GM touts their new Chevrolet Malibu as "The car you can't ignore." I've driven the new ‘Bu. It's a handsome, well-built, thoroughly competent machine. As good as it is, Chevrolet's mid-size sedan will only remain psychologically inescapable as long as GM sustains the car's $150m ad campaign. To suggest otherwise ignores the quality and strength of the ‘Bu's competition. It's yet another example of GM's mindless arrogance. In fact, Chevy's first hit in years is already in deep trouble, as I discovered down at the dealership.
Sitting in the salesman's cubicle, waiting for the Malibu demonstrator to return, I watched a customer vent his ire. "I am NOT satisfied," he yelled at a manager sheltering behind the reception desk. "It's a new car. I've been back here FIVE TIMES and I am NOT satisfied."
This confrontation could have happened at any dealership. J.D. Powers, Consumer Reports and TrueDelta have documented GM products' increased quality and reliability. But the way the dealer's staff glanced at each other during the customer's diatribe told me that the distraught buyer's remorse was neither unexpected nor unfamiliar. Worse, I observed a frisson of fear spread across my fellow customers, as they contemplated what could- maybe even has- occurred to them.
Even if we assume that the new ‘Bu represents a new dawn for the brand, Chevy's past is a recurring nightmare that will not fade away. Call it import bigotry or sensible self-protection, but GM's marketing campaign should have addressed this problem head-on. Instead, they sent a subliminal message that their latest next big thing is good enough to convince customers to ignore Chevy's ignoble legacy of customer alienations. It's an intellectual leap that GM's marketing maven are making on their own.
A minute later, I asked the middle-aged Mom emerging from her Malibu test drive what she thought about the car. She was all smiles. "We came down to look at an Impala," she said, pointing to a picture in a discarded ad resting on the salesman's desk. "But this is one sharp car."
Cannibalization is one of GM's less-discussed afflictions. For example, the domestic automaker basks in the success of its Lambda-platformed crossovers. Yet many if not most of these sales came straight out of the hide of their more profitable SUV business.
If the Impala intender above clicked over to TrueDelta to compare base vs. base, she'd find that the new 'Bu is $1568 cheaper than the Impala. With incentives, it could soon be a wash. She'd also discover that the new 'Bu is just $807 more than its sister-under-the-skin, the Saturn Aura, and $364 LESS than Pontiac's platform sib, the slow-selling G6. Clearly, the new, better-built, sharper-looking Malibu will steal sales from other corners of the GM empire.
Model and brand overlap is a luxury the Malibu's maker can't afford. If GM is to prosper/recover from its dramatic downsizing, it must attract NEW players to the table. Reshuffling the deck for the same old diehards won't do it- especially if the old cards were better stacked in GM's favor (i.e. more profitable) than the new ones.
Let's face it: the buyers most able to ignore the new Malibu- contented Accord, Camry and Altima buyers- are the ones GM needs the most. To be fair, the new Malibu is a highly credible alternative in a highly competitive genre. But…
GM didn't make enough Malibus. The dealer I visited had one Malibu. They'd sold another. Only two more were due this month. Next month, they MIGHT get four. Hell, even their own ad agency seems to be having trouble getting them; all the spots I've seen use computer-generated cars.
This is the Mother of All Screw-Ups. Imagine you're a transplant-type who suddenly decided to shop for a mid-size car. You stop by the Chevy dealer for the first time in a decade- or ever- to clock the new ‘Bu. No demo car. No cars on the lot. All (and by that I mean a handful) of the cars coming are pre-sold. What are the chances you'll wait?
The competition won't. Not only do Honda, Toyota and Nissan (not to mention Ford and Chrysler) already have plenty of stock at all trim levels and colors in this class (duh), but they aren't about to be caught flat-footed by GM's nifty newbie. Look for them to amp-up their marketing campaigns and/or offer discounts– as Chevy dealers charge full sticker (just because they can). And then, soon, the 'Bu's foes will counter-attack with even better cars.
You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Chevy's blown it. Given the aforementioned bad vibes dogging both GM and Chevy, this is an irrecoverable mistake. The Malibu hype will die down. The new Chevy will be a solid seller when supplies ease, but it will have lost the chance to capitalize on GM's $150m marketing mitzvah to build the momentum it needed to provide The General with a breakout success.
So, GM finally built a commercially viable car, yet failed to make a meaningful marketing campaign, sort out its model lineup or assure adequate supplies. The new ‘Bu reveals the fundamental problem plaguing GM, the deficiency we've highlighted since this series began: a bloated, unfocused and incompetent bureaucratic structure. Until and unless GM corrects this fault, they're doomed.
Fixing 2.8’s ills aren’t rocket science….one just needs to read this site, its columns and comments.
But then again no one’s paying anyone here $500/hr for their opinions. Too bad….as the collective wisdom here is just as good as any consulting firm (looking at you JD Power)
Want GM to succeed, but I’ll let my neighbor be the car buying guinea pig.
I was a GM dealer for 30 years. This is typical of every big launch. They are too damn dumb to recover. thanks
It’s been reported again and again how the 2.8 are mismanaging their factory capabilities, especially toward the latter end of a vehicle’s life when they can’t scale down production.
The scarcity of vehicles at a launch seems like a different face of the same problem. Lack of reliable data on factory output, lack of flexible production, and thus loss of customers despite a competitive vehicle.
Production delays aside, GM’s marketing bozos make the same mistake over and over again by launching the campaign before there’s supply at the dealership.
If GM can’t figure out how to fix this (duh), then how much confidence should one have in the same IQ’s building the product?
I’m excited about the Malibu, as it has genuine potential to put some fizz back in the brand. But with marketing like this, the thing goes stale, once again.
I’m not convinced the Malibu can’t be ignored. Personally, I’d rather spend the extra $1500 and get an Impala. Actually, that’s kind of what I recently did – had a choice between an 01 Impala or an 01 Malibu (I know, different generations of cars, but still…) The Impala won hands down. I’ve also driven the new Impala and Malibu. And as far as I’m concerned, the Impala still is the better vehicle.
If I were GM, I’d be trying to lure people into the larger Impala, from their smaller Hondas and Toyotas. The Malibu is extremely similar to other mid-size sedans, the Impala has little competition (Charger, 300, Grand Marquis) and can actually say it offers something different (namely more space and less boring looks) than the mid-size competition.
I really like the ads – they’re self-depreciating and fit the “give us another chance” theme. Better than the ‘This is our country’/’American Revolution’ theme they have for the trucks.
Still won’t buy the car, but nice ads.
This Death Watch makes some good points.The official launch should have been delayed until the pipeline was full.
G.M. IS a slow learner.Having said that,at the production level,if you crank up the speed at this crucial time,you risk quality problems.I’d rather hear about supply problems than quality issues.Does the Toyota Tundra come to mind?
Toyota spends years building a quality reputation.Too fast of a production ramp up,all of a sudden Toyota quality takes a hit.Bad news travels fast eh?
Can you imagine G.M. with its less than stellar reputation taking a Quality hit on the BU?The last launch I was involved in was the Silverado,we sweated every detail on that truck,and production numbers suffered.If you objectivly take a good look at the full size G.M.truck, you will see the best all around truck on the market,bar none.The market for mid size cars has got some wicked competition,a lot tougher than the pick ups had to face.So the Malibus are coming,and like good food, it takes time to prepare.
The next point, is the Bu gonna eat Impala sales?If past experience is any indication,I figure 10- 15 % = 150-200+cars a day,ouch.
The latest model Grand Prix was itself a victim of the Impalas cannibilization.The G.P.is done production in 3 weeks.I’m hoping the better looking,and more wide appealing Malibu take the G.P. sales.
I,m impressed with T.T.A.C.s treatment of the Malibu so far,fair and objective comes to mind.
Keep up the good work.
Call me cynical or lazy (or both), but I think the cannibalisation could be good for GM in the short term.
If it cannibalises sales from other lines and other models, the it would add further justification for GM to cut some lines and brands. If GM can concentrate all family sedan sales into one model line, then it would build brand loyalty and make it more of a contender against the Camcord mob. The more people buy the ‘Bu, the more people who’ll be interested in it, c’est non?
As for the reliability problems, that’s GM’s millstone which they need to get rid of. I’ve said before that, they need to follow Hyundai’s model, but I’m sure they know what they’re doing (yeah, right!).
The dealer problem is a knotty one. From what I understand, under US law, the dealers can pretty much do whatever they want under the GM banner and GM can’t do a thing about it. They can’t even close down shoddy dealers because they are protected? In the UK, if a manufacturer so much as gets a whiff that a dealership is giving dodgy service, they are threatened and then, if it happens again, their licence is revoked. Trouble is, there are so many third party brokers in the UK, then dealers are always kept on their toes.
Such a shame, because I’d really like to give this car a whirl…..
Robert,
TTAC is obviously completely biased against GM Marketing!
How are they supposed to know how to launch a successful car? They haven’t had one since Nixon was in office.
How should they know you need to have stock on hand for consumers to buy your product? Selling to Avis was never this complicated.
It’s funny because i was that guy screaming at a dealer, specifically Kerbeck Pontiac in Pleasantville NJ, about returning my new car to him 6 times in 3 months. My only consolation was that I did talk (after calming down and waiting for my POS loaner) a couple out of buying a brand new $50K Yukon, steering them across the street to the Nissan dealership to look at Armada’s.
GM’s actually done a pretty good job in terms of advertising and the car itself. A very good friend of mine (I used to work at his auto auction back in the day) has a Chevy dealership and I really do think they’ll do well with the Malibu… even if they have to do the traditional slow launch.
Overall, I think that GM’s problem has been too many dealers while Toyota suffers from very uneven dealer quality. We have two Toyota dealers in my neck of the woods who invested less in their service waiting areas than any other place I’ve seen, and the place is packed with unhappy customers. The Tundra, Avalon and Camry V6 aren’t providing the quality that they should, and it appeared that about 80+% of the vehicles in the service bays were one of those three models.
Both Toyota dealerships are in desperate need of renovation, while he’s invested several millions of dollars in his place. His is more like a Marriott, the Toyota dealerships are more like Best Westerns (cheap and generic), but that says more about the dealer than it does the manufacturer.
Robert—you hit the nail on the head with this one. As I commented in Michael’s Malibu review—for all the reason’s you listed..lack of supply and selection could really damage this launch. I am a domestic bigot with the best of them but this is pretty frustrating.
GM had an inkling of this “oh s–t” months back when they started to pave the way for their Michigan Fairfax plant (currently builds the G6) to start building the new Malibu. Apparently they knew the Kansas City plant does not have the requisite capacity to build both the Malibu and the slow selling Saturn Aura. They friggin knew they had a product winner on their hands 1.5 years ago when they unvieled the new Malibu to the press—but couldn’t rally around getting the supply chain right. I do not buy the excuse that they were doing a slow roll-out to ensure they got quality right. if this was the case—-do not turn on the marketing juice until you know you got the product quality right! If Ford was able to execute this plan with the Fusion and the Edge—why not GM ?
On top of this—they are having problems with the Enclave supply chain. This vehicle has a 4-6 month wait for orders and they cannot keep them on the lot. I know they do not want the market flooded with Enclaves but I got to think that the supply is a victim bad forecast and production planning at the Lansing plant. The Enclave shares that facility with the—you guessed it—slow selling Saturn Outlook.
Net—-the decision to try and infuse life into a dead idea (Saturn) is having big implications from a marketing standpoint—-these implication roll down the food chain to supply.
“I am NOT satisfied,” he yelled at a manager sheltering behind the reception desk. “It’s a new car. I’ve been back here FIVE TIMES and I am NOT satisfied.”
Regrettably, yelling within earshot of prospective buyers was the only to get attention at the Benz dealership I used to frequent far too often. That and simply sitting in one of the SL or CLK convertibles and falling asleep.
morbo, I am not sure that you did that couple any favours steering them toward the Armada, it’s reliability has been less than stellar.
In any event, I’d believe any story about a GM dealer. My last (last in every sense of the word) visit to a dealer prompted me to call GM directly and complain. I honestly don’t think I’ve dealt with a ruder individual in any retail environment. GM called me back to say the dealer would call and apologize, which they never did. GM called me again to ask if I had heard from the dealer yet, and GM said they’d call them again. I told the lady (who actually was nice) not to bother, I wasn’t interested in hearing from them.
This debacle could be worse than the Oprah/G6 miscalculation, except this time GM wasn’t working on Oprah’s timetable.
After all the hard work GM’s R&D departments did with the new ‘bu, its getting stunted by a marketing mishap. Shame.
The marketing gaffe isn’t the greatest thing, I’ll admit. But 90-120 days from now, that will all be forgotten about as the inventories start piling up.
The points about cannibalization are more pertinent here. Those who will be most attracted most will be those who would have already been inclined to buy a domestic. Shifting buyers from Saturns to Chevys won’t do much for the corporate bottom line.
In any case, I believe that the most important question is whether the Malibu will be able to win over many conquest sales from other brands, particularly the Asians. My guess is that it isn’t — it’s not unique enough from the competition for many among the Toyota and Honda faithful to switch.
To me, the soon-to-be failure of this car lies in the fact that it isn’t different enough to warrant a purchase, or even a look, from most buyers. If the car is as stylish as a Camry or Accord but not as reliable (which it won’t be — look to the shared bits with the Aura, G6 and Cobalt for a glimpse of what’s to come), then there will have been no point.
Nobody wants a Chevy Accord. Those who want one will just buy the real deal. They should have followed somewhat in the footsteps of the Chrysler 300 by making a styling statement that was different, so that the Malibu would be able to offer a unique value proposition that can’t be obtained from the rival products. That, and put a better drivetrain in it so that it doesn’t sound and feel like all of the other GM products that are gathering dust and incentives as we speak.
Pch101:
But 90-120 days from now, that will all be forgotten about as the inventories start piling up.
If a week is a long time in politics, 120 days is forever– at least between national TV ad campaign (or talk show host giveaway) and metal on the lots.
By then, the the phrase “piling up on the lots” may be more prophetic than you intended.
Also, the prospect of ‘Bu’s arriving in force 120 days out reminds me of the Solstice situation. Finally getting inventory on a hot new car in the middle of winter? How much sense does THAT make?
Beside, what’s the bet that ADD-afflicted GM moves on to the next Next Big Thing by then?
From what I can see (and my view is limited), the only guys that seem to be able to launch a vehicle flawlessly is Honda. The last few launches I have observed ensure that every dealer has good supply of a new model (for example, the dealer I do business with had eight new Accords on the ground of all trim levels on the September launch date).
I also wonder if GM has ratcheted back production to not only ensure good quality but also to not overproduce in case of insufficient demand.
The only thing worse than too few cars on a lot it too many on it for too long!
GM’s marketing has gone off prematurely. How embarrassing.
Clearly anxiety in upper management is to blame, but who greenlights a campaign for non-existent product these days? Perhaps someone is looking to depart the company?
Beside, what’s the bet that ADD-afflicted GM moves on to the next Next Big Thing by then?
That should make it right in time for them to focus on the G8 and forget all about the Malibu. Doesn’t that lauch in the dead of winter, RWD snow in the north, hmm I don’t see a problem here.
I still can’t find one of these Malibu’s to even look at, the closest one is 80 miles away and I’m not wasting gas on that. I saw one on the road when I drove up to Atlanta this weekend but my wife was not about the stop for a test drive, she hates GM more then me and she came from a must buy American family.
Does anyone know who is buying the car right now? Are they getting import buyers or just the GM faithful excited about a new product. Seams like a waste of $150 million to sell to people who would have bought the new product regardless, 6 months from now who is going to buy?
