They need to create GM dealers wherer all brands are sold.
Caddilac for quasi-luxury.
Buick for sailors.
Pontiac for the Gold Chain set.
GMC for work trucks.
Cheverolet for workin’ stiffs.
Hummer for…. well Hummer types

Less same car different dealer crap that anyone intelligent can see through.

Down with brand reengineering!

That’s not going to fix the problem that they have of too many brands under one roof.

Buick, they already nixed the Regal/Century, and the LeSabre/Park Avenue, but gains the Enclave, Lucerne, and Lacrosse. What’s there to nix? The Rendezvous? The Rainier? Terraza? If anything, the Terraza pretty much gone. Seriously, who thought a Buick minivan would be a good idea in 2005, I mean seriously. Next would be the Rainier. Still, this doesnt leave Buick with a lot, and they still have the old people smell to them. If anything, Buick needs more cars, and to be further away from the rest of the General, kinda like Cadillac

Pontiac nixed the Aztec, Bonneville, and the Grand Am.
That leaves them with the G6, Grand Prix, Vibe, Torrent, Solstice, SV6, GTO, and the new G5, which is a rebadged Colbalt. As with the Terraza, I’m sure the SV6 isn’t long for this world, and the GTO is gone after this year. The only other vehicle that’s expendable is the Vibe.

Saab just needs less GM influence. The last thing Saab needs is GM SUV’s, not matter how good they are. That’s just campy. Saab does need a highend sports car though.

Saturn is doing well with the Opel mixture. It’s nice to have a non-US influence on some GM cars.

Saturn and Buick should really be the only ones who get the Lambda crossovers. Chevy has the Equinox. which is based on the Theta? platform. GMC, eh, it’s iffy.

Here is the lineup for Pontiac around 09-10

Solstice
G5
G6
G8
GTO

Sounds good Jordan but Buick should lose the Enclave and let its dealer mate GMC take it. Let Buick be cars.

Lamda is about twice as big as Equinox. No comparison.

A new GTO is in the works for 08-09 with it’s sedan variant called G8. The GTO will just be a 2 coupe version of the G8, both which will be on the RWD and on the Zeta platform.

There is just too many brands for buyers to keep track of that are the same with just different names. Buick isn’t worth keeping, with the stigma of being a low quality old person’s car, ie undesirable and something to avoid buyig, people won’t buy even if good cars come out. The process to fix the image would be an expense better spent on an overhaul to focusing on all the other brands. The idea of Buick no longer addresses the niche it was intended for upon its conception. Back in the 60s, both Ford and GM had three levels of luxury in thier brand lineups. At Ford it was Ford/Mercury/Lincoln. At GM it was GM/Buick/Caddilac. As Lincoln lost its lustre and isn’t that much of a step above Mercury as it once had been, that setup for Ford hasn’t made sense in years. As Buick’s brand image fell, and Caddillac too lost the aurora it had in those days and fell down a coupld of notches. For a while they too were overlapping, until Caddillac was reborn. But what has happened is that the GM and Chevy brands have inched upmarket and the pricing of GM and Chevy cars comprable to a Buick is too close.

I’D RATHER RIDE A BUS THAN ROLL IN A FUGLY BUICK, PONTIAC OR SATURN.

Anon, how about Buick
lacrosse (eps2)
Lucerne rwd?
2 seater convertible(not solstice)
??

Buick should take the Enclave, but drop both the Rendezvous and the Rainier in the process. In order for Buick to be the American Lexus, (funny how that works) they need some kind of SUV to compete with the RX. They also need a legit flagship (the new RWD sedan)and a coupe. Maybe something to compete with the IS? The Lacrosse doesnt fit the bill, thats for sure.

Buick needs a lot of help, if they ever want to make the brand credible again. A lot.

I’m all for Rear wheel drive V-8 power and Muscle Car extremes (2 door preferably) Go GTO i’d also buy a Rear drive G6 GXP I’m a new Pontiac fan but still a long time Chevy guy

While i cannot see **** happening for Buick or Saab in the future, i do see Pontiac taking a turn for the good. The solstice was a ray of sunshine on the brand, and the recent announcement of all RWD for the future spread the clouds farther apart. GM has no idea on where Saab and Buick sit. They just know they do sit. Buick is like Mercury. But the main difference between the two is that the newest Mercurys actually look different, while the Buicks continue to look exactly the same, and on top of that only old people want them. Give me a Buick Roadmaster with a Northstar V8 in it, and that ray of sunshine may open up for Buick as well, otherwise, just axe the piece of ****. I would rather drive an Aztek than a Rendezvous, and GM already has Cadillac pushing out great luxury products. Kill Buick, and give us a Cadillac priced a few thousand under the CTS, say $23k, with FLUENT cadillac styling, not some bull**** rebadge, and GM will be in better shape, with far less dead weight.

The Lucerne doesn’t look that bad, actually. The Lacrosse on the otherhand, looks horid. Already, I have seen my share of Lacrosses and Lucernes with mock tops. Seriously, who the hell wants a mock top in 2006?

Old people. Cadillacs going for Mercedes, BMW, etc.

