Monday, April 18, 2011

GM fires back

On Sunday, I received this reply to Friday's post from Joel Ewanick, CMO of Global Marketing for General Motors.
Thanks, we will need a little luck! 
Hyundai has a fantastic and fresh lineup! Honda is going to keep fighting, Ford is on a rocket ship ride, VW has aspirations of world domination. And well, Toyota is Toyota! 
On the bright side Chevy just sold 1.1 million vehicles Globally, the best 1st quarter, ever. It's a start! With some hard work, good planning and a little luck maybe we have a decent year!
Keep Wishing us luck! 
Joel
Sent from my iPhone 
Once I got past the abundance of exclamation points, a couple of things struck me about the note.

First, 1.1 million in global sales for Q1 is a solid number. My guess is this includes fleet sales as well as retail. But either way a 4+ million unit year for the Chevy brand would be a success in any era.

Second, unlike the Detroit of my youth that dismissed foreign competitors as nothing more than a cheap imitation of the real thing, there's no denial here. As they say, admitting you have a problem is a first step to finding a solution.

Finally, I like that he's not afraid to have a little fun with me. This clearly wasn't a canned response from the corporate PR department. And if I was a little snarky in my commentary, he's entitled to be just a little facetious in his response.

Well played, Mr. Ewanick. Well played.

2 comments:

  1. I agree Harvey, Joel's response was indeed very well played and had the perfect tone. He didn't take a defensive position and said it like it is. Praising the competition and touting the success of GM's 1st quarter rally.

    Reality is reality. I'm thrilled that GM had such a fantastic 1st quarter, and firmly believe that will continue to grow from quarter and quarter.

    Yes, we all certainly need a little luck, now more than ever. However, the proof is in the product and in the way the consumer embraces the brand. I'm feeling more and more that the consumer wants to embrace GM as much as they do with the other brands, and Joel is giving them good reason to.

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  2. I love it. I do wish his iPhone would auto-correct the random caps!

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