Allegiance, fear of change and the sizable investments these dealers have in GM products factor into their pledge to support a company that continues to sell vehicles to one of every four people who buy cars or trucks in this country. Even as Toyota and Honda steadily gain market share, more customers buy from GM than from any other single manufacturer.
As you note, GM's market share is rapidly declining and they will soon be passed by Toyota on the world scene. Soon Toyota will be number 1 due to better planning and better engineering *and* better customer relations-GM really sucks there. Many, many bitter *former* customers of GM are, at long last, getting their revenge on GM.
Because of GM's weakened competitive state, "dealers can put as much or as little attention as they want on GM's products and that scares the daylights out of GM," which might explain why the automaker has begun listening more intently to its dealers and granting them more access to GM's top brass, Spinella said.
Wherever you look things are getting scary - the dealers - the unions - the customers - the retirees - the finance
GM's CEO was on MSNBC Squawk Box this morning, bragging about how their good planning was turning things around, as evidenced by first quarter results.
'Turning things around', Waggoner, means making a car that the engine holds together, that the air conditions system holds up, that the electrical system doesn't go into meltdown, and that the tranny doesn't leave you walking prematurely.
You bought SAAB, and turned it into a POS, too.
You should know by now that imports suck.
mike hunt
I never owned an imported SAAB.
So you live in Sweden, so, what? ;)
mike hunt
Keeps them from being imports. Now, SAABs are built on some GM platforms, etc. One of them is a recase Isuzu.
Some of the original SAABs, and Volvos too for that matter, were pretty darn good cars. Some recent reports now drop them to below average reliability, I assume because of their Americanization.
Customer service (corporate) is (or was) quite bad indeed...the worst I'd experienced in comparison with other brands over 35 years of vehicle ownership. The customer is made to feel like the enemy from darn near the the first word spoken. I once had a very simple issue to resolve, the response was "we will no longer accept communications from you on this matter."(or something similar). How rude! No one in the family has purchased a GM product since and I dumped the one I had since I didn't wasn't going to be treated that way any longer. So, I have to agree on this point 100%. Hopefully they are learning to listen to the customer and be a bit more helpful!
That seems strange since both SAAB and Volvo sell far more vehicles, as part of GM an Ford, than they ever did on their own. Somebody must think they are good vehicles or they would not be buying so many of them.
mike hunt
SAAB never did have a very good marketing effort here in the USA. A few people recognized them for the quality that they were, but they were not attractive to the mainstream.
Volvo was a different story. They had a high profile as workhorse, reliable, and very safe cars...which was true.
GM and Ford are working on the marketing aspect, I guess. So while they may sell more cars, P.T.Barnum's universal rate theory on the paying public is still in FULL FORCE.
Does that explain why the Camry is the best selling car in the US?
mike hunt
Rear window defogger fails because the contact tab falls off of the defroster grid. Not repairable. Need to replace the rear window. $800. Contacted GM customer care. Eventually GMC agrees to pay 1/2 of repair if done at GM dealer. I find that an after-market windows costs $400, so I get that instead (lifetime warranty vs. 1 year for GM).
Also discover that rear power window does not work at same time. Friend who I gave a ride to when truck was new tells me it didn't work when new. He told me then, but I didn't believe him...thought he was joking. I never lower rear windows so only discovered problem by accident at 5 years - out of warranty. Again contacted GM customer care and ask them to chip in 1/2 of cost. The put me in contact with a local GM dealer who paid for 1/2 of repair as a good will gesture. I paid~$100.
At 4 years of age the Yukon XL's electric fuel pump failed. had it towed to a local independent who put in a rebuilt pump for $700 as I recall. I contact GM customer care and ask for reimbursement because fuel pump had no business failing at ~25,000 miles. Eventually, they agree to pay half after stating that if I had towed it to a GM dealer they might have covered full repair.
These are not the only things that went wrong, but they are the three that GM paid part of for after the warranty ended.
NONE of these things should have happened, but to GM's credit they did offer to help pay some of the repair cost.
Now if only they could make the damn things so they did not break way too soon.
GM covering half of your cost of repairs is hardly doing you a big favor. The gross profit margin on repair parts and labor exceeds 50% for the combined GM/dealer channel, so all they did was make less money on your repairs.
None of those things should have reasonably failed in the first four years of ownership, and statistically are much less likely to have failed had you been driving a Toyota or Honda product.
John
There you go, Mike, trying to yank my chain again;>)
They (Motor Trend, among others) say that the Camry is still the best selling passenger sedan in the USA. If that is the case, it is because the marketing and reputation have led the sheeple to believe it. (Heck, it might even be true..who knows?)
If Toyota has screwed up by cheaping the quality of the product, as by the recent revisions in the tranny, people will continue to buy for a long time due to perceived product image.
Barnum was an expert at marketing. He didn't mind deception as long as it brought in the customers. Some of his concepts are powerful examples of how the buying public thinks (or fails to reason).
I truly wish that GM would get its act together and make cars of the quality and durability that they are capable of producing. I have no doubt that they can make cars of excellent body integrity, strong and long lasting engines, and dependable subsystems.
- Proposing that GM has had a long history of extended production runs of recognized 'mistakes' - such as engines, transmission, bodies, alternators, etc that give unenviable performance and durability - why do YOU think that GM has done this, or allow it to go so long unaddressed?
The ISO quality standards call for a continuous improvement of products and processes as well as constant examination and improvement of the quality program. GM has arguably not seriously implemented a quality plan of this type.
But just because they are domestic doesn't mean that they are the only lemons. We had a Camry that needed an engine at 61,000 miles. It was under warranty but it's not a Ferrari, one would expect the engine to last longer. Six months after the engine went, the trans went. Both were warranty items and were replaced . We swapped it on a Ford mini-van.... Oh the joys of family life.
GLW
When you own fifty car makers, you expect to get a good share of the market.
Many people don't even know they're looking at a GM product until they get to the showroom.
GLW
Imports don't suck. Toyota and Honda make the cars with the least amount of defects on the market. Sure, American cars have made improvements (especially Pontiac), but our cars are second best to the Japanese. At least we have fewer defects than European cars.
The vehicles in the show room today are the only vehicles GM sells today. They are not selling what they sold ten or even five years ago. Those vehicles are as good or better than what any other manufacture has in their show rooms.. The fact is what GM is selling today can be driven home for far less than most imports that have the same equipment and are of similar size.
In the world of marketing GM will sell more of what they have to offer at their price than any other, period. If you think the price of what you can drive home, for what you can get in product, does not influence the number of vehicles you will sell and what you sold five years ago was the defining factor of what people will buy today, you have not watched Hyundai and Kia steal buyers by the thousands from Toyota and Honda in the US over the past five years.
mike hunt
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