[Garduna]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/01/v...ew-commercial/

Do you guys think it'll help their situation?

Me personally, it'll take a lot more than just that to make people believe in their brand again.

[kyleb350]

One too many "http://"s in that link.

I agree. GM's reputation has been cemented over the last few decades.

[vAnt826]

Nope. No sympathy. If it weren't for government intervention, we'd still see GM building POS brands like Hummer and Pontiac.

[scollins]

Originally Posted by vAnt826

Nope. No sympathy. If it weren't for government intervention, we'd still see GM building POS brands like Hummer and Pontiac.

So you think that the government has been for the catalyst for change at GM, and not the consumer unwilling to continue to buy sub-par cars? Sure, government intervention has helped GM to more easily strip away some excessive costs in their system, but it wasn't the government that pushed them to make those changes. It was the consumer, voting with their bank accounts to either shop elsewhere, or not at all.....

[vAnt826]

Originally Posted by scollins

So you think that the government has been for the catalyst for change at GM, and not the consumer unwilling to continue to buy sub-par cars? Sure, government intervention has helped GM to more easily strip away some excessive costs in their system, but it wasn't the government that pushed them to make those changes. It was the consumer, voting with their bank accounts to either shop elsewhere, or not at all.....

If GM actually responded to consumer demand, they wouldn't be in bankruptcy in the first place.

The Obama auto task force has been in Detroit all week holding meetings with GM executives. The fate of GM's brands has been an issue discussed at length.

GM president and CEO Fritz Henderson told "Meet the Press" this month that the company was committed to its four core brands: GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick.

"We're really building a plan around four core brands. And we think that not only is that the right thing to do in the marketplace, but it gives us the best chance to earning, earning a high return on capital," Henderson said.

He plans to brief the media during a Friday conference call, but isn't expected to announce any change to the brand strategy -- except to confirm that they remain under review.

But the auto task force questioned whether GM still has too many brands when it rejected GM's viability plan on March 30.

GM "is currently burdened with underperforming brands, nameplates and an excess of dealers. The plan does not act aggressively enough to curb these problems," the task force said.

http://detnews.com/article/20090416/...ac++GMC+brands

Ultimately, GM would love to keep Pontiac/Saturn//Hummer/etc. but that would not fly well with the Obama administration. They only changed their minds to the four core brands after the meetings.