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In the interest of presenting readers with a different point of view about GM Car Czar Bob Lutz and General Motors' "turnaround," I submit Nicolas Van Praet of Canada's Financial Post. In his latest article, Van Praet declares GM's turnaround well under way, led (of course) by Maximum Bob. Praet is privy to the figure; The Big 3's market share has declines from 65 percent in 1990 to below 50 percent today. On the plus side, the new Malibu has an average lot life of only 15 days– the equivalent of "Hot Cakes" in GM's universe. As further "evidence" of GM's turnaround, Van Praet points out that the current slate of Pontiac commercials running in Canada. The spots feature Japanese car executives rendered quivering wrecks by… the Pontiac G5. Praet calls the commercials a sign that GM is now "gaining confidence." Yes, well, in 2007, the the Cobalt was the highest finishing domestic in Canada's top five. Even if you combine Cobalt and G5 sales, they still fall below the number one finisher, the Honda Civic. FYI, here are last year's Canadian top ten.
1. Honda Civic, 70,838 sales
2. Mazda 3, 48,236 sales
3. Toyota Corolla, 40,474
4. Toyota Yaris, 34,424
5. Chevrolet Cobalt, 32,613
6. Toyota Camry, 28,218
7. Pontiac G5, 25,211
8. Ford Focus, 24,013
9. Honda Accord, 22,012
10. Nissan Versa, 21,940
20 Comments on “Financial Post: GM’s Turnaround Has Turned the Corner...”
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I suppose that Mr. Van Praet isn’t aware that 22% of those Canadian Cobalt/G5 sales were to fleets.
The Malibu does seem to be a hit, though, on both sides of the border. Lutz earns a lot of bashing, but he deserves credit for that.
wow, i knew Canadians liked the Mazda3, but had no idea it was the #2 selling car. Pretty cool that it outsells the Corolla by 20%, eh?
I think that the Reporter in the Fin. times is a little bit out to lunch with these reports of the upswing of GM sales in Canada, even here in this rural area I see more Asian vehicles being driven by older ladies and a few Men, a few years ago these same people would have been driving Domestic vehicles!
They just found a problem with the Mazda3 in that if you hit the door handle near the “lock” say with your hand, the Door of the Mazda3 would pop open, no Key needed, understand that the door area needs to be re-inforced, good engineering eh?
Another thing with General Motors is the reliability over the years with any of there products, the Class action on the Bad gaskets on there V6 Engines still has not been resolved, once people are “bitten” they wont consider General Motors for future purchases.
Lutz earns a lot of bashing, but he deserves credit for that.
My take on that one – even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
As further “evidence” of GM’s turnaround, Van Praet points out that the current slate of Pontiac commercials running in Canada.
Since when do financial papers accept marketing copy as proof of anything.
By Van Praet’s logic then GM had also turned the corner back in the 80s when they introduced the Cimarron and the marketing copy read:
“The Cadillac touch. It’s everywhere. You’ve got to drive this car and experience the Cadillac touch. Best of all, it’s a Cadillac.”
Because what else other than confidence could convince someone that those words were true or meant anything positive?
Oh yeah… naivety ignorance.
My take on that one – even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
I have no love for Lutz, but he got more than lucky with this.
Lutz argued that GM cars needed better styling, refined driving manners and improved interiors to be competitive. The Malibu got those, including a much upgraded interior, thanks in part to Lutz, and people seem to be buying it in large quantities, which is what GM needs to be competitive and make money. It may not dethrone the Camry or Accord just yet, but at this pace, it should be nipping on the heels of the Altima.
(By the way, my fleet figures above were for 2006. I would imagine that they weren’t much different for 2007.)
“The spots feature Japanese car executives rendered quivering wrecks by… the Pontiac G5.”
I imagine if there is any popularity for the ad its purely comedic in nature, ’cause the premise is a laugh.
With Frank’s help…
Looking at the U.S. market, the new ‘Bu is a success: up 29.1% (6100 units) year-to-date (ytd). Chevy’s sold 46,338 ‘Bu’s since the end of last October (there were some of the old ones still out there they were selling too; they don’t break those out).
HOWEVER, you may recall we flagged potential cannibalism. Chevy Impala sales are down 18.1% ytd. Of course, the Impala is THE fleet queen, and GM SAYS its cut back on fleets…
ANYWAY, CTS and new ‘Bu. Forty-seven more vehicles to go…
George Labrador :
March 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
“They just found a problem with the Mazda3 in that if you hit the door handle near the “lock” say with your hand, the Door of the Mazda3 would pop open, no Key needed, understand that the door area needs to be re-inforced, good engineering eh?”
That certainly was a big screw-up. That problem actually arose about 2 years ago, and they’ve recently been installing a fix in the doors that prevents it (as well as free shock sensors). I still expect to get a dent on my door someday, but at least my air horns will give me a small chance at having some fun with the situation.
The Malibu, with all its media buzz and car-mag jizz, must be taking a big chunk out of Saturn Aura sales. The Aura had is’t own buzz and was 2007 North American Car of the Year and is essentially the same car as the Malibu, but just a year later GM is offering $2000 in direct rebates plus some dealer cash on it. It lost momentum fast. I wonder if the same will happen to the Malibu in a year.
The Malibu, with all its media buzz and car-mag jizz, must be taking a chunk out of Saturn Aura sales, too. The Aura had its own buzz and was 2007 North American Car of the Year and is essentially the same car as the Malibu, but just a year later GM is offering $2000 in direct rebates plus some dealer cash on it. It lost momentum fast. I wonder if the same will happen to the Malibu in a year.
Lutz argued that GM cars needed better styling, refined driving manners and improved interiors to be competitive.
Yes he was right there but then, any sentient life-form on the planet knew that already. The list does not stop there, add reliability, durability, economy and the need to vastly improve the whole customer experience. No sign of much change there yet. All this talk about the Malibu being a Camry killer is just talk until it kills the Camry. Of course the Camry could just kill it. So far it would seem that the score is Malibu 1, Impala 0 and Camry (sorry we’re still counting, will get back to ya!)
Oboylepr: At 1600 Impala’s a day and O.T shifts
Sat.all this in weak market.I would hardly call the Impala a 0.
15, 16, 17 days to sell the new Malibu… why the hell did I see 5 of the new body styled ones at the rental car lot today? Yes, the amount of Impalas dwarfed them, and if they didn’t the Cobalts would have, but there shouldn’t be one of the new body styled ones there. Maybe that was a early order, but I hope they have stopped selling them to rental companies for the moment.
Good friends of my parents who buy nothing but GM want one of these, and they love it, already driven it, but they’re waiting on “$3000 rebate and doubling/rounding up their GM card rebate, bonus cash for current GM owners”. Of course, they’re the old-school buyers where all the mark up in the car is used to pump up the low value of their current car, and always remember the one time they went to the Toyoda dealership and offered him “$4000 less for his Silverado than Chevy did.” Priceless.
Samir Syed: Financial Post: GM’s Turnaround Has Turned the Corner
How many times has GM turned the corner now? If you turn it four time you’re back where you started before you turned it the first time.
What does Honda Civic have? It has reputation. It’s the gold standard. Reliability, quality, resale value.
Can you turn a Cobalt into a Civic? The reputation part would take time. The quality and reliability would have to be proven over time. The resale value part I’m not so sure.
It would take a lot of branding and marketing to get a Cobalt to have mass appeal and desirability. People have to want one(I don’t).
LOTS of people would love to have a Honda Civic. They just can’t afford one. No one WANTS a cobalt even if they can afford one. It’s just nothing special and not worth it.
That’s what GM is up against. Their reputation for crap proceeds them. A solid 30 years of burning every last customer they had. I remember in the mid nineties when I was in highschool. All the girls it seems drove things like Grand Ams and Grand Prixs and who knows what else. All sorts of ilk. They hated and despised their crap cars. Always in the shops for everything. I’d be willing to bet money on that ALL those girls now drive Civics, Accords, and Camrys.
When my brother in law was young in the 1980’s, his mom drove all sorts of low cost domestics. Tempo’s, Escorts, various of crap box chevy’s and chryslers. All junk, all broke down, would break down while being driven. He’s a Honda fan boy as the result of his experiences with domestics while growing up. He now has his own mom driving a Toyota of some sort. She just never drove imports because they were always more expensive. Same goes for all those highschool girls.
I daily drive an `88 5.0 Stang with 227,000 miles on the original motor and rebuilt once AOD(cause overdrive went out). I love being able to do 85 on the on ramp. I run the hell out of it. It starts every time. Anything it needs, I’ll put up with replacing. I’ll put another motor in it at some point(if it gets to the point it needs it). Civic, Accord, Camry do nothing for me. But I’m in the extreme minority. The masses out their though love their boring, dependable, appliances though. Working on a 5.0 in an apartment parking lot is not cool(House owner here) so a reliable import is mandatory, else you be hanging out at PepBoys getting who knows what changed out for about $600-$1000 every visit.
I should write a piece on car maintenance. Who does it and why. I think it takes desirability. Few people work on their own rides. How one learns to in the first place is interesting in itself. Anyone can. One just has to want to. The desire to do and the desire to learn. Most don’t have any interest. Hence most, just take it into the stealership for repairs and routine maintenance. Those quick change oil places don’t always change the oil you know. Search youtube for jiffy lube.
I would hardly call the Impala a 0.
Well no it isn’t a zero at all but it could be the biggest loser if the the Malibu does not win over all those Camry, Accord & Altima buyers and eats into Impala sales instead. That’s what I meant. Actually if it wasn’t for the Impala things in Oshawa would be really bleak with the truck plant down due to the AA strike. Cheers.
Re: “They just found a problem with the Mazda3 in that if you hit the door handle near the “lock” say with your hand, the Door of the Mazda3 would pop open, no Key needed, understand that the door area needs to be re-inforced, good engineering eh?”
That’s an old problem that Mazda has fixed. My wife received a recall notice a few months back from Mazda to have her Mazda3 fixed (free of course).
rtz:
You’ve made some good points regarding imports like the Civic compared with earlier crap like Tempos, et al. My mother finally junked her Tempo years ago and thankfully bought a Honda Civic. The only visits to the dealer are for regular maintenance and have the seasonal tires installed.
Yes those adverts are funny as hell. The first time I saw it on TV I couldn’t stop laughing, enough so that my wife thought I had something (else) wrong with me.
And yes Mazda3’s are all over here, the Protege before that as well.