GM to put 'GM' on all cars

CNN Money ^ | 4/12/05 | various

[BurbankKarl]

DETROIT (Reuters) - Aware that many consumers are unaware that Cadillac, Saab, Chevrolet and other brands are part of General Motors Corp. (GM.N), the automaker said on Tuesday that it will add the GM corporate logo on the side of all its vehicles.

The addition of a silver badge with the GM logo on all 2006 model year vehicles coincides with the automaker's recent efforts to promote the GM brand, with increased spending on advertising and marketing.

Most of GM's marketing and advertising budget in North America is spent on promoting its eight brands, and many people don't associate them with GM.

"The name General Motors speaks to people," Mark LaNeve, who took over as head of GM's North America vehicle sales and marketing last month, said. "Research tells us that many of our most outstanding segment-leading vehicles are not associated by the customer to be part of the GM portfolio."

GM named LaNeve to his new position about two weeks before the automaker announced last month that it would post its biggest quarterly loss since 1992, due to rising health care costs and weakening U.S. market share.

So far this year, GM's U.S. sales have dropped about 4 percent, and company executives have said that its incentives are not attracting consumers like they used to.

[July 4th]

My Saab is devoid of GM markings. I hope it stays that way.

[okie01]

And don't forget to put "spinvent" under it, like Carly did.

Precisely. Converting product advertising to vacuous corporate advertising is the last resort of the clueless.

[XXXXX88XXXXX]

A little trivia: contrary to what you may be thinking, it will not be redundant to put the GM badge on GMC trucks... GMC originally stood for "Grabowsky Motor Company"

Dang! I always thought GMC stood for "Garage Man's Companion."

[nicollo]

classic!

[BurbankKarl]

I work for a 30 year supplier for GM, and in the past have done a lot of work with GMC Trucks....This is one of the favorite pictures we have in our archives. It is captioned as Snohomish County logging in 1917. On the actual picture, you can see the license plate saying King County WA.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"Most of GM's marketing and advertising budget in North America is spent on promoting its eight brands, and many people don't associate them with GM."

Did the Marketing Dopes that came up with "The New Coke" recently attend a Marketing Seminar with the current GM Marketing Dopes?

[Stormcrow]

"The name General Motors speaks to people"

So it would seem.

"So far this year, GM's U.S. sales have dropped about 4 percent"

[sgtbono2002]

Dont forget GM the company that stopped making rear wheel drive cars and gave all the cabs and police cars to Ford.

[Iscool]

GM pays an average of $3500 per year, per employee, retiree or family member...which ads up to over 1 million people.

And they still make a billion dollar profit, every month...What is that, a thousand million dollar bills per month???

What would a car cost if GM wanted only a half a billion dollars per month profit???

[curmudgeonII]

GM might sell more cars if they kept the GM logo off of all of their cars.

[birbear]

You're right on so many counts.

I just have to take exception to your mocking of the Aztek.

No doubt there are better cars on the market, and my dad probably didn't buy his based on all the extra "garbage" (the fold out tent, etc.) but bought it solely on comfort. I'm here to tell you as a 6'3, 350# fat ass, the Pontiac Aztek is a pleasure to ride 600 miles in the back seat. Much more comfortable than my Ford Explorer, and equitable to the comfort of a 73 Mercury Marquis Brougham (four door).

Where the Aztek stands on power, performance, price etc... like I said, there are probably much better cars. in terms of comfort, haven't found a car like it.

And I happen to think it's a pretty cool looking car.

[ken21]

!!! very good.

you go to the head of the marketing class.

[birbear]

Y'all should read Reis and Trout's books on advertising "Positioning" is probably the best for this material. They talk about line extensions, and how, when poorly managed, it spells doom for a company.

I love Ford, and they're just as guilty as GM. Notice that succesful companies (Honda, Toyota, BMW) tend to only have one brand -- two at the most. (Toyota and Lexus, Honda and Acura)...

Something to be said for divesting yourself of names.

[UNGN]

We asked the question to 5 female, degreed ENGINEERS that work for a fotune 20 aerospace company:

Name 5 Car companies that are part of GM.

Saturn was the ONLY correct answer from the 5 Women.

Toyota, Honda, GM makes cars and I bet a guy couldn't answer that were the most popular answers.

We asked the girls to pick the guy they thought was the most clueless and ask him. He named 6.

[Cobra64]

These jerks just don't get it. I could speak volumes on the domestic auto market. But I'm too lazy to share this monologue. Dearborn, Flint, and Detroit will be toast in the next 12-15 years.

[UNGN]

"I love Ford, and they're just as guilty as GM. Notice that succesful companies (Honda, Toyota, BMW) tend to only have one brand -- two at the most. (Toyota and Lexus, Honda and Acura)...

Something to be said for divesting yourself of names."

Toyota actually has more than just Lexus. Scion is a Toyota Brand and they sell a few different Non Branded toyota's in Japan and other parts of the World.

It's not the Brand, it's the cars.

[varon]

If I buy a Cadillac, I don't want a "GM" badge on it.

Sure beats "Union Made" or "Inspected by #47" ;-)

[SALChamps03]

In other news, Nike plans to put their name on all of their shoes, along with an easily identifiable product logo.

[lemura]

Sell your GM stock.

Sell now and buy when the new reconstituted GM comes out of bankruptcy. A GM free of union/pension/healthcare obligations, and ready to invest in China to produce/export low-cost entry level vehicles, could finally turn it around.

[tellw]

What a brave corporate logo!

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