Word: chevrolet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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COVER: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air photographed by Ron Kimball...
...1980s the company staggered from one automotive blunder to another. Worst among them were the cookie-cutter cars. The idea behind them was to save on manufacturing costs, one of Smith's abiding principles. But the look-alike models blurred the historical marketing distinction GM had carefully cultivated between Chevrolet at the bottom of the market, Cadillac at the top and Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick in between. None of the cookie-cutter cars will make it to the Automotive Hall of Fame...
...Chevrolet dealer in South Dakota, Rock earned a degree in psychology before embarking on a career that included posts at Buick and GMC Truck. At Oldsmobile, Rock began his revolution at the retail level, where he exhorted his dealers to emphasize customer service. He plans for Oldsmobile to become the first mainstream GM line to adopt the methods of the new Saturn division, which embraces higher standards of value, quality and service than other nameplates...
Smith's handpicked group of bureaucracy busters, who work 15-hour days and call themselves "the cowboys," aim to liberate each of GM's brand-name divisions to give them back their long-stifled control over styling, engineering and marketing decisions. Each division, from Cadillac to Chevrolet, will be expected to survive virtually on its own. Already, the layers of approval required for manufacturing decisions have been reduced by half. Individual engineering components that fail to add style or identity to a product have been dramatically reduced: 17 different ignition systems have been refined to three, nine engine families...
...everyone agrees. Lately, GM's products have earned high marks for quality. But the company desperately needs to make them more cheaply and sell them more effectively. The automaker's U.S. market share dipped to less than 31% last August, down from 45% in the late 1970s. Sales of Chevrolet and Oldsmobile models have sagged most dramatically, slipping 13% and 9% respectively since last year. If the economy remains stuck in low gear during the early 1990s, price competition is likely to remain fierce, and only the low-cost producers will make money. For GM's top managers, getting there...