Here's an interesting, not entirely irrelevant factoid… Automotive News just released last month's inventory numbers (Frank's blogging). Pontiac dealers have a 211 day supply (8600 units) of Solstii on their lots. Anyone remember when Pontiac dealers were charging a premium for this vehicle?
” … the Impala has little competition (Charger, 300, Grand Marquis) and can actually say it offers something different …. ”
Actually the best competitor to the Impala is the Five Hundred/New Taurus. They are far more refined driving cars than is the Impala and are more spacious as well. I’ve driven both.
GM seems to still have the functional silos problem. I can imagine a year ago when the roll out program was being planned that the marketing launch date and dealer stocking programs probably were well aligned. Then as often happens, various supply and engineering hitches delayed the production ramp up. Marketing was “locked in” to a launch program and tells operations tough luck, we did our job and are going full speed ahead. Marketing has it’s butt covered because they are executing to plan while operations is behind. Guess what, it is a whole lot easier to hit an advertising schedule than it is to hit a production ramp up schedule. Once the ‘Bu is available in quantity the marketing programs will have moved on to the next 15 minutes of glory.
The right thing to do would have been to soft launch the new ‘Bu and then do the big advertising push after sufficient quantities were built to put at least 10 units on every lot.
How is it that Honda was able to launch the 2008 Accord with synchronized marketing and production while GM couldn’t shoot straight on the ‘Bu launch. Are Honda’s engineering, production and marketing people smarter and harder working than their counterparts at GM? The task each group faced was essentially the same. In fact, GM had a head start because the ‘Bu is built on the same platform as the already launched Aura while the 2008 Accord is the first of Honda’s next generation platform in it’s size class.
The author makes some decent points. However, I would say that GM’s marketing blitz is not all that ill timed as many people begin shopping for cars months in advance of a purchase. Dealers just started receiving Malibus about 2 weeks ago. Generally speaking dealerships regardless of manufacturer are not fully stocked the day the car is launched. Also, isnt a superior product a significant enough commitment to the customer that your company has changed for the better.
The customer confrontation, if it actually happended, could have happened anywhere, and the customer could have nothing to legitimately complain about.
The brand and vehicle cannibalization is going to happen. GM has made a commitment to better compete with the imports. Every new car they come out with recently has made other offerings that have been on sale for a while look bad. Eventually, as old models are replaced, this will not be such a problem.
I guess what I dont understand is that the Author would have GM spend 150 million reminding everyone of the low quality vehicles of the past, then take content and quality out of the Malibu so it doesnt cannibalize sales from other GM vehicles and stop building crossovers (a very hot and growing segment) becuase they steal sales of SUVs (a struggling segment). Sounds like a winner??????.
Surprise! The folks who couldn’t run a car company still can’t.
The one thing Nardelli has going for him is that he has not yet been proven to be a failure at running a car company.
GM is kinda screwing this one up it looks like. They compete like a hacker in golf; sometimes they drive good but putt bad, other times they drive and putt pretty good but chipping blows…etc. They never seem to bring a complete game to a match, and you never know which part will be good and which will be bad. The ‘Bu I see as maybe a real deal in six months or so, when they put cash on the dash after chasing all the early adopters to Rice-in-Ohio Nation over the winter with no inventory and the dealership experience issues.
It seems like one of the two usual suspects in screwing up (managers or the union) is really putting in some overtime of ineptitude to spoil good product so thoroughly. Maybe the suits were busy losing oxygen ‘cause the ties were tight after “losing” 38 billion dollars last week. I live in Idaho; pretty red state, actually see a lot of Buick LaCrosses (non-Hertz LaCrosses even!) and such here. I’ve only seen one Enclave and was always surprised why they aren’t all over my SUV-happy/Buick-loving neck of the woods and now I know why, GM doesn’t have the stuff you want to buy from them. I can get a Rendezvous (still on the local Buick lot, the incentives must be tremendous) today but not an Enclave (full price) next month. GM, how do you do it?
When you think about it, GM’s North American outfit has cranked out consistently positive stuff over the last twelve months like they haven’t been in years. Cadillac is actually breathing again (no more crash cart paddles needed), the Aura is pretty nice little car, they have a pair of nifty roadsters, the GMT-900’s are quality goodies if fighting for a shrinking market-space, the Lambda boxes are very competitive entries in a growing market-space, and the current generation ‘Vette is a modern classic. How can they screw this up and not make any money AND lose more market-space this year? If they can’t notch up even a tick more market share this year with all that good iron, GM is going to be taken out behind the barn before too long…I guess that’s why the column is called “Deathwatch!” With management like this, GM could invent a Ferrari-looking AWD drive ride that stuffs’em in like a clown car and is fusion-powered, and still muck it up.
Anyone remember when Pontiac dealers were charging a premium for this vehicle?
I can’t speak for everyone but the Pontiac Stores I deal with were still taking deposits and getting MSRP on the GXP Solstii back in the Summer.
Currently, they’ve got about 8 or 9 Solstii on the ground but it is November and we’ve got six more months of darkness before its sports car season again. While they would agree the Solstice market has dried up, they are bullish on the car’s potential in the Spring again.
I would like to disagree with everyone that says this car is somehow bad and a disgrace to automotivedom. I have read several positive reviews and seen a couple of video tests by Japanese auto journalists that say the Solstice is a worthy competitor to the Miata. It is a matter of preference. Is the car a useless conveyance for more than one… yes but if you’re looking for utility in a two-seater buy a Ranger.
I was surprised to read that GM was “limiting” production of the Enclave to maintain their rarity and support prices.
I am surprised the new Malibu is hard to find while it is “hot news”.
Most car buyers that are sophisticated will NOT wait for, nor play games to acquire a GM vehicle.
This is not good.
dougw :
I was surprised to read that GM was “limiting” production of the Enclave to maintain their rarity and support prices.
I would take that claim with a large grain of salt.
Enclave scarcity may have more to do with the failure of the Saturn Outlook and the inflexibility of GM’s plants than any clever plan to maintain buzz or protect residuals.
Occam’s razor suggested they blew that one too. I mean, why wouldn’t Buick– poor, moth-eaten Buick– make hay while the sun shines?
My dad was in town this weekend, and we went out on Friday afternoon to look at the new Malibu. I should say, though, that we ended up having to LOOK FOR the new Malibu…
Two of the Chevy dealers in suburban St. Paul, MN did not have any in stock. The third dealer had two, both loaded out LTZs, one of which was sold. We were allowed to sit in, but not drive the unsold car, even though we will both be buying new cars in the next 3 months. This bothered us, especially my dad who is a GM loyalist bar none.
The thing I noticed at all of these dealerships was that none of the Chevy passenger cars were visible from the road. The lot was lined with many, many Tahoes, Suburbans, Silverados, and even Equinoxes…but all of the actual cars were hidden away from street view. Driving by, there is no way an interested customer could see a new Malibu. A real shame considering how lovely, at least to my eyes, the new Malibu is in person, especially in a lighter paint shade. How are they going to get people onto the lot if they can’t see the product?
My dad, who bought a new Corvette this past spring, was not surprised. As we were driving away he said “you really can’t expect much from a Chevy dealer…nice cars, but you about have to beg them to buy one”. If you give someone enough rope, they’ll eventually hang themselves.
was surprised to read that GM was “limiting” production of the Enclave to maintain their rarity and support prices.
I would take that claim with a large grain of salt.
Enclave scarcity may have more to do with the failure of the Saturn Outlook and the inflexibility of GM’s plants than any clever plan to maintain buzz or protect residuals.
Occam’s razor suggested they blew that one too. I mean, why wouldn’t Buick– poor, moth-eaten Buick– make hay while the sun shines?
It might also have to do with the parts supply chain. Unlike the GMC and the Saturn units many panels and trim pieces of the Buick are unique. If there is some issue with quality or quantity of those pieces, then the Enclave doesn’t get built. We all know how much the suppliers love GM these days too.
