Will it be the Chevrolet Vibe?

[jake75]

GM Must be In Deep Do Do. Read this.May 19, 2005: 9:58 AM EDT NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Embattled General Motors Corp. is changing its long-time brand strategy by cutting the range of offerings from most of its eight brands, according to a published report. The Detroit News reported that the world's No. 1 auto manufacturer, which has been looking for ways to stem losses from its core U.S. auto operations, will have a full line of vehicles in the future in only two of its brands -- mass-market Chevrolet and high-end Cadillac. In the past, most brands were expected to offer a full line of vehicles, from compact cars to a range of light trucks such as sport/utility vehicles, pickups and minivans. GM's other six brands -- Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Hummer and Saab -- will exist as "focus brands" with more limited portfolios in the future, according to a top GM sales executive. "People say we have too many brands," Mark LaNeve, a GM vice president, told the newspaper. "We have too many brands if we try to do the same things with all the brands." Not all those "focus" brands have a full range of offerings. Hummer offers only high-end vehicles based on the military utility vehicle, the Humvee, for example. But Buick and Pontiac have numerous vehicles that are essentially twins, while Saturn has been expanding its product line as well in recent years. Earlier this year, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told analysts that Buick and Pontiac were "damaged brands" due to years of underinvestment in new products. While he predicted both would soon be lifted by new products, he also warned that GM could be forced to drop one or both brands if sales did not improve. The auto manufacturer discontinued the Oldsmobile brand following the 2003 model year. The move to give the GM mid-level brands more focus could give it some of the savings that could be achieved by dropping one of its troubled brands, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. "What they're really doing is taking their divisions and shrinking their number in a de facto way," Cole said. The move would likely be less controversial than actually dropping a brand and buying out that brand's dealers. "We've made this clear to the dealers," LaNeve said. "Chevy's got to compete heads-up with Ford and Toyota and all the mainstream parts of the market, and Cadillac needs to have everything it can to compete with BMW, Mercedes and Lexus. The other brands need to be tightly focused."

[Merzbow]

Get rid of Buick, GMC, Saturn, and Saab. None of those are in the slightest bit appealing to me. Buick is too luxurious and I would NEVER waste money on a car like that. GMC is mostly SUV and truck and I don't need either of them. Only good cars to ever come out of Saturnare teh Vue redline and the Ion. Saad is flat out anoying. If I had the money to buy a Saab, gues what, I wouldn't use it on a Saab (removed)!!!!!

[ragingfish]

http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id ... d?id=16584

[scherry2]

Will it be the Chevrolet Vibe? (jake75)My prediction is:no. when GM and Toyota quit their relationship there will no longer be the Vibe unless GM decides to keep production under Pontiac at another plant and purchase the stamping dies from Toyota, and use (most likely) cobalt parts.my $.02

[joatmon]

The last GM/Toyota joint venture car was the Prizm. Started as a Geo, then lived on as a Chevy after Geo went away. Prizm = Corolla. Same kind of resale value issue, if you are looking for a used Corolla, don't forget to check out the equivalent Prizm, which is usually for sale for less than if it had "Toyota" badging.Was Geo part of GM when the Prizm first came out, or did GM buy Geo and convert their products into standard GM brand labels?

[Jahntassa]

I always thought GM bought Geo.. but I wasn't nearly as knowledgable about car companies back then..I did, however, recently see a Plymouth Neon on the road..

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »I did, however, recently see a Plymouth Neon on the road..I see more plymouths than dodges when it comes to neons. scary!

[esjones]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »I always thought GM bought Geo.. but I wasn't nearly as knowledgable about car companies back then..GM didn't buy Geo. It invented the brand out of thin air to brand many of the cars it was sourcing from foreign makers and joint ventures. Geo Metro was built by Suzuki. the Geo Tracker was a Suzuki Sidekick. Geo Prizm was a Toyota Corolla, made by NUMMI. The first year of Geo's existence, it used as its logo a globe motif. Later, a small Chevy logo was added to the center, as all Geo products were being sold by Chevy/Geo dealers.As we all know, the Geo brand was dropped and some of the models were just re-branded as Chevrolet models.Stupid, expensive move to create Geo in the first place, IMHO.

[JohnC]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »Get rid of Buick, GMC, Saturn, and Saab. None of those are in the slightest bit appealing to me. I am guessing you do not own or work at one of these dealerships. many of the GMS dealerships are located with Pontiac or Buick dealerships. IMO GM needs to increase it's quality, especially new model year vehicles. Take for example the new Colorado, it is dismally trouble prone, and looks/feels cheaply made.