Big 3 Raise Prices Again As spring arrived, the Big 3 vehicle makers raised their truck prices a sales-weighted average of $171, while their cars climbed $144, according to an Automotive News analysis.
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Brand Management Was A Tough Sell At GM Ron Zarrella arrived in December 1994 on a mission to shake up General Motors' stodgy culture with a dose of brand management. Seven years later, the president of GM North America has resigned, and brand management has left only a modest mark on the company. Brand managers became mid-level executives at GM, with limited clout in marketing and product decisions.
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Can Dowdy GM's Young Stylists Create Cool Cars? Dave Smith heads the Saturn studio at 37 and is excited about trying to revitalize the struggling GM brand.
"Saturn is trying to get back to its roots," said Smith. "You're going to start to see a different type of product coming from Saturn."
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Cars Target Youth Market GM says it plans to introduce seven youth-oriented vehicles in the next two to three years. To lead the effort, GM formed a team called iSYS -- for innovative smart youth strategy. The Pontiac Vibe and the Saturn VUE mini sport-utility vehicle will debut first.
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Escalade Scores With Athletes, Rappers How did Cadillac, which usually attracts 62-year-old white guys, create a truck that almost every black rap artist and rookie professional athlete wants to buy? It appears to be pure luck, and it took Cadillac by surprise.
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Flint: Better Late Than Never For years, GM executives overlooked the explosion in the truck market. Ford caught up and passed GM in truck sales. Now the situation's reversed again — GM is number one in trucks and its competitors.
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General Motors: The Road Ahead Key aspects of the organization as it undergoes a major transformation. The competitive environment is tougher than ever, but the company has the opportunity to maintain its position through improved products, processes, technologies—and managerial positioning and decision-making.
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GM Aims to Speed Design Decisions General Motors has restructured its design and product development team to speed up pre-production decision making. Mark Hogan, most recently president of e-GM, on Thursday was named to GM's newly created role of group vice president of advanced vehicle development.
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GM Announces $1.5 Billion For Saturn Expansion GM plans to bolster its Saturn line of cars by adding two new models and spending $1.5 billion to expand the Saturn factory in Spring Hill, TN. GM also said a future Saturn model would be the first GM product to use a Honda engine, and that all Saturns would get more stylish exteriors.
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GM Battles Image of Low Quality General Motors' top market researcher said the automaker must continue to use generous incentives and aggressive marketing to overcome consumer perceptions that the automaker's quality still lags rivals.
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GM Boss Rallies Team for Toyota Fight Evoking one of his favorite athletic metaphors, Chairman Rick Wagoner didn’t equivocate: It’s halftime in the high-stakes game to become the world’s dominant automaker, he said, and GM is in danger of losing to Toyota, the Japanese juggernaut that is making more money and selling more cars and trucks every year, everywhere.
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GM Finally Grows Up And Is Ready To Run With The Pack The powerful old GM, absolute and not-so-benevolent ruler of the U.S. auto industry, died around 1974. It took a decade for the company to realize that; and another 15 years of painful effort to teach the reborn infant to walk, run, and finally to fight.
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GM Gets Bullish On Design As a part of the product shakeup being felt throughout the GM empire, GM vice chairman Bob Lutz says the company will fire up the competition among its design studios in Warren, MI, California, Europe and Brazil and will offer outside design houses a chance at some of the company’s upcoming projects.
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GM Hopes Buyers Get A Vibe The Vibe and the Saturn Vue (a small SUV due in 2002) are the first demonstrable evidence of GM's new small-car strategy and attempt to capture younger buyers.
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GM Interns Showcase Style GM's latest intern class was divided into six teams, with each engineer intern serving on two teams. They got simple orders: Design a car or truck that appealed to their generation and pocketbooks. The result was a wide variety of Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars and sport-utes.
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GM Interns Showcase Style GM's latest intern class -- divided into six teams, with each engineer intern serving on two teams -- got simple orders: Design a car or truck that appealed to their generation and pocketbooks. The result was a wide variety of Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars and sport-utes.
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GM Lands In Top Three In Respected Quality Study General Motors has captured a spot among the top three automakers in a respected quality rating. In a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates, GM passed Nissan to rank third among big automakers behind Toyota and Honda. GM was helped by its Saturn division, which climbed to No. 4 from No. 13 among brands.
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GM Makes Renewed Push For Young Buyers General Motors is making its most powerful push for young buyers in years, with the hip and sporty Pontiac Vibe five-door hatchback and the safe and friendly Saturn Vue compact sport utility vehicle.
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GM moves In On Accessories General Motors is counting on a new team of strategists here in this Flint suburb to help it grab a big chunk of the $24-billion vehicle accessories market.
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GM Overhauls Design Staff The reorganization is the brainchild of GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz, the former top Chrysler executive charged with pumping new life and style into the giant automaker's vast vehicle lineup.
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