“J.D. Powers, Consumer Reports and TrueDelta have documented GM products’ increased quality and reliability.”
LOOK AT THE RECENT DATA AGAIN
CR-GM should thank God every day that Toyota grabbed the CR headlines. Only bad dog Rover kept them from sweeping the “Bottom 5”. Of the 18 vehicles below the -80% line half were GM. 51% of their machines failed to make the average range (-20 to 20% of mean) and very few exceeded the average range (4, I think, and the best? The Vibe. A Toyota. Ouch.) The GMT900 launch was a disaster (pickups excepted).
Every GM division except Buick and Saturn had a bigger drop than Toyota!
This is improvement?
JDP-VDS, 2005 was their high point. Since then they have had far fewer category winners and the bulk of their brands are below the industry average.
True Delta- the scores of GM’s vehicles barely overlaps Toyota’s range on the low end and doesn’t touch Honda’s. Not impressed.
RF-The automotive press has basically given them a free pass in recent years. How about a “Truth about GM Reliability” analysis. The data says “below average” with some vehicles that are as bad as any sold in the USA.
BTW-Ford looks way better in all three, hope they make it.
Other wise the article had some good points. I think cannibalism will run rampant.
Cheerio,
Bunter
jthorner:
“GM seems to still have the functional silos problem. I can imagine a year ago when the roll out program was being planned that the marketing launch date and dealer stocking programs probably were well aligned. Then as often happens, various supply and engineering hitches delayed the production ramp up. Marketing was “locked in” to a launch program and tells operations tough luck, we did our job and are going full speed ahead. Marketing has it’s butt covered because they are executing to plan while operations is behind. Guess what, it is a whole lot easier to hit an advertising schedule than it is to hit a production ramp up schedule. Once the ‘Bu is available in quantity the marketing programs will have moved on to the next 15 minutes of glory.”
Hopefully this is not true, but I don’t know anything about the inside workings of GM.
I do know that back when Chrysler was a good car company they learned from Honda that every aspect of the corp that touches the car – design, engineering, manufacturing, suppliers, finance, and of course marketing work under the platform manager. Everything is kept in sync and the lines of communication are kept open. So there are no gotcha’s or one department working alone as an island.
I’ve got to echo some of the other comments here. I was at a Honda dealership the day of the launch of the new Accord and they already had more than a dozen of them on the lot in a variety of option levels. In contrast, I’ve seen Malibu ads plastered all over print and the web for at least the last two months, and I still didn’t know the car had finally launched until I read the review on this site last week.
There is a well-respected (no, really!) Chevy dealership next door to my office and I’ve made friends with one of the salespeople who has worked there for a number of years. A week and a half ago I asked him when they would have the new Malibus in stock. (I check out their lot every day and have yet to see a single one on the lot.) He said he only expected a random delivery of the cars to their lot here or there, 2 or 4 at a time, until sometime around the beginning of the new year, when they reach “full supply.” He spoke as though this is how GM always does product launches–nothing new to him (nor apparently anything new to the experienced commenters on this site). After seeing how smoothly the Accord rolled out in September, I couldn’t believe his response. At least in the meantime the dealership has an abundance of Lucernes and Impalas, both new and used, though the year-old used models are already marked 40% off original MSRP…
There are only a couple of domestic cars in this neighborhood. The owners are not pleased.
I would like to see GM regain its financial health. but I have been burned by specious promises too many times. I will not buy until Consumer Reports has several years reliability history and recommends it.
GM talks the talk, but will not walk the walk. It lacks confidence in its products else it would match Hyundai’s warranty. Why should I underwrite GM’s risk?
Typical GM.
the Impala has little competition (Charger, 300, Grand Marquis) and can actually say it offers something different (namely more space and less boring looks) than the mid-size competition
Add the Taurus in the equation and the Impala is handily beaten, especially in room, overall sophistication, and rear seat comfort. The Charger and 300 beat the Impala down in the looks department. I don’t think I’ve seen a car take such a huge step backwards in the inoffensive looks department (ala last-gen Camry and Accord).
The Malibu seems a sure winner, but just of the GM sweepstakes…..
There are a few ’08 Malibus on ebay, being sold by dealers, at LIST, the LTZ’s for $28k.
Who, in their right mind, would buy a $28k Malibu?!?
That’s within spitting distance of a year or two old certified 3-series BMW!
(which care would you bet on!)
Pete
GM is the equivalent of a sickly 45 year old man addicted to 3 packs of cigarettes a day. The man refuses to try the patch, even though he says he wants to quit. He refuses to try gum, counseling or any other proven method due to his stubbornness, and then gets defensive when those who care about him and want him to get better encourage him to quit.
He just wants quitting to be easy.
This is GM. They appear to have the will, but just can’t get themselves to go all the way with a project they say they’re committed to winning.
It’s rare to see a corporate culture committed to or resigned to failure the way GM is.
Just heard that reason for shortage of Enclave is becuase the supplier who sells portholes for Buick went out business thanks to GM’s price squeezing. There is no shortage of Saturn and GMC clones.
I will say this for GM, which is that the tenor of the discussion has certainly changed. We now talk about marketing failures, rather than product failures, which are much more serious. Two years ago, (Corvette excluded) it was hard to point to a GM vehicle which was competitive, let alone best in class.
But the recent major introductions: the Silverado, Tahoe, Acadia/Enclave, CTS and Malibu have all been widely received as competitive and, depending on the buyer’s specific needs, best in class. I don’t think anyone driving these vehicles should be embarrassed by their choice.
OK, not all GM product is up to snuff yet, witness the 5 vehicles on the Ten Worst list. But the trend is comforting.
On the other hand look at Chrysler. The Caliber/ComPatriot, Sebring/Avenger, Nitro/Liberty and Aspen are essentially losers. The minivans — their bread and butter — bring new features to the table, but are not superior to Ody/Sienna, and for most buyers are inferior.
You can fix marketing problems if you have good product. But if the vehicles are lousy, and your strategy is to cheapen the mechanicals further, then it’s hard to imagine you’ll outrun the Bear.
Granted the production problems are largely responsible, but some of the supply limitations probably have a lot to do with too many Chevy dealers serving a shrinking pool of prospective buyers.
If Chevy’s (and GM in general) had a right-sized dealer network, they wouldn’t have to spread what little they have so thin. Less dealers would mean a better chance of keeping at least one around as a tester, also.
Now that they’ve finished (for now) with the union, time to find a way to trim dealers, at least for each make.
drifter : “Just heard that reason for shortage of Enclave is becuase the supplier who sells portholes for Buick went out business thanks to GM’s price squeezing. There is no shortage of Saturn and GMC clones”
I believe this is a joke…….but would not be surprised if it wasn’t.
Whatever the reason—dealers cannot get more than 1-2 Enclaves at a time. A pity and a shame for Buick…but in the big picture not a deal breaker for a low volume product.
Now….the new high volume Malibu…that’s another case..every dealer needs adequate product like now !
I wonder if the slow launch is to give dealers a chance to get rid of the ’07s? Kinda dumb in regards to Camcordima buyers – Chevy dealers are lucky these folks took the time to try to see the car. But it’s not so stupid as regards the traditional Chevy customer. Hook ’em with the new ‘Bu but then offer them a deeply discounted ’07. Lots of those in stock.
Anyway, I think PCH was right, in a few months, there will be no problem being able to see the car.
My own experience was different than many, the dealer called when the ‘Bu was in. I went intending only to look. They absolutely insisted I test drive it.
There won’t be many conquest sales, but I’m giving GM enough credit to know that wasn’t in the cards anyway. What they do have is a car that won’t loose them customers – and that’s a big improvement.
It’s the long term that matters here. If GM is now going to make a habit of benchmarking the leaders when building a new vehicle, they will improve. If we’re going to start seeing GM build competitive vehicles in several segments, then we may see a real turn around.
