Would it matter if the Chevy Volt is made by an entity other than "GM"? [w/POLL]
One of the many questions arising from the General Motors bankruptcy is whether or not the company will keep the same name once it emerges from Chapter 11. While some people have already taken to calling it Government Motors, it seems somehow unlikely that new CEO Fritz Henderson will officially adopt that name. Still, the AP reported last week is at least being considered by the company. In a bit of thinking-out-loud contemplation, the Detroit Free Press has taken a look at the possibility that GM will indeed change its name. In them middle of the article is this paragraph:
Now, [a name change] also could be a sign to consumers that this really is a new, different enterprise. But GM's immediate challenge will be selling vehicles such as the Chevy Volt that were clearly conceived and designed by the current company, warts and all.When GM is talking about itself these days, the most common new "name" is, well, "the New GM." The Free Press believes that GM should remain GM - why complicate matters. But what if the name does change and, since we're imagining things here, the Volt is used as the symbol of this new brand. A new type of car for a new type of company. Good idea?
[Source: Detroit Free Press]
Photo by mandj98. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gorr 7:20PM (6/15/2009)
I have said and i have repeated to let gm go out of business without subsidies. Consumers have spoken that's all. They should accept the economics as it is freedom that speak. No more tax to this incompetant dinosaurus. Next is toyota, honda, chrysler, mercedes, volks, nissan, audi, volkz, bmw, tony karts, aston-martin, bentley, fiat, peugeot, freightliner, boeing. Exxon, shell will remain for 10-40 years to fuel the remaining used cars, trucks, ships, airplanes, all with green algae fuels that cost next to nothing, don't discard natural gas too. AS no-start-ups compagnies have taken the huge hole their is in the fuels offers, then the remaining oil compagnies have all the employees installations, transport, refineries , detail selling stores for keeping the market. They already have 95% of the investment necessary to succeed in this new market. No start-up compagnies have gathered 100 000$ or more to invest in green algae fuels, LOL.
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paulwesterberg 7:21PM (6/15/2009)
Changing the name would be like putting lipstick on a pig. What really needs to change is the outdated, narrow, shortsighted management policies that brought GM to bankruptcy in the first place.
What we need is real change, not a new logo.
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fuel.shy 10:20PM (6/15/2009)
What's the point of a name change if it's the same people? If it was actually a different company, that would be another thing.
paulwesterberg 9:55AM (6/16/2009)
If they changed their name to Electric Motors that might mean something.
win39 7:28PM (6/15/2009)
I am not sure if it matters one way or the other. No one will be impressed by an Astromotors Cadillac, Buick or Chevrolet. An additional consideration is the cost. It cost $50 million, an astounding sum in 1966, to change the logo to GM Mark of Excellence. The several billion dollars it would cost could be better used bringing the Volt to market early or for a cheaper price or just bringing a damned good car to market and selling it instead of using as a loss leader.
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why not the LS2LS7? 7:45PM (6/15/2009)
I think it's important for the success of ER-EVs that someone besides GM make one. Both because GM is in poor financial shape to try to get the word out about what's so great about ER-EVs and also because a lot people just won't buy a GM car for one reason or another.
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KM 8:49PM (6/15/2009)
GM needs to figure itself out. I personally think that they should reduce their brands to as few as possible... so I hope they don't dilute the brand -worse- by adding or creating a new brand, even if that brand was just for the Volt and nothing else. They should -not- create a new brand just for the Volt. I suspect the Volt will give existing brand new credibility to boot.
In addition they should focus on parts interchangeability among platforms but in a meaningful way - I hate simple rebadges but I can't see why GM couldn't share everything but sheetmetal and interiors across brands.
If they make an upmarket Volt under Cadillac, it should LOOK like it isn't the same car but pull from the same parts bin for repairs... Mechanics have told me parts are cheaper for non-domestic manufacturers for this reason.
Michael 9:27PM (6/15/2009)
When the Volt eventually gets to Australia it'll be branded as a Holden anyway. The brand is irrelevant, what matters is the vehicle.
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Snowdog 10:29PM (6/15/2009)
Stupid idea and it isn't going to happen. Changing names will cost bags of money and will accomplish nothing. They would spend a ton of money and by the time they got the new name out there, people would associate it with GM, even worse I think it would like to many people like they were trying to run away from the GM name.
Stick with GM name and spend the money on the car design. Then tell people about the new GM. People love a comeback story.
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matthijs 12:37AM (6/16/2009)
When I first read the headline of this article I thought it was because of something else. Because all the Volt's presented by GM untill today ARE MADE by another entity!
http://www.prefix.com/Vehicles/Volt.php
They are made by Prefix corporation. So GM did technically not build a Volt yet!
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ufgrat 2:04AM (6/16/2009)
The cruze mules are the closest thing to a "Volt" that's been produced up until the past couple weeks, when GM started making Integration Vehicles. The "Prefix" Volt wasn't a Voltec platform, just looks like one.
joegibes 10:04AM (6/16/2009)
Looks like those are the Volt show vehicles -- just for looks. The actual, running vehicles (not to mention the current Cruze/Volt mules) will be built by GM.
BlackbirdHighway 8:23AM (6/16/2009)
I remember a story about how US Air got it's name. It used to be Allegheny Air, and they spent a ton of money on a big advertising campaign. They wanted to see if the advertising was doing any good, so they hired a firm to do a survey.
The survey gave people a list of airlines and asked if they had heard of them and whether they had a good or bad opinion of them. Just to make it interesting, they threw in a couple of fake airlines as well as the popular names. US Air was one of the fake names.
The results of the survey showed that US Air, the fake, had better name recognition and better approval ratings than Allegheny Air, even after Allegheny had just spent a ton of money on advertising.
The solution was obvious, change the name to US Air. It worked, the company became much more successful with the new name.
Maybe GM should do a survey to see how people like US Motors.
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axio.matik 1:40PM (6/16/2009)
And then US Air went bankrupt after 9/11, and America West Airlines swooped in and bought it up while it was in bankruptcy. I surmise America West decided to rename themselves US Air to provide a much less regional-sounding name. Allegheny Air sounds like a local puddle-jumping outfit. Southwest is now the only large, nationwide airline that has kept its regional-sounding name.
David Martin 11:36AM (6/16/2009)
American Leyland? :-)
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