Word: buicks
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...Should GM go into bankruptcy, the plan would involve forming one company around bad assets, such as Hummer and Saturn, and dumping the retiree health-care liabilities into it. That company could be sold off or wound down. A second company would comprise the better performing Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac and GMC brands. That ongoing firm could be partly owned by the bondholders, the UAW and other creditors...
...Down the Road Anyone who is in business in 2012 will get business. For all their problems, there's no question that the Detroit Three will have some competitive cars. GM has already made the case with its award-winning Chevy Malibu. The 2009 Buick LaCrosse recently topped all midsize competitors in the dependability ratings of J.D. Power & Associates. That's a positive sign, given that Buick is such an important brand for GM in China. Ford, which is in the best shape of the Detroit Three, has found success in its new Edge, in its F-150 pickup...
Susan Docherty, the GM marketing executive responsible for selling the company's Buick, Pontiac and GMC brands, also tried to strike a positive note: "If you look at the brands I'm responsible for, our business was up 10% the first five months of the year," Docherty said. "It's frustrating," notes Docherty, adding the recession is speeding up the shutdown of dealerships. "We've got 6,100 dealers and we're going to go down to 4,500," she says. (See pictures of autoworkers...
...Buick dealership in downtown Beijing, sales manager Wang Quan has a lot less to do than he did a few months back. New Buicks used to leave his shop by the dozens each week, but these days, not even discounts of 15-18% can draw in the same number of paying of customers. "We used to sell 120 to 150 cars per month at this store," Wang says. "But starting from November, the number has shrunk to 90." The reason, he says, is simple: "The economic crisis...
...will sell or close Saturn. Pontiac and Saab could end up joining Oldsmobile and Plymouth in the hood-ornament graveyard because the cost of supporting a brand with a small market share doesn't make sense, nor does maintaining a dealership network created for an era when Chevy and Buick could support separate distribution systems. GM plans to reduce its dealer count 27%, to 4,700. "Certainly, having seven or eight brands for 25% of the market is far more than you need," says Ron Harbour, the partner in charge of consultancy Oliver Wyman's North American automotive practice...