2009 Detroit Auto Show: GM Plays Brand Favorites
 |
Most of the marketing money and new vehicles are going to Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, while weaker brands starve
Deroit Auto Show, January 13, 2009; David Welch writing for BusisnessWeek reported that when you ask a General Motors (GM) executive about the company's plans to wind down four of its eight vehicle brands, and the answers are circumspect. Saturn could be sold, but GM hasn't given a firm answer. Hummer is for sale and Saab might be, if there is a buyer. Pontiac will still exist, but maybe selling just a couple of cars at Buick-GMC showrooms.
Even if GM can't bring itself to part with these brand weaklings, it is expressing its intentions in other ways. The company's four "core" brands, which aren't under strategic review—Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC—are getting the lion's share of new cars and marketing cash. And GM will continue to spend more to market those four core brands than it does the four that are under review.
"Over time, the strategy is to focus our resources on the core brands," says Mark LaNeve, GM's vice-president of North American sales and marketing. "Those four brands will get higher spending. It's clear that we can't afford the kind of product and marketing investment that eight brands need."
For Complete Article Click Here
