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-   -   General Motors CEO Mary Barra in India to review progress (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/170064-general-motors-ceo-mary-barra-india-review-progress.html)

Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors (GM) with a 20-member team including top executives of the company, is back in India to review the progress of the company's revival plan.



GM's sales in India have fallen by 35% and its market share is down to 1.99% in FY 2015. Its domestic sales of 51,839 units in the period is roughly half of the performance it put up in FY 2011. In FY 2014, the company commanded a market share of 3.23%. The first half of FY 2016 has seen GM's sales fall by 41% (16,751 units).

This is Mary Barra's third visit to India. Stefan Jacoby, Executive Vice-President and President of GM International, is a member of the visiting team as well. The team discussed its future plans with government officials, vendors and dealers. The aim of these meetings is to prop up the company's sales in the country.

India is expected to become the third largest automobile market in the world by the end of the decade and GM cannot afford to neglect it. The company wants to make India an export hub. It is relying on export markets to curtail losses till its performance in the domestic market improves.

In FY 2014, GM India recorded a loss of Rs. 3,847 - its biggest annual loss ever. Its accumulated losses stood at Rs. 6,552 crore.

Source: Economic Times

Believe me, it will be a very short meeting! GM need decent cars

On a recent trip to Indonesia - the only GM cars were pickup trucks or Aveo's relegated to taxi work. Only saw 1 spin. During 2000-2008, the Optra, Cruze and Aveo were moderately popular but the game has moved on but GM has not!!

Err.. Did some one just say progress and GM in the same sentence :uncontrol

All cars combined, Chevrolet cannot even compare with the volumes of some of the worst sellers in Maruti's / Hyundai's portfolio south side of the Rs 15 Lakhs.

I would be surprised if they are able to make enough money that covers for the executive's travel costs even from this trip..

Sorry to sound so negative but being an owner of Chevy Beat D, having liked the car so much, GM's journey in India and the pain it has caused me interms of service / hit on Resale value makes me hate this legendary US auto company. :deadhorse

They will have great meetings, discuss the type of cars that will suit the market and finalize a couple of models.
Then they will take 2-3 years to launch it. By that time, these cars would be obsolete, where the market would have moved on(something similar as Sail twins).
It is apparent that Indian market is not on their priority list, but utilising the unit for export vehicles is.

I also thought the same thing but then I realise that they are going to review the progress of the company's revival plan. But then, is there a revival plan? If yes, what is that? Even their real estate will not fetch them the money invested in current market scenario.
Forget Marutis and Hyundais, Their total sales may not be matching with Tata's Zest.

Sometimes difficulty of the situation can be resolved with simplest of the solution.

They just spent few millions on getting top executives to India to discuss strategy, however they don't realise the simple fact that GM vehicles are no more objects of desire. The showrooms are no more a place to be and service centre is no more to take vehicle to service.

They need to replace the top brass with Maruti / Hyundai / Mahindra top executives who know how to quick fire new product.

As an armchair critic of GM - advice for Ms. Mary Barra:

For a product to be successful in India, of late, manufacturers (I am excluding Maruti & Hyundai from this list) have taken one of 3 routes:
1. Design a "Made for India" model
2. Use a model from the global product portfolio specifically designed for emerging markets - and these are usually marketed in SE Asia, South America, etc as well
3. Take a European model and give it a mild makeover for India

Does GM have a model in either of these 3 categories? Are they even intending to launch a model from one of the above 3 categories? Toyota, Honda, Ford, FIAT, and Renault/Nissan, are all doing exactly that. And they are keeping their product portfolio reasonably fresh. In the meanwhile, GM does nothing.

If we take the example of the success of the 1st generation Ford Figo. They took a discontinued EU-spec platform (which was universally praised), re-engineered and packaged a VFM product, and marketed it straight to our hearts in a (back then) red hot segment. Result? Super Hit! Can GM do the same? Of course!

The 5+2 mini-MPV market is red hot, and the Enjoy is a dud. They already have a superb platform in the previous generation Zafira - as a 5+2 MPV it was universally praised. Give it a India friendly face and packaging, put in the latest engines, and launch it at mouth watering VFM price.

Please be aware that re-heated Chinese products are a no-no in India. We have, as a country, been brought up with Jap/Euro tastes. Even if the car is a commercial flop, some people will at least speak well of it and your brand will not take a beating. The GM brand is now is worse than "hated" - it is inconsequential. Kind of like, it does not exist!

