Is GM india doing it right this time ?

[maxbhp]

DEar Fello Bhpians,

Do you think it was right to brand Daweoo Nubira and Isuzu Panther and soon to be launched Daewoo Matiz as Chevrolet ? Do you think its a plan well thought ?
One thing is always there with GM , they always are late in their launch be in Aveo or Optra or Tavera . For Tavera they had a mission , to localise the contents to the Maximum so that it can be priced below Qualis . They did acheive that but only problem was that by the time it was launched Toyota decided to play game of "catch me if you can " . And due to Toyota's massive cash reserve launching a car , if I remember qualis was doing 3000+ units when it was taken out of the line up , GM simply couldnt match to its rivals .
I dont think it was early enough with the aveo either . By that time Ford had already sold arounf 10000+ units . The problem is not cash constrain coz in the end they always launch the car , i guess its poor planning.
Imagine , Optra is selling around 700 units a month . People are prefering diesels now adays be it North south east or west. When they have 2.2lit Crdi , what are they waiting for ? Imagine if they launch it in Mid 2007 , do you think people are going to gun for it ? I dont think so coz by that time its shape would be outdated and compared to latest gen Crdi 2.2 litre unit is no great .
Its okay to see bad cars not selling well, but when you see cars like OPtra , Fiat Palio not doing well u feel like killing those top level mangers. I am excluding Hyundai Elantra and Sonata Embrera coz they are doing extremely well with their note countinf machine (Santro) . For Gm Aveo was supposed to do that job , butI doubt it will sell more than 900 units .
Rebadging worked for Optra , I mean most people wasnt aware of it , but with aveo they seem to have lost ideas. All they are interested is rebadging a cheap car into a more expensive one.

THINK GM THINK , first u badged our beloved Subaru into Chevrolet ......
please think better.......or else you will be needing return tickets soon

[islero]

GM has been a shambles right from the start, they may have good cars, but their timing, as you have mentioned, si bad, the treatment they mete out to customers is crap, and their spare parts prices are exhorbitant.

Their pricing scheme wasnt planned out properly, meaning none of their cars is very competitively priced.


It is very sad, because all the cars they have sold are good and defenitely deserved a better sales record.

[BUSA]

@ islero they have sorted out the spares now. The prices have reached down to earth and are unlike those in the astra days. Infact they are cheaper then the Corolla. I went and saw the spare parts price at GM and Toyota and Toyota was more expensive. Skoda is on top of them all.

[maxbhp]

Now forget about the Opel days . I am not talking about parts pricing . I am talking about the logic of Rebadging. We seem to get no original car from GM .

[SamRao]

i think the big problem is that GM is a global bureaucracy and the decisions pertaining to India are probably taken in Detroit after months of back and forth. so Detroit has decided that the most cost effective way to serve emerging markets is through Korean cars, so the GM-DAT plant is churning out Chevrolets for emerging markets across the world.

Being a North American centric company, GM does not really have too much competency in diesel. None of their JVs have any diesel capability either (except Isuzu and now, Opel). So they're scampering around trying to get that built up now.

I believe the spare parts cost for Opel were really high because the guys at Opel Germany were not convinced of Indian manufacturing quality and refused permission to indigenise many parts! So a lot of Opel parts are imported from Brazil. That problem should not exist with the Daewoos, so spares must be cheaper for the Aveo and the Optra.

The basic problem with these cars is that they are neither extremely exciting (Lancer) nor extremely fuel efficient (Honda) nor extremely reliable (Toyota) nor extremely cheap (Tata, Maruti). It's very difficult to justify to yourself why you'd spend your money on a GM car. So they'd probably never go beyond 1,000 cars a month, no matter what they do.

But you never know...

[Zappo]

The problem as Sam rightly pointed out lies in the fact that GM is a global bureaucracy. Most big organizations get to be so and that is when they find that the smaller competitors are far more nimble and start eating away their pie.

As for GM they ruled the motoring world for long. In fact in a more generic way Detroit ruled the automotive world for long. However since the last 8 years or so things are changing. In fact they are changing too fast for the Detroit biggies to be even able to react. They saw their turf being cleaned up by the lowly asian car manufacturers. Initially they thought it is Toyota. Then they realized that it is also Honda... Slowly the realization dawned that a company specific counter-plan is of no use. Its the Japs that are taking them to the cleaners. They could not even comprehend what to do about this that they started realizing that even others are also joing in the party. It is now showing the signs of becoming an Asian party. What galls. On top of that the global trends are also colluding against them.