AS a long time GM dealer there has always been a diconnect at new car time. GM wants to start advertising to get ahead of supply because it takes time to get a message out. Dealers have always wanted lots of merchandise on the lot before advertising begins. I think you will see Chevy advertising this one alot! they have budgeted a huge program.
The new ‘Bu and the new Accord get launched about the same time. Let’s see how long it takes for the replacement for these two models. . . .5 years from now, a heavily revised Accord will arrive like clockwork, raising the bar yet again. Will GM be able to do the same to keep the Malibu competitive?
Vance—I like the new Accord but there is a question as to whether Honda really raised the bar with this edition or simply made it larger….bangle butt and all. Also, If GM follows second edition of the new Malibu with the same attention to detail and raising the bar as the second edition of the CTS…they will be OK.
In any event—both the new Malibu and the Accord beat the Camry.
$150 million ad campaign? I don’t know how many Malibus GM intends to move this MY, but let’s say it’s 200K. That’s $750 in marketing per car. But we all know that they won’t move 200K, the number will be lucky to hit 50K…or $3000 in marketing per car.
Yikes.
andyinsdca “$150 million ad campaign? I don’t know how many Malibus GM intends to move this MY, but let’s say it’s 200K. That’s $750 in marketing per car. But we all know that they won’t move 200K, the number will be lucky to hit 50K…or $3000 in marketing per car”
I’d place a sizable bet that the number is much closer to 200k than your 50K.
Also, according to your quick analysis even if it’s a grand a car, that’s better than a grand of variable marketing on the hood. A clever ad campaign doesn’t destroy residual, a rebate does. I would guess that is GM’s plan with the big budget marketing. Spend more upfront to put less on the hood.
So if I read the numbers right, GM is planning to spend $150 million to launch/market the new Malibu. Another poster guestimated its first year sales number to be 150,000ish. So that’s $1,000 per car…hmmmmm.
(Sorry, I hadn’t read the 2 prior posts)
I can’t help but wonder how many 1955 Chevys were on the dealers lots circa October 1954? Methinks tons, because they sold sumpin like 1.4 million of ’em.
Toyota now has $500 back on Camrys, including the hybrid. At the local one-price dealer here, that comes out to almost $1000 below invoice = approx $20 million per month in incentives. Whatever it takes the loyalists to stay in the fold…
Given that the big T’s projected to earn $20 billion this year, that’s a drop in the bucket.
Also, according to your quick analysis even if it’s a grand a car, that’s better than a grand of variable marketing on the hood. A clever ad campaign doesn’t destroy residual, a rebate does. I would guess that is GM’s plan with the big budget marketing. Spend more upfront to put less on the hood.
That strategy just might work in a Vacuum, but needless to say the automotive market place is not a vacuum. Look, if Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford start adding rebates to move their products GM will be in a very bad spot. The 150mil on adverstising will be wasted. While the new Malibu is good it does not have the “goods” to sell at a higher price than the competition.
Regarding the lack of supply, this is nothing new. The Solstice has already been mentioned. Some other recent gotta’ have cars with little to no stock were the Chevy SSR (retro looks, I guess?), the Chrysler PT Cruiser (okay, that’s quite awhile ago), and the latest generation Ford Mustang. My wife’s a Mustang fan and she’s not alone. With all of the hoopla about the current generation Mustang leading up to its appearance on dealer lots, you would think they would have devoted a little more production space to building them, like they did for the ’65-’69 Mustangs, for instance.
I think the current Malibu situation is even worse though. They spent millions of dollars advertising a car that wasn’t even released yet. Continued to spend millions of dollars while doling out a handfull of Malibus with an eye dropper. And will probably continue to spend millions of dollars advertising the Malibu until production ramps up to meet the prior months’ demands, at which point they will stop advertising for a few months until they start advertising the great rebates being offered on new Malibus to get all of the stock off the dealer lots.
Along the lines of the person who was only allowed to sit in a new Malibu. As I said, my wife is a Mustang fanatic. When the new Mustangs came out, she wanted to test drive one and see what it was like. Her ’95 Cobra Mustang was beginning to look and feel its age, and she was interested in getting a new car. The dealer only had a couple of GT Mustangs on the lot and wouldn’t let us take one for a test drive unless we put a deposit down towards purchase!? Get real. Needless to say, my wife didn’t get a new Mustang (the Cobra’s definitely ready to be put out to pasture now). Just last year, at a different dealership, we stopped just to see what variety of Mustangs they had in stock. Not only was the lot full of GT’s in various trim levels, they also had Stage 1, 2, and 3 Rousch Mustangs and practically begged us to test drive one of the Saleen Mustangs they had. What a difference a couple of years makes (or maybe it was just the dealership).
I was at a local Honda store over the weekend to look at a Civic with my daughter. The store had 77 08 Accords in stock. This is one store, and there are maybe 7 or 8 in my metropolitan area.
Maybe Chevy is not dumb at all. What an embarassment for Honda that the new Accords are not flying out the door like the new Civic a couple years ago. Now Chevy has a little panache of scarcity going for it.
I’m sure channel planning is a delicate balance, and part of an overall product strategy,. I am not so sure that Chevy blew this.
ronin :
I am not so sure that Chevy blew this.
I am.
Too little too late. it will take more than the Malibu to save GM. They are dead already. Some estimates say that they need to earn $5B annually just to service the debt. How many Malibu’s is that.
The gravitationally challenged rotund female vocalist is a headin’ for the stage!
There are good reasons for some forgiveness of the Malibu launch and also to be more demanding of GM in its marketing execution. The decision to begin advertising the Malibu on the schedule launched was not in itself an error. Repetition is essential to driving a new message into the market, particularly when said message has to carry perception-altering influence and is trying to drive a transaction in the end. So it makes sense to begin early, before dealers are broadly supplied. However, the content of the advertising and the pace of spending are areas to question.
Chevy could have spent more on creative and a little less on media, to sequence public awareness of the car. Pre-launch marketing could have announced that a new Malibu was coming (I wish they had branded this “Chevelle”), ticked off its primary value propositions (unprecedented manufacturing precision you can see and feel, competitive range of drivetrains, new standard in interior design and materials, excellent mileage, affordable mild hybrid version, a styled to be a “statement” car for the working family, etc., etc.) without showing the car. Or the visuals could have been silhouettes or vignettes of real details without revealing the whole. They should have announced an availability date.
The purpose of the prelaunch marketing would have been to build interest among the faithful (yes, Chevy still has a faithful — many if not most of those Cobalts, HHRs, Impalas and prior Malibus on the road actually work fine) *and* engender a little uncertainty into the market so that the least committed of the import intenders might delay their market evaluation a bit. The import bigots are not available to Chevy this go-round, but there are always some folks to peel away.
As the availability date drew closer, more of the car should have been revealed. They might have included real reactions to early civilian testers, even a few who might have said on screen that they had a disappointing experience with Chevy before but this is a car you have to see and experience.
At some point before the full reveal of the car and pulling trigger on the major media blast, some cars should have trickled into dealers, perhaps a month early, to get some on the road, make sure salespeople at the dealerships got informed and comfortable with the car. It could have been floated out on the lots to surprise some shoppers. GM could have covered an extra month of floor planning costs on this initial trickle of fully inspected cars to cover risk that they might sit for awhile before the marketing blast kicks in.
During this pre-launch ramp up, Impala marketing should have shifted a bit to promote its differences from the mid-size segment, in anticipation of being shopped against Malibu and losing. As for the other divisions’ platform stablemates, let them compete.
Once all dealers could be assured of having some present minimum number of cars — 6? a dozen? — on the availability date, the full reveal, full-blast marketing should have turned on 10 – 14 days early.
Someone here mentioned that advertising has to lead actual shopping by at least a month. That’s a legitimate observation. The launch marketing can’t hope to stop very many people in their tracks who are deep into the final stages of their evaluation cycle. Maybe some, but most, no. The prime point of psychological entry is to be top of mind as the prospective buyer enters their consideration cycle. That’s when they begin to short list the cars they can imagine themselves owning.
