The recent breaking news headlines about General Motors’ booming sales serves to substantiate the strong recovering company we learned of and observed in action last month at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. GM reported an 11% increase in revenue in 2011 to $150.3 billion, a dramatically impressive increase over the $135.6 billion in 2010.

“In our first full year as a public company, we grew the top and bottom lines, advanced our global market share and made strategic investments in our brands around the world,” said Dan Akerson, Chairman and CEO.  “We will build on these results as we bring more new cars, crossovers, and trucks to market, and make GM a far more efficient global team.  This includes reducing our break-even level in Europe and South America and driving higher revenues around the world,” explained Akerson.

 

Sales at GM rose 7.6% worldwide to 9 million vehicles in 2011.  The last time GM held this top spot was in 2007, but was later surpassed by Toyota in 2008.

 

This year, GM invited theCD to join their social media program at the NAIAS, providing us opportunities to meet and interview key GM players in executive management, engineering, design, advertising, marketing, and customer service.

 

As always, we loved every moment of strolling through Cobo Hall’s nearly three-quarter million square foot auto showcase like kids in a candy store.  

 

But the usual array of dazzling LED displays and Broadway show auto reveals was made even more special this year by the opportunity to spend three days with GM at their Global Headquarters at Renaissance Center.  “Renaissance Center” is aptly named, as GM has clearly experienced a rebirth.  At RenCen, we were immersed in the larger culture of not only the auto show, but GM and the great Motor City. 

NAIAS exhibitors represented the full spectrum from Audi and Bentley to CODA and Tesla.  NAIAS’ Chairman, Bill Perkins, promised that the 2012 NAIAS would “educate, entertain, and astonish.”

 

His promise was fulfilled and GM stole the show. Every person we met at GM loves what they do and it shows.

 

theCD recently attended an open house at GM’s Component Holdings Operations here in Rochester, NY (where GM has invested $100M to manufacture its 5th Generation of highly efficient truck engines), where every employee we met along the production line reflected the same positive attitude and pride we observed in Detroit.

 

The New GM team openly discusses past problems with total forthrightness.  Their refreshing candor serves as a giant corporate “air bag”: saving the company’s life and positioning them for a new generation of greatness.

 

At our first reveal for the 2013 Cadillac ATS, Mark Reuss, President of GM North America proclaimed, “This is the car to finally challenge the German cars at their own game and win.”

“This is the most important launch that we have ever done for Cadillac, because it is truly setting us off on a path to be the best of the best,” beamed Don Butler, VP of Cadillac Marketing. 

With the ATS comes the new Cadillac User Experience (CUE) Technology; CUE debuts in 2013 in the XTS, ATS luxury sedans, and SRX luxury crossover.

 

As Cadillac’s advertisement states, “We believe you can have it all:  luxury with lightning in its veins.”  CUE is an intuitive vehicle interface which features natural voice and gesture recognition, customizable themes, proximity sensing, haptic feedback, and a capacitive, customizable touchscreen.

We sat inside the XTS with Matthew Highstrom, CUE’s Interactive Designer, reviewing the controls and functions of its user interface (UI).  TheCD has yet to experience an infotainment system that works brilliantly, without aggravating and annoying quirks. We find most systems counter-intuitive, rushed to market without adequate testing, evaluation, and feedback. 

 

Cadillac is confident they’ve hit the jackpot with CUE.  We hope they have, but optimally, we wish that all automakers, (not only GM), would utilize an across-the-board Apple UI, as opposed to re-inventing the wheel with multiple UIs, where each has its own set of awkward features and learning curves.  Automakers could then focus on cars, rather than competing against pre-existing superior interfaces (such as those in smartphones) into which they could simply plug-in. 

 

Driving a rental vehicle or a friend's car should be easy, and not become a technological crisis.  For example, nothing beats good old-fashioned knobs for immediately accessing volume, tuning, and fan blower speeds; forks, spoons, and knives simply work.  

 

“Technology exists to serve man, not for its own sake”, commented Mal Parker, President of The Super Store, in Burlington, VT.

