Gwinnett Daily Online Edition
<% Else %>
<% End If %>
<% If Request.QueryString("printerFriendly")= "true" Then %>
Gwinnett Daily Online Edition<% Else %>
<% End If %>
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Gwinnett Chevrolet Used Sports Cars - Gwinnett Chevrolet PreOwned Sports Cars<%If Request.QueryString("printerFriendly")<>"true" Then %> <% End If %> GWINNETT - The 2009 Corvette celebrates the 2001 and 2002 Le Mans-winning racing C5-Rs with an available exclusive Commemorative Edition(1). This special edition is dedicated to everyone who has ever dreamed of owning a Corvette (and who hasn’t?). CLICK HERE ... To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet
Used and PreOwned Sports Cars of Gwinnett!
CLICK HERE ... To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet Used and PreOwned Sports Cars of Gwinnett! <% If Request.QueryString("printerFriendly")<>"true" Then %> The trouble is, the Maguire Automotive Group also owns a Saturn store a mile up the road, and the Traverse will crimp demand for the Outlook, a nearly identical crossover GM’s Saturn brand began selling about a year ago. The arrival of the Traverse will mean “the window has completely shut for Saturn,” Maguire said. For dealers like him, GM’s move to populate many of its divisions with vehicles that look alike largely for the sake of maintaining each brand’s market share amounts to “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said. After three years of restructuring, GM is still racking up billion-dollar losses and isn’t ready to say when it will return to profitability. The slumping U. S. economy is certainly a big factor, and one reason GM reported a drop in February vehicles sales earlier this week. CLICK HERE ...To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet But Maguire’s predicament is an age-old one that continues to undermine the Detroit automaker’s efforts: The eight brands in its portfolio often compete with one another — both for customers and a slice of GM’s marketing budget. For example, GM has four mass-market midsize sedans. The Chevy Malibu is backed by a ubiquitous ad campaign and is a top-seller. Meanwhile, the Buick LaCrosse, Pontiac G 6 and Saturn Aura have struggled to build the awareness and recognition needed to compete. Toyota Motor Corp. has one model to compete with those offerings — the Camry — and last year it alone outsold GM’s four models, 473, 308 to 386, 024. A year ago the Aura was named “Car of the Year” at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but now, with Malibu marketing in full swing, Saturn dealers are struggling to move the Aura. In some parts of the country dealers are offering rebates and 0 percent financing on the car. Maguire said he had to line up an Aura financing package on his own because GM’s marketing support for the car wasn’t boosting sales enough. Pontiac could run into a similar problem this year when it introduces a new rear-wheeldrive sedan, the G 8. Although it is Pontiac’s most important launch since 2004, GM marketing barely mentions the car. Even when GM does spend on its smaller brands, it often sees little return. In past years, television ads have promoted Saab’s sports cars as “born from jets,” but in 2007 Saab dealers sold just 32, 711 vehicles — not much more than a single month of sales for the Camry or Honda Motor Co. ’s Accord. Mark LaNeve, GM’s head of marketing and sales in North America, acknowledged the company puts substantial effort into promoting its two core nameplates, Chevy and Cadillac. The others, he said, can get more marketing dollars if they show they’re gaining momentum in the market. It’s an uphill climb. Of the six, only Pontiac and GMC have more than 2 percent U. S. market share. There is no doubt GM has made some progress in its restructuring. Since 2005, it has cut yearly fixed costs by $ 9 billion, shed a third of its unionized work force, closed several plants and improved the quality and feel of its cars and trucks. But to make money again, the company has to rev up sales in all eight brands. LaNeve said GM will slim down the product lines in the future, taking out underperforming models, or models that unnecessarily duplicate others. GM is also working to reduce overhead and overlap among its brands. Buick, Pontiac and GMC vehicles are sold mostly through dealers that carry all three makes. To keep them from competing with each other, GM has trimmed their product lines so that Buick offers premium cars and wagons, Pontiac offers sporty models and GMC concentrates on trucks. Still, internal competition continues, and nowhere is that more evident than in GM’s push into crossovers, which look like sport utility vehicles but are somewhat lighter and more fuel-efficient. Last year GM introduced three — the Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia, which are all but identical, and the more luxurious Buick Enclave. The Acadia and Enclave were hits but Outlook sales have been less than GM had hoped. Maguire said the Outlook was hurt by Saturn’s brand image, which isn’t as strong as GMC’s. Customers often chose the Acadia over the Outlook, even though the GMC model sold for about $ 2, 000 more. Now Chevy will get its version, the Traverse around October, and dealers are already seeing an impact. In January, dealers held enough Outlooks to last 138 days, up from 98 in December. GM had hoped the Outlook and Aura would help Saturn lift 2007 sales to about 350, 000 vehicles and turn a profit, people familiar with the company’s targets said. Saturn sales were up, but reached only 240, 000 vehicles. “I’m not telling you it’s not a challenge,” LaNeve said, referring to finding the right balance in the brand portfolio. “I’m telling you we can manage it.”
