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Absolutely. GM has trained its customers to seek/obtain significant discounts so that they feel they've gotten a "deal" and now it's nearly impossible to wean those customers off that juice. So they'll continue to place MSRPs that have no basis in reality or competitive positioning, because they know that they'll mark it off a minimum of 10% with most of them transacting at 20% or more off that sticker price.
Absolutely. GM has trained its customers to seek/obtain significant discounts so that they feel they've gotten a "deal" and now it's nearly impossible to wean those customers off that juice. So they'll continue to place MSRPs that have no basis in reality or competitive positioning, because they know that they'll mark it off a minimum of 10% with most of them transacting at 20% or more off that sticker price.
JC Penny did the same thing years ago. A new CEO decided to do away with coupon specials and many markdowns, and go with an every day low price strategy. It was a disaster, and that CEO didn't make it that long. Customers had gotten so used to coupon discounts, they couldn't see that the effective price was the same.
It may (?) be, if people are shunning the GX for that reason. Rebates are intended to move slow-selling vehicles. But.........the public sure isn't shunning the similar Trailblazer LOL....it currently sits on dealer lots less time than anything else on the market.
The larger Chevy Blazer seems to be the success story for GM. In the 3rd quarter (July-Sept) GM sold 29.5k Blazers vs. 10.3k Trailblazers. Year to date 71.4k vs. 17k. Maybe the Trailblazer issue is inventory/import related but the dealers are moving a lot more Blazers these days.
The larger Chevy Blazer seems to be the success story for GM. In the 3rd quarter (July-Sept) GM sold 29.5k Blazers vs. 10.3k Trailblazers. Year to date 71.4k vs. 17k. Maybe the Trailblazer issue is inventory/import related but the dealers are moving a lot more Blazers these days.
Blazer does look like a success. My guess is that it was more in line with what American consumers want....plus it has a V6 option for that smooth feeling and I think the HP gets up there to 300.
US also has some import tariffs for South Korean goods that the consumer would pay extra for which eats into the value....no so for South Korean cars imported to Canada or Mexican made Blazers to the US.
JC Penny did the same thing years ago. A new CEO decided to do away with coupon specials and many markdowns, and go with an every day low price strategy. It was a disaster, and that CEO didn't make it that long. Customers had gotten so used to coupon discounts, they couldn't see that the effective price was the same.
They've never recovered from that.
People got used to those coupons for a good reason. I was (and still am, to an extent) a J.C. Penney shopper, mostly for Men's Big and Tall items. The coupons are usually a better deal....with them, you can get things for lower than their already-reasonable prices. In fact, that's why I started shopping at Penney's, years ago, to start with......the regular Big and Tall Men's stores (where you can still find them....Steven Windsor's went out of business) were simply ripping off with high prices. There is an Austin's Big and Tall shop near my place, but it is also a rip-off. You don't see rip-offs like that at Penney's......or Walmart's, or Target's, in what larger-size clothing they do carry.
Yes, that's part of it....particularly for base models. But it's not just the fact that it's low-priced. You can get low-priced vehicles at a number of places.....particularly at what few Mitsubishi dealerships are left. With the Trailblazer, it is what you get for the money. With the TB (and Encore GX) GM is abandoning its former policy of either not offering a number of safety/convienience features or making you pay extra for them. Several of them come standard even on the base version....and many people are looking at that, and not the fact that the powerplants could use another cylinder. GM is finally including a standard button (which people wanted several years ago) to by-pass the annoying start/stop system......and a button to disconnect the AWD system if it is not needed, for better fuel economy.
Last edited by mmarshall; Oct 27, 2020 at 07:27 AM.
No, the vehicle is popular because its cheap and cool looking. If it were more expensive it wouldn't sell.
Combo of both...but also because Chevy is offering something I have been mentioning for years...two-tone paint jobs and some nice bright colors. That also seems to be working for the also-excellent Kia Seltos.
Buyers don't think about a vehicle as in depth as you think they do. They don't think about auto start stop buttons etc
Steve, customer-complaints are the main reason the disable buttons for stop/start exist in the first place. GM wouldn't spend the money to install those in each new vehicle if customers had not demanded it. The FWD/AWD button exists partly for that reason, but partly for others, too....so that the already-small power plant is not lugging more than it needs to when AWD is not needed. Few vehicles in that B-crossover-class have a button for that..the last one I can remember is the Suzuki SX-4, which is long gone (and the SX-4 also had an AWL-Lock position on the differential for tough going)
People aren't buying cars because they do or don't have buttons for the auto start/stop. The vast majority of people find a car they think is attractive, do a little research into its reliability, look and the price and choose. Or they just buy what they've always bought, be that a Toyota, Honda, Chevy, etc. They only discover things like that after they've bought the car.
If you look at dealer lots for the TrailBlazer that will also show you people aren't buying them for bright colors. They stock the same array of colors that they do for any other car. People like white, silver and grey cars.
Again theres what YOU like, and what the average buyer likes.
It represents Chevrolet feasting on the remaining brand equity of the Blazer. It’s come a long way from 400 cubic inches displacement all the way down to 73 cubic inches.
People aren't buying cars because they do or don't have buttons for the auto start/stop. The vast majority of people find a car they think is attractive, do a little research into its reliability, look and the price and choose. Or they just buy what they've always bought, be that a Toyota, Honda, Chevy, etc. They only discover things like that after they've bought the car.
If you look at dealer lots for the TrailBlazer that will also show you people aren't buying them for bright colors. They stock the same array of colors that they do for any other car. People like white, silver and grey cars.
Again theres what YOU like, and what the average buyer likes.
Sure, customer feedback. People who owned the car and preferred a button to turn it off. That doesnt mean people are deciding whether or not to buy a car because of that button.
It represents Chevrolet feasting on the remaining brand equity of the Blazer. It’s come a long way from 400 cubic inches displacement all the way down to 73 cubic inches.