Is This Why GM's Troubled Brands Are Doomed?

[rbattelle]

In the October 24 issue of Automotive News there's a short article about Buick dropping the Aerosmith song from their ad campaign in favor of a new slogan: "Beyond Precision".



In the article they quote a Mr. John Pitre, general manager of Motor City Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Bakersfield, CA, as saying that Buick wants to use the new ad campaign to position itself "just below Lexus but head to head with Acura".



Did I read that right? Buick actually wants to be "tied for number 2"!? What ever happened to "doing your best", "shooting for number 1", "win or go home"? How do employees rally behind "let's get out there and tie for number 2!". It's like praying you walk at every at bat; you'll never hit a home run with that attitude.



Later in the article a Buick Sales manager is quoted as saying "The reason they're doing this [shooting for number 2] is to show that Buick is going one step further and giving (buyers) a little more than what they're asking for". So apparently Buick buyers don't want to own the #1 car in terms of quality, but would prefer to own the #2 car. Did market research really indicate this?



Meanwhile you've got the Asian manufacturers all shooting for the moon. Hyundai has said it wants to match Toyota. Toyota has its sights set on being #1 in the entire world. Nissan is making a bid to chase Toyota. Every last one of them has publicly stated a desire to be #1. None of them, to my knowledge, has said "we'd like to be #2, thanks".



If this attitude does permeate the ranks at GM, does it doom the "troubled" brands - Pontiac, Buick, and GMC? Or have I misread these quotes?



-Ryan

 

[Alan Reagan]

It's the "just good enough to get by" business strategy. With GM seeking to be the number 1 seller of cars to China (specifically Buick), that's probably where this strategy may pay off.

 

[nickleinonen]

Buick actually wants to be "tied for number 2"

well, it would be #1 with something that is in it's class... the lexus i think is more in the class as the caddy, and gm doesn't want 2 of its own vehicles competing against each other if it doesn't need to. .

 

[tugboatphil]

The last company that went this way on an ad campaign was Avis Car Rentals. Remember the "We're Number 2 Because we Try Harder" ads. I never did get that. Hertz has a future murderer running through airports. I guess their attitude was, "we'll kill our competition. "



I believe that 30 years later, Avis is still number 2... or 3... or 4... ?

 

[RustyJC]

In the article they quote a Mr. John Pitre, general manager of Motor City Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Bakersfield, CA, as saying that Buick wants to use the new ad campaign to position itself "just below Lexus but head to head with Acura".

I drive an Acura 3. 2TL-S, and Buick has as much in common with my Acura as Harley-Davidson does with my BMW K1200GT motorcycle. They are 180 degrees apart in engineering philosophy, design, etc. I don't know of many (if any) Acura owners who would even look at a Buick before buying their next car.



Rusty

 

[biggieou]

I think some of you guys are overanalyzing what Buick is saying here. They want to set themselves up in the Acura market. Just like a Ford Focus is in the Cavalier market, Ram 1500 is in the F150 market etc.

 

[RustyJC]

I think some of you guys are overanalyzing what Buick is saying here. They want to set themselves up in the Acura market. Just like a Ford Focus is in the Cavalier market, Ram 1500 is in the F150 market etc.

So, tell me what I'm missing. A Focus is directly comparable to a Cavalier, as is a Ram 1500 to an F150. If you've ever driven an Acura, there's very little comparable between an Acura RL (let's say) and a Buick Park Avenue. Acura is very technology driven - Buick is a rolling living room.



Rusty

 

[biggieou]

So, tell me what I'm missing. A Focus is directly comparable to a Cavalier, as is a Ram 1500 to an F150. If you've ever driven an Acura, there's very little comparable between an Acura RL (let's say) and a Buick Park Avenue. Acura is very technology driven - Buick is a rolling living room. Rusty

Thats exactly what Buick is trying to change. That is the whole point of them coming out saying they want to align themselves with Acura. As we know Acura's are higher technology and precision engineered, hence Buick saying they want to go Beyond Precision.

 

[RustyJC]

Ummm... okay. Time will tell, I suppose.



Rusty

 

[Hohn]

American auto makers have a huge problem on their hands. They have no sense of themselves.



They are trying SO HARD to give the public what it wants. But it all depends on WHICH PART of the public you are marketing to. Ranchers have different needs that urbanites and suburbanites do.



GM's troubled brands fell by the wayside because they lost BRAND DIFFERENTIATION a long time ago. There was once a time when a Buick, a Pontiac, an Oldsmobile and such were actually different cars.



But along came the tight times of the 80s, and brand differentiation was simply the badge on the hood, and what dealer it was purchased from.



