General Motors is making a push for a four channel distribution network — with Saturn and Chevrolet dealers being stand alone stores and Buick, Pontiac and GMC and Cadillac, Hummer and Saab being lumped together under one roof — and it appears as though the Detroit-based automaker will help those dealers who wish to consolidate the latter — the company’s luxury brands.
GM has yet to reveal how many stores it will financial help to consolidate into one superstore, but the automaker did confirm that it has helped some dealerships make the move.
GM won’t force any stores to consolidate, but will help out where a merger makes sense. As of now, GM has 1,400 U.S. Cadillac stores and only 238 Saab and 170 Hummer stores, meaning that more Saab and Hummer stores will likely see a merger. “We have to get a standing (list) of places so that if we had some money, we’d sure like this guy to be over here, or the city has grown up around him, or his facility is worn down and he doesn’t want to invest,” Cadillac General Manager Jim Taylor told Automotive News.
Despite all three of GM’s luxury brands having a very unique identity, Hummer General Manager Martin Walsh says the stores should blend without a problem. Walsh noted that only 34 of Hummer franchises are stand alone stores.
03/24, 5:48 PM
posted by:
jonnycat
Good way to sell more Saab’s and Hummers
03/24, 5:51 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Could be a plan.
03/24, 5:53 PM
posted by:
Ricardo Head
I thought Richard Simmons was the General Manager of Hummers.
03/24, 7:34 PM
posted by:
audi-lover
are you ****ing kidding me?!?! that’s insane. Saab and cadillac are supposed to be nice, classy brands- they souldn’t be mixed with some hickass, gas guzzling hummers. this is only going to hurt an already weary car brand.
03/24, 7:56 PM
posted by:
corvette
this should be good. Hummer is a luxury brand, just because they go off road doesn’t mean they don’t have nice leather interiors and power seats.
03/24, 8:10 PM
posted by:
tripleonefive
Well they cant sell **** anyway but if they are to consolidate dealers they should do it this way
Pontiac and GMC should be sold together maybe Hummer as well
Buick and Saab should be sold together
Cadillac should stand alone as that is the only true near luxury brand in the stable
I guess Chevy and Saturn should be separate bc they have the same cars basically with Chevy having more variety
03/24, 8:48 PM
posted by:
autonut
And you people are complaining Lutz does not do ****. This is brilliant! It reminds me an old Jewish joke:
Two bordellos next to each other: one does great another dying. The owner of dying comes for advise to competitor: Chaim what do I do? I change furniture, mattresses, pillows, put new wall paper and draperies but get no clients!
Chaim replies: putz get new bitches!
03/24, 9:51 PM
posted by:
400horseSS
Great way to move the metal.
03/24, 10:00 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
If I end up on Hummer/Saab I’m switching channels. They should all sell the Volt in case the remote dies.
03/24, 10:33 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
GM, kill off Saab. Do something exciting with Pontiac, after all, it’s supposed to be your “enthusiast” brand. Move pick-ups/SUV’s to GMC only and let Chevrolet handle sedans/cross-overs. Saturn can stay as an import brand for Opel. Keep Cadillac as the luxury division, but Buick…now they’re in a tough spot. I know Buick does well in China and parts of Asia, so maybe GM should keep it there.
03/24, 10:35 PM
posted by:
lucklaster
a chicken was trying to cross the road to get to a GM dealer………
03/24, 10:53 PM
posted by:
A4
where are all these cadillac dealerships???
03/24, 10:54 PM
posted by:
A4
1c3d0g… bad idea.
I want my chevy truck, not a GMC. Theyll never replace the silverado with the sierra.
03/25, 2:42 AM
posted by:
WEKS
Saab is a Luxury brand in the US?
03/25, 4:47 AM
posted by:
Zo0M 6 Zo0M
Hey, before we knock off Saab, Saab is a nicely vehicle. Yes it is a luxury brand even though it doesn’t give off that “luxury image” like Mercedes or like Lexus but it is luxury. I used to have a Saab 9-5 and it was a great car ran strong for me 120,000 miles before I traded it in. It may not have the most horsepower, or the i Drive, or the have all the crazy technology to make it stand out but for a vehicle its nice.
There newest 9-3 Aero has a turbocharged v6 making 280hp and AWD, again not leading in the competition but the things it does right is::
Undercuts the competition in price and delivers a product for the people who don’t want to be like everybody else. You know the people that says “well everybody has a BMW so let me buy one too!!”
Saab does well on the east coast I heard since they have a lot of snow. People who own Saabs says they like it better than Audi’s AWD so I’ve heard.
03/25, 12:18 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
1115: “Well they cant sell ****.”
gotta make **** to sell ****, so you’re right.
03/25, 1:23 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
Cadillac and Hummer go together. Most people I know who fancy one brand also cross-shop the other, because if you like oversized semi-luxurious American metal you like it all.
Saab is the black sheep in there. Saab is for New England profs, young mothers, the odd guy who wants to drive something semi-upscale but doesn’t want to be seen in a Benz or BMW. Thsoe guys are not flashy, showy Caddy/Hummer material. There is no sense in lumping Saab with Caddy/Hummer, the demographics are totally opposite.
03/25, 2:03 PM
posted by:
SS4LIFE
I too don’t think that Cadillac should be put together with Pontiac, GMC, Saab and Hummer. While there aren’t as many Cadillac dealerships as there are Chevy dealerships, the three local Cadillac dealerships where I live (all within a 30 mile radius of where I live) were all recently rennovated and look from the outside and inside comparable to what Mercedes and Lexus dealerships look like. (But obviously w/out the treatment). Cadillac in that respect still needs to be stand alone. I do like how the Pontiac and GMC dealers were consolidated because putting GMC with any other brand wouldn’t really make sense. But Hummer and Saab? Both smaller brands with smaller linups. I guess I could see it happenning. I tell you what though if you happened to be looking into leasing a Saab 9-3 or a Hummer H3 like I’m soon going to be it sure would save me a lot of driving to get to them.
03/28, 10:40 AM
posted by:
shitalker
great move gm!! this is like a fat guy who knows that if he doesn’t lose weight, he will die soon from a heart attack. so what does he do? no no no, not exercise.. now that’s for them tofu farting foreign sissies. this fat guy would just tightens up his belt to get all his fat gut further out. ya, cuz his doctor told him to watch his gut, and now he’s looking right at it. well guess what gm, you’re so ****ing fat that you can’t even remember the last time you saw your dick!! so keep trying to figure out how to rearrange your crappy ass cars. yet you had an amazing 38..7 billion lost in the year of 2007. yes, i said BILLION!! most companies can’t even make that much and you could lose that much.. wow. and if it wasn’t for the housing market dump and the bear sterns news, you’d be all over the news once again just like how you were not too long ago. (btw, how’s the gmac doing eh?) so just don’t even try buddy.. your time is over!! toyota has already been sidekicking your ass around in your own backyard. who’s next? koreans? or chinese??? or even them dothead indians??? hahahahahaha… YOU SUCK!!!