GM's Dilemma...A New Logo?
Pinch me--General Motors has exited bankruptcy and is now ready to take on its second life as a streamlined company. Its CEO, Fritz Henderson, has vowed to make cars that Americans are eager to buy. What an amazing statement. If that's the sentiment at the world's formerly largest auto manufacturer, what has GM been doing for the last 30 years?
Obviously this is the time to rally behind the company and hope for a quick recovery and great success. The nation needs this and so do all the workers who are reliant on the automobile industry. However, one wonders how and why GM is in this current position. In other words, what were they thinking? What kinds of conversations really went on in the boardroom? Did the board members sit around and convince themselves they were doing the right thing by manufacturing automobiles that were no longer being sold in enough volume to remain viable?
Although the economy has taken a huge hit, this undoing did not happen overnight. It took decades of careful planning, or misunderstood planning, to bring the company into bankruptcy. The real issue is whether the new CEO and board really have the imagination and creativity to understand the new marketplace.
For example, it was noted that the company's logo will remain the same, with the blue background. They had considered changing the background to green to symbolize the company's new focus on the environment. Thinking about logos and colors is not a great way to begin strategizing about selling more cars and falls back into the same mindset as before. The American consumer is smarter than to fall for a different hue as a metaphor for a better car.
GM has a second chance and everyone wants this to succeed, but they'll have to do better than tinkering with a logo. Build something people will buy.
Jonathan A. Schein is the publisher of MetroGreenBusiness.com and GreenBusinessCareers.com.
Follow Jonathan A. Schein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaschein
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"Build something people will buy", wow, what a novel concept. To bad the incompetent management did not think of that about $80 billion ago! But don't leave out the union management that drove the stake in their heart years ago. Now they want to drag in the G80 from overseas (a muscle car no less) and introduce it as the Caprice, wow wow, now there is a green car! And they saved the caddys, $50K plus price tags, oh, sell a lot of those. They should just change the name to CLUELESS.
Lemme guess, you want every car ever made to be like a Prius? Quit it, not everyone thinks like you. Leave the muscle cars alone and stop believing everything Greenpeace has to say about cars.
The cluelessness of the car haters continues to astound me.
Why would anyone buy a GM car after their little union busting boondoggle here? Not a chance they will get any of my business.
How about "Government Motors, we don't have to make money".
Until they repay every cent of what is owed the American taxpayers, they will not get any of my business.
GM, welfare gone beserk.
Regardless of what a GM logo may look-it will be seem as GM's mark of mediocraty. Please bring my Nissan to me.
GM's new products are better than many people realize. (That is still a problem, but good product is a solid place to start.) How about 2008 North American Car of the Year (Malibu), 2008 Motor Trend Car of the Year (Cadillac CTS), or 2009 European Car of the Year (Opel Insignia, a close cousin to the new Buick LaCrosse)? Or check the blogs (Autoblog, Jalopnik) for reviews of the new Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX.
Similarly, the notion that GM vehicles aren't fuel efficient is woefully out of date. Most GM new vehicles are leaders in their segments in fuel economy. Have your doubts? Check out the EPA fuel economy website.
That is not to say the perception gap isn't a serious issue -- it is. But to say the vehicles themselves aren't competitive is to have missed the significant progress GM has made in the last decade.
Yawn... none of these are cars I would want to buy. Give me something that gets me from A to B without overhead. None of the above do. They are over-sized, over-motorized clunkers.
Ooops... I didn't even realize... you are the GM guy who kept telling us how great you were before you went down the drain.
:-)
Some people in GM management seem to have nothing better to do than to be on Huffpo ... don't you guys have a company that just went bankrupt to rebuild?
Unbelievable. What are you thinking over there? Anything?
perception gap is important. Why not give GM say 10 years to shape up. Meanwhile I am buying Toyota.
In 10 years, GM quality and perception would match the best of the breed. I will surely buy it then.
Sorry, Tom, but I'm buying Ford. Hopefully, they aren't at a massive competitive disadvantage now because they played by the rules...
... unless Fritz Henderson gets his head out of his you-know-where and follows through on Maximum Bob's idea of reviving the Pontiac G8 as the new Chevy Caprice. It's already sold as such in the Middle East, there's no rebranding involved if it's already happening in another market!
That's damming with faint praise. "We're not as bad as people think we are!"
I am not in the market for a new car. I've never been in the market for a new car. I buy used cars, the best I can find at the time.
The only time I'm aware of automobile manufacturers is either when they're having some disaster in the news, or when the truely insulting advertisements are sandwiched in with snake-oil salesmen (pharmaceuticals), shysters ( lawyers [dot] com ), confidence men (financial advisers, insurance salesmen), and bordellos (computer dating services.) All in all, appropriate company. I feel sorry for the occasional pseudo-food product that shows up.
People will buy GM cars when they're better than the competition -- more fuel-efficient, safer and reliable. Right now, foreign cars are all of the above, and have been for many years.
if they are spending time thinking about the colors of the logo now - and actually publicly talking about it- buy a lot of stock in Nissan and Toyota.
While they are thinking of logos - how about changing the name of the company. Philip Morris did it. GM is such a tainted name they should just throw one person in a room and have them come up with a new name - without the millions of dollars spend on testing it. no matter WHAT they choose it will be better than GM. How about Mervyn's Motors - that name is available now LOL
GM was an arrogant company that thought more about their bonuses and office locations than planning for the future. but then again american finance dictates quarterly results - so makes cars that get profits for the next quarter and screw the future. sadly several other american industries will be following suit
The products of Philip Morris still cause lung cancer and the products of GM still look like an adolescent wet dream... form OVER function.
Yes KTM but i beg to disagree on the point the original poster was making.
Philip Morris is one of the best run companies in the world. and has been for a long time.
In fact I will give you a list of a few stellar companies that have returned LESS than Philip Morris when we consider the entire history of all these companies.
CocaCola
Pepsico Inc.
J&J
Pfizer
Intel Corp.
IBM
list goes on and on.
to compare Philip Morris with GM is so outrageous I cant even begin to describe it !!
I would be ashamed to even compare Phillip Morris and GM in same sentence.
If Phillip Morris had this kind of management, its shareholders would have jumped off the building long time back !!
This "second chance" for GM is really its thousandth chance. Are we to believe that no one at GM realized they were supposed to make cars people actually wanted to buy? Did they all think they were involved in a summer school science project?
GM failed continually to do its job. The people who were in charge should never be allowed to run anything larger than a lemonade stand. GM needs to fold its tents and go home.
typical of GM, selling the sizzle instead of the steak. GM has been selling credit, not cars, for a while. Their marketing is abysmal. Their vision obscured. Why are we trying to keep them in business.
we always need some good short candidates. am waiting when it starts to trade again !!
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