I visit many forums, and one topic comes up again and again on those for Toyota and Lexus models: many options and option combinations are simply not available. At least not in your area, or not this month. Sometimes no cars without options are available. Sometimes you can get the Premium Package, but only if you also get a Towing… More →
Category: Car Product Stategy
Car Product Stategy
Saab needs to find its future in the past
Trollhattansaab.net’s Swade has posted an open letter to Steve Shannon, Saab’s new boss. To his suggestions, excellent as always, I’d like to add my own. My feeling is that Saab has lost its way and forgotten much of what made its cars attractive when they were last hot, back in the 1980s. It hasn’t helped that GM bought Saab thinking… More →
IF and WHEN, or WHAT and HOW?
General Motors product czar Bob Lutz recently announced that “We’ve pushed the pause button” on large rear-wheel-drive cars currently under development. The stated reason? Bush’s proposed increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Maybe this pause makes sense. My concern is that this is far from an isolated instance. These cars were put on hold at least once a couple… More →
Pick your battles and lose the war
I spent a year and a half inside GM back in the mid-1990s performing research for my Ph.D. thesis. I studied how the “voice of the customer” made its way into new product decisions. At that time, it was very hard for anyone to get anything done, because each part of the organization was charged with optimizing a different piece of… More →
Save the concept, give us production: Take 2
Earlier today I posted a blog entry suggesting that GM made a mistake showing the Volt. And now I’ve come across an instance where GM showed a promising concept three years ago, but has let someone else be the first to actually offer such a product.
Size matters, but is bigger always better?
An active discussion of the 2008 Cadillac CTS at GMInsideNews.com has brought to the fore one of my favorite topics: vehicle size. Detroit’s critics for years have charged that it has never grasped that not everyone feels that a bigger car is a better car. And they’ve had many grounds for doing so. For years Detroit refused to offer compact… More →
Forget the halos, focus on the core
An article in this week’s Automotive News has people wondering again about Cadillac’s ongoing flirtation with the idea of producing a $100,000+ car. They’ve shown two in recent years, the Cien mid-engined supercar and the Sixteen sedan. Fans of GM love the cars. I also happen to be a fan of GM, but I feel that producing either car would… More →
Launching weak
For years enthusiasts have asked GM to offer its European cars in the U.S. (An Opel Omega rebadged as a Cadillac Catera didn’t count.) This fall they’ll start to get their wish, when the Opel Astra goes on sale as the Saturn Astra, with more German-engineered Opels rebadged as Saturns to follow. I fear that the Astra will not sell… More →
Chrysler in 2007 = AMC in 1987?
The last few days have been rife with rumors that General Motors will buy the Chrysler Group from DCX. Most people commenting on this potential deal wonder why GM would want Chrysler. Their product lines overlap, GM has enough work on its hands streamlining the organization it already has, and Chrysler has few winning products at the moment. But what… More →
Chicago: Ford will offer “more products people want”
I’ve attended two presentations by Ford today. The big news at Ford: they’re going to offer “more products people want.” I must wonder how long it took them to develop this strategy.