• Ad Age, Monday, August 17, 2009 10:34 AM

Although General Motors has shed four of its eight brands and is cutting the number of models it sells from 48 to 34 by the end of 2010, three experts consulted by Jean Halliday feel that the automaker still has too many models competing against one another without a distinctive selling proposition. "It just feels like the same old GM," concludes consultant Maryann Keller.

GM intends to launch 25 models between now and 2011: 10 for Chevrolet, 5 for Cadillac and 10 for Buick-GMC. But Susan Jacobs, president of Jacobs & Associates, agrees with two other analysts who feel that the automaker should be selling through just two marques: Chevrolet for the masses and Cadillac for richer folk.

Jacobs isn't optimistic that Buick can survive long-term despite vastly improved styling in recent years and the inroads it has made with buyers in their 50s with the Enclave crossover. And George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, says GMC offers a truck lineup that "pretty much parallels" Chevrolet's. He would have preferred to see GMC killed.

"They shouldn't even identify themselves as GM," says Keller. "People don't buy GM cars; they buy Cadillacs and Chevys, and that's what they ought to be talking about."

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