GM’s ‘Mark of Excellence’ Gets Dinged
[Guest post by DRJ]
GM will not include its “Mark of Excellence” (the silver square GM logo) on future new cars:
“The final decision to remove the silver square logo was made earlier this month, although executives had mentioned the possibility of such a move months ago. The company found that consumers had a greater affinity for GM’s individual brands than the corporate name.
“What we’re seeing is the GM brand gets dinged big time in terms of considering a GM vehicle,” said Mike DiGiovanni, GM’s executive director of global market and industry analysis, during a monthly sales conference call in April. “But when you look at Chevrolet, Cadillac and our other brands, they haven’t changed.”
Hmmm. I wonder what happened in the last few months that would ding the GM brand?
— DRJ
Actually that sort of rebranding made sense well before GM became a dirty socialist welfare-addicted laughingstock. Individual brands could have hit cars, but the overall brand was always understood to be crap. At least in my lifetime.
happyfeet (6b707a) — 8/25/2009 @ 9:18 pmTaking the logos off the vehicle will save GM a “nominal” amount of money, Rhadigan said.
Nominal meaning the amount saved will be dwarfed by the amount made by the extra product they’ll be able to move by not having a crappy dirty socialist brand emblazoned on their crappy American douchemobiles.
happyfeet (6b707a) — 8/25/2009 @ 9:28 pmGrossly Mismanaged?
what’s wrong with *that* logo?
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 8/25/2009 @ 10:16 pmSorry to interrupt, but I just heard on the radio that Ted Kennedy has died.
JVW (d1215a) — 8/25/2009 @ 10:27 pm‘General Motors’. It actually sounds Soviet.
Bleagh. I’ll never buy one again, which sucks because I don’t know of a viable alternative to the Suburban. Can’t stand that Excursion, and Honda’s Pilot can’t tow my boat.
Juan (bd4b30) — 8/25/2009 @ 10:28 pmI’m in the same fix, Juan. I’ve owned several Suburbans and Yukons over the past 30 years and it pains me not to buy another one, but I won’t. I’m looking at the big Toyotas and Mercedes.
DRJ (3f5471) — 8/25/2009 @ 10:44 pmI understand the basic strategy of emphasizing the brands over the manufacturer – how else does one justify charging so much more for a Yukon than a Tahoe? – but if the GM name itself has been that badly dinged overall, why did they scrap all those other brands while retaining GMC?
Xrlq (62cad4) — 8/26/2009 @ 3:53 amI’ve pretty much always owned Chevy’s and Pontiacs, and I liked ’em. I think the Vette is better than anything else out there. I was starting to dream about buying the new Camaro as we’re on the cusp of empty nest.
But now? Forget it. I think I’ll try a Honda.
Gesundheit (254807) — 8/26/2009 @ 5:42 amDRJ – I love the FJ Cruiser, but Better Half thinks it is Fugly on its good days. We have been looking for a few months, and since my beloved Saab is part of the Barcky Motors, I have to buy something else. Dirty little socialists are actively preventing me from buying the car that I want.
JD (240396) — 8/26/2009 @ 5:57 amwhy did they scrap all those other brands while retaining GMC?
hint: think large commercial vehicles used in construction, utility, and short haul delivery. A mkt segment not nearly as volatile as passenger mkts. One day in traffic just count all the vans, service trucks, and stakebeds larger than the dually family truck, but smaller than a Peterbilt. Wouldn’t be surprised if they winnow down the GMC passenger truck/van segment, and let Chevy have it all.
political agnostic (a9ff25) — 8/26/2009 @ 8:30 amWe wouldn’t take a GM car for free now.
Peg C. (48175e) — 8/26/2009 @ 8:37 amLet it be recognized by all that the disgraced GM brand does not have, and has never had any thing to do with the “Nom de Pixel” of this commenter.
GM
GM Roper (85dcd7) — 8/26/2009 @ 10:52 amGesundheit, the Corvette is a great car, but I wouldn’t count on it remaining one. Things are just too much like the 70s for GM.
I’ve always appreciate the value and performance of that car, but never could see myself in one. Maybe my wife, but not me. And it’s not that great a daily driver when compared to comparable sports cars.
The Camaro, on the other hand, is simply a bad car. I glad you mentioned Honda, because their V6 Accord with a stick is sportier than a V6 Camaro, and almost as fast in a straight line as a new Camaro SS. It’s much cheaper, more reliable, more useful, and it’s a very fun car to drive, even if it’s front wheel drive. My daughter put 250,000 miles on hers and wasn’t gentle about it.
If you’re able to test drive a Camaro, I’d also schedule a test drive of a V6 Accord with a stick shift. What’s interesting to me is the classic argument that GM sends it profits here and Honda doesn’t. Honda actually spends lots of money in the US, pays taxes in the US, etc, while GM is taking its stimulus money that it robbed from taxpayers to Brazil and Russia while not paying any taxes.
I didn’t know Mercedes offered something like a Suburban, so I’m glad that was mentioned.
Juan (ac61ab) — 8/26/2009 @ 11:03 amNow that ownership has changed, “Mark of Excellence” can be replaced by the “Mark of Good Enough for Government Work”.
Barry S. (1717bd) — 8/26/2009 @ 12:50 pm