Frustrated with GM?

[windjammer]

You might want to read this:
http://www.aircondition.com/wwwboard/current/21893.html

[Hawk]

Sounds scary if you can believe it. I would be interested in what others thought. I believe a number of things he says.....

[Travis Freeman]

Maybe this will wake up some people at GM. They are way behind with new models and not working with the dealers that are saving the customers they have now.

[sallen1]

Wow, what a speach. Flint usually says the unspeakable...

Being the owner of a GM franchise with 60+ years history, it's interesting to look back a few years. Flint points to the Aztek as the only design with such negative press, but do any of you remember the slope-back Seville in 1981. Rather ugly to me but dad says they sold a bunch...

And let's not forget that most of us have survived wars, rationing, energy problems, foreign competition, UAW strikes and GM's flirtation with bankruptcy. And we're still here.

This is the point and I'm not sure GM listens. Design is the key: people need to see a vehicle and say "I want to drive that car/truck". Where is that today? The Aztek looks interesting enough to try and that is part of the battle. In 1981 Cadillac owned the luxury market and what they built, people bought. Today the Cadillac product is pretty good but it 1) doesn't own the market anymore and 2) doesn't instill that desire to drive. Cadillac succeeds because the dealers work very, very hard.

How does GM reward their distributors? With this goofy Market Area strategy. How can anyone understand the breadth of product and simultaneously create a proper working relationship with their retailers. I hold them all in contempt. Cadillac was confusing enough, now we have Chevy experts helping us sell luxury cars. Ha!

Enough said. There was one error in Flint's diatribe and that centers on the Vehicle Line Executive and the Strategy Board. The VLE's have the power and actually care about the stuff they build. Unfortunately (but fortunate for Cadillac with the new factory coming) you can only build an old product in old facilities. Someone please tell me that the Arlington truck plant is at bench-mark quality. You only get better with better methods and concurent engineering.

What about the strategy board? Hey, the goal of any business is to make money and that's the mission of the board. Just read the latest AutoNews article where Mr. Zarrella blames Aztek problems on pricing. Duh! Any product priced within its value perception will sell, period. Ugly enough, the Matador and Pacer were rather popular. Just think how popular some of our stuff would be priced a little lower... That's the bad strategy.

Does it matter much what happens in Detroit for the dealer? Not in the short run. They plan for generations, I only plan to make money.

my opinions, sorry for the rant.

scott