Eric 98z

The clean sheet of paper solution is pretty simple (more on that latter) but the true problem is the unwieldy fat dealer network.

GM suffers from the "one of everything for everyone" disease which is directly a result of the dealers. Every dealers (regardless of brand) cries and whines for one of everything...a large SUV, a crossover, a minivan etc. So what you get is a large amount of nearly the same models each of which needs R/D costs, advertising etc which dilutes the affectiveness of the product itself. The Pontiac Torrent is a great example of this.

What needs to happen is that GM must take a strong arm to its dealer network to avoid this. One way is to kill off more brands which trims product lines and somewhat thins the dealer numbers as well. This is what they did with Olds.

A better alternative in my mind would be to condense the dealer network and the product line in one fell swoop. All brands would remain and even Olds may return in this scheme. Here are the details;
1. Dealers would go from Chevy/Caddy/whatever to GM dealers. Each GM dealer would be able to order/sell any GM product they saw fit to carry.
2. The dealer network would have to be pruned back either by GM or by the market.
3. The brands would have their product overlap removed and focus would be severely narrowed. Example, Pontiac might get but two or three models, the Soltist, the G6 and the G8 while Buick may be down to a single sedan or two. Think about the 40's and early 50's in which a car manufacturer(brands in this case) would typically one have one or two base sedans.

The dealers are the weight around GMs ankles in correcting their product.

HAZ-Matt

I almost posted something along these lines last night. I don't understand why they are content to build average cars. It seems almost as if they company has decided that they must decide how to be profitable at X market share selling the same old half-right formulas. Build the best product and people will buy it. Disregarding all the smoke and mirrors, they do not build the best product in most segments. I hate to admit it, but it is true.

Someone mentioned the SS line. Turns out most of those cars are lame. Sorry, but that is how it is. Look at the thread about the 3 new ones... Malibu, Maxx and Trailblazer. Granted the TB has some power, but what else do they have? The Malibu and Maxx are powered by motors that should be midrange in their class, and none of them come with manuals. All of them look basically like their cheaper counterparts. All of them have ugly wheels. None of them are exciting, period. Maybe that is unfair. They are "Corolla S exciting". Oh dang, old people will have heart attacks with that much excitement! (Good thing we have lame Buicks). Maybe these cars are "super" compared to the base models, but there is no sport. I will grant the Cobalt SS supercharged as the only exception to this. Maybe the Monte and Impy SS will be ok, but even then where is the manual? Old and busted 4 speed automatics are the transmissions of the day. Maybe auto only is acceptable for the Impy, but definitely not any of the other SS's.

Now do I think SS line is a good idea. Sure. But it is no where near the substitute for a line of cars that is dedicated to sport. It is being postitioned as a slightly better than the rest of the models at Chevrolet. That is it.

As to Buick, are there any people that actually are Buick fans and buy they current models? I think Darth Xed stated this exactly. There are a few people that either buy Buicks because they make the car they want to buy (not brand loyal) and those that maybe buy them because they remembered when they drove their 1955 Buick back in the day. Unlike for politicians, a car company should not be focusing on that demographic.

Good Ph.D

Lincoln and Merc are redundant. But who cross shops a Merc and an Aston Martin? Land rover only makes SUVs, so you might as well roll them and AM together. Volvo and Jag have very different personalities so I don't think that is really a problem.


I think they can do find if they kill some models as apposed to brand.

Chevy =Full Range of solid affordable cars and trucks and SUVs. The SS moniker needs to be used more sparingly.

Pontiac= Would be fine with like two to three coupes, a mid and large sedan and the little crossovers like Vibe. Plus the solstice.

Buick or Saturn leaning toward buick = A coupe, vert, a mid size sedan and one big luxo-barge.

GMC = All trucks and SUVs between Chevy and Caddilac.

Caddilac= Doing fine other than the lack of an eldorado-esq coupe.

Jackass

Forget about Jag and AM for a moment.

In a perfect world Mercury would be equivalent to Buick and Lincoln to Caddy.
But with Jag and AM topping the luxury lineup, Lincoln has to share the same market as Mercury (Entry or midlevel luxury).

Where does that leave Volvo? I see them as a midlevel luxury brand, similar to Buick. I guess that you can call them the oddball brand, similar to Saab. They make great cars but where do they fit in the whole Ford architecture.

So now Ford has three entry/midlevel luxury brands: Mercury, Lincoln and Volvo. All three compete with Lexus, Infinity, Acura, and the lower level BMW's and MB's.

Which one would you kill?

I would kill Merc. All they are is gussied up Ford's. Sure Lincoln should compete with Caddilac, but isn't that what Jag is for. Therefore, Lincoln should stay as a entry/midlevel luxury brand. I think that Volvo should stay since they have a reputation of building solid cars and they still have the image as a "foriegn brand". I don't think people associate Volvo with Ford.

I guess it depends on how you view the brands