Buick needs to shoot for Lexus, not Lincoln.

Go retro, bring out a new Pontiac Aztek.

I think you’d fit in well at GM.

Come on #15, I own an Aztek and it’s given me no problems. It runs good. It gets a lot of looks on my street. All you GM-haters out there need to get with it. GM is doing just fine. They’ve been innovating for years and will continue to lead the way.

Lead the way to hell?

Well, that’s comforting.

What GM needs now is a radical strategy to retake the leadership position in their industry. I say get rid of ALL their brand names and come up with a new one. Their brands are now trash and they need to be jettisoned. For a comparison, look at what Valu-Jet did after their devastating crash in the Florida everglades: they renamed their company AIRTRAN and now they are a very successful airline.

-I say GM drop all brands and create a new brand called “Epsilon” or something like that, with a neat looking “E” as the symbol.
-Also, completly change the interior lighting to a purple or blue or deep orange and have it become their signature

It’s going to take bold moves (sorry Ford) to survive as a viable brand. I don’t see this happening and when GM fails it will be another blow to American manufacturing.

typical GM lover,

You’re in dire need of psychiatric assistance, I fear that you’re delusional. “It gets a lot of looks on my street.” Indeed, but not for the reasons you think. I believe extended ownership of the vehicle known as Asstech has diminished your cognitive abilities, thus rendering your scale of values impervious to external stimuli. In other words, you’re confusing mediocrity with quality, and evidence to the contrary simply does not register in your brain. Please, have someone drive you to your nearest shrink and just say no to the Asstech.

As for GM, I think they should drop not only several models, but also their entire management lineup. Subsequently, they should hire all of the brilliant minds that regularly post on LLN and let them run the show. It couldn’t possibly be any worse. I mean, it seems that the most important requirement to work at GM is a high grasp of the fine art of bull****, and there’s plenty of that in these pages.

You’re right RAS ! The bull**** spews from you more than anybody else…..

My dear Al,

I see you’re still reeling from our last encounter on LLN. How are you doing sweetcheeks? Are you still hurting from having your ass handed to you by half a dozen LLN posters? I would have thought you were too busy sexing up your close relatives to post so soon, but I guess along with a lack of intelligence comes a taste for punishment from your intellectual superiors.

Say, what is the redneck community’s stance on GM’s troubles these days?

You guys make this far too personal.

RAS, I agree that separating the brands from each other would be a good move. It wouldn’t be cost effective at first, but in the long run it would pay off with better, re-established brands.

If intellectual is what you write in that last post RAS, I have no worries at all !

Down with brand reengineering!

Comment by S P, posted on June6 at 5:42 pm

This is definately a strategy that should be adopted by Ford as it badge re-engineers everything from the Blue Oval Division into Mercury’s and Lincoln’s. FoMoCo is the current Badge Engineered King of the World !

Poor little Al, he owns a redneck-mobile and is a tad sensitive on issues regarding GM. Furthermore, he’s so angry now that his comebacks no longer make sense. It must be all that moonshine sloshing in his head.

Fascinating ! I feel so challenged…..

Only axe the models that have no counterparts. That way when all is said and done, every brand can be left with their own Trailblazer knockoff, minivan copy, GMT900 SUV and pickup truck, Lambda and W body.

Oh and keep the Vette, so that GM can claim they put effort into something…

Dear Al,

What, that’s it? Giving up already? That’s disappointing, I thought you had a little more fight in you. What happenned to all your barking, dawg?

Seriously though, you clearly suffer from an inferiority complex, evidenced by your defensive reaction to posts that are not directed at you. You clearly have nothing worthwhile to post, and that pisses you no end. Get some help. Unlike my advice to the fellow above, which was a joke, I think you may be a bonafide candidate for psychiatric treatment.

By the way, if you can’t do better than your last post (on this thread, at least) I’m afraid I won’t find you amusing enough and I’ll simply ignore you. So, please, don’t repost my own words, that’s just lazy. Be creative.

Thanks for the entertainment so far, sweetcheeks. It’s been fun.

Sincerely,
The Source Of Your Sad Frustration.

They should have come to this conclusion before they axed Oldsmobile. Regardless of its image at the time, it was America’s oldest carmaker. Personally, I liked the newer Aurora and Intrigue. The Alero looked alright, and I long after one of the last 500 made.

Buick should have gone before Oldsmobile.
Al, i enjoyed our meet at Buttonwillow with Bushy and that tranny Condi. We should do it again sometime.

Corvette and H2 are the best thing that GM has goin…

#32 Those are the best? oh dear oh dear that says it all.

If you don’t count the corvette roofs ripping off. I am not sure I see the H2 as some big seller. I see alot more H3’s then 2’s. Personaly I dont care for a large brick with wheels.

OMG the chief designer at GM sports a double breasted suit. Whatever you think of Chris Bangle’s designs, he at least looks like he’s in touch with whats happening in the modern world

Thing2: yeah, that’s about right. IMHO, Buick has no place in this world. Chevrolet is pushing them up and Cadillac is smacking them back down…their space is no longer there.

Sorry, grandpa, but like your cherised Oldsmobile, it’s time to meet your creator…