Brands, not badges

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone) 01/04/2016 at 17:13 • Filed to: None

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Another GM brand that needs a clear strategy is GMC. The fact that GMC still sells Chevrolet trucks and crossovers with small design changes, proves that GM learnt absolutely nothing from the whole bailout thing. And that they will probably need another bailout when the global car market will be in trouble again.

GMC needs to become a Jeep and Land Rover rival. It’s crazy that GM can afford the luxury of having a brand that only sells trucks and a couple of utility vehicles.

GMC needs a Wrangler rival(modernized H3 and H4 would do at first).

It also needs a pair of rivals for the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee duo. Those cars can share some parts and sub-platforms with other GM products, but they need to look different, feel different and be significantly better off road.

Small GMC could also be a good thing, but that needs to be a lot more than an American Kia Soul. It needs to be just as good as the Renegade Trailhawk off road.

The Yukon could stay, but it needs to get a lot lighter and off road focused.

GMC can also keep a truck, but it needs to give the Ford Raptor a run for its money, or else it isn’t justifying its existence.

Ultimately, promotion is key. Enter GMC in the Dakar rally. Win it. Own it.

Sell the brand globally.

Try to convince the light vehicle suppliers of the armed forces to add your badge on their products. You know, like a title sponsorship.

lone_liberal > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:20

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GMC exists so that Buick and/or Cadillac dealers have trucks (and in the case of Buick dealers full size SUVs) to sell. That’s its entire mission.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:25

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Counterargument: while moving into the Hummer/AM General offroading brand slot would be interesting, there’s a strong enough MAH TRUK IS OFFROADZ cult centered on Chevy that the logical move of making GMC the offroad premium brand is likely to go over like a lead balloon with the Like A Rock boys. If you don’t make GMC alone the offroad focused division, you’re just internally competing with Chevrolet in a fight Chevrolet will win. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with GMC being just “Elite and fleet Chevy trucks” (it’s been that way for nearly 70 years), as long as there are GMC uniques and enough distinctives to the models... which lately, there haven’t been.

Small GMC smells like a misfire, to me.

AndyG_UK > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:26

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I thought all the GMC stuff sold really well, at much higher profit margins, for relatively small extra cost to GM and thus was a great money spinner for them?

But yeah they should expand the range with exclusive products.

For Sweden > lone_liberal 01/04/2016 at 17:28

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also to be professional grade

gin-san - shitpost specialist > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:29

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I never understood the GMC brand. I’d get it if it was something like General Motors: Commercial or something but it looks like they try to market as GM: Classy when it’s probably one of the last brands I’d think of if I wanted something a bit more upmarket/premium than “just” a Chevy.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > AndyG_UK 01/04/2016 at 17:29

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That’s not the way you add value to a brand.

Textured Soy Protein > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:30

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Except, GMC doesn’t really exist as a standalone brand with its own dealerships. It’s almost always sold alongside Buick, sometimes with other GM brands as well.

If you go into a Chevy dealer, you have the Trax, Equinox & Traverse crossovers, Tahoe & Suburban SUVs, Colorado & Silverado pickups.

If you go to a Buick/GMC dealer, you have the Encore, Terrain, Acadia & Enclave crossovers, Yukon & Yukon XL SUVs, Canyon & Sierra pickups. The Acadia and Enclave are theoretically redundant, but they both still exist, and the redundancy will only increase when the Buick Envision comes out which will be in the same segment as the GMC Terrain.

GMC shouldn’t be GM’s Jeep because every time some other company has tried to make their own Jeep they’ve failed. The reality is that most people don’t buy SUVs and crossovers for pure off-roadiness anymore. They buy them because they don’t want to be seen driving a minivan.

Sure the Renegade is more capable off-road than the Trax/Encore, the Cherokee is more capable off-road than the Equinox/Traverse, and the Grand Cherokee doesn’t really have an analog in the GM lineup. But that doesn’t mean GM needs to create a bunch of totally unique vehicles from their existing platforms for the sake of turning GMC into a Jeep competitor.

yamahog > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:31

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The fact that GMC still sells Chevrolet trucks and crossovers with small design changes, proves that GM learnt absolutely nothing from the whole bailout thing.

Au contraire, it proves they know how to rake in sales dollars at high margins. High-end trucks and crossovers are selling like hotcakes in America. As much as the average Oppo wants to scream at the GMC buyer “JUST BUY THE CHEVY IT’S THE SAME THING BUT CHEAPER,” the GMC buyer will just turn up their nose like a spoiled housecat and continue to throw money at Acadia and anything with a Denali badge on it. Because everyone knows having even one child requires the purchase of an SUV and heaven forbid little Timmy gets dropped off at piano lessons in anything less than modern GMC trimmings, but a new BMW X5 is far too expensive gauche.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > yamahog 01/04/2016 at 17:33

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I contend that GM’s relentless chasing of the late 80s/early 90s Chevy styling with each new Chevy truck usually means the GMC is prettier, but I realize that may be a minority opinion.

PS9 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:33

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You say ‘afford’ as if GMC is a drain on GM. They are anything but. One of the reasons GMC is alive and Pontiac is dead is - even though it’s nothing more than a hollow shell of badge engineering and fleet sales - it’s the 10th most popular vehicle brand in the United States.

