The first-quarter report shows that Toyota Motor Corp.’s sales have quickly outpaced General Motors Corp. This is why industry critics expect GM to redouble its efforts to maintain its crown as the manufacturer of largest automobile in the world.
The excitement continues and the excitement leaves fans and critics in awe. Is Toyota on the verge of claiming the best title in the auto industry that was safeguarded by GM in the last three decades? Texan Ross Perot, during his brief tenure on GM’s board of directors, once described the automaker as “isolated and isolated” from the American driving public. Nearly two decades later, in the midst of a massive overhaul at the world’s largest automaker, signs are beginning to appear that GM is shedding its impeccable and dominant style of management.
GM is taking a more fluid and light-hearted approach to doing business in an industry it once ruled. This is because the company was forced into action due to an unprecedented drop in sales and declining market share, leading to crushing losses. Industry experts are now being asked to guide senior executives in making critical decisions. GM’s group of designers now has greater leeway and freedom to create product lines without prior approval from senior executives. And, for the first time for GM, the public could have the final say in choosing a new vehicle to sell around the world.
“The company I hired for no longer exists, which is good,” said John Manoogian, Cadillac’s director of design, who began his career at GM 30 years ago in the now-defunct Oldsmobile division. “There’s a new sense of where we are and where we need to go. We have top managers who say, ‘You guys show us what you can do.’
In recent decades, the supremacy of GMOs cannot be overemphasized. In fact, his influence on the entire global auto industry caused him to rule longer. But in recent years, supremacy seems to flicker to make his foreign rivals even stronger in their place of dominance. GM’s plight may have become ominous enough to spur some real shifts in that mindset. Some of this is evident in the attitude of top management. By reviewing market strategies, everyone can offer suggestions and question the company’s strategy. The same goes for what Ford Motor Co. is getting in the manufacture and assembly of Volvo engine parts.
From another perspective, GM is seeking more information, and is even voting on the decision to build a concept vehicle. “This is a team game, and for the team to function at its most efficient level, you have to have all the players playing to their strengths,” said GM Vice President Bob Lutz before introducing a set of new concepts for mini-cars.
Finding it difficult to choose which of the three models would debut at the New York Auto Show (NYAS), GM decided to show all the cars and then let the public vote on which one should see the production. “If that means a great idea is born in one place and becomes reality in another place,” Lutz said. “So be it.” The new set of product lines will debut next year at the Detroit Auto Show.
The GM turnaround is gradually penetrating the market. Some say it began nearly a decade ago, when GM took a team approach to vehicle development that brings together people from various departments to make important decisions. The change was accounted for from the moment managers sent orders to the ranks.
Since Lutz, the product czar, took office in 2001, GM designers have talked about feeling more valued and empowered. But it’s only recently that the shift in thinking has begun to filter into GM’s public face: its products, marketing, and advertisements. “There’s a lot less tunnel vision in Detroit than before at GM,” said David Healy, an auto analyst at Burnham Securities. “You can see it in the new models that are coming out. And that’s the important thing.”
The ideas for the vehicles, which the automaker would not address, were drawn from a small team of Cadillac designers. Traditionally, designers get instructions to make products based on a market need or a hole in the GM line. In this case, the team branched out and created some clay vehicle models that they thought GM should build.
Shortly after the models were made, the designers learned that Lutz and CEO Rick Wagoner were going to the Warren Design Center to check them out. “We took them out into the yard and they just said, ‘Hey, let’s do this,'” Manoogian said. “For me that was the epiphany: when the lightbulb went on, we were doing things differently.”
Mike Jackson, vice president of advertising and marketing, said the new culture has infused GM with energy. “We are particularly proud of our new products,” he said. “There is a lot of confidence here.”