 

Matthew listened to every issue we have experienced with other infotainment systems and steadfastly believes Cadillac has resolved them with CUE.  TheCD looks forward to sitting behind the wheel with CUE to find out for ourselves.

We enjoyed dinner with Nicholas David, a brilliant designer originally from the UK, who works at GM’s Hollywood Design Studios in LA.  We witnessed the reveal of Nick's stunning creation: the new Chevy Tru 140S concept.  Tru targets a giant chunk of the Generation Y millennial audience.

Joe Baker, another talented mind from the UK, designed the hot Chevy Code 130R in tandem with Nick.  The 1.4.L turbo engine used in both coupes is the same versatile engine powering versions of the Cruze and Sonic.

 

John McFarland, Senior Manager of Global Strategic Marketing oversees this project, with the mission to reach the millennials, i.e. buyers between 18 and 30.  Chevy has invited thousands of these buyers into the design process.  Tru and Code will be heavily marketed through social media, as opposed to traditional advertising.

 

McFarland says 80 million millennials have different needs, wants, and tastes.  When presenting these concept cars to thousands of young people, Chevy found that young buyers gravitate toward one or the other, not both. 

 

“We’re seeking out their guidance.  We’re listening to their opinions.  We’re inviting them into our processes like never before, from product planning to design and marketing.  We’re engaging in new and meaningful ways…asking them to show us the way...the opportunity is so huge…we’re going back to the core values of what Chevrolet has stood for, for over 100 years:  passion, performance, affordability, and a youthful spirit”.

 

McFarland adds that young people “are waiting for a brand that truly gets them…at Chevrolet, we want to…turn it into a passion…giving them exactly what they want and…delivering it to capture their hearts and minds.”

 

GM’s Chevrolet is working smart.

 

GM President of N.A., Mark Reuss, cleverly commented, “I guess we call it ‘crowdsourcing’.   If there’s a way to do it, Chevrolet is going to find it.”

 

We at theCD found both designs amazing, and see the Code 130R as possessing a more muscular and masculine energy, with the Tru140S offering a more feminine feel and flair.  During our discussion group with the designers at GM’s Warren Tech Center, social media participants studied the two cars via electronic 3D eyeglasses, projected side-by-side on GM’s 3D “power wall”; most had a preference for one over the other.   

We said, “Build them both!”

 

A YouTube viewer agreed: “Build both coupes, GM!  It’s time to take back the youth segment in North America and shut up the misguided import lovers once and for all!”

 

After the reveal, we suggested to McFarland that the Tru140S’ color be named “Swan White”, because the Tru140S has the elegance and aerodynamic grace of a swan slicing through air or water.  Evidencing that once again the New GM is an approachable group of open-minded people, he was receptive to the idea.

 

Seeing that GM is listening was as important as seeing the cars; the results of GM’s attentive ear are already being seen through vehicles such as the new Sonic, Malibu Eco, and Verano.

 

GM is investing in a fresh, new, customer-centric and service-based mindset adhering to essentially the contemporary values of winning companies such as Zappos, Wegmans, and Nordstrom. 

 

We learned of a case where GM located a gas pedal for an older vehicle which the customer couldn’t find anywhere.  The New GM uses their vast corporate level resources to pull rabbits out of hats, reaching out to satisfy and retain existing customers.

 

Under the seasoned leadership of GM’s Jim Moloney, General Director of Customer Assistance & Relationship Services [CARS], the Customer Care and After Sales Department has been revved up.  These specialists are as busy manning their customer care hotlines, jumping through hoops to satisfy GM customers, as are the sharp-as-a-tack advisors one gleaming tower over at GM’s OnStar.

 

OnStar is like Apple checking into The Four Seasons: technology marries concierge services. TheCD has been impressed with OnStar while driving GM vehicles. Thinking that OnStar is only for saving lives in crashes, unlocking doors when locked out, or remote starting a car parked 20 stories below one’s office in an underground parking garage, is like believing an iPhone has only three apps.

