Buyers Loyal To Brands, Or Loyal To GM?
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Charleston, WV
Buyers Loyal To Brands, Or Loyal To GM?
With GM's market share currently hovering around the subsistence level, the company might correctly be concerned about the potential for backsliding as four brands are eliminated and it proceeds with plans to part with a quarter of its 6,200-plus U.S. dealers by 2012.
Although GM undoubtedly was "over-dealered" and has made credible arguments to justify the scope of its dealer-network rationalization, many analysts wonder whether the 2 to 3 percent of market share contributed by the brands GM is shedding will remain with GM.
Data from Edmunds.com show many buyers of the discontinued brands may indeed elect to stay with GM - with most of the buyers likely to move to Chevrolet.
Cross-shopping data indicate that except for Saab, buyers for each of GM's discontinued brands predominately cross-shopped Chevrolet vehicles as their first-choice alternative.
OCTOBER CROSS-SHOPPING
For the Hummer and Pontiac brands, Ford was the next most cross-shopped brand after Chevy; for Saturn, the second-most cross-shopped brand was Toyota. Saab cross-shoppers, not surprisingly, seem interested only in import-brand options.
So it appears the burden of retaining potentially disenfranchised customers falls squarely on Chevy's fenders.
"Chevrolet needs to be the General Motors Co.," Dewar recently told AutoObserver in an interview. With buyers from three of GM's discontinued brands looking to Chevy to fill the gap while GM itself hopes to retain every scrap of crucial market share, it seems Dewar couldn't be righter. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor
Although GM undoubtedly was "over-dealered" and has made credible arguments to justify the scope of its dealer-network rationalization, many analysts wonder whether the 2 to 3 percent of market share contributed by the brands GM is shedding will remain with GM.
Data from Edmunds.com show many buyers of the discontinued brands may indeed elect to stay with GM - with most of the buyers likely to move to Chevrolet.
Cross-shopping data indicate that except for Saab, buyers for each of GM's discontinued brands predominately cross-shopped Chevrolet vehicles as their first-choice alternative.
OCTOBER CROSS-SHOPPING
For the Hummer and Pontiac brands, Ford was the next most cross-shopped brand after Chevy; for Saturn, the second-most cross-shopped brand was Toyota. Saab cross-shoppers, not surprisingly, seem interested only in import-brand options.
So it appears the burden of retaining potentially disenfranchised customers falls squarely on Chevy's fenders.
"Chevrolet needs to be the General Motors Co.," Dewar recently told AutoObserver in an interview. With buyers from three of GM's discontinued brands looking to Chevy to fill the gap while GM itself hopes to retain every scrap of crucial market share, it seems Dewar couldn't be righter. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor
More at the link...market share numbers for the year by brand
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 940
From: Southern Indiana
I don't think loyalty to brands is nearly as strong as it used to be. I think more likely they are looking at other GM brands because the vehicles are so similar to what they already had (sometimes almost identical).
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,897
From: Greenville, SC
According to last months sales, only 5% of GM vehicles sold were a combined total of Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab. According to the article, that's 1.8% of last months market share, even if they only keep 30% of those buyers, they're still "wooing" buyers with great products like the Malibu, Silverado, Equinox, and Traverse. If these trends continue, GM can maintain/gain market share. All this, of course, is just my opinion 
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Joined: Sep 1998
Posts: 4,320
From: Memphis
Just to confirm... this is specifically asking people what brand would they consider next if the brand they ended up buying disappeared?
That's the correct way to ask this question IMO.
The wrong way would be to say what brand DID you cross shop the most with when buying your vehicle. That would be the wrong question because people might leave out the Chevrolet Malibu if they want the Saturn Aura since they're basically the same vehicle and they already know they want the Aura. I know that was the case with me. I'd have listed the second runner up in my cross-shopping experience as the Honda or Hyundai, and yet if Saturn disappeared I'd be cross-shopping the Malibu with Honda or Hyundai instead.
That's the correct way to ask this question IMO.
The wrong way would be to say what brand DID you cross shop the most with when buying your vehicle. That would be the wrong question because people might leave out the Chevrolet Malibu if they want the Saturn Aura since they're basically the same vehicle and they already know they want the Aura. I know that was the case with me. I'd have listed the second runner up in my cross-shopping experience as the Honda or Hyundai, and yet if Saturn disappeared I'd be cross-shopping the Malibu with Honda or Hyundai instead.