As much as product has been deficient in specific models over the past few decades, those quality shortcomings could have been mitigated by better service and customer management policies. GM and the rest of the domestics have not viewed marketing holistically as a business function. Keep in mind, a holistic view of marketing includes product management, which further includes creating and managing the product spec working with engineering, manufacturing and representatives of the market external to the company to adjudicate the tension between internal vision, the conservatism of market acceptance and what’s feasible to offer.
During all those years of spotty product, it has been possible for customers to select specific models and have a Toyota or Honda-like reliability experience, but marketing never really showed that to the world either. Essentially, rebates and other forms of cash on the hood are the measure of failed marketing, rather than the marketing tool they are touted to be. Marketing is the most broken part of the Detroit automakers and whereas these companies are not in trouble due to an insufficiency of engineering talent or design talent but more due to the management of those talent pools, I genuinely do feel the marketing failures are directly due to a lack of marketing competence up and down the organization.
These companies were once master marketers, but there appears to be no institutional memory of this left. The advertising for Malibu is far better than most of what GM runs on behalf of its cars, and this is mostly due to the fact that it does not rely on intensive creative. It is a nuts and bolts campaign to show the car. Good; simple pays. But this approach is bereft of the drama and emotion that should have infused Malibu marketing to manage the psychology of the market, prepare people for something truly beyond their likely expectations, and get even people not in the market to take notice. Marketing must energize more than just the target shopper. It must create awareness and interest among the circle of influencers on a buying decision. WIth $150mm allocated, funds are not the shortcoming. Creative content is.
Contrast Malibu’s switch-on-from-darkness launch marketing with Honda’s joyful, upbeat, “Hold on Tight to Your Dreams” theme for Accord. The import brands are using American marketing expertise and ad agencies. Why aren’t the Detroit 3 hiring the best or getting the best out of whom they hire? The answer is an insufficiency of marketing intellectual capital in these companies. Arguing your way to success with Malibu’s features only goes so far. The ad production work looks good. The car looks great. The details chosen for emphasis are the usual. Now, get me to *want* it. Put me in the car via the communications vehicles available. Put me in the ownership experience you plan for me, GM.
The back cover of Automobile Magazine and many of the other buff books has a color ad for the Cadillac CTS. It’s a collage of 18 different images of part of a CTS, with the emphasis on showing the schnoz. All the images are tiny. I can’t see the whole car. There’s no information. No angle. No engagement other than the red and chrome face of the car. On a macro level it’s kind of a cool image. On an engagement level, it’s a wasted opportunity given the cost of that back cover.
Phil
I saw a non-dealer owned Malibu on the road last Monday (in Michigan). This weekend, I was in L.A. and had rented a minivan (Hyundai). When I got to the lot, I was surprised to have been assigned an Enclave. The people next to us got an Outlook instead of their minivan. There was a dealer in San Gabriel that had an Enclave on their lot that was quite visible, and the only other one I saw was in a driveway in San Marino. It was somewhat of a mystery vehicle to most folks there, and when I was getting my family out of the car at a park, the family next to me complimented me with “Nice car! What is it?” I’ve never been complimented on any vehicle before. As an aside, they were getting out of a Prius. G.M., fix your marketing and brand awareness, your cars are looking a lot better than before.
Really now, I don’t see the problem. Actually, I do see the problem, but it’s a damn good problem to have… building a car that people want right now and the inability to accommodate demand. You can prance right over to the Honda or Toyota dealers and see a sea of Accords and Camrys. But if you want a Malibu, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. We all get excited about Corvettes and RS4s, but I haven’t ever seen this kind of frenzy and anticipation in a mainstream sedan ever. Who would’ve though that the Malibu would become an aspirational vehicle? It might not sell as well as the Camry, but who cares? Chevy should focus on selling lots of heavily optioned Malibus. To increase their margins, Chevy just needs to add nav to the option list. Later, an SS version. Just like the Chrysler 300, the Malibu will be in demand by people in all socioeconomic classes.
Each brand needs to build the best product it can without worrying about cannibalizing the other. Who ever decided that it’s bad to have TOO many good products? This idea of dumbing down one brand to make way for the other brand is nonsense. We’ve seen it with the Ford Focus, the last Malibu and the crummy Lexus ES. Each brand should be distinctive and defined, and the products within the brand should be developed with that in mind. The math is easy… build good products and the people will come. Service them properly and they’ll stay.
GM should take the Aveo and make a Prius killer out of it. But maybe they don’t want to take the wind out of the Volts sails.
Don’t hold your breath! One good car will never undo years upon years of automotive mediocrity, corporate arrogance and ‘what would the customer know’ attitudes. The only reason why the Malibu is hard to find is GM can’t get it’s act together in the assembly plants. The car has no ‘WOW’ factor whatsoever and will only generate the ‘gotta have it’ feeling among GM loyalists. There will not be a massive shift of Camcordima buyers to this particular car, good and all as it is. It deserves the same criticism that is frequently aimed at the Camry, that it is bland, soulless, a mere appliance! While it’s a better effort than what has come out of GM in years, it has yet to prove itself to be reliable and dependable like it’s competition (and I am thinking about the Fusion as well as the Camcordima).
We all get excited about Corvettes and RS4s, but I haven’t ever seen this kind of frenzy and anticipation in a mainstream sedan ever. Who would’ve though that the Malibu would become an aspirational vehicle?
I doubt that there is any way to measure this, either way, but the only buzz I sense being generated by this vehicle is on websites such as this. As far as I can tell, Everyman and Everywoman are fairly indifferent to it and haven’t yet figured out that they are supposed to be excited.
Anecdotally (for what that’s worth), I’ve heard more chatter about the new Accord (“It’s bigger!”) than about the Malibu. The irony is that the fanboys will like the Malibu for being a better car, even though it fairly well resembles the very thing that they claim to loathe the most — a Camry. And let’s face it, they would have liked it had GM just welded a bowtie to the front of a golf cart.
Meanwhile, the Toyonda crowd will stick with those, because they like and trust them. Maybe they’ll nab a few Fusion buyers, but would that be progress?
You beat me to it, Pch101. Blue Adidas’ claim of such “frenzy” over the Malibu got me to chuckle. Again, the only place I’ve seen any “frenzy” is on TTAC…and about 5 to 10 posters claim to have gone to check out the car, some intending to buy, others just to browse. Frenzy indeed!
And yes, I find that the new Malibu shares much in common with the Camry, with its rounded slab nose, swept back headlights and very similar greenhouse shape…this is a GM Camry.
And while someone said that it must be embarrassing for Honda to have 77 Accords on the lot, I doubt they see it that way at all. It might not be “flying” off the lot (I have no idea about the actual sales numbers) but if it sells close to the ‘typical’ Accord rate, they shouldn’t have too much trouble getting those off the lot.
And Phil, do you really think that a “new standard in interior design and materials” and “excellent mileage” are really primary value propositions for the Malibu? The interior seems nice, but I think a “new standard in design and materials” is probably pushing it. “Beats Camry” isn’t necessarily “new standard”.
As someone mentioned in the Malibu comments thread…
“The Camry’s 4 cyl is nothing special, and the Malibu 4 cyl is roughly equal, I’ll give you that. The Accord though has two 4 cylinders offered with equal fuel economy. The top 4 cyl is 190HP, which is 21HP more than the Malibu 4 cyl. The Malibu 4 cyl is competitive with the Camry’s 4 cyl, but not with the Accord 4 cyl versions.
With the V6 Camry and V6 Accord, they offer more power *and* better fuel economy.”
And Phil, do you really think that a “new standard in interior design and materials” and “excellent mileage” are really primary value propositions for the Malibu? The interior seems nice, but I think a “new standard in design and materials” is probably pushing it. “Beats Camry” isn’t necessarily “new standard”.
