Buickman, you just lost me.

 

Well it is the incompetent leadership that put the current product on the road so he is kind of right. But to say the current product is good is just plain wrong.

 

I think he's a confused man. He has been selling cars WAY TOO LONG.

He is oblivious to his own products flaws which is something that happens to salesmen. Typically this makes for a very good salesman, because you can honestly say you think your product is better then everything out there. But "The Best" salesmen know their competition and where they are strong and weak.

 

Two things blew me off to Buickman.

1) He said that Buick is in dire need of a coupe..... apparently before some other division (ie Chevy Camaro, Cadillac CTS coupe)

2) I tried to offer some thoughts on his $66B to $15B arguement he keeps throwing outthere. (The pre 9/11 and post 9/11 figures, what is Ford's increase/decrease over the same time, what is the yearly breakdown (is it getting better or worse as time goes by as he holds the position))

But to be honest, he didn't seem to have any interest in researching those numbers, or he just felt they were non-issues........ I disagree.

It's also interesting that he said it's NOT GM's products....... hasn't he been saying that Buick has been "starving for product"????

 

We can also split this hair two ways ...

GM may be building good product ... from a quality perspective ...

However, they are not building desireable product. As much as I was unhappy with our Envoy, to the point of counting down "Envoy purgatory" for the last year of the lease, we ended up buying it at lease end because there was absolutely NOTHING available that we felt was worth the money. That's not a good omen for GM considering we bought/leased 4 new GMs from '96 to '01.

 

If management changes, or reduces in size in order to get product out faster, then yes GM would be better off.
If the Malibu came out 3 years ago as a 2002 model, it would have swept up awards left and right IMO. Its a very well put together car, and with the saftey feature is has now, would have been fantastic if it came out 2001-2002 model years.
If Cobalt came out 2-3 years ago, it also would have boosted GM.
I think GM's biggest problem is it size. They have the people and product, they just get it out when its already common place in the market.
Adjustable pedals, heated leather seats, 6cd in dash stereo and climate control, not to menton the Maxx with rear DVD player and all the other neat features of both the sedan and Maxx would have just been downright amazing. And its 200hp engine would produce just as much power as the Camry and Accord, and get better gas milage.

I think thats what he is talking about.

 

He lost me at hello

Seriously though, the guy has way too much rhetoric and vision and not enough common sense. I can see why he's an award-winning salesman...

 

Buickman sees no problem other than Wagoner. Period. That is about the most incredible short-sighted view of GM's struggles I think I've ever seen. GM needs more help than a new CEO and marketing gimmick.

 

Buickman lost me for many reasons:
-He deals completely in absolutes. In his eyes, Wagoner had to go, no other questions asked or issues discussed.
-He also does not look at the big picture of sales and product combined and its affect on GM.
-He was too focused on numbers, specifically the market cap rate and market share.
-He did not want to consider the 5 year product lag that exists in the auto industry.
-He promoted himself and his sales history as though that gave him a clue about the big picture.

Him coming out saying product is not the problem destorys any credibility I still have for him.

 

Buickman is a Sith

 

Or maybe just the antiChrist.

 

http://money.cnn.com/POLLSERVER/results/18066.html

This pole seems to refute Buickman's claims.

Randy

 

Couldn't have said it better...

 

I don't see why the two problems have to be mutually-exclusive. While the root cause is indeed GM's management (that's just common sense), their somewhat lack-luster product line-up is most certainly what's put them into their current short-term mess (that's also common sense). It's not like new-car buyers decided that they personally didn't like Rick Wagoner and used that as justification to go buy a Camry.

I'm of the opinion that the vast majority of the buying public sees the product and the way it's displayed, and nothing else. Get that right, and things will be OK from a sales and marketing perspective. Get it wrong, even by just a little bit, and watch your sales drop like a rock. If GM's sales were solid and they were still losing money, then management's screwing up somewhere else and Buickman's comment would make sense. But that's not the case - management has screwed up the product line, and made plenty of errors elsewhere.

 

Besides the numerous Minivans and stationwagons... and the malibu max... there isnt really any GM vehicles I wouldnt love to drive. perhaps a buick cause thats not my style... but for what it is... smooth damn ride, nice car...

GM is making great products with fantastic reliablity now days, but they need someone to sell the cars, and let them be sellable...