The next decade will be that of the asians... the buyers, the manufacturers. And Detroit (as much as GM, Ford et al) realizes that they have lost the plot! The asians like buying smaller cars (What?!! No trucks!), they plump for diesel (You mean there is actually a fuel called diesel?), they like to have all the features of a big car in a small car and worse still want to pay the price of a small car. Final nail in their coffin comes from the fact that just when they were going to proclaim "impossible" there are 10s of manufacturers who are actually meeting this demand.

Unless GM and their ilk learn to come out with a clear strategy they will find themselves going deeper and deeper into the muck. The next decade may very well see the redrawing of the battle lines. And the detroit biggies may increasingly find themselves being reduced to mere foot soldiers in this battle.

[ajmat]

They took over Saab and Subaru and have no idea why !!!! Subaru was sold off. Saab is bleeding badly

[Zappo]

Yes, they are looking more and more like a rudderless boat. Just thrashing around without a clue as to where they are headed. And to top their woes it is not only the competition. Even their own financial health is going down by the day what with those generous severement and retirement benefits that they once wrote. Dogged by the lenders, their own employees and ex-employees.... court cases every day their case is looking more and more worrisome by the day.

[kvish]

GM is actually doing quite well in Brazil. (not as bad as they are doing everywhere else) They are selling Opel cars under Chevrolet brand (unlike the Korean ones here).
Chevrolet Astra is very popular there, and so is Corsa and vectra...
Moreover, since the spares are localized, their maintenance costs are quite low. I suppose this is where Opel lost out in India. Else the new Opel rebranded cars could have given the Japanese/other counterparts some serious competition....

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by kvish

Chevrolet Astra is very popular there, and so is Corsa and vectra...
Moreover, since the spares are localized, their maintenance costs are quite low. I suppose this is where Opel lost out in India. Else the new Opel rebranded cars could have given the Japanese/other counterparts some serious competition....

I doubt this seriously. GM is fighting an increasingly loosing battle in their own home against the Japs. This where they were and still today to some extent remain the icon for everything on wheels.

[LandCruiser]

Originally Posted by kvish

GM is actually doing quite well in Brazil. (not as bad as they are doing everywhere else) They are selling Opel cars under Chevrolet brand (unlike the Korean ones here).

We are too critical about korean cars isnt it. Koreans have made some decent if not good cars too. As a nation we are far behind in many areas. How many models do we sell in international market. If one is not going to get offended IMO we need not criticize koreans less or much. We should appreciate what they are doing. See a samsung which is breathing under the throat of Sony.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by maxbhp

Rebadging worked for Optra , I mean most people wasnt aware of it , but with aveo they seem to have lost ideas. All they are interested is rebadging a cheap car into a more expensive one.

THINK GM THINK , first u badged our beloved Subaru into Chevrolet ......
please think better.......or else you will be needing return tickets soon

Hi Can you tell which car/model have they rebadged as the Chevy Aveo ? I am asking because I thought its the only chevy amongst the other so called\badged Chevys

[deepakhon]

Chevy Aveo is rebadged Daewoo Kalos.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by deepakhon

Chevy Aveo is rebadged Daewoo Kalos.

just googled on Daewoo Kalos & found that only the U-VA i.e. the yet to be launched Aveo hatchback is the Kalos, the sedan Aveo launched here doent look anywhere close to the Kalos.

Can any one tell if it is indeed a rebadged car ?

Edit: Just found out that the 2007 Kalos sedan whihc is also been renamed as the Daewoo Gentra is the Aveo launched here.

Here's more on it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Gentra


Thanks Deepak

[islero]

Well, they do have a reason for rebadging, and that is none of the actual Chevy/Subaru cars really suit our market.

But since the brand names themselves hold at least a little more cachet than the Korean brands they own, they find it suitable to rebadge.

And there is nothing wrong with Korean cars. The depreacting comments you make about Korean cars might havebeen valid maybe 5-10 years ago. Now Korean cars are world-class.