 

Millions of GM buyers have signed up for the service after their free trial period with OnStar.

 

One of the best kept secrets about OnStar is the ability to make voice calls through their powerful system where the quality of a call placed through OnStar approaches that of a landline.  TheCD performed numerous tests using handheld cell, cell with speaker, cell with Bluetooth, and OnStar.  OnStar beats them all, and we love it. 

 

Customers who want to hear and understand every syllable spoken during a phone call will value this service.  Professionals whose livelihood depends on clear communication will learn that OnStar approaches an almost landline quality connection, whereas the typical cellular call is choppy, garbled, digitized, and worsens the half-duplex effect (communication in both directions, but only one direction at a time, not simultaneously).

 

OnStar’s Joanne Finnorn and Cheryl Mccarron brought us up to date on the umbrella of life-saving, concierge, convenience, security, diagnostics, and smartphone app creative communications services OnStar offers. 

One of the services on OnStar’s list was TTY/TDD services for the Deaf.  As an interpreter who has worked with the Deaf for over 30 years, I pointed out that Deaf people no longer use obsolete TTY technology.  OnStar was all ears when it came to discussing how they could potentially serve, accommodate, and provide millions of Deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers with equal access to OnStar’s impressive menu of services using today’s new visual technologies for communication. 

 

OnStar’s headquarters at GM, which amounts to a 911 call center on steroids for automobile communications, constantly seeks innovation and improvements to bring GM’s OnStar into the forefront of automobile safety.

 

Car computer systems (such as MyFordTouch, BMW iDrive, Mercedes COMAND, Cadillac CUE), Bluetooth, and smartphones are terrific tools, but there’s nothing like having a genius sitting next to you in the front passenger seat at the push of a tiny blue button 24/7/365.  TheCD believes OnStar is worth every dime.  OnStar’s FMV (For My Vehicle) unit is now available for almost any car, not only GM models.

There is much information about the New GM which needs to be communicated to the public; this is where the importance of smart advertising comes in. 

TheCD enjoyed the chance to chat with Craig Bierley, Buick’s Director of Advertising and Promotions, during a lunch meeting.  Craig commented how technology has drastically changed advertising.  TV advertising is terribly costly, and with more than half of TV viewers now cutting out the commercials as they watch TV via DVRs, On Demand, eyeTV, online, etc., the return on the TV advertising dollar is now far less justifiable (situations such as the Super Bowl, excepted).

 

The Chevy Sonic, the best selling subcompact car in the US in December 2011, was advertised mostly through social media, until the Super Bowl. Similarly, Ford promoted the Fiesta almost entirely through social media during its launch.  

 

GM continues to successfully tackle the challenges of serving its customers.  Critical to the continued recovery and success of GM is providing a superior product at an excellent value. 

We sat down with Mark Reuss, GM’s President for North America, who is credible and convincing when he states that GM’s mission is their high prioritization of product excellence.  

 

The NAIAS served as the golden opportunity to back up sound bytes with action: concrete evidence that GM is saying what they mean, and meaning what they say.  The proof is in the cars.

Mark had a twinkle in his eye when we suggested this is an ideal time to awaken the sleeping slogan of “GM: MARK OF EXCELLENCE”.  First introduced in 1966, the logo was used on the release button of lapbelts, (back when seat belts were an option) and embossed in the door jambs of GM vehicles.

 

“I wish”, Mark nodded, at our suggestion that nobody was better poised to bring it back than Mark (of Excellence) Reuss.  Mark agreed with our reaction, “What people want is not necessarily what they need,” concurring that fragmentation can cause an identity issue at GM. “The public (as well as many of GMs own people) wants to differentiate and promote Chevy, or Buick, or Cadillac…we are not necessarily seen as one GM brand anymore.”

 

Jim Jacks, Virtual Reality Engineer at the Virtual Reality Center at GM’s Warren Technology Center concurred.  He would love to see broader GM branding return to GMs marketing strategy, to avoid competing against itself, but realizes that compromise is a reality in contemporary corporate life.

