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Top 10 Turnaround Tips for GM/Ford/Chrysler - READ ONLY

161 messages,  Last post on Feb 14, 2010 at 8:26 PM

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What is this discussion about? Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford

Messages Page 15 of 17

#132 of 161 $1.99 Gas by aspesisteve

May 25, 2006 (8:14 pm)

I gotta say that GM has sure milked a ton of free advertising (press) off their $1.99 gas for a year campaign.
 
With that said, it's a total gimmick of take a little off the cash rebates and trade it for something much more appealing to the marketplace.
 
I guess it's not the press's job to point out that the $1.99 gas is merely a shell game.
 
The employee pricing to the public has run it's course and now this. What can GM come up with next I wonder?

#133 of 161 Check out Post 5150... by lemko

May 26, 2006 (5:48 am)

...over on the "Will 2006 Styling Save GM" thread. GM oughta make their U.S. models as nice as their Asian ones. This is a Buick LaCrosse? Holy smoke! If this is what the Asian LaCrosse looks like, the Asian Lucerne must make a Maybach or Phantom look like a 1986 Hyundai Excel. If a U.S. Buick LaCrosse was as nice as that one, I'd buy it in a New York nanosecond. Heck, I'd be fighting with my girlfriend for the keys to her LaCrosse if it was that nice!

#134 of 161 GM...Drop all but Chevy/Caddy by massdriver1

May 28, 2006 (8:08 pm)

I know dropping Pontiac, Buick, and GMC would be hard for some to wrao their brains around. But it's time.
This isn't 1965 anymore, where you moved up incrementally from the working man's Chevy, up the ladder to the lofty Buick, and your boss drove the Cadillac.
 As someone pointed out already,Toyota, Honda, Nissan..they all have Their bread-and-butter brands, and their Luxury brands.
  Cadillac now has a well defined look and identity, and a full model range. They just need to refine them a bit more. Cadillac should strive to go toe to toe with BMW, with Lexus quality.
 Chevy should be going against toyota as far as quality and extensive model range, but with a more exciting product design elements and driving dynamics, like Nissan and Mazda.
 
  The lineup should be something like this, IMO.
Aveo..This should be re-designed to be less of an economy appliance,and more of an "affordable cool" type car, like the FIt, Scion, Yaris, etc.
 Cobalt sedan/coupe. Again, totally re invent this car as a setrious threat to Civic. The Mazda3 is a good barometer of where to bring the new Chevy compact.
 HHR. I actually like the look of this car a lot, better in person than pics. Give it more power, refine the interior, and it's the cool hatch that Chevy needs.
 Scrap the current Malibu, and seriously attack the Camry/Accord already. If the new Aura is that good, this would fit in here. It seems to have the style/interior. Is the car mechanically ready? Who knows, but they need to give it a refined and powerful engine,and Mazda6-like driving dynamics.
 The Solstice/Sky would be a great addition to the chevrolet lineup.
 Definitely bring back the Camaro. Nuff said here.
 And they should definitely bring back a line of rear drivers. A full Size sedan, nicely styled Not As barge-like of the "70's cars, probably a bit smaller than Chrysler 300. A few retro cues might work, but not an all out ripoff. Bel-Air perhaps? They should also make a sexy "touring coupe" from this platform...what the Monte Carlo SHOULD be. No one else offers this. And A wagon, like the Magnum,(maybe a bit less outrageous looking tho). Call it the Nomad? And fnally, they could bring back the El-Camino. It is a niche
 vehicle, but the platform is already there, makes more sense than the SSR.
 Completely re-design the minivan, and take it seriously this time.
 Redo the Colorado PU, make it about the size of Dakota, and offer a V8.
 Silverado is up for a redo, should be fine. same with avalanche, Tahoe, and Suburban.
 The rest of the SUVs should include a new Trailblazer. Make it "tougher", and obviously more refined. Would compete with 4Runner and Pathfinder.
  The new Enclave should be their crossover , to go against Highlander.
 And they need a smaller, trail-rugged, bare bones type SUV, like the new FJcruiser (fugly from the back, if you ask me), Xterra,
  IMO, with more engine, the H# would be perfect for this. It really looks awesome in person. They could easily offer a real off road package and hose-it-out interior for the purists,and maybe even a two door version.
  The Corvette stays, of course
 This would be an amazing, complete model range, yet GM as a whole would be far more streamlined.
  Upgrade the warranty, and keep the product cycle to a maximum of five years, and no one will miss Pontiac, buick, GMC, Hummer, or saturn.

#136 of 161 I'll give it a try... by louiswei

May 28, 2006 (10:10 pm)

Since I think the only one that's really in trouble is GM my top 10 list will be dedicated to GM:
 
(10) Drop Pontiac - should be a no brainer
 
(9) Merge Buick with Cadillac and establish a complete lineup to compete with the import luxury brands
 
(8) Get rid of Saturn and bring in Opel
 
(7) Get rid of Hummer
 
(6) Make GMC the only brand under GM producing trucks
 
(5) Bring in the Asian LaCrosse and makes it an ES fighter
 
(4) Improve the interior quality to match the Toyota/Honda standard (for the love of God how many times do we need to mention that)
 
(3) Drop the pushrods - PLEASE!!!
 
