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April 09, 2005
"Why, exactly, is GMC on this Earth?"
Dan Neil of the L.A. Times argues that GM has innovated itself into "a circular firing squad."
How can four nearly identical minivans — one each for Pontiac, Buick, Chevrolet and Saturn — be anything but a waste of resources? Ditto the Four Horsemen of Suburbia, the Buick Rainier, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7X. How does the Pontiac Montana minivan square with Pontiac as the "Excitement" division? Why, exactly, is GMC on this Earth? The overarching strategy seems to be to flatten the distinctiveness out of all of them in the name of global efficiencies.
Even a multimillion-dollar giveaway of G6s on Oprah in September wasn't enough to fire up sales of this car.... The G6 is not an awful car. It's entirely adequate. But plainly, adequate is not nearly enough.
It's an argument that GM didn't much care for. It pulled all of its advertising from the paper in protest.
Other blogs that reference "Why, exactly, is GMC on this Earth?":
Obviously GMC has not a clue in the world about feedback. Like some petulant child, they're reacting to feedback. Feedback which really is the core of 'creating customer evangelism.' If you can take feedback, then you can fix things. But if you don't take any feedback; you think everyone is against you; and operate like some dictator...hmmm...you're in trouble already. And the soup just keeps getting hotter.
Sean
http://psychotactics.typepad.com/psychotactics/
This is *not* feedback. This is public criticism that can only further damage sales of the product in question. If the reporter was interested in giving feedback, he/she could have sent a private letter to GM. This is public humiliation, not feedback.
- I totally agree with what you're saying. I wish more people felt this way and took the time to express themselves. Keep up the great work.
Wally Cavanaugh
http://www.gmcenvoyexplore.com
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Adam Butler
http://www.gmcenvoyexplore.com
