I am not sure about that.

If say Oprah was giving something away you use, but have absolutly no more interest in than that, think you would remember?

Say she was giving away......Microwaves, or LCD TV's...Things people have, but really have no enthusiasim about. Now do you think that 3-5 days later your would remember she gave away a Kenmore 8000M Microwave instead of a GE 300D?


All I am saying is most women do not know much about cars at all, and buy them based on things like "It is Cute", "Will I be able to get to my purse easy", and "Is there a good place to put my cell phone". Also, as of late I have noticed AWD is a big must for most women. I seriously doubt that marketing a smallish "sporty" sedan to Oprah's largly middle aged, family minded, mother audience will translate to many sales. These are the people GM relies on to buy SUV's.

They say Oprah's audience is getting younger...but I don't buy it..because the girl who mentioned it was a stay at home mom, and the teacher asked if anyone else had saw it (many 20-30 year olds in the class), and no one had...they had all heard about it in the news. They were also surpised when I told them Pontiac, and not Oprah padied for the cars.

If anything associating it with Oprah will turn some people off, such as young to middle aged males who aren't enthusiasts. For example, I know nothing about motorcycles, but if you tied Oprahs name to one you were trying to sell me,it would loose its coolness factor VERY quick. Kind of like when Chrysler used Celine Dion to market the Crossfire. That sucked the coolness right out and instantly made it a chick car.

Not that anything is wrong with a chick car, but if GM wants to retain the current GA buyer base, it needs to be careful. I see alot of guys riding around in Grand Am's not because they are enthusiasts, but because they look cool, are affordable, and look much faster than they are. No guy who cares about image wants a car that says "Oprah likes it".

Am I saying the idea was a bad one, no...but I think GM would have had much more success using Oprah to promote say the Equinox..than the G6.

 

I hate cars named with **** Serial numbers, it is so lame. G35, M3, 325i, 645ci, F355, 512M, 348tb, RX-8, 350z, etc. They need some imagination, only several cars with names like that even stand out in most people's minds. I.E. I've only met a few people who didn't know what an RX-7 was, but I had no idea what a G35 was until this year.

I'm glad Chevy uses real names and then uses the serial # crap to distinguish between the package given to that model. On the other hand, Chevy SS and Ford GT are at the top of my list for worst car names ever, some idiots working at Ford and GM must have decided it wouldn't be confusing at all to use the suffix of Impala and Camaro SS to name a car and Mustang GT to name a car.

My suggestion:
Chevy SS= Chevy SStretched RX-8
Ford GT= Ford GT40LE

 

I see what you are saying, but I think you are going to the extreme here.

Women are more practical than men. They are the ones moved by fuel economy, crash tests, and utility, not such dainty irrelevence as access to a purse or placement of a cell phone. The whopping majority of SUV sales are either by women, or heavily influenced by women. Women also are dominant buyers of small 4 door sedans. G6 is a small 4 door sedan.

Then consider Oprah's TV audence. She comes on TV during normal working hours. This means that the people watching her show tend to be home makers to a large degree (Quite possibly with a husband who was talked into an SUV).

Things dealing with Oprah will turn you off, and I'm not intrested in talk shows, including her's, but there are millions of people whose taste in TV shows is worse than ours. Enough so that Oprah is rich enough to buy a small country. That means she has influence over a large swath of the population.

GM getting a whole show and a major league publicity stunt that ended up in every paper in the US, every news show in the US, and unmeasureable buzz for a mere 7 million dollars is nothing short of genius.

There is such a thing as over-analyzing something. Young middle aged males don't buy something like a G6 sedan or a Grand Am sedan (every single Grand Am owner I know is either female or married), unless they have a need to. Besides, with 51% of all car buyers today being women, it would be product suicide to not aggressively pursue that group.

A G6 GXP coupe with 250 horsepower is going to attract a totally different group of people than the sedan the way the '96 Caprice & Impala SS attracted different people. You can't look at every car from a muscle car mindset.

As for that ditzy woman in your class, considering that even my mom knows what a Chrysler 300 is, and the fact the 300 has been out for over half a year now, she simply either wasn't paying attention or has low listening comprehension skills if she actually did watch the show or basement level reading skills since all news reports clearly stated what the car was.

Do a whole 1 hour Oprah show on a Kenmore refrigerator, and even low IQ viewers would remember the name. We are talking something a bit more than refrigerators here.

 

This I disagree with, I see plenty of guys my age driving Grand Am sedans around. With the whole ricer craze, the 4 door has lost it's stigma of being uncool to a degree.

I had reservations about buying the Grand Prix because it was a four door, but to be honest I am glad I did. Everyone still tells me how awesome it looks and such, and I have had a bunch of people ask me if it is a GTO (again proving how much people really pay attention to cars).

 

Uh... what's the difference?

 

I've been driving our 2004 GTP for almost a year now... not one person has asked me if it was a GTO. C'mon.

 

That's because the 2004 model looks nothing like the GTO, but the older ones do. Let's just hope he has one of the older versions for the sake of my comment .

 

A black GTP with chrome grills looks more GTOish. I have no reason to lie about something like that anyway, since I have spent a year defending the GTO....


But wait Darth Xed trolling my posts...imagine that!

 

I wouldn't exactly call that trolling. Jeez, the cars don't look that much alike, do they? One has two doors, the other has four...

 

How exactly is this "trolling", Brandon???

Really, you need to put your ego in your pocket, because it becomes glaringly obvious when you make up things and state them as fact to try to get your point across and defend or talk up what you say own.

I would make a significant bet that no one has ever asked you if your 2004 Grand Prix is a GTO, yet you feel the need to say it so you can back up your early comments in this thread.

 

Trolling is everytime I post, you have a need to post some BS that is the exact opposite of what I am saying. I could say man "The C6 is a fast car!", and you would come and post "No it's not!". I can not remember you posting anything that agrees with me going back years, and on a lot of topics. And instead of politely making your point you try and make me look like liar or make out like some ego maniac. I have no reason to lie about something like this since I have spent plenty of time arguing how they do not look alike and defending the GTO, but it has happened. Pontiac used a black car in all thier advertising, not a green one. But wait, you were in the car, and you know all, so I must be wrong. You wanna talk egos, you need to put your's in the bag. I asked you a while back if you had a problem to PM me about it and not continue this little hard on you have for me in public, but your refuse. I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with me, but I am not gonna let someone talk down to me and make out like I am liar.

 

How about you guys leave each other alone from now on?

Stay out of each other's threads, and don't reply to each other any more.

If you want to continue, that's fine. Just don't do it here.

 

You should sell that idea to all the European car makers Hurry though, BMW might already be a step ahead of you with RFID tags

 

Its really a mistake that someone at GM has decided to trash the company's heritage. The Grand Am and Grand Prix names are successful, well known names. MOST companies covet continuing a brand name like this. The focus should be on improving those vehicles which need it, not on renaming your entire car lineup. Will a Buick owner who is used to Park Ave or Century and is resistant to change accept a Lucerne?

Too many manufacturers are using the alpha-numeric names. Soon it will be difficult for less informed consumers to realize who makes what.

Possum, not everyone in marketing is a geek.

 

HaHa. On the 5 times I've taken my 04 Grand Prix GTP to the dragstrip this year, I've had 2-3 people ask me each time if it was the new GTO. Now remember, these are usually car people at the races and they know so little about the new Pontiacs that they don't know the difference. I've had to point out to these people that the GTO does not have 4-doors, does not have front-whel drive , does not have a supercharged V6, etc. Never underestimate the stupidity of the car buying public.