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 766
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Hmmm, speaking personally, I'd say that I wouldn't have an issue with owing a car from any GM brand, so I guess that makes me GM loyal. I don't usually cross-shop any particular model from one GM brand against another from another GM brand. I usually prefer specific cars for a variety of reasons and therefore don't look elsewhere. I've had three Pontiacs, three Chevs and an Olds and a Buick branded car. I suppose I could be classified as a Pontiac guy since the last three cars in a row were Pontiacs, but I chose the Pontiac each time because the comparable Chev just didn't resonate with me and the Pontiac did.
Normally, Chevrolet would get my attention first; the cars I've torn up the roads with the most, were Chevs. I had them before I hit the age of 25 - I've since mellowed somewhat. In that regard, it's the Chevs that were most memorable and they were all no newer than the 89 model year. There was a pretty lengthy time since for me where Chevys in general were just a little too bland and ho-hum for me. Now that some style is starting to show up again, we'll see.
Normally, Chevrolet would get my attention first; the cars I've torn up the roads with the most, were Chevs. I had them before I hit the age of 25 - I've since mellowed somewhat. In that regard, it's the Chevs that were most memorable and they were all no newer than the 89 model year. There was a pretty lengthy time since for me where Chevys in general were just a little too bland and ho-hum for me. Now that some style is starting to show up again, we'll see.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 279
I think in general most buyers have no loyalty to GM as a company. Over the years GM has pitted division against division so that people became blindly loyal without thinking of them as the same company. Which is why killing Olds didnt work for them.
Their are too many people that are "one brand only" that will never cross shop to another GM brand..and buy a Ford or Toyota..import.. instead. Pretty much true Saturn buyers were alienated when they moved Saturn up market. They are gone. Pontiac buyers...some will stay, im sure with the product that they gave pontiac over the last few years...most have already moved on.
Think of how many GMC buyers who would refuse to buy a Chevy truck.. Its crazy how much competition exists within the company.
Their are too many people that are "one brand only" that will never cross shop to another GM brand..and buy a Ford or Toyota..import.. instead. Pretty much true Saturn buyers were alienated when they moved Saturn up market. They are gone. Pontiac buyers...some will stay, im sure with the product that they gave pontiac over the last few years...most have already moved on.
Think of how many GMC buyers who would refuse to buy a Chevy truck.. Its crazy how much competition exists within the company.
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Joined: Jan 2009
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No car company, be it GM, Ford or BMW has ever done anything for me. Why would I have any loyalty to any of them? 
If they make a good product for the right price and in the segment that I'm looking for, then I'll spend MY MONEY on it.
If they make a good product for the right price and in the segment that I'm looking for, then I'll spend MY MONEY on it.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,712
From: Ontario
For as long as I've been around, GM brands were more or less interchangeable. You might like the styling of one brand more than another, or perhaps the options or engines that a specific brand chose to include from the greater GM parts bin. But since none of the divisions have really done their own engineering for about 3+ decades (except for a few divisional exclusives), you were always buying a "GM" vehicle, slightly tweaked to meet the marketing needs of a particular division. So for me, I'm loyal to GM first, and I'll buy whatever division puts the pieces together in a way that currently meets my needs.
I think for the most part the people that have loyalty to one division do so because they've been that way since the time the divisions were really independent, or they just don't know that all GM cars are pretty much the same under the skin.
Having said that, Pontiac has met my needs more than any other division, and I've bought more Pontiacs than any other brand (I've owned cars from all divisions except GMC though). I just hope some other division can continue to pick up where Pontiac left off.
I think for the most part the people that have loyalty to one division do so because they've been that way since the time the divisions were really independent, or they just don't know that all GM cars are pretty much the same under the skin.
Having said that, Pontiac has met my needs more than any other division, and I've bought more Pontiacs than any other brand (I've owned cars from all divisions except GMC though). I just hope some other division can continue to pick up where Pontiac left off.
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Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 2,947
From: Springfield,OH. U.S.A.
I used to be, as many UAW employees, fiercely loyal to our domestic brands. Especially before all these backwards buisness models became the "Norm"...
Now, as even GM admits, they are NOT American companies...and the UAW parking lots are filling up with all sorts of imports.
They brought it on themselves...so, even I, from now on, will buy whatever is the best value and investment for me, regardless who makes it.
Now, as even GM admits, they are NOT American companies...and the UAW parking lots are filling up with all sorts of imports.
They brought it on themselves...so, even I, from now on, will buy whatever is the best value and investment for me, regardless who makes it.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,712
From: Ontario
Oddly enough, if I do go outside of GM, I could never see myself buying a Ford or Chrysler no matter what kind of cars they offered. Maybe it's all those years of thinking of them as the 'enemy' and it's just too ingrained. So if my next car isn't a GM, it will almost certainly be an import.