 

As part of the tour, Jim demonstrated to us the “CAVE” (Cave Automated Virtual Environment), a simulation chamber featuring an upholstered automobile seat, inside a small 6’ x 6’ cube with white walls, onto which double images were projected of the Chevy Traverse interior. When wearing special 3D glasses flashing 120 times/second, the perfect illusion of being in a real vehicle is created.

Seven projectors shoot 14 sets of dizzying duplicate images (~30 millimeters apart) onto the CAVE’s walls until the active stereoscopic electronic glasses (flashing in both eyes at ~120 times/second) are worn, sobering the participant to a WOWing world of 3-dimensions.

 

The touch of a few buttons on the engineer’s computer recreates the front & rear seating arrangements, realistically placing the evaluator into different positions, seeing every conceivable aspect of the car’s interior.  I reached for a vivid imaginary steering wheel, radio and HVAC controls, console lids, visors, and door locks, experiencing both the front and the back seats without moving.

 

As a person with monocular vision, (sighted in only one eye), this was the first time in my life that I was able to experience a sensation of 3D; or, as engineer Jacks put it, "You're seeing in 2.5D!"

 

Jim educated us on the enormous potential that virtual reality engineering possesses for saving automakers hundreds of millions of dollars by being able to design, evaluate, and address problems before they reach the assembly line.  For every hour a production line is down, Jim estimates it costs GM $0.5M, with immeasurable ripple effects down the road.

 

The environmental impact of this green technology and manufacturing is immeasurable. At GM, these powerful tools are coupled with a proactive awareness, eying efficiency while working smart.  Projecting ideas onto a screen translates to essentially zero environmental impact other than electricity.

 

Time, man hours, money, and materials are saved, enabling product development and quality to progress more quickly and efficiently than traditional approaches in engineering, design, and manufacturing.

 

Jacks is passionate about his role in facilitating lean engineering, enthused by the staggering potential this technology holds for expansion and application, conceivably saving GM hundreds of millions of dollars over the long term.  "A $3M investment has the potential to save us ~$150M!” Jim exclaimed. 

 

This was theCD’s fourth, and most inspiring, visit to the NAIAS.  We witnessed the enormous potential the future holds for American automakers, in particular, GM, as they forge forward with sweeping positive changes.  GM invigorated us with the highest level of confidence, proud to be Americans.

 

The best and brightest minds have realigned GM by maximizing involvement and service to its customers, enabling GM to become a top-shelf international competitor.

 

People who bash GM, (e.g. “Government Motors”), are uninformed. We as individuals possess the capacity to learn and grow from our mistakes; GM has learned and matured much. 

 

Our three day whirlwind culminated in the screening of a touching film:  Erik Proulx’s LEMONADE DETROIT; still in production, anyone can participate and own a piece of LEMONADE DETROIT for $1/frame by visiting www.LEMONADEdetroit.com.  

 

As the film LEMONADE DETROIT so poignantly points out, change happens person by person, house by house, block by block.  What happens in Detroit is happening at GM, and what happens at GM shapes our nation.  The Motor City models what can happen when people roll up their sleeves and work together as a team, with faith in self and something greater.

 

“Shut up and Re-invent Detroit” is the film’s slogan.

Those who whine about GM should visit Detroit and take a tour of GM HQ; we guarantee you’ll feel the positive energy.  GM’s superb line up of world class automobiles now rivals some of the finest imports: Chevy Volt, Cruze, and Sonic; Buick Lacrosse, Regal, Regal GS, Encore, and Verano; Cadillac XTS, ATS, SRX, and CTS.

 

The truth is validated by the facts, which show that GM is again the world’s largest automaker. If success is loving what you do, then GM’s phenomenal rebound can be explained by their #1 asset: people who love their work.

 

The 2010 GM Annual Report was prophetic when it stated: “We have a new vision and business model to bring it to life, supported by a healthy balance sheet.  We have a new team, focused on delivering results.  We have the number one market share in the world’s highest growth markets.  We have this breakthrough new technology of the Volt as evidence of what we can do.  And we’re just getting started.”