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News GM says new SUVs will be value priced; discounts to be used on older products JAMIE LAREAU | Automotive News Posted Date: 12/19/05 DETROIT -- Despite General Motors’ rocky introduction of value pricing, the automaker will stick with it when it introduces redesigned full-sized SUVs in January. The question is: Can GM sell these vehicles without big rebates even as it offers generous incentives on older products? GM CEO Rick Wagoner says GM will continue to discount vehicles nearing the end of their life cycle. “We’ve positioned some prices down, others we haven’t as much,” Wagoner said in a Dec. 8 interview with Automotive News. “It is much easier, when you have a new product, to (offer) a compelling price. That’s the time when you like to talk about product anyway, as opposed to the deal.” Early next year, dealers will get a redesigned Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade ESV. Later in the year, the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups hit showrooms. Saturn also will get several new vehicles. Value pricing means a lower sticker price on certain base models that is close to the actual transaction price. The transaction price is the average price paid for the vehicle. GM markets the idea under the tag line Total Value Promise. Value-priced vehicles carry little or no rebates. Last summer, GM cut sticker prices on 2006 models by an average of $301, or 1.1 percent, from final 2005 model year prices. Interrupted message Some GM dealers say value pricing has not had a chance to lure Internet shoppers who compare prices online. That’s because GM keeps running big incentive programs that interrupt the automaker’s Total Value Promise marketing campaign, says Lynn Thompson, co-owner of Thompson Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac-Saab in Springfield, Mo. “Value pricing is a six-month to a yearlong thing,” he says. “It will put GM back on people’s shopping list, but that takes awhile. It won’t just drive people in overnight.” Value pricing hasn’t had much time to work, given that GM introduced the idea in the late spring, then went into a four-month national incentive program called “Employee Discount for Everyone.” When that ended on Sept. 30, GM let value pricing ride for October. But October sales plunged 25.9 percent from the October 2004 level. In response, GM initiated its Red Tag sale. Under the sale, which runs from mid-November to Jan. 3, customers can buy virtually any 2005 or 2006 Buick, Pontiac, GMC or Chevrolet product for $100 over the price a supplier would pay -- generally $100 to $200 below invoice. The promotion does not include the Pontiac Solstice, Chevrolet Corvette or Buick Lucerne. Still, Wagoner says, GM’s value pricing has successfully spurred sales for several new products this year. “It’s not the reason the Pontiac Solstice has been a screaming success, but I think it’s part of it -- the fact that you can get a car like that for $19,995,” Wagoner said. “I think that was part of the gee-whiz of it.” He says the Hummer H3 SUV, the Chevrolet Impala sedan and the Cadillac DTS sedan are other examples of value-priced vehicles. The H3 is a new product, while the DTS is a re-engineered, restyled successor to the DeVille. Hummer has sold 27,205 H3s and Cadillac has sold 18,061 DTSs through November. Avoiding confusion The challenge for GM is selling older products without confusing consumers. The Chrysler group has been trying to use a value-pricing strategy for several years and still resorts to national incentive programs to move aging inventory. One marketing expert says GM can make its plan work. “GM’s goal is for the Total Value Promise to phase out the deep discounting,” says Marc Babej, president of marketing consultancy Reason Inc. in New York. “They want to get rid of the old cars with deep incentives, and once they do that they can make the Total Value Promise the reality.” Babej says GM’s pricing move is a return to pricing “sanity.” It won’t cause too much confusion because consumers don’t expect big discounts on new products. But consumers expect deals on older vehicles. Dealers don’t worry that incentives on older products will cause consumer confusion, provided GM continues to advertise the Total Value Promise. “Obviously, on older products you have to incentivize them more to get them gone, but the newer products are priced very fairly,” says Tommy Brasher, president of Brasher Motor Co. in Weimar, Texas. Brasher is on GM’s national dealer council. “I don’t think anyone -- even the consumer -- likes $4,000 to $5,000 in rebates because it makes you think it’s overpriced to begin with. So I am glad to see them get away from rebates as best as you can.” Wagoner says dealers “are very much behind this concept of getting the focus on the good value for the product, and they are also, I think, tired of chasing the deal.” “If the traffic slows down, we’ll see. But that’ll be the test, I guess.”

IL Exclusive: 2008 Hummer H2 Slated for Updated Interior, Engine Date posted: 12-16-2005 LIVONIA, Mich. — The 2008 Hummer H2, which will hit showrooms in 2007, will get a midcycle enhancement that includes an updated interior and an engine upgrade, Inside Line has learned. Hummer general manager Susan Docherty would not give specifics on the H2's makeover. The 2006 full-size SUV is powered by a 6.0-liter V8 that makes 325 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque. Docherty said Hummer recently surveyed its buyers and discovered that 36 percent of them say they intend to take their vehicles off-road. She said that nugget of information was "noteworthy" because the conventional industry wisdom, as well as previous Hummer research, has been that fewer than 10 percent of SUV buyers take their vehicle off-road. Docherty also reported that the Hummer brand outpaces every other General Motors brand when it comes to aftermarket accessories. Buyers of the under-$30,000 Hummer H3 load up their vehicles with $1,200 in GM aftermarket accessories. The average transaction price for the SUV is $36,000, she said. "That means the H3 is definitely in premium territory," Docherty said. What this means to you: Hummer buyers think of themselves as serious off-roaders, and the GM brand is hustling to keep pace with them. (InsideLine)

Lovin' this '66...two-toned looks so good on certain cars.

Stealthy..

yes, that Olds mouth...it's very sexual really.

awwww....I'll watch for a man-cook for you.

'95 Sunfire

I tremble...it's so cool. With just slightly smaller wheels but keeping the shiny chrome..would be over the top. I like the fins on these, quite apparent really...surprising Olds had them with many cars moving away from them at the time.

Balthazar!...all of those are great!...especially my favorite...the Eldo...so pure, relaxed powerful stance.

A very nice paint treatment on this squad car from Lacombe, Alberta.

'99 Chevy S-10....love it. Chevy Pickup...so sharp. '55 Chevy Cameo Extended Cab.

'56 Olds '52 Cadillac '63 Chevrolet

Some might find this photo disturbing.

Chevy, Apple champion veteran, new acts in 2005 By Michael Paoletta NEW YORK (Billboard) - Chevrolet's two-year-old musically charged "An American Revolution" campaign took on added urgency in 2005, thanks to savvy music licenses and partnerships. The automaker embraced a wide variety of sounds in its TV spots, encompassing veteran artists and under-the-radar acts. Surprisingly, it replaced Bob Seger's "Like a Rock," which was the soundtrack for the Silverado campaign for 14 years, with "Now More Than Ever," a 14-year-old track from John Mellencamp. Elsewhere, Chevy championed dance/electronic (the Scumfrog's "Music Revolution") and R&B/hip-hop ("EZ Up" by Slum Village), among other beats and rhythms. The company's longstanding love affair with country music intensified this year when it signed on as the primary sponsor/partner for the 39th annual Country Music Assn. Awards, which were held in New York for the first time. Country acts like Gretchen Wilson, Blue County, Big & Rich, Cowboy Troy, Chris Cagle and Julie Roberts appeared to revel in the Chevy-enhanced exposure. "Chevy realizes the importance and power of music in today's world," says Ryan Schinman, president of Platinum Rye Entertainment, a New York-based company that specializes in band/brand partnerships and music licensing. "Some of their car models are aspirational, while others are more guy-next-door, but Chevy always picks the right piece of music for each model." Ultimately, though, it is impossible to pin the hopes of ailing parent company General Motors on Chevy's campaign -- no matter how revolutionary it is. Apple Computer continued its musical revolution, too. Deft use of music in TV ads opened the public's eyes and ears to such acts as Gorillaz and Caesars. By year's end, Gorillaz -- a British quartet made up of cartoon characters -- had earned four Grammy Award nominations, including record of the year and best pop collaboration with vocals for "Feel Good Inc" (featuring hip-hop pioneers De La Soul). Indeed, "Feel Good Inc" -- the lead single from the act's sophomore album, "Demon Days" -- was the song heard 'round the world in an iPod TV spot. Madonna also benefited from her Apple partnership, appearing with several other artists in a worldwide spot for Motorola's iTunes-compatible ROKR mobile phone. The ad featured the sounds of "Hung Up," the lead single from her new album"Confessions On A Dance Floor." The chameleon-like Madonna knows that the music industry has changed -- and knows what is needed to get the job of promotion done. "There's a lot of competition, and the market is glutted with new releases -- and new 'thises and thats,"' she told Billboard in November. "You must join forces with other brands and corporations. You're an idiot if you don't." In its first week of release, "Confessions" debuted at No. 1 in nearly 30 countries, including the United States. Reuters/Billboard

If this all comes true, then a new day is dawning at Chevrolet. About 30 years late, but welcomed. I just don't get why it took them so long to realize something so obvious. You build beautiful, emotional, passionate cars for a decent price, people will buy. It will set them apart from the dull competition.

Now you got me wondering about the factory two-toned. It looks incredible on this car. I'm crazy about this year of Camino...the way the top of the roof sweeps back and kind of repeated in the fin...the waterfall windshield...love it. And Sixty8, when you mentioned the horrible Prius, I got thinking how people have settled for so little, settled for bland, the politically correct, the dullest of dull, an appliance for the road, no passion, no emotion, no soul.

Turborush....have to agree.....Cadillac at it's best.....very sexy rump.

I always liked, to quote Blu, 'breezy' names for Chevrolet. Bel Air, Biscayne etc. Chevrolet in the sixties seemed to have a California, surfy image, fresh, young, well 'breezy', Beach Boysy, Bewitchy. Love that image it used to have. I love that pic, sixty8...just simply fantastic. Chevrolet had such a purity and yet recognizable. More and more I am liking partially hidden wheels in the fender wells. It's a look I hope comes back one day. Maybe not to this extreme, but the essense of this.

That Bonneville really has a good arse.

Thats a great looking car. I don't hear much about the '62. The '62 Impala

Sixty8, that El Camino is effing incredible!!!.....a stunner. I love '59 Caminos.

Thanks you guys for those incredible pics of Eldos. I've been in love with those cars ever since I can remember.....much more than I thought I was.