Now we have another thread to have some light hearted fun!
They are having a meeting to review progress of company's revival plan, and since there seems to be none, and the company's sales is sinking to new lows, I am just wondering, what is the opposite word for "progress", in order to give a suitable name for such a meeting!
However, since the big bosses are now involved, there will be some sleepless nights for the GM India colleagues. The PPTs showing green colours and "up" arrow marks are likely to be trashed by the foreign bosses.
But, the whole thing depends on how well the parent company wants to position the brand in India. Hope the bring in something fresh to take away the crowd from traditional companies, such as how Duster was brought in at the 'right time' by Renault. Ideas such as compact sedans might not work in the future, i.e after 4 years from now, considering the Indian consumer is moving up in the value chain.

It’s a pity to see where GM is now in the Indian market. Especially considering it was one of the first entrants in the mid-90s.

Retrospectively, if I am to pin point, discontinuing Opel cars and introducing Chevrolet brand with Daewoo cars was a major mistake. Opel Astra and Corsa, despite their niggles, had a premium-ness in the market. Everyone agreed their German quality. Sadly they were replaced with the Optra and the likes. Optra too basked in the momentum for some time, until Civic and Corolla completely wiped it out.

As a long term plan, they should have a definite portfolio which is first of all stable.
Like continuing the Beat, Cruze and Captive nameplates, albeit with newer generation models. Then they should focus on their USPs. What differentiates them from the Hondas, the Hyundais and the Marutis. And lastly improve the sales and service center quality, same like how Ford has managed. Keep in mind, Ford was also not doing too well before Figo.

It will be interesting to see how this development shapes up. More so because Gm have great aces up its sleeve. We wouldn’t mind a little Cadillac and some Opel, will we?

And that's why they ran the randomly rehashed (from South East Asian Markets) 'I Care' TV Commercials and launched the Trailblazer?

So they can throw BS like, "Our new launch, Powerful TVC and Trimming of under performing dealers is starting to show results and by the time you (most likely some other CEO) return next decade we'll throw around similar BS if we are still alive."

GM
This company had good products, they successfully discouraged customers away from them their products. A sick person can be revived, what is the use of trying to revive some one already on the death bed.

The Beat was a good small car it has no technical issues, the Cruze was a good semi premium sedan, the Captiva had unmatched comfort, the Aveo had everything except a diesel option. Enjoy, Sail etc, everything that came after that was Chevy in badging only.

Rahul

The revival plan has already started? With what? The Trailblazer?

I feel that GM did it backwards here. They started with an expensive German brand, then went Korean and now finally Chinese. :)

They launch a lot of cars that nobody really wants to buy. The Sail twins, the Enjoy MPV, Spark, Beat etc. Not saying that these are bad cars, but they don't have any real USP.

The new, to-be-launched Cruze looks great, and the Trailblazer is nice as well, but these are not going to give GM any real volumes.

They need to revamp their product lineup to have any chance of a recovery.

Cool! She and her team have come for Christmas shopping in India! And what an excuse to travel in company money. I am sure her Pashmina collection will get a boost and also elephant carvings will find a place on her mantle. Is the review in Jodhpur? Agra? How about Shimla. You know, clear air and pristine surroundings seem to be the need of the hour.

What a crock of baloney! 20 people to review an ageing fleet, terrible service and revolting dealer network. They could've just opened TBHP, searched for Chevrolet and gotten much better ideas than do this "review".

I am sure the outcome of this review would be "Chrome package" for both Beat and Spark. And let's not forget the free Gold coin.

You summed it up pretty wellclap:

As mentioned by KiloAlpha they have potential models in Vauxhal portfolio which can revive their market in India.

This meeting of theirs reminds me a proverb in Tamil, translated into English

" You can wake up a person who is sleeping. But you cannot wake up a person who is pretending to be sleeping " lol:

In a recent US trip I had to rent a car so got a Cruze and back to back a Corolla (for some reason I had to drive each one of them for a week back to back). When I had to renew the rental, Simply the Corolla won on all fronts. It was just comfortable (considering all the factors). This was in the US. Now the India line up is nothing compared to the competition out there. So that answers the question what GM needs to do. How many of us even bother to look at GM in the monthly sales analysis tread each month? (let alone going to a showroom). Product line up is the biggest culprit.