CLICK HERE ...To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet Come in and experience our vast selection and outstanding customer service that will have you referring your friends! We will offer you the best prices on a new or used Chevy Corvette at Bill Heard Chevrolet in Buford Georgia or simply pick up that phone and call us at (866) 768-2700
Cobalt Posts Biggest Sales Gain in U.S. Is This a Recession or What? Car sales can be a fickle weather vane for the U.S. economy and even G.M. chairman Rick Wagoner reported yesterday that things weren't as bad as "many doomsday people are thinking." Still , vehicle sales dropped by 10 percent in one month. Only Honda saw a tiny a gain in the number of vehicles it moved. Perhaps a better indicator of the country's economic mood is how tastes in vehicles are shifting. With oil hitting a record high yesterday of $102.45 a barrel, it's no surprise that the Chevrolet Silverado saw its sales drop by 27.9% from the previous year. Likewise the Dodge Ram took it on the nose with a decline of 24%. Ford's F Series trucks held up a little better, falling only by about 9%. Not surprisingly, the winners in these days of home foreclosures and $50 fill-ups are compacts and subcompacts. But what do you make of this: The sales gain leader for this year is the sexy and exciting Chevrolet Cobalt, which jumped nearly 50%. The biggest loser? Toyota's Corolla fell by 28.1%. Recession or not? Perhaps we should wait until the primaries are over before we decide. CLICK HERE ...To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet Cobalt cupholders spark debate Ask someone what they notice about car design, and they’ll tick off headlights, body panels, seats, engine. How about cupholders? You wouldn’t think designing holders for a Starbucks or a Big Gulp 64-ounce cup would be a big deal. But it triggered an interesting string of emails about designing cupholders for the Chevrolet Cobalt on the YourCobalt Web site. A message from lehighgm1 started it. The writer – identified as a Lehigh University student working on a design project with GM to redesign the Cobalt’s cupholders – asked for input. JustMiller25 said the holder should have the ability to both heat and cool. The writer noted cost is the reason the Cobalt doesn’t have ‘‘nifty cup holders,’’ adding such items would make the car luxurious and increase its price, but the writer wouldn’t mind seeing some changes. Cobaltkrazy wasn’t crazy about adding the ability to heat and cool because it would add wires and draw more power from the battery. InitialG liked the current holders, except that thin water bottles don’t go down far enough to be held and so tip on a turn. Michael wrote that the left hand cupholder is useless when an iPod is plugged in. A 44-ounce Slurpee doesn’t fit well because the larger part of the cup is interfered with by the climate control dials. tigerpro357 said the cupholders should be moved back to allow easier use of the climate controls. The back holders should be a little deeper and maybe placed on the side panels instead of the center console. Chester liked the cupholders right where it is in front of the shifter, adding people should be able to hide it with a sliding door. The writer also believes the back seat holders should be integrated into the side armrests; be able to both heat and cool beverages and be manually adjustable. All this discussion about something as simple as cupholders shows how complicated designing a vehicle is. But who cares where the cupholders are if you get a Cobalt for free? That’s the option for high school seniors at 200-plus schools in Tennessee who don’t miss a day of school. Chevrolet, along with the Middle Tennessee Chevrolet Dealers and the state education department unveiled the Drive for Perfection program that awards five students with a new 2008 Cobalt for perfect attendance. At the end of the school year, a final list will be developed from all five school regions, followed by a reverse-order drawing after graduation to determine the winner in each region. As one blogger noted, it beats a pizza party for perfect attendance. In another contest with a Cobalt as the prize, Chevrolet is teaming with best-selling author Ted Dekker to present The Search for the Lost Books of History. The event is billed as a nationwide ‘‘alternative reality treasure hunt,’’ starting at noon Thursday and based on Dekker’s The Lost Book Series. The hunt leads contestants age 14 and older on a hunt for hidden clues on Web sites and in retail stores across the country, each one bringing them closer to the discovery of The Lost Book.
CLICK HERE ...To Visit the Official Website of Bill Heard Chevrolet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | | |