GM FYI Blog

By Christopher Barger,
Director, GM Global Communications Technology

Had someone told me, when I was in high school or college, that my job would someday involve being the only guy at a weekend gathering of more than 75 women, I would not have guessed back then that I would be working for a car company. And yet that’s where I found myself last weekend, representing GM at the 2007 Manic Mommies Escape Weekend. (I also think that if someone had told me back then that this would be my job, my 17-year-old self would have wanted to high-five the 39-year-old version of me.)

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By Ray Chess
VLE, GM Commercial Trucks and Vans

After hearing yet another news report about a fatal 15-passenger van rollover crash, I felt compelled to write this post. GM has always been committed to safety. In my role as Vehicle Line Executive for GM’s Commercial Trucks and Vans, I feel personally responsible for helping us live up to that commitment.

A majority of fatalities in 15-passenger rollover crashes are the result of individuals failing to be properly buckled up. Proper belt use has been identified by just about everyone as a primary way to reduce injuries in a crash. GM’s 12- and 15-passenger vans, the 2008 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana, provide a three-point safety belt in every seating position. The LATCH system eases the installation of child safety seats at different positions throughout the van.

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By Donna McLallen
Assistant Regional Manager, Communications/Public Relations

GM wrangled top honors at the recent 2007 Texas Truck Rodeo in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

The Texas Truck Rodeo began as an opportunity for members of the Texas Auto Writers Association to experience competing trucks and SUVs side-by-side in both on-road and off-road conditions. Over three days each October, some 50 journalists judge vehicles in various categories and vote for winners.

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By Tom Wilkinson
GM News Relations

Tom Friedman’s shotgun blast at Toyota in the October 3 New York Times (Et Tu, Toyota?) also peppered a crowd of bystanders with verbal shot. Among the wounded were the state of Michigan, the Michigan congressional delegation, U.S.-based carmakers, the farm states, the oil states… well, you get the picture. Only the Natural Resources Defense Council, which helped load the gun for Mr. Friedman, seems to have escaped perforation.

We trust that Toyota, the Michigan delegation and others will defend themselves. We do, however, take issue with some of the poorly aimed shots that Mr. Friedman keeps taking at the auto industry.

For starters, there is nothing sinister about Toyota –- or anyone else — building trucks. To the unending frustration of Mr. Friedman and a handful of environmentalists, Americans buy trucks. Even with gas at $3 per gallon, Americans are buying enough midsize and full-size trucks to account for 40% of the market.

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By Alicia Dorset
Blog editor

This week’s find from the GM Media Archive is a photo of a GMC Cowl Chassis school bus, circa 1933.

…and one huge party

By Jessica Peck
Plant Communications Manager, Moraine Assembly

Washers, dryers, refrigerators, rifles, propellers, the first dishwasher, the Wright Brothers, a Chevy S-10 and one sweet Tony Stewart customized TrailBlazer SS… What do they all have in common? They’re part of the rich heritage of GM’s Moraine Assembly near Dayton, Ohio.

When I signed up to be the Plant Communications Manager at Moraine I didn’t realize how far back our history really went. Our actual plant was built as part of GM’s Frigidaire division in 1951, but GM’s been on this site since 1919, when we purchased the property from the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company (The company that supplied the only U.S.-built planes used in World War I and was formed by E.A. Deeds and C.F. Kettering with the assistance of Orville Wright). The plant and our surrounding sites have built appliances for Frigidaire, supplies for WWI and WWII, as well as trucks, SUVs and postal vehicles, and we even have one TrailBlazer SS that Tony Stewart smoked the tires on as he drove it off the line on Dec. 12, 2006.

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By Alan Adler
Manager, Product Safety Communications

Typically, a Texas rainstorm that dumps three or four inches of rain in a single morning would be bad news for an outdoor event like the GM Continuous Safety Tour. But aside from dumping water from the top of the canopy over our displays and huddling toward the center of the canopy to stay dry ourselves, this was a great development.

Out in Parking Lot No. 8 of the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, the sheets of rain made the ride-and-drive demonstrations just that much better. Typically, we use a few bags of sand around the traffic cones to create the slippery conditions that make the StabiliTrak electronic stability control kick in on the GMC Acadia. But water is a lot better for showing the technology that most experts say is second only to safety belts for life-saving effectiveness. On the other side of the parking lot, two Cadillac CTS models equipped with a dedicated radio frequency that allow them to wirelessly communicate with each other went through their paces, the automatic braking feature all the more dramatic on the rain-slick surface.

