GM Has Gotta Keep ‘em Separated

That 70′s sign must go…

By Gunnar Heinrich

YOU have to wonder how many potential customers have gone to their local Pontiac dealer with the aim of taking home a G8 only to drive on by once they saw that 70s sign which invariably read “Buick, Pontiac, GMC.” 

The only product placement that’d kill the urge faster would be finding Trojans stocked on the same shelf with Huggies. Selling a Pontiac G8 GT next to a GMC Acadia – or worse – a Pontiac Torrent, just kills the Vibe (no puns).

Now, I’m sure that the General’s lieutenants all know this by now. If they don’t, well, then that’s truly frightening. But let’s assume they do and that they also know that with the car market as sour as it is and dealer franchise laws as strict as they are, there’s little room for GM to separate the brands into distinct, separate dealerships. 

That understood, they must also recognize that something must be done to overcome these obstacles. Restructuring dealerships with new showrooms that’ll reflect the uniqueness of each GM brand will be every bit as important as remaking the marques going forward.

This means doing more than reshuffling existing floorplans. The Buick-Pontiac-GMC setup as it is, goes some way in explaining a large segment of the population’s knee-jerk response to Detroit’s plight in general, “they’re not making cars that I want to buy.” 

That B.S. statement comes not only from not having driven an exemplary car like the Pontiac G8 GT, it’s telling us that the sight of those old school dealerships is turning customers away from noticing the hot model in the first place.

Put simply, the old showroom that has a mix of everything, with old hacks that just want you overpaying and out the door is a business plan so old it gets a mention in the Magna Carta. It just doesn’t do the job of attracting new customers or even keeping old ones interested.

Not that there’s anything sexy about Toyota franchises – far from it. But Toyota’s in the A-to-B appliance business and most Toyota drivers look at their car with the same involved passion that their Hoover gets. GM needs to rework everything in order to exceed its competitors and repackaging their dealers should be a top priority in that effort.

Staging and pitching the cars differently, like GM commendably did with the struggling Hummer division (they’re not hurting for want of cool showrooms), is the way to go forward – as expensive or risky as that may seem. 

It’s that, or having that beautiful new “White Hot” G8 GT rot, unsold, un-leased, or even un-test driven alongside that “Gold Mist Metallic” Acadia beneath that awful 70′s sign.