GM Using The Mercedes Playbook
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From: Comments4u on 11 Jul 2010 00:45 The "new GM" (which looks amazingly like the "old GM" that went bankrupt last year) has adopted at least one chapter from the Mercedes playbook. However, Mercedes should not consider imitation the sincerest form of flattery. Advertising for the new Buick Regal concentrates on it being a reskinned version of the 2009 Eurpoean Car Of The Year, the Opel Insignia. And with that, there's an underlying assumption that people think if its German it has to be good. Well, the Germans aren't Smuckers. The Opel reference would be lost on potential customers of, for example, a Chevrolet Malibu. They're too young to remember Opels in the US. But potential Buick owners, who are on average somewhere between retired and dead, do remember Opels. And their memories of the last Opel branded car sold in the US, a derivitive of the Chevette made by Isuzu, can't be good ones. Those negatives aside, GM should have considered Mercedes experience trying to associate Germans with Chrysler. The Dr Z ads reduced sales every time they ran. While some Americans respected the German reputation for engineering and assembly quality, few considered any car the Germans were involved in to be a good value. Those who investigated further found how hollow Dr Z's claims of German superority were. Chrysler was the first all front wheel drive American car company. Yet when potential customers visited showrooms, they found Mercedes had converted the big Chryslers to rear will drive so they could install truck engines in perhaps 10% of the production. All in all, GM advertising the German origins of the Regal is a mistake on the magnitude of the old "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" campaign, which offended the few customers Oldsmobile had left at the time. At least GM has one thing to be thankful for. Dr. Z has been demoted from President of Chrysler to CEO of Mercedes, and is unavailble to do any German superiority commercials for GM..
From: Canuck57 on 11 Jul 2010 10:55 On 10/07/2010 10:45 PM, Comments4u wrote: > The "new GM" (which looks amazingly like the "old GM" that went bankrupt > last year) has adopted at least one chapter from the Mercedes playbook. > However, Mercedes should not consider imitation the sincerest form of > flattery. > > Advertising for the new Buick Regal concentrates on it being a reskinned > version of the 2009 Eurpoean Car Of The Year, the Opel Insignia. And with > that, there's an underlying assumption that people think if its German it > has to be good. Well, the Germans aren't Smuckers. > > The Opel reference would be lost on potential customers of, for example, a > Chevrolet Malibu. They're too young to remember Opels in the US. But > potential Buick owners, who are on average somewhere between retired and > dead, do remember Opels. And their memories of the last Opel branded car > sold in the US, a derivitive of the Chevette made by Isuzu, can't be good > ones. > > Those negatives aside, GM should have considered Mercedes experience trying > to associate Germans with Chrysler. The Dr Z ads reduced sales every time > they ran. While some Americans respected the German reputation for > engineering and assembly quality, few considered any car the Germans were > involved in to be a good value. > > Those who investigated further found how hollow Dr Z's claims of German > superority were. Chrysler was the first all front wheel drive American car > company. Yet when potential customers visited showrooms, they found > Mercedes had converted the big Chryslers to rear will drive so they could > install truck engines in perhaps 10% of the production. > > All in all, GM advertising the German origins of the Regal is a mistake on > the magnitude of the old "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" campaign, > which offended the few customers Oldsmobile had left at the time. At least > GM has one thing to be thankful for. Dr. Z has been demoted from President > of Chrysler to CEO of Mercedes, and is unavailble to do any German > superiority commercials for GM.. Until GM has a complete management change, one that would have occured if chapter 7 was allowed to take is course, then the rot mentality would have left GM. The new owners would be sure to get rid of the rot. I figure GM will need more taxpayers debt funded money by years end. -- We live in a society where worship of debt has replaced morality.
From: erschroedinger on 13 Jul 2010 16:18 On Jul 11, 12:45 am, Comments4u <comment...(a)nospam.mindspring.com.invalid> wrote: > The "new GM" (which looks amazingly like the "old GM" that went bankrupt > last year) has adopted at least one chapter from the Mercedes playbook. > However, Mercedes should not consider imitation the sincerest form of > flattery. > > Advertising for the new Buick Regal concentrates on it being a reskinned > version of the 2009 Eurpoean Car Of The Year, the Opel Insignia. And with > that, there's an underlying assumption that people think if its German it > has to be good. Well, the Germans aren't Smuckers. > > The Opel reference would be lost on potential customers of, for example, a > Chevrolet Malibu. They're too young to remember Opels in the US. But > potential Buick owners, who are on average somewhere between retired and > dead, do remember Opels. And their memories of the last Opel branded car > sold in the US, a derivitive of the Chevette made by Isuzu, can't be good > ones. Maybe they'll remember the real Opels, from Germany. In fact, GM out to show the Opel GT in their ads. Or perhaps just remind people the Malibu is on the same platform as the Opel Signum. > > Those negatives aside, GM should have considered Mercedes experience trying > to associate Germans with Chrysler. The Dr Z ads reduced sales every time > they ran. While some Americans respected the German reputation for > engineering and assembly quality, few considered any car the Germans were > involved in to be a good value. I bet if you ask 100 Americans to name the top 5 cars in quality, engineering, and performance, Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW would be 3 of them. > > Those who investigated further found how hollow Dr Z's claims of German > superority were. Chrysler was the first all front wheel drive American car > company. Unless you count Dakota, Ram, Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, Wrangler, Liberty, Nitro, Viper, Aspen, Durango, Prowler, ... >Yet when potential customers visited showrooms, they found > Mercedes had converted the big Chryslers to rear will drive so they could > install truck engines in perhaps 10% of the production. > > All in all, GM advertising the German origins of the Regal is a mistake on > the magnitude of the old "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" campaign, > which offended the few customers Oldsmobile had left at the time. At least > GM has one thing to be thankful for. Dr. Z has been demoted from President > of Chrysler to CEO of Mercedes, and is unavailble to do any German > superiority commercials for GM.. Dr. Z is CEO of Daimler, the entire corporation, and yes, in any corporation being CEO is a promotion from running a division.
From: erschroedinger on 13 Jul 2010 16:20 On Jul 11, 3:16 pm, "DAS" <nob...(a)spam.co.uk> wrote: > To OP: Change from President of Chrysler to CEO of Mercedes is not > necessarily a demotion in the Merc world. > > Daimler-Benz has a large (proper) truck & bus division, which is outside Dr > Zetsche's remit. > > http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedk...9805|mercedes%20truck||S|b|5081935044 > > DAS He's CEO of Daimler as well as head of the Mercedes unit, so everything -- Mercedes, Maybach, trucks, smart, EADS, racing -- all fall under his direction.
From: DAS on 13 Jul 2010 17:38
Thanks. I did not check the facts. I thought that Zetsche had been promoted and, indeed, you confirmed it. I suspect a number of people in North America do not understand the size of the Daimler AG (probably true of Europeans as well, but they will be well aware of lorries and buses, which are visible everywhere): http://www.daimler.com/ Also, people loosely use the names "Mercedes", "Benz", not always making clear to what they refer. I would mostly use "Mercedes" as shorthand, even when referring to the entire group, probably because all vehicles under the Daimler and Mercedes brand names carry the star, and the star = Mercedes in most people's minds. DAS -- To reply directly replace 'nospam' with 'schmetterling' -- <erschroedinger(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:c54bf123-c79d-40f3-84b8-93ff433f2077(a)d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com... [...] He's CEO of Daimler as well as head of the Mercedes unit, so everything -- Mercedes, Maybach, trucks, smart, EADS, racing -- all fall under his direction. |