Let’s separate a few things here. First, I was pointing out possible claims Chevy product marketers might promote in a sequenced reveal of the car pre-launch. Certainly the interior is a new standard for a modern GM car in the family sedan class and it appears competitive with anything in the price range. I haven’t yet been inside a Malibu. I’ve seen two in the metal, locked up tight. The LA Auto Show starts on Friday so if not before, I will see one or more of them close up then. However, the current Camry interior is not up to this Chevy’s design standard and its materials and craftsmanship are not in any way exceptional. To me it feels cheap, nasty and barely assembled. Honda does better. From a design standpoint, I don’t know of a mid-size sedan interior that equals the new Malibu, however. Until I see and feel the materials, I won’t comment on whether they’re a new standard or even equal to VW, Honda or anyone else touted as the leader. But the high resolution photos I’ve seen look encouraging.
Still, if the carmaker doesn’t believe in the car, the public sure won’t. Mileage, design, materials quality, driving experience, ride, space utilization are all aspects marketing should have a handle on promoting to shape perceptions in advance of the car.
Phil
“Really now, I don’t see the problem. Actually, I do see the problem, but it’s a damn good problem to have… building a car that people want right now and the inability to accommodate demand.’
You have it wrong. If the new Malibu was a runaway best seller and inventories were low due to fast sell through then you would be right. But the problem is that the Malibu supply line is constipated and is only dribbling out what should be a high volume car in single digit per dealer per month quantities. That would be fine for a specialty vehicle like Solstice, but is unacceptable for a high volume family car.
The big marketing blitz should have been pushed back until the product was flowing at a decent rate.
Again, why is Honda able to do this and GM isn’t? There is nothing magical about the product release process. Hard, yes, but magical, no. Product managers spend their lives juggling all the details which go into such an effort.
“First, I was pointing out possible claims Chevy product marketers might promote in a sequenced reveal of the car pre-launch.”
That’s what I figured.
“However, the current Camry interior is not up to this Chevy’s design standard and its materials and craftsmanship are not in any way exceptional. To me it feels cheap, nasty and barely assembled.”
I know exactly what you mean. I remember when I sat in the latest-gen Camry when it was introduced at a local auto show. My wife’s dad had purchased her a 2001 Camry whilst we were still in college (pre-marriage) and while it wasn’t my ride-of-choice, it had better interior design and fit-n-finish than this newest Camry. The knobs looked tacky and overall I was greatly disappointed in Toyota for mucking up what had been a very functional and well-screwed-together interior. I don’t doubt that the Malibu’s bests the Camry’s.
“Still, if the carmaker doesn’t believe in the car, the public sure won’t.”
Yup.
And Phil, do you really think that a “new standard in interior design and materials” and “excellent mileage” are really primary value propositions for the Malibu? The interior seems nice, but I think a “new standard in design and materials” is probably pushing it. “Beats Camry” isn’t necessarily “new standard”.
It’s deja vu all over again. How quickly we forget that this is one of many “turnaround” vehicles released over the last several years.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Back in 2003, Business Week wrote a rather glowing article touting Rick Wagoner’s heroic efforts to turn the company with a grand variety of soon-to-be-released breakthrough products. Those included the:
-Malibu (the car that this one is replacing)
-Grand Prix
-GTO
-Chevy Equinox
-Cadillac SRX
-Silverado
We all know by now that the Malibu was moribund, the Grand Prix was a rental queen, and the GTO was dead and deader. The Silverado is arguably the class leader and sells well if laden with incentives.
Since then, we’ve also had the Solstice (come and almost gone) and the Aura. This is the American Revolution in which nary a shot was fired. And gentlemen, this is not a time for gun control.
The little kid in me who thought that Camaros and Chevelles were cool would like to think that they are onto something. For what it’s worth, I have some mild hopes that the Astra and G8 will prove themselves.
But the pragmatist in me knows better. I seriously doubt that the Astra will sway many Toyota or Honda buyers, while the G8 won’t sell many copies, period, even under the best of circumstances. (The new slogan could be “G8 — the halo car without the halo.”)
The problem is that this quasi-epiphany (the one in which they seem to understand styling, but not finesse or reliability) should have occurred about fifteen years ago, when they would have had a chance to pass the competition. But now, they’re too far behind, and the public is too jaded or uninterested to care very much. It’s just easier to buy something else that is more likely to work as intended, and won’t be padded with excuses when it doesn’t.
“G8 won’t sell many copies, period, even under the best of circumstances.”
One part of the problem is the name. Pontiac was brain dead when the went with the G-spot naming convention. Grand Prix, Riviera, Bonneville, Firebird, Lemans, Tempest … Pontiac has a vast reservoir of great car names in it’s history. Why throw that all away for G_?
Small, medium, large: Lemans, Tempest, Bonneville.
Oldsmobile also ran from it’s heritage before getting the ax.
There will not be a massive shift of Camcordima buyers to this particular car, good and all as it is. It deserves the same criticism that is frequently aimed at the Camry, that it is bland, soulless, a mere appliance!
Finally, a fair an balanced review about the Malibu. You left out the historically unreliable part though.
I get to drive a Malibu next monday. Its a ride and drive thing though, so no real world stuff. I get to swing it around Texas Motor Speedway though.
However, the whole launch of this vehicle has been just damned infuriating. I get about ten phone calls a day of dealerships wondering where the hell their Malibu is. Blitzing the hell out of the advertising, but don’t expect to be able to buy one. Oh well.
Same yelling is happening at showrooms all over NA over the Aura.. some real lemons out there so far.
The Malibu was the closest an American car came to getting my wife to look at a GM brand. We couldn’t see one at the dealer and then she went to look at a Civic Hybrid. With a discount and tax rebate it came in close to the same price. She is currently driving my Focus and hates it. I don’t think she will wait for the Volt but I do hope I can get something like that soon.
I don’t want to see the big 3 die but the news tonight reported gas is expected to climb another 10 to 20 cents a gallon. If they don’t come up with some comfortable fuel efficient cars that are well built soon I know the Koreans or Chinese will. To me that is a scary thought.
Sadly, domestics are always going to be thought of as junk by the masses driving Hondas and Toyotas. Its going to take not one but several extrodinary vehicles to turn the ship around for the 2.8, not just GM. Now that Toyota is on its knees worldwide with serious quality issues, now is the domestic’s best shot at a window to make inroads. If they don’t sieze the moment, Toyota will regain a grip, or Honda will pounce on Toyota’s slump, and still the 2.8 are left with table scraps. If I was a bigshot of GM, the first thing I’d do is eliminate all the repetitious brands like Buick and Pontiac. Chevy and Cadillac, that’s it. Oh, and offer a 10-year 100,000 mile warranty.
“Blitzing the hell out of the advertising, but don’t expect to be able to buy one.”
This just boggles my mind. How can an MBA infested corporation be so screwed up as to have a massive new product advertising campaign going on during a time of severely limited supplies. Whatever “demand” is drummed up with this campaign isn’t going to wait another six months until the factory is humming. Get people into a shopping mood and they are going to shop, not wait.
They should take a page from standard retail new store opening practices. Retailers normally do a soft opening where they are open for business, but don’t do any advertising yet. Work out the kinks, take in a little money from people who happen by and then … have a big grand opening event with lots of advertising, special events, etc. Smart retailers do this all the time. Chevy should have done that with the 2008 Malibu. Start the supplies tricking into the dealerships, let people get their feet wet, start a little buzz from early adopters who will brag about their new find to friends and get the factory rolling. Then when the thing is humming along, do the big advertising splash.
It is so simple and so well understood that I just don’t understand how the millions of dollars worth of GM management could screw this up.
My money is still on the “silos” theory I posted earlier. Probably at some point in the past the manufacturing and advertising schedules made sense … and then **** happened and the ad people didn’t adjust.
If GM loaded the pipeline with cars and the car bombed, you would all say what a bunch of fools. Now they have to discount the cars.