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By Jim Bunnell
General Manager, Buick-Pontiac-GMC

Recently, it was reported by some media that Buick is “ending its contract” or “rethinking” its association with Tiger Woods. That’s not true — but it does make for sensational headlines. I’m writing to set the record straight.

Tiger is a strong spokesperson for Buick, and it’s precisely because of his strength as a celebrity that we want to broaden his role within GM. Tiger continues to be an invaluable partner to Buick and to General Motors. He will continue to be associated with the Buick brand in the traditional sense, but we’ll also use him in other areas such as OnStar. And if there was any doubt about that, the OnStar advertisement we showed the media yesterday had Tiger standing next to one of our new crossover vehicles. Yep, you guessed it, it was a Buick — the exciting new Enclave.

The fact there is so much attention being paid to Tiger and his relationship with GM illustrates his value as a partner for our products and services. We wish Tiger the best as a new dad, and continue to value his membership in the GM family. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

Detroit’s riverfront

By Matt Cullen
General Manager, GM Economic Development & Enterprise Services

Editor’s note: You might remember a post from Matt Cullen last May talking about GM’s commitment to Detroit and the city’s riverfront, where its global headquarters inside the Renaissance Center are located. The Rivard Plaza recently opened on the RiverWalk, a sign of the continued development progress on the riverfront. Not only may visitors now enjoy a carousel and park, but plans are also underway for the International River Days on June 22, sponsored by GM. Take a look at what Matt has to say about the event and how it reinforces GM’s pride in Detroit.

This summer, more than two and a half miles of the East Riverfront RiverWalk walkway will be complete, along with bike rentals, a river carousel, and butterfly gardens as part of the first two public plazas and pavilions along the river. We’ll celebrate this achievement with a six-day festival, the first-ever Detroit International River Days festival.

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John Mizroch, Larry Burns and Chris Witt, team leader for Mississippi State

By Larry Burns
Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning

Challenge X, which recently concluded its third year at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford, Mich., was an awesome display of automotive ingenuity. The competition, North America’s premier college-level automotive engineering contest, is sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Challenge X is important because it is helping to prepare the next generation of automotive “techies” to address the challenges facing the auto industry. It also is giving GM new insights into how some of our best and brightest students view the technologies that will drive our future automobiles.

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By Christopher Barger
Director, GM Global Communications Technology

We couldn’t help but notice a letter to the editor in yesterday’s USA Today questioning our brand strategy and suggesting that GM might be better off with fewer brands.

We respect the author’s opinion, and we certainly don’t mean to single him out… but we would like to address his concern. We’d actually argue that in today’s highly competitive, highly fragmented car market, a strong portfolio of brands is critical. A typical brand today sells only about 250,000 units a year, and some of the hottest new brands like Mini, HUMMER and Scion sell way less than that. A fast-changing brandscape like this offers lots of challenges — and opportunities.

We think that as GM continues to improve its products and sharpen its brands, our portfolio of eight brands can be a competitive advantage — if we can keep each brand sharply focused and stocked with strong products. GM’s global operations help here. For example, sharing products with Opel will give Saturn new vehicles perfectly suited for import fans, while our new global rear drive program, headquartered in Australia, will soon provide Chevy and Pontiac with exciting new performance cars.

It’s also important that we work with our dealers to build strong retail channels. As Buick, Pontiac and GMC come together in the same showroom, we are eliminating overlapping products and sharpening all three brands. The customer gets a showroom full of great products, and the dealer gets enough traffic to maintain a successful, profitable business. This also allows both GM and its dealers to streamline areas like the service department that the customer doesn’t see.

There are lots of signs that improved products and stronger brands are paying off for GM. Our retail sales are up, and new vehicles like the Chevy Silverado, GMC Acadia and Saturn Aura and Outlook are racking up sales and accolades. Yes, GM still faces many challenges here in North America. But we are confident that we are moving in the right direction. And we’d humbly suggest that if the author were to give one of our new Buick, Pontiac or Saturn vehicles a test drive, he might well share some of our confidence.