Ideas to Help GM with its Continued Restructuring Plan

Paramount to the restructuring of GM is a need to give its myriad brands true and distinct identities. While Buick has had a modicum of success with its Enclave Crossover, I doubt many BMW and Mercedes owners are cross-shopping there. But the problem is, that is exactly who Buick is trying to lure over to the brand.

So what is it that GM can do to help give Chevy, Saturn and the gang a chance against Honda, Toyota and those nasty Germans? Here are just a few ideas of how GM can drum up more interest in it’s often times competing brands and help insure that none of them go the way of Oldsmobile.

1.)    First off, sell Saab – The General has never invested much money into Saab and despite some interesting concept cars the only models it currently has for sale are based on generations old platforms.  Fiat would make a perfect candidate for purchasing as it is newly flush with cash and Saab has worked with the Italian firm before developing the Alfa 157 sedan. Fiat would also be more likely to allow Saab to return to its truly quirky roots styling and technology wise.
 
2.)    Expand the Saturn Lineup- Saturn has just recently started selling re-badged Opels, yet models like the Astra are only being made available with one powertrain option. The Astra should also have a turbocharged, sporting Red Line model as well as a high mileage diesel. Opel has myriad diesel engines available for use and buyers of Saturns would be most likely to want a vehicle with hybrid-like mileage. I am sorry, but the hybrids on the Aura and Vue just don’t get good enough mileage to make them stand out on the marketplace.
 
3.)    Send Buick to Beijing Permanently –The leadership for the Buick brand here in the U.S. is definitely not doing a very good job. How is it that a Buick in China of all places is considered truly prestigious and styled on a par with Audi? People were not unduly upset when they recently found out that Chevy Equinox engines were built in China, so why not outsource all design and manufacture for Buick there as well. This would give Buick a huge cost advantage here in the United States and then they could position the brand as a budget Lexus, right where it should be. Maybe the Chinese could also figure out how to style a Buick so it looks like an American car. They sure are good at copying things, so who says they can’t figure out how to make our American cars look American again. Lord knows their Park Avenue is better looking than ours ever was.
 
4.)    All Pontiacs should be based on Holdens – After years of the grotesquely over-cladded Grand Am and deliriously sub-par G6 sedan, it appears as though Pontiac may finally get a decent four door. Holden, the Australian subsidiary of GM, is currently providing the new G8 sedan. It is rear drive and comes with V6 or V8 power. Also rumored is an El Camino like sport truck. I say Pontiac needs to dump all the re-badged Chevys and rental fodder G6s and focus on selling rear drive Holdens. It is the only way the brand will be taken seriously again as the “excitement” division.
 
5.)    Leave Chevy and GMC as mainstream divisions and euthanize Hummer – Consider Chevy the Toyota to GMC’s Land Rover and kill off the Hummer brand. Hummer stands for all that is decadent and overdone in the auto industry and is really just destroying any environmental credibility GM may gain from models like the Volt.
 
6.)    Cadillac steers clear of geriatric appeal – If Cadillac never, ever releases a model with a bench seat and column shifter again everything should be fine.