Think about that for a moment. Just a little badge engineering means an additional 500k units spread out across every platform GM rebadges through that brand. GMC needs a clear strategy? Given the consistency of their business model and the results, I’d say they already have a pretty clear strategy, and it’s obviously working. That’s not what we as enthusiasts would like to see, but the result produce zero impetus for GM to change things at GMC.

My bird IS the word > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:35

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GM is so risk adverse that I very much doubt any of it’s sub companies will get unique models anytime soon. The bankruptcy and restructuring made things worse, not better.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > For Sweden 01/04/2016 at 17:37

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That’s just bullshit, GMC owners like to say. A lot.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > lone_liberal 01/04/2016 at 17:41

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I do believe that while GM brands need more autonomy and own models, GM dealers should be package dealers. You want to sell GM, you sell all brands. I don’t care what stupid position you have in that club of idiots, called the NADA.

yamahog > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/04/2016 at 17:42

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Agreed, there’s enough of a styling difference between the two that it could be a factor, and depending on how much you’re comfortable spending, it could very well be a deciding factor.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:48

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Ah yeah, but then the Cadillac brand suffers. Affluent people don’t want to visit the same dealership that the plebs buy their pleb cars from.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2016 at 17:49

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It’s not about the capabilities themselves. It’s about the image. And you get the image by having the capabilities, among others

lone_liberal > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:52

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That would mean jettisoning a lot of dealers, which is not a trivial thing as we recently saw. Otherwise you would have way too many full line “GM” dealers too close to each other. Right now GM can afford to have GMC be a Chevy clone because it doesn’t cost them development money. They get additional sales and happy dealers (their customers) with very little in additional spending. Would it be better if GM redesigned their entire corporate structure? Probably, but I just don’t think they have that kind of cash.

Textured Soy Protein > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 17:55

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I get what you’re saying, but I dunno if the investment required to make GMC-unique drivetrains with additional off-road capability will really pay dividends in increased sales.

If you think about it, Chevy is the mainstream, middle-of-the-road version, Buick is the more streamlined, and in the case of crossovers, perhaps more feminine version, and GMC is the burly, blocky-styled, “LOOK AT ME I’M A MAN WITH A BIG SQUARE CHROME GRILLE AND SQUARE HEADLIGHTS MURRICA MANLINESS MAN MAN.” All without any real additional capabilities.

Well, the GMC Canyon has full-time 4wd which is unavailable on the Chevy Colorado, but that’s about it.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > lone_liberal 01/04/2016 at 18:00

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Well, dealers that are too close could merge, chip in together and use the economies they make for nicer showrooms, better costumer care, employee benefits or expansion of the brand portfolio.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2016 at 18:06

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Real men don’t give two shits about shiny chrome and stuff.

Textured Soy Protein > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 18:46

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I agree, but that’s how trucks are marketed. I’ve actually made fun of this before .

(Also, I still chuckle when I look at the silly photoshop I made for that post.)

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2016 at 19:17

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Silverado ads are awful too. In fact most Chevrolet commercials nowadays look like they’ve been made by orangutans.

Still, investing in brands pays off. Brand power can sometimes save a bad product.

The Jeep Commander is rather forgettable. But that never stopped people from comparing it to the mighty Land Rover Discovery.

facw > yamahog 01/04/2016 at 19:23

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That approach makes more money now. Over time it will erode the brand. Granted, GM probably doesn’t care if they erode the GMC brand, if it stops pulling in the cash for rebadged Chevys they can just kill it.

Textured Soy Protein > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 19:30

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Hell, I’d pick a Commander over a Discovery II any day of the week. I’m probably biased since I have a WK Grand Cherokee, the Commander is a stretched and ugly-fied WK, and I hate the Discovery II .

I suppose the LR3/LR4 are nicer, but boy are they heavy. Like 700 lbs heavier than a Hemi Commander.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2016 at 19:51

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Come on. Even Sergio said the Commander was “unfit for human consumption” and that he had “no idea why people bought them”.

A fair comparison would’ve been with the Discovery 3, and that is hugely improved. Discovery 4 is already miles away from the 3. And with the Disco 5 getting an aluminum body, weight won’t be an issue. Grand Wagoneer better be good enough to compete.

AfromanGTO > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 20:24

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Keep GMC, kill Chevy and Buick, bring back Pontiac (import all of the Holden Commodores utes, wagons, and sedan), leave Caddy alone, and have the Vette as a halo car.

Textured Soy Protein > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 01/04/2016 at 20:42

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Well, I really, really hate the Discovery II. It is absolutely dreadful.

And I did also say the LR3/LR4 are nicer. That’s what us ‘Muricans—if you’re not one?—call the Disco 3/4.

yamahog > facw 01/04/2016 at 20:48

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What is with the #branding obsession these days? The GMC brand is literally trucks, they are selling well, making money, and apparently have enough differentiation between the Chevy brand (especially the CUVs/SUVs) that the average customer does not see a rebadged Chevy. BMW/Lexus/Mercedes shoppers I know from back in NY don’t even realize that Lexus is a Toyota product, so maybe we overestimate the knowledge of the luxury market.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2016 at 20:48

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I am, but I find that confusing, especially since they’ve added the Sport version.

Also, wouldn’t this be advocating for alphanumeric naming, automakers seem to increasingly love?