I Love GM!

2006 Chevrolet HHR

There aren't many companies that would create a blog that allows readers to criticize the company and its products. And criticize they do. I've never seen any other web site where the readers slam the company. I wish more companies were as diligent in their efforts to establish an honest online relationship with their customers as is GM.

Think for a moment about how conflicted the besieged company's management must have been about setting up the GM Fastlane Blog. The easy thing to have done would have been to turn off comments and use the blog as a typical sales promotion. Yet, GM had the guts to take the bouquets with the brickbats.

GM Vice Chairman is the author of the Fastlane blog. In today's post he wrote,

There are fundamental changes taking place in our product development organization that add up to a winning formula. These changes are largely cultural, and as most of you know, cultural change often takes time. I’m sure some of you may have read Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point, in which he identifies how minor trends become blockbuster phenomena. Well, I firmly believe we have reached a tipping point in our organization.

A few years ago, planners would sift through reams of data, segment the market, analyze and deconstruct the data until they discovered a niche in which we needed a new product. Once the need for the vehicle was determined, the designers were given a formula to work with. Not a blank canvas, more like a paint-by-numbers scenario.

Today, we’re operating on a much more emotional, creative level and our designers have been empowered to express themselves. Our winning products will not be determined by careful analysis; they will captivate and enthrall through imaginative design and flawless execution.

We’ll be introducing a lot of new products that reflect another new philosophy of General Motors, which is not to introduce vehicles that are merely competitive, but to really target being the best. This has, frankly, also required some recalibration of the internal culture, especially in the United States. And it’s taken some time to lift ourselves to the best international standard in sheet metal fits.

That 2006 Chevy HHR (Heritage High Roof) in the picture says a lot about the progress GM is making in reclaiming its role as the world leader in automobile styling. There' s been a lot of negative news about GM coming out lately. Maybe I'll comment on that another time. For now, I'd rather say thanks to GM for having the vision to create a real blog and the courage to revamp its corporate culture. With folks like Bob Lutz at the top, I have a feeling that the bad news about GM is going to be just another pothole on the highway to success.

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