Quote:
Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28
NO sense fighting a market leader? So just ignore and forget about it? Why should GM tackle the main markets? Are you guys serious?
That's what GM did for 20 years.
They do this. They do this all the time, and they have been beaten up over and over again over this. They put cars through design clinics and consumer clinics and sit people down and talk about what they want, and they pool these ideas together and come up with generic, boring cars that don't appeal to anyone.
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If switching behavior is almost nil it's not a worthwhile investment
when they can spend their money elsewhere to get a better return. This strategy has been used at countless places to figure out how to maximize their development efforts. It's common practice in many industries. I'm not saying ignore an entire car segment, rather I am saying they need to focus on battles in which they can win big gains. Look and Honda and the Ridgeline as another example. They tried and it is an apparent failure.
If GM can drive a wedge in between small car owners and their love for non-American economy cars then by all means go for it. But for ****'s sake try to understand your market and don't pour money into a hole trying to sell cars to people that won't even consider your brand.
Porsche learned this lesson the hard way in the 80s. I've spoken with the guy responsible for the MR surrounding the 928 (in the USA) at length and it's a shining example of not understanding the depth of the pool before you jump in. The big takeaway was that they underestimated the RX-7 and the Z cars, their price point, their performance, and their popularity.
I can't say that I've been witness to what GM does behind closed doors, but I have seen some of what they do firsthand and it did not seem to be designed very strongly. However that was back in '07-'08 and it may have changed.
And this doesn't come from a douchebag on the Internet trying to pick GM apart like you are probably used to. I deal with this type of stuff all the time at a professional level and have seen my share of successes and failures with product positioning. I can say from industry experience that GM's stuff appears to be pretty weak (as you have stated yourself). Part of me understands, as there are plenty of other places for them to spend money right now. It just irks me that they seem to miss the mark and build **** that nobody needs or will buy. I hope they continue the forward momentum and change that.
Edit, saw the last post about Lutz, and that's a GD tragedy. Good info, good idea, piss poor execution. Argh. I'd love to see where exactly that all went south. I can't imagine that there were a group of consumers that saw the car and thought "HELL YEAH,
THIS is what I want".