Another sign of GM's desperation

MPG · 2007-05-25T21:21:29+00:00

you want to test drive a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, starting next month you'll be able to do it at a Saturn dealership. General Motors is asking Saturn dealers to have one or more of the competing models in the showroom so customers can look at it, sit in it and drive it.Of course, Saturn dealers can't sell you an Accord or Camry. But they hope that, when you see a Toyota or Honda sedan next to the Saturn Aura, you'll decide to buy the Aura...Later this year, Chevrolet dealers will be doing the same thing as they introduce customers to the redesigned Chevrolet Malibu, which shares its engineering platform with the Aura.In focus group research, GM has shown potential customers new GM models next to competing vehicles with all brand identifications removed and, said LaNeve, customers have reacted well to the GM products...According to industry newspaper Automotive News, sales for the Saturn Aura which was voted Car of the Year by automotive journalists in January, 2007, have been disappointing for GM.Part of the reason GM is willing to take this step, said LaNeve, is because the company has little to lose. Midsized sedan shoppers often don't even consider GM products, he said, instead going straight to Honda and Toyota dealers.The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are now the two best-selling cars in America."Over the course of a few years that became the default choice," said LaNeve.GM has sold about 48,400 of the current version of the Malibu so far this year. Meanwhile, Toyota has sold 145,000 Camrys...

May 25, 2007 100 Replies

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Wickeddoll 19 years ago

Hmmm, I dunno. It's such a brass balls move, it may impress someone into going with the GM.

Natalie

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Another sign of GM's desperation

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