GM Says Pontiac Wind-Down Proceeding Smoothly, Addresses Dealer Concerns

By Joe Overby, Staff Writer
December 16, 2009

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DETROIT — The phase-out of the Pontiac brand has been very efficient thus far, an executive with General Motors said in a recent Web chat, pointing out that the supply of Pontiac vehicles is down to less than 8,000.

"The wind-down process is progressing very smoothly and in fact we only have about 7,900 remaining Pontiacs. So for all the Pontiac fans, it's time to visit one of our dealers," Susan Docherty, GM vice president of sales, service and marketing, recently told consumers.

"Pontiac is a great brand with a loyal customer base," she added. "Unfortunately we were unable to keep Pontiac — it just wasn't profitable."

In the hour-long online Q&A session, Docherty addressed a wide variety of topics related to GM's product line, marketing, sales results and dealerships.

This included a question from someone — apparently representing dealers — asking her why dealers are still receiving proposals for closed locations, "given the fact that arbitration is nearly assured of happening."

The same person also questioned Docherty about why GM isn't waiting to "let things play out in arbitration," and asked about who made the final decisions on the proposal process.

"We don't a definitive answer for you. The president has yet to sign the bill so it is premature to talk about what our next steps will be," she said in response to both questions, apparently referring to the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by the U.S. Senate earlier this week.

A part of the legislation Docherty is referring to tackles the arbitration process for terminated GM and Chrysler dealers. Basically, this is a way they can fight the automaker's decision and stay in business.

"We want to move forward in a way that balances our interests and the dealers, but all of us recognize how important a strong, competitive and profitable dealer network is to our business plan," Docherty explained. "This bill has significant implications to our plans so we are going to consider our next steps very carefully. Lots of work to do here! Thanks for your patience."

Docherty also fielded a comment from another chat participant who suggested that GM's dealer network "bears more responsibility for GM's decline over the last 30 years than your product line."

The participant went on to stress the importance of customer satisfaction, arguing that while excellent dealers can lead to strong loyalty and customer retention even if the product line is "a bit less than top-notch," bad experiences with a dealer can "sour" consumers on a product even if it is top-of-the-line.

In response, Docherty thanked the questioner for the candid comment, and wrote: "Dealers are our partners and the face to the consumer, and you are right that if a consumer has a bad experience, it reflects poorly on our brands and our company.

"We have some great dealers and we also have some not so great dealers," she continued. "It is the responsibility of my team to address the not so good dealers and either help improve their performance or the market will decide for them."

Docherty added: "Consumers' perceptions are exceptionally important — we are taking this seriously and need to improve in this area."

Continuing on, she also talked about how sales are faring for the automakers at the midpoint of the month. Some of GM's recently launched models have had some strong initial success and the automaker's fleet sales have begun to bounce back, as well.

"Our launch products continue to perform very well, the Cadillac SRX, CTS Wagon, Buick LaCrosse, GMC Terrain, Chevrolet Equinox and Camaro are still red hot!" she pointed out.

"We are seeing some recovery in fleet, especially in daily rent as consumers begin to travel again," Docherty continued. "Still kind of early to comment on anything else."

Moving on, she also addressed GM's plans for getting the word out about leasing and how it can be mutually beneficial for the automaker, dealer and consumer, alike.

As most know, GM got out of leasing in the summer of 2008, but is re-entering that market segment with GMAC and U.S. Bank, she pointed out.

"Leasing is a great strategic advantage for our brands," she shared. "We offer competitive leases on all of our new launch products.

"What we really like about leasing is that it gives us an opportunity to communicate with these customers during their lease life cycle and offer up to them new products toward the end of their term," Docherty added. "This is an important marketing tool we plan to leverage going forward."

Additionally, GM has begun the process of introducing a new tool that can allow the automaker connect and maintain contact with customers throughout their experiences of owning GM models.

"We are in the midst of launching a new Customer Sales, Service and Retention tool where we will be able to reach out to our customers via direct mail, e-mail, etc. ... at least 30-plus times over the customer ownership life cycle," she explained.

"The purchase of a vehicle is only the beginning," Docherty continued. "We also are working very hard to retain our Pontiac and Saturn customers to ensure we can keep them in the family."

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