GM killed Oldsmobile long before it actually shut them down.



Gm decided that Cadillac needed to be in the BMW market, selling performance and luxury. Cadillac has NEVER before been in the market of selling performance. (EDIT: OK, they have had performance, but they let it slide after the early 70s) A Cadillac buyer traditionally wanted luxury, space, and a smooth cushy ride.



But GM decided that Cadillac needed a makeover and tried to turn it into BMW or Mercedes.



So where does that leave Buick? Is Buick now the luxo-barge division? Is there a need for a luxo-barge division? Heck, most buyers of Buicks don't want GPS, because they don't even know what it is. They don't care much about the stereo because they can barely hear.



Where is the Buick innovation that led to cars like the Turbo Regal and GN? What about the sillborn Reatta? What about the beautiful Buicks of the past like the '63 Riviera? What about the gorgous '54 Buicks?



The spirit of Buick is dead. The demographics of Buick sales tell the whole story. You can't survive as "The brand favored most by more people with less than 10 yrs average life expectancy"



Will GM incompetence kill Buick like it did Oldsmobile?



Will GM kill another great American brand like Chrysler did to Plymouth??



The Japanese manufacturers have no such identity problems. They know who they are and what their brand stands for, and they aren't going to tinker with that based on shortsighted "market" driven "research" that tells them what they need to become.





I'm sad to see the sorry plight of the American auto industry. But I'm not about to reward incompetence to try and prop up a corporation that hasn't earned my sale through competition.



COMPETE, ALREADY! AMERICANS CAN DO IT AS WELL AS ANYONE, NOW GO SHOW THE WORLD IT'S TRUE!!

 

[loncray]

GM's lack of brand differentiation started long before the 1980's, though it did seem to reach its nadir then. I agree that shooting for #2 looks kind've weird but as was pointed out they're not really going to compete with Lexus as that's Cadillac's job within GM. Time will indeed tell! As the proud owner of a DaimlerChrysler product, there are more and more Dodge Rams on the road as folks don't see as much reason to buy Chevy or GMC. And though my wife currently drives a '98 Chevy Malibu (she got it before we were married), the list of cars she's interested in when the time comes for her Malibu to give up the ghost (there's no way it's going to last the 12 years my previous Acura Integra did) doesn't include a single GM product.

 

[crobertson1]

I heard there is a rumor going around in the automitive world that Toyota is considering BUYING G. M. ! I have no idea if it's true or not, that's just what I heard. Has anyone else heard this rumor?

 

[JHerrlich]

What's funny is when you ask a GMC or Chevy pickup truck owner what differentiates his truck from the other GM brand truck...

 

[rbattelle]

Heck, most buyers of Buicks don't want GPS, because they don't even know what it is. They don't care much about the stereo because they can barely hear.

Now that's funny right there.



Maybe I understand the quote a little better now: Buick is not meant to compete with Lexus; Cadillac is. Okay, I can buy that. It actually sounds reasonable (arguments about whether Buick designs are even in the same universe as Acura aside).



crobertson - there is (or was) a rumor a couple weeks ago started by an editorial, I believe, that suggested Toyota might actually buy up some of GM. Toyota cannot afford to purchase all of GM, of course. I think I read that Toyota laughed it off and people have generally dismissed the idea as totally unrealistic at this point.



Part of the rumor came from GMs recent sale of its holdings in Fuji Heavy Industries. Pardon me if I get the numbers wrong here, but I believe GM owed around 20% of Fuji which they just sold, then Toyota bought up about 10% of Fuji.



GM and Toyota currently have an agreement that expires in March to jointly develop fuel cell vehicles. Today (11/2/05) they announced they have not yet decided whether to extend that agreement. I think there was also supposed to be some use of Toyota's Hybrid system on GM vehicles that never panned out. GM and Toyota have been working together for at least 20 years, and that work includes a joint manufacturing plant in California (not sure if that plant is still in operation).



Anyway, GM is now making a very hard push to get its dealers to consolidate Buick, GMC, and Pontiac into single stores. By everything I've read, they're succeeding. Perhaps such a move presages a permanent combination of those brands. I tend to agree with the argument that GM has too many models.



-Ryan

 

[Texas Diesel]

I heard that GM and Toyota were gonna merge and call itself "Toylet"



I had my last GM POS "lot queen" in 1984. Never again.

I had my last Toyota POS "lot queen" in 1995. Never again. The 1994 Toyota was so bad they traded me out of it, the 1995 model was marginally better. It was traded on a 1995 Dodge Dakota that saw the shop ONCE and is still going with original parts (except brakes) at 200,000.



Tell ME about Toyota quality :-{}