BrandlandUSA

Thoughts on some current news items:

Proctor & Gamble just released its revived collection of Rochas, under the leadership of Marco Zanini. Proctor & Gamble shut down Rochas in 2006, and brought it back. The Wall Street Journal noted last week that its “nutty wide heels” and such targeted the exuberant woman who wanted to be […]

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So what does a GM dealer that used to have a Saturn or Saab franchise do now that these brands are gone? Some are going solo, as used car and repair dealerships. Many Chrysler dealers are affiliating with NAPA, or going it alone as used car dealers, too.
My solution would be to offer any dealers […]

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We came across the below statistics from the website www.gm-volt.com. It turns out that the dead brands of General Motors accounted for one in six sales at the ailing U.S. automaker. Writes their editorial:
Looking ahead, GM has a couple big issues. For starters, Pontiac sold 30,000 odd cars last month, which leaves them with only […]

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General Motors thinks it has killed off the Pontiac. And what a brilliant move that is. Let’s see, you need to sell MORE cars cause your company is broke, and you cut out yet one more product line? And then cut out even more dealers?
Thankfully, though, the brand will hang on with collector clubs. We […]

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We know that CAFE fuel standards are the culprit in killing off bigger cars in the U.S., but its manufacturers who are responsible for killing off the word STATION WAGON in their marketing. And so, brands like Volvo and Volkswagen now own the upper middle class consumer.
We found a sort of antidote. Its the web […]

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DETROIT - Not that I really like Pontiacs these days. They’ve not been interesting for a long time. But now, there are serious discussions that GM will announce that Pontiac will be shut down as a brand.
Frankly, it doesn’t make sense. If Pontiac sales stink, then so do Buick. And for that matter all of […]

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DETROIT - No brand is safe now and General Motors (NYSE: GM)  is indeed in a mess. All the brands are damaged. It should not be this way. All of them lost sight of what their mission was in GM. You cannot have multiple platforms which cost you money and then give every car to […]

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DALLAS - Will Saturn become a retailer? Very interesting way for the brand to survive.
An investor group that includes private equity firm Black Oak Partners, LLC, working together with a number of Saturn retailers, announced today that it has approached General Motors about buying and operating the principal assets of Saturn Distribution Corporation as […]

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We found the rather spectacular website Artificial Owl with some hauntingly beautiful photos of Detroit’s empty Union Station. The site is all about photos of abandoned places.
I cannot help but think of the parallels between Detroit’s waste of this great building, and the waste that is the American automobile industry. It is telling that this […]

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IRVINE, Calif. - BMW is the coolest car brand in America. Or so says Kelley Blue Book, which has just released current winners of their 2009 Brand Image Awards.
And Cadillac? Boy do Americans like the interiors.
The Brand Image Awards are presented to the top brands in 10 categories, and are based on consumer automotive […]

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