(2) Fire all the designers (except the vette's)
 
(1) Fire Lutz

#137 of 161 Re: I'll give it a try... [louiswei] by massdriver1

May 29, 2006 (8:17 pm)

Replying to: louiswei (May 28, 2006 10:10 pm)
I disagree that only GM is in trouble. Ford has the Mustang, possibly the Fusion, and F series trucks going for it. That's it right now.
  The Fusion had the low crash test ratings to mar its intro, the 500 is going nowhere due to its dull styling and sub-par engine.
  At least GM is better defining it's different brands as of late. First Cadillac, now Saturn.
 What is Ford doing with Mercury? Pretty much, take a Ford, swap out the grill for a "waterfall" grill, and call it a day.
 Lincoln is worse off yet. Their lineup consists of two re-badged trucks, and a single car spun off a Mazda platform. It's been out for months, and they still can't figure out what to name it.
 Back to Ford..they had a strong competitor in the Focus. But now they're neglecting it, and while other markets get a much better version, we get a seven year old (and counting) platform while the Japanese competition has raised the bar several feet.
 Remember what used to be the best-selling compact pickup in the US? Now it's hopelessly outclassed, with no relief on the horizon. Just as they did with the once class leading Taurus.
 They're still making the decades old Crown Vic. Thank God for police cars, I guess. they should take a cue from Chrysler on how to make a big rear driver for this decade.
 The freestyle and freestar (does anyone even know which is which) are both goners.
  FoMoCo just seems to have absolutely no direction right now. IMO, it seems that GM is at least more focused for the most part. Now if they could only execute their efforts better.......

#138 of 161 Re: I'll give it a try... [massdriver1] by louiswei

May 29, 2006 (9:07 pm)

Replying to: massdriver1 (May 29, 2006 8:17 pm)
I agree with you that GM is not the only one that's in trouble but at least right now GM is the one in the deepest hole. I also agree with you on Ford is lacking directions on its Mercury and Lincoln lineups. But like you said at least they have some worthy products like the new Mustang, Fusion and the F-series. What does GM have besides the vette? let's think...
 
Cadillac: Generally speaking the Caddy has a decent lineup but in order to be a real import luxury fighter the interior quality still has long way to go. Also, price for the CTS (or maybe even the STS) needs to be lower in order to gain market share.
 
Buick: Let not go there...
 
Saturn: Sky roadster is decent but you ain't gonna make a serious profit on a 2-seat convertable. Aura looks nice but we'll have to wait and see. Again if GM really wants an import fighter they'll need to drop Saturn and bring in Opel.
 
Pontiac: GM is the only one whom can't see that Pontiac is not going anywhere...
 
Chevy: Besides the Vette, Chevy is worthless...
 
GMC: We needs more car based crossovers not humongous gas guzzlers (the pick-up line is fine by itself though).
 
Hummer: H3 is a joke and definitely does not deserve to wear the Hummer badge. Alos, by the way the gas price is going I am wondering who's still buying the H2 (besides the pro sports players and the celebrities)?
 
Saab: The interior has gone GM quality...nuff said.

#139 of 161 Re: I'll give it a try... [louiswei] by renface

Jun 29, 2006 (7:17 pm)

Replying to: louiswei (May 28, 2006 10:10 pm)
Speacking of pushrods...don't forget all Hemi's are pushrods...hasn't hurt them.

#140 of 161 Re: I'll give it a try... [renface] by rockylee

Jun 29, 2006 (8:33 pm)

Replying to: renface (Jun 29, 2006 7:17 pm)
That is true
 
Rocky

#141 of 161 Re: I'll give it a try... [louiswei] by autoboy16

Jul 09, 2006 (8:55 am)

Replying to: louiswei (May 29, 2006 9:07 pm)
For the record by 2009 all pontiac's should be RWD models maybe except for the G5, G6 and Prand Prix (G8?)
 
Saturn should stay and Saab should be dropped for opel.
 
ISUZU should stay and make the diesel engines optional in all models. Bring back the Rodeo, Rodeo Sport(Amigo), Axiom and Trooper. Some new models would be great
 
Isuzus line up should be the:
 
Rodeo: Midsize Suv (built like the Trailblazer and not be called Asencender. 7passenger vehicle)
Go against Comannder, 4runner, Explorer, Pathfinder ect
 
Axiom: Crossover (off the Equinox platform with the new bigger v6.) To go against Rav4, Crv, Liberty, ect
 
Trooper (should be 7-8 passenger built like Tahoe)
Go against Gx470, Lx470/Land cruiser, Expedediton, Armada ect
 
Hombre (Colorado Twin with own style, diesel option, and NO 5CYL!! The V8 some1 mentioned would be great)
Go against Frontier, Tacoma, Dakota, Raider, Ridgeline, Ranger Ect
 
Oasis (Either try to get honda's odyssey again offer a diesel and price it much lower, or be a completely new van)
Go against Odyssey, Sienna, Town&Country, Caravan, Sedonna, Entourage ect
 
The new model should be called the Isuzu Islander
The Islander would be a big 5-7 passenger SUV built for Offroad and Onroad Sport. Sort of like the Infiniti Fx45. It could compete with the Vw Touareg/Porsche Cayanne/Audi Q7, Jeep Cherokee, Mercedes Gl/Ml, Bmw X5/x3, Kia Sorento, Landrover Lr3 and Range rover. It should have a strong v6 and powerful V8 diesel. Its a whole niche of vehicles that has a wide price range from the 22k-100k for a Porsche Cayanne TurboS. The Islander should have a MSRP of 28k.
 
The reason i say ISUZU should stay is because ISUZU competes better against Jeep than Hummer. Hummer are too heavy and there isn't a hummer for every jeep like Isuzu would have not to mention there is only 2 hummer for 2007.
Isuzu would be against the general public and Hummer reserved fo the upscale vehicles like Lx470/Land cruiser and Lr3.
 
Last Chevy should drop all the ancient 4speed automatics for new 5speeds,6speeds and CVTs. Make 3rd rows that go into the floor like expedition and explorer !

Messages Page 15 of 17

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