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On things they smoke over @ GM

post #1 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:28am
Thread Starter 
So GM is killing the performance division (so much for taking zee Germans on), Saturn, Pontiac.
Dumping Saab and hoping to be able to unload $$$ Hummer.
Reportedly, Saturn dealers could buy the brand out so long as the funds for that somehow materialize.
(I haven't got the faintest ficken clue as to the mechanics of such acquisition.)
Among the surviving divisons are Cadillac, Chevy, GMC and Buick.
Now aside from the idiocy of not only keeping Buick alive (favorite choice of remaining WWII vets and rental agencies) but taking it upmarket to compete against - gasp - Lexus, what is accomplished by keeping GMC alive ?
GM has got a much better established truck division already. While on the premium end there's Cadillac.
Weren't they the ones moanig about overlapping product ?
Future sporty Opels can be rolled into Chevy line-up. So the departure of Saturn is no great loss.
Whatever 1 or 2 half-decent models Pontiac (read: rebadged Holdens) used to offer could find new home @ Chevy as well.
BTW, I never figured out how they intend to simply walk away from Saab (never mind the billions it cost to purchase). Is GM just gonna cease taking phone calls from Trollhättan ?
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post #2 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christofuh View Post
So GM is killing the performance division (so much for taking zee Germans on), Saturn, Pontiac.
Dumping Saab and hoping to be able to unload $$$ Hummer.
Reportedly, Saturn dealers could buy the brand out so long as the funds for that somehow materialize.

That's the ultimate F-U to Saturn dealers... just saying "if you got a billion bucks sitting around, just buy the damn thing"
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post #3 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:35am
Buick sells like hotcakes in China. I think sometimes people forget that GM is a global enterprise, and some things that may not make sense for the US work well in overseas markets. It's been suggested that GM would do better if they abandoned the US market entirely. --Andre
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post #4 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Y View Post
Buick sells like hotcakes in China.

Huh? Buick in China? I thought the american car makers only had a real prescence in europe, the middle east, and latin america.
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post #5 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:43am
China's the new emerging market --- everyone is setting up shop there. Buick sales in China already exceed the US and grew by 50 percent in April 2009.

http://www.autospies.com/news/Buick-...n-China-43716/

Buick products for the Chinese market are also much more interesting than what we get in the US.

--Andre
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post #6 of 41
5/13/09 at 1:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FidelCashflow View Post
Huh? Buick in China? I thought the american car makers only had a real prescence in europe, the middle east, and latin america.
Yes, Buicks seem to be the car of choice in China.
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post #7 of 41
5/13/09 at 1:53am
Thread Starter 
If GM is up to you-know-what in debt, what difference does it make @ this stage ?
Hummers sell in the Persian Gulf like hot falafels too.
It's too little, too efing late
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post #8 of 41
5/13/09 at 3:02am
Buick, Cadillac and Lincoln have brand-recognition in China because they had a presence as luxury vehicles before the Communists.
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post #9 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
Buick, Cadillac and Lincoln have brand-recognition in China because they had a presence as luxury vehicles before the Communists.

"Kennedys drive Buicks."
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post #10 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:27pm
Heard on news radio this morning GM is hoping to import cars made in China within 2 years? wtf.
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post #11 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayJay View Post
Yes, Buicks seem to be the car of choice in China.

This simply begs to be quoted.

Who would've ever guessed?
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post #12 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonick View Post
Heard on news radio this morning GM is hoping to import cars made in China within 2 years? wtf.

weak.
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post #13 of 41
5/13/09 at 12:44pm
I don't care much for "American" car makers anymore. Your average toyota has a huge % of parts originated in America and several factories assembling vehicles here. GM on the otherhand has had to outsource everything in order to remain profitable and now want to start making cars in China. Great. Although I still prefer my BMW's and Toyota's made in Germany/Japan.
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post #14 of 41
5/13/09 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christofuh View Post
Reportedly, Saturn dealers could buy the brand out so long as the funds for that somehow materialize.

I thought I heard that it was a group of dealers and private equity firms. So some combination where the PEs presumably have big bucks (as opposed to big Buicks). But I could have heard it wrong.



b
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post #15 of 41
5/13/09 at 2:26pm
Roger Penske is also mulling a bid to buy Saturn.
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