An Interview with Bob Lutz

In July, Bob Lutz "unretired" to take the position of GM Vice Chairman, Marketing and Communications.

Consumer Guide: What is General Motors’ biggest marketing challenge?

Bob Lutz: Apart from getting the word out about new and enhanced products--which is not something we have always done the best job of--we are focused most intently on closing the gap between the reality of General Motors’ product excellence and erroneous perceptions. Clearing up what I call the false familiarity on the part of a lot of the American public is our top priority.

CG: You used the term “false familiarity.” What is GM’s biggest hurdle in that regard?

BL: In reality there is no gap whatsoever, but there is in the public’s perceptions. There are people who believe that GM’s cars are less reliable, and people still believe that our products are less well executed than some Japanese products.

Worst of all, there are still those who believe that our vehicles consume more fuel than the Asian and European competition. When you actually get our vehicles face-to-face with competitive Japanese makes, we win on fuel economy nine times out of ten.

CG: Which GM brand suffers most from public misconceptions?

BL: I would say that would have to be Buick. Writers are incapable of writing an article about a new Buick without going on and on about how the brand is seen as being for old people. No matter how good the car itself is, you will be seen as old for driving it. The idiocy in all that is that it has nothing to do with the car itself.

The new Buick Regal has already been launched in China and is a phenomenal success there. The average age of a Regal buyer in China is 28.

CG: While the current average age of a Buick buyer in the States is in the high fifties?

BL: Yes. And that’s down from the sixties. It was really the Buick Enclave that brought that down.

CG: Is the Lucerne name being retired in an effort to help soften Buick’s senior-citizen public perception?

BL: No. That’s not the reason. The reason is that the whole large architecture is going away. As we face future fuel-economy mandates we simply can’t afford to have vehicles that large and heavy around anymore.

The Enclave helped lower the average age of a Buick customer. Can the 2010 Buick LaCrosse do the same?

CG: And a Lucerne would be perceived as being larger than a LaCrosse?

BL: Exactly.

CG: Which GM division would you say is in the best shape, public-perception wise?

BL: The best brand perception-wise is GMC, which enjoys, by far, the best brand health.

CG: You called off the September Chevy Truck Sale, which has become an annual sales-promotion mainstay. Is this a move to shift marketing efforts off of price and more onto brand and content?

BL: Well, obviously we want to move away from problem-solving marketing to selling the vehicles for what they actually are. I don’t want price/deal always listed as the top reason consumers give for having purchased a General Motors vehicle.

That said, that’s not the reason we pulled the Chevy Truck Month sales event. We would have been competing for attention with the launch of the Ed Whitaker (new GM chairman) commercials and the launch of the 60-Day Guarantee program. But it wasn’t cancelled, it was just deferred. Truck Month is still going to happen.

CG: In terms of sales, is there a division that will recover first from the recession?

BL: I would say that when the bulk of the American public gets back into the market, a brand like Chevrolet will benefit the most.