt would be a great replacement. Nothing pisses me off more about Chevy salespeople than ignorance and lies about the new product. (A salesperson thought my mom's 2002 35th Anni SS was turbocharged while I was there looking for a pre-owned V-6 Camaro. He then dogged the engine of the V-6 Camaro and said I should go for the Z28 because the engine was crap. I explained that the V-6 engine has an amazing amount of torque compared to anything else with a V-6 and that I wanted the styling while having a bit better gas mileage, but he disagreed. Don't have ignorant and pushy salespeople! ) Concerning the website, Chevy needs to have sections on its past models, they just don't do well enough in that area, the owner's center isn't enough.
(5) sell SAAB immediately. SAAB is not a popular brand. The SAAB market is related to the BMW market in my opinion; similar to such an extent as 1993 Camaro and 1993 Firebird or even Ferrari F355 and Lotus Esprit. If you want a more refined respectable car you can wear a suit and tie in, get a BMW ('93 Camaro/ Ferrari F355), but if you wanted to be different, and wanted something with strange styling, you'd get a SAAB ('93 Firebird/ Lotus Esprit). Now BMW is getting into the strange styling and I imagine this is hurting SAAB's sales. SAAB seems to be an enthusiast brand, with a lot of loyalty, but it isn't gaining new fans, so get rid of it.
(6) Cadillac is doing well, no changes are needed besides updating or getting rid of the Deville/Seville.
(7) Saturn being repositioned as a near luxury brand is a hard task. It is made even harder by retaining cars left over from the economy days such as the Ion. Get rid of the old baggage and recreate. Use the same old-hat chassis, but give it new body panels.
-don't push the fact that Saturn is owned by GM, just like SAAB and Hummer, the general public isn't aware that GM owns Saturn. Do you think the average Joe knows Ford owns Mazda, Aston Martin, and Jaguar? Maybe Jaguar, but it would hurt the sales of Mazdas and Aston Martins for Ford to remind people that they own them.
-even the older Saturns have a lot of cred with rich people. I go to a private university (on scholarship and financial aid naturally) that is $26,000 a year, and amongst the BMWs, Volvos, Mercedes, Acuras, and Lexus there are TONS of Saturns. I don't know why, but even Saturns have a rich people following... and I don't believe it is due to their parents not buying their kids expensive cars since the school is so expensive. There are very few Japanese made economy cars on campus.

Overall, Buick has no credibility with my generation (I'm 19), and I would never ever buy one. Not only do I not like the name, but I would never like to think of myself as an old man even if I was one. Besides the Buick GNX, I can't even name a Buick that was important honestly.

Pontiac is not a youth oriented car brand, I have never viewed it as one. The cars don't look fun, and they don't look like cars you can go out and get a job with. I can't even define a demographic for Pontiac, but honestly, I only know two people who own Pontiacs, and both of them have Grand Ams. Their cars just look like cars that are melting, I love the wheels, but the cars are ugly to certain extents. I've never even liked the standard Firebird at all. That integrated melted spoiler is awful, the GT style one that sticks up is awesome, but that flat one is a mess. I have recognized that Pontiac is somewhat popular with African Americans, so why not build off this? You'll never get black people to buy Buicks as well as you get them to buy Pontiacs. I don't mean to sound racist, but black people really seem to like the CTS, why not make one cheap enough for them to afford?

None of the brands should overall try to make cars with insane amounts of horsepower DO NOT COMPETE IN HORSEPOWER WARS. A 200 horsepower Monte Carlo will sell just as well as a 260 horsepower one. Performance cars like the Corvette, Camaro, Cobalt, and Solstice should offer high horsepower models, but money tuning crappy engines in crappy cars should be put to use making higher quality interiors. Who cares if a Pontiac Grand Am has a supercharged engine? Put a 120 horsepower engine in it and make it reliable and comfortable instead.

Try to stop having all the damn "pizza coupon" sales! American cars are regarded as inferior products because people aren't comfortable paying the full price for the cars, so they wait until they have the end of the year sales. They are just like pizza, I have never ordered a pizza unless I had a coupon. And my family has only once bought a car (we always buy American) without it being "on sale" (the 35th anni SS).

 

No offense, but that's not even worth reading. Most words I've ever seen posted at one time on here.

 

Hah, wow...thats one of the dumber things I've ever seen someone type in a public forum. So black people can only afford cheap cars. Hmm...ok. Racist? Maybe. Ignorant? Definitely. Go look up the word "stereotype."

Oh well...Im just a white dude getting ready to buy a Jeep. You're from Texas. Dont you guys all drive old Cadillacs with bull horns as a hood ornament?

 

+1

I don't know what dude was on when he wrote that but I'm quite sure I would want some minus the bugs under my skin.

WTF does the average black demographic have to do with the success of the company that is GM? Little to nothing, then you can't even make a decent statement about it?

 

Well, maybe you guys are just idiots or in fact ignorant as you have called me. The average income of a white male in 2000 was $45,900 and the average income of a black male in 2000 was $30,400. It is a fact that on average, blacks make less money per year than whites or for that matter, any other race. All statistics are based on averages, and all intelligent decisions in businesses are made based on these statistics.

Car companies target certain demographic groups by age, income, education, and even gender. The demographics for V-6 Camaros are for men and women, highschool graduates and some college, and 35+ years old. The demographics for Z28s are men 40 to 50 years old, domestic loyal, mostly college graduates. Let me remind you, these are the buyer statistics, not the driver statistics (not many 18 year olds would buy a Camaro with their own money).

Advertising gets even further into demographics, which means by age, gender, race, education, income, and even psychographics which include many things you guys would consider stereotypes or racism. Saying Buick is trying to reach a black target market is not racist. It is the truth, they have been looking at a 35+ black target market for a little over a year.

Cadillacs are in a price range that many blacks cannot afford just as the average white guy can't afford a Corvette. What is so racist about that? It is to you, that making "true to life stereotypes" is a taboo subject when it really isn't. In fact, the word "stereotype" has a negative connotation and doesn't really fit what I am saying. There is absolutely nothing intended to be negatively prejudiced in my statement "I don't mean to sound racist, but black people really seem to like the CTS, why not make one cheap enough for them to afford?". I may not have worded it the best I could have, but I didn't count on people judging what I say word by word. Would it look any better to you if I said "I think Cadillac should make a version of the CTS cheap enough that the average joe could afford to buy. I have noticed that a lot of black people with average jobs really like the CTS."?

 

I bet there are a lot of people who are buying Cadillac's now that were not 10 years ago. If I was going to make a brand compete with Toyota, it would be Chevy. The biggest problem even now, is people veiw Chevy's a class below Toyota in quality and value. Of course 10 years ago, no one mentioned Caddy and BMW in the same sentence

 

Wow, this thread has covered a LOT of ground. Some cryptic tips floating around it, racial politics, etc.

 

You won't get an argument from me there, Branden

 

 

but that is what is so amazing about toyota. lexus used to be a subpar luxury car, now its prefered by many. the toyota brand is up coming, with the camry becoming known as a "nicer car to own." by many middleclass people's terms, if they own a camry, then they made it. and scion is just as good. my mom work for toyota and brought me some of the first pics of the cars. i just said that they were horrible looking and no one would ever buy them...ever! she just said that they did tons of research and were convinced that that was what the consumers wanted. well, she was right because scions don't exactly sell poorly. they even market them really well. GM has commercials with a 20 year old driving a cavelier or something, scion is cleverly doing car giveaways and certain events. they aren't targetting "kids" in general they are targeting specific groups.
i saw a give-away for some DJ contest. and things of that sort.
plus toyota is dipping into everything now. i was talking to my mom earlier about some of their new investments and they are definitely headed to the top. But the thing is that Lutz knows this, and even mentioned it. lets hope he does something about it.

 

So how is GM going to fill all of the extra capacity at the Wilmington, DE plant? A Kappa based chassis like the Torrana (Beta if you want). I believe this is the basis for the "other sports bike".

I am glad the Zeta is canned (in NA). It isn't needed with Kappa (and Kappa like chassis, Torrana) Sigma, the forthcoming Sigma II, Y Chassis. Caddy gets the updated Sigma II chassis. Buick, Chevy and Pontiac can use the current Sigma with some metal changes to save cost. Kappa can be used for products like the roadsters and the Camaro (in higher volume and in a 2+2 version) and other low production cars like a Nomad. Why would Zeta be needed.

Oh Yeah, Does Holden really call their new chassis "Zeta?" Isn't it "VE?"

 

Yes, it is VE to the Austrailan market.