So what do WE WANT ? Speak up now, cuz we're such a bunch of wallflowers :lol:




GM Marketing czar wants to give customers what they want..

WHAT'S GOOD FOR GM, ITS WORKERS, DEALERS, RETIREES, BONDS?
Cadillac kid: `Gotta compete'

Marketing czar wants to give customers what they want, not what committees of executives say they want

By Michael Oneal and Jim Mateja
Tribune staff reporters
Published May 8, 2005

For a 46-year-old carrying a significant slice of the U.S. economy on his shoulders, Mark LaNeve seemed remarkably upbeat last week as he bent his stocky, 6-foot frame into the cabin of a Citation business jet sitting on the tarmac near Midway Airport.

Reaching into a black leather briefcase stuffed with documents, the newly appointed North American marketing czar of General Motors Corp. pulled out a set of colorful PowerPoint slides.

They contained a sketch of his plan to help extract the ailing automaker from the sudden maelstrom that has gripped the company and its 145,000 employees around the U.S.

"This is it," he said, flipping through the pages. "This is the stuff we've been talking about."

What LaNeve is talking about might sound like Marketing 101. GM will sharpen its brands and get rid of me-too models. It will cut incentives and focus on value. It will hammer home that its quality is much better than people think.

In short, GM will try to give customers what they want, instead of what committees of executives in Detroit think they want.

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complete article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...ack=1&cset=true

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0505080261may08,1,5310412.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Old question, what is Saab and what it should be.

I'm sad to say reading comments few months ago about how some preceding Saabs tried to be too many things in one and failed and that Saab doesnt need most powerful engine in the segment, that GM is still somewhat lost.

I aint going to tell what Saab should be from my point of view but I can tell that different options are the key how to satisfy most of customers.

Like example you can get rear wing to make more downforce, or stiffer suspension to improve corner speed. These things need to be brought to a completely different level in all aspects of the car because different people want to have different things.

AND there are people who are ready to spend much more money if there are some options available that they like. Particularly in performance(like carbon fibre hood).
But also appearance, like that mysterious interior look that USA is famous of. Let people have options to make it a vuking unrational living room and not a ascetic c0ckpit. Ok, you maybe loose some "purpose philosophy" down the road but get loads of more money from "happy colors" folks.

Options should cover almost everything, with simply idea "this is better, do you wanna pay for it?". And it can be anything from tyres to door locks to the fuel tank.

Present situation is that there could be superb things inside of car and customer has no idea that it is existing. Like 9-5 door locks, who actually knows that they cant be forced open by turning?

Good product is TOTALLY useless if there is no marketing to say, what good does it have. Like trionic story is now coming to an end, why spend millions to anything that customer has never heard of.

Porsche cars cost a lot, but does buyer wonder about it? NO, because they are dead certain that for every penny that car has something expensive inside.

At the moment most Saab buyers dont know what they are paying for.
Marketing has failed if somebody asks after reading advertise "what good does it have?". Car sales are a lot about selling feelings and emotions but Saab should stay out of it. It does work for most of the brands out there but not for Saab.

It seems like link-rot has set in. Can't get the article :confused:

well, for starters, i recommend the 9x.