This is a damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
We are awful quick to criticize. Why don’t we all just wait and see what happens.
Queensmet : If GM loaded the pipeline with cars and the car bombed, you would all say what a bunch of fools. Now they have to discount the cars. This is a damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Wrong. There is an optimal supply for ANY product on a car dealer’s lot. Most industry analysts peg it at 60. (Mind you, Lexus and Toyota do just fine in the mid-40’s.) Again, not having cars to sell that you’re encouraging people to buy is the worst kind of madness. Madness that hurts dealers, damages brands and costs precious marketing dollars. IF GM had soft-launched the ‘Bu– letting word of mouth build-up before the ad campaign and plenty of stock– then fine. But they didn’t. So not fine.
Isn’t there job to manage the supply and anticipate the demand load. Everyone justifies these managers huge salaries, isn’t this what all that money is going for, brains in the industry. These guys didn’t start doing business last week. And there are plenty of successful auto companies to learn from including there own past.
What magic formula defines “60 days supply” before you have sold any. I know how it is done when you have a sales figure to work with.
Do you go by the marketing guys over developed imagination as to how many vehicles will sell or some marketing survey from hand picked responders or a crystal ball?
This is why I never started my own business.
jthorner:
You got me beat, I have a poli sci degree. I’m just doing this to take a breather from 19 years of school before going on to law school. But I do agree with you. However, I’m way to low on the food chain to make any changes.
BEAT :
November 13th, 2007 at 11:45 am
They are pretty good looking cars and one of them looks like a 4 door Mustang with more muscles.
Time to ressurrect the American Muscle Cars.
Do you work for the the D3 management by any chance?
With gas approaching only $4/gallon, the timing for new Camaro launch couldn’t be any more appropriate.
What magic formula defines “60 days supply” before you have sold any.
Of course, they have no choice but to forecast demand for the car. Forecasts are essential, if but to manage the labor and supply chain needed to build the product and distribute it.
Of course, the forecasts are subject to adjustment. But there must be initial sales and profit projections, for which they should be managing accordingly.
The Impala’s real competition upon the Malibu’s launch is not the 300/Charger, or the New Taurus. The Impala’s competition is Avalon/Maxima. Look for Impala to stay FWD, grow, and move upmarket for 2010, probably selling in the $25k-$32k range. The biggest problem for Impala will not be the Malibu, but rather the Lucerne. If GM continues to push Buick upmarket (which is SOLID strategy), they will have cars well-placed in a wide variety of segments:
Compact (competes with Civic/Corolla/Sentra):
Cobalt (mainstream)
G5 (redundant)
Astra (performance/premium)
Midsize (competes with Accord/Camry/Altima):
Malibu (mainstream)
G6 (performance/convertible)
Aura (redundant)
Lacrosse (premium)
CTS (luxury)
Large FWD (competes with Accord/Avalon/Maxima):
Impala (mainstream/premium)
Lucerne (premium/luxury)
Large RWD (competes with Charger/Lexus GS/Infinity M):
G8 (mainstream)
DTS (luxury)
12 cars across 4 segments, only two of which are truly redundant. Assuming GM is moving in the direction I think they are moving in. In this scenario, it makes sense to leave the Impala FWD to occupy the Avalon segment rather than move it RWD to cannibalize the G8. RWD is a smaller market, and there really only needs to be one “mainstream” and one “luxury” model. The G8 could become the standard police cruiser offered by GM.
The DTS is FWD or did they confirm a the next one will be RWD, wait didn’t they axe that model. I’m confused now.
If GM continues to push Buick upmarket (which is SOLID strategy), they will have cars well-placed in a wide variety of segments.
That would be true, if not for the fact that GM sales are sliding in virtually all directions, while the Europeans and Asians are gaining sales volumes and market share at GM’s expense.
In theory, GM is in the game, as it has products in every imaginable segment. In practice, they are not competitive because Americans not named Hertz and Avis generally don’t want these vehicles. Maybe it would help GM if we all changed our last names to Budget or Alamo and bought accordingly, but until then, GM brings virtually nothing to the table that isn’t low margin, slow selling gunmetal.
The DTS is FWD? Shows you how closely I follow Caddy. That’s utterly atrocious. There is no justification I can think of as to why a flagship luxury yacht should be FWD.
If Impala supersizes, upmarkets, and says FWD (which it will), and the Lucerne upmarkets (which it has to), that really leaves the DTS with no market.
Actually, since the DTS has no market currently, maybe that isn’t really a problem…
In practice, they are not competitive because Americans not named Hertz and Avis generally don’t want these vehicles.
I see a surprising number of (non-rental) Lucernes around. I don’t really see the appeal of paying premium price for a car with an interior that looks like it belongs in an early-00s Toyota, but hey, it is a gorgeous car (in my highly subjective opinion).
Buick has the styling down across the board now (I even see a bit of Mazeratti in the Lacrosse). If they just made them look as good inside as out, and gave them the driving dynamics their handsome exteriors suggest, they could be a competitive player in $30k-50k segment.
I think we all should give GM a break. They finally seem to have a product that consumers want. So much so, that GM can’t produce enough of it.
But it’s still better if supply is below demand than the other way round. At least GM will make some money with the Malibu this way. When was the last time that happened (with a car)?
Now that Toyota is on its knees worldwide with serious quality issues,
Where are you getting this from? Wrong, wrong, wrong. They are having some quality spills yes, but saying they are ‘on their knees’ is grossly inaccurate to put it mildly. To the average Joe Toyota is tops on quality, reliability and economy and while there is awareness among pistonheads of some of the recent issues most people are simply not aware of it. There is no opportunity for GM to take even in the area where they excel P/U’s. At the end of the day Toyota’s profit this year exceeds GM’s entire market capitalization. From a financial standpoint alone Toyota could torpedo the entire GM corporation any time it wants to. They don’t/won’t because it’s not in their interest to do so.
SherbornSean :
How are they supposed to know how to launch a successful car? They haven’t had one since Nixon was in office.
And what was the GM car that was successful between 1968 and 1974? Maybe the Camaro/Firebird or the Grand Prix/Monte Carlo, but that’s about it.
Kevin Kluttz : SherbornSean : How are they supposed to know how to launch a successful car? They haven’t had one since Nixon was in office. And what was the GM car that was successful between 1968 and 1974? Maybe the Camaro/Firebird or the Grand Prix/Monte Carlo, but that’s about it. Maybe he meant in office as vice president.
SherbornSean: How are they supposed to know how to launch a successful car? They haven’t had one since Nixon was in office.
The 1977 downsized big cars (launched in the fall of 1976, during the waning days of the Ford Administration) were a huge success, especially the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Cadillac versions.
The X-cars – launched in April 1979, during the Carter Administration – were a huge initial success. Even into 1980, dealers literally could not keep them on the lots. Of course, we all know what happened later…which is why I wrote that they were a huge “initial success.”
The 78-88 A-Body coupes were also very sucessful for GM
The DTS is FWD because FWD makes for a very large and comfortable rear seat. The DTS is Cadillacs best selling car except for the few months that the CTS is new. The new CTS came out in September and it went to the top. By February the DTS will be back to #1
IMO Cadillac should stick with FWD for it’s large luxury cruiser. It is a distinctive feature and makes plenty of sense for the way those cars are really used. I still remember when the Eldorado and Toronado where brand new big FWD cars and what a technological leap forward they were.
If Cadillac switches back to RWD for these cars they will have just another me too product instead of offering a unique architecture with unique advantages.
Well hopefully GM will get it right and the BIG 2.8, I myself have a 02 Nissan Altima, I was happy to have a great prouduct until it started using 2 quarts of oil around the 90k mark, and I thought Nissan made great products…meanwhile I was told the the precat is at fault and you’re on you own! GM and the 2.8, are you listening…buid better cars and I’ll be back…5 yr 60k mile bumper to bumper warranty would be a great start!