General Motors Scraps Plan for Buick Plug-In Hybrid After Focus Group Disses It
By Scott Doggett August 19, 2009
General Motors announced today that the all-new Buick plug-in gasoline-electric compact crossover it was going to bring to market in 2011 won't be entering the marketplace after all.
The most any of us will likely see of that vehicle is the teaser photo (above) that it supplied with a statement announcing development of the plug-in electric hybrid on Aug. 6.
If you read that statement, you read this:
"Buick has always been at the forefront of new technology, so it is only fitting that the brand should debut our new plug-in hybrid technology in a beautiful new crossover," said Stephens. "This will firmly put Buick, and GM, front and center in the advanced technology game."
That would be Tom Stephens, GM vice chairman of product development.
Well, a funny thing happened to the Buick on the way to market: A bunch of people saw it, said it stunk, and GM killed it before too many more people saw it. Or as Stephens put it in the statement GM issued today:
"We were all struck by the consistency of the criticism of the compact crossover. And what we decided to do in response is a good example of the essence of the new General Motors...acting quickly, and boldly, and listening to feedback from customers, employees, dealers, media and just about anyone else with an opinion."
That's 100 percent quality spin. But wait. There's more:
"Last Friday," Stephens wrote in today's statement, "reaction to the Buick crossover was discussed at the meeting of our Executive Committee, the newly formed group that steers product decisions, and it was decided that if it didn't belong, it didn't belong. Buick crossover canceled.
"Fritz Henderson, Bob Lutz and I and the rest of the committee decided to take swift action to prevent a potential underperformer from reaching the marketplace. And we decided that the important plug-in hybrid technology would be applied to another vehicle, at no delay, that we'll discuss in the very near future."
Well at least Stephens didn't fall on a sword alone. There was Fritz and Bob and the rest of the committee. Or as Stephens might have put it, all of them deserve credit for containing a problem before it got any bigger. And you wonder why they get the big bucks.
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Well. I'm glad to see that this wasn't someone's pet project that they'd push through at any cost. Maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the "new" GM.
Oooh... so they realized it was a stinker, and killed the project. What do they want? A cookie for realizing the obvious?
Sorry Tom, a double negative doesn't make a positive. You only get the cookie for making a good product that's the right fit for its brand.
"What do they want? A cookie"
They should be given wine and roses. Where was the ex-com when the focus group looked at the Aztek? Surely the group gave them the same feedback that most everyone else did when it hit the market.
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