Duncan Aldred, Brian Sweeney and Don Johnson.
As inventories of unsold cars surge past 100 days' supply, GM has shuffled its sales and marketing organizations in an attempt to move some of that bloated inventory. Last week, GM moved Buick-GMC sales chief Brian Sweeney, 46, to the top sales post at Chevrolet, taking over for the retiring Don Johnson. Sweeney's replacement will be Duncan Aldred, 43, who most recently has been running GM's British brand, Vauxhall. Both executives will will report to new U.S. sales chief Steve Hill, 53.
The continued changes in personnel at GM's sales and marketing divisions has been a source of frustration for dealers and ad agency executives in recent years. Some dealers feel that what they see as GM's strongest product lineup in generations is being compromised by chaos in the marketing team responsible for promoting those new products.
"The changes can be a distraction. It makes it hard for dealers to buy into the go-to-market strategy," said the unidentified owner of a Chevrolet dealership and a Buick-GMC store out West who spoke to the Automotive News. He said that the chaos has a trickle-down effect that distracts zone managers, district managers and sales reps.
When he takes the job, Sweeney will be Chevy's fifth U.S. sales chief in less than five years. Cadillac has had four sales chiefs during that period.
Paul Edwards took over U.S. marketing for Chevy only last month, appointed by the brand's global marketing chief, Tim Mahoney, who himself has been on the job for just 10 months. Cadillac's global marketing boss, Uwe Ellinghaus, 44, started in that position last month.
Ford, Toyota and Honda have had much less turnover in their sales and marketing teams in recent years.
"Some dealers get frustrated by all of the changes," says Henry Brown, owner of Henry Brown Buick-GMC in Gilbert, Ariz., and the chairman of the Buick-GMC National Dealer Council. "But I think all of these recent moves show an awareness that GM wants a good working relationship. All of these guys are in touch with dealers and have an open line."
Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for Cars.com, says that GM still suffers from outmoded perceptions of its brands, perceptions that will require marketing makeovers, particularly on the east and west coasts where import brands dominate car sales. Toprak said that employee turnover in GM's strategically important sales and marketing team comes at a critical time in the automaker's recovery.
from The Truth About Cars http://ift.tt/Jh8LjA
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment