The new GM logo tries to evoke emotions about your battery-car, clean-skies, future in a vain attempt to woo a generation of young consumers that doesn’t even want to own a car. Bill Whittle, Stephen Green, and Scott Ott deliver the kind of ‘analysis’ General Motors deserves for this branding morass, the stench of which threatens to surpass New Coke.
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63 replies on “General Odors: Stench of New GM Logo Threatens to Surpass New Coke Branding Morass”
The way I heard it, when Chevy was about to unveil a new vehicle, the executives were racing around the theater getting ready when a secretary showed up to deliver some paperwork to her boss and caught her first sight of the vehicle. “What’s that?” she asked. Her boss replied that it was a lightweight utility vehicle. “Oh, it’s a love!” she exclaimed. All within earshot stopped and stared at the woman. Within an instant, the assembled members of the automotive press corps were sent to the bar and plied with drinks while new chrome badging was prepared and mounted on the showpiece, and new press kits and literature were prepped and printed. Thus, the Chevy LUV was born…
Pretty much lost any respect I had for GM when they gleefully accepted the pennies from heaven via TARP. Too big to fail indeed. They have again proven that they are simply too dumb to succeed. GM seems to consistently be aiming at a market that faded from existence ten years prior. I am not a believer in all species deriving from a common ancestor, but in GM’s case the gene pool of talent has been effectively wrung dry and it may just be time to let the old girl wander-off onto an ice flow to make room for better companies producing better products with better understanding of the opportunities that actually exist in the present as well as the future.
I knew this new generation was not buying cars that agreed with their rhetoric. The Ford CMax hybrid electric car was only rolling of the line for three years because sales were so low. People weren’t out for a car that ran electric with the ability to go gas for the occasional long range drive.
In 2012 I first heard about the Ford CMax coming out from the factories and I couldn’t wait to drive one. For those who haven’t heard of it, the CMax is a “small SUV” hybrid vehicle. It can seat up to five. The electric motor will propel the vehicle to interstate speeds. The option of hybrid gas/electric or the one I have which carries a 6 kilowatt battery that can be charged at home (110 or 220) for 20 miles of zero emission electric driving around town.
Before you think I’m an environmentalist nut, understand I am a capitalist who has been waiting for electric cars to come of age. At 52 cents a charge, its a steal. My accountant side began crunching numbers before and after the purchase. I save an average of $7,000 per year by not buying so much gasoline (once a month, current average is 83.4 mpg). With the added tax credits, the $31,000 car (2015) has already paid for itself.
Going electric doesn’t mean losing long range driving. The computer switches automatically between the 40mpg gas engine and an on the go regenerating electric engine. We have traveled Washington to North Dakota several times.
Cadillac changing their shield is more understandable than its parent company changing their corporate logo. Cadillac used to change its logo every couple of years, updating it to complement the changes in its cars’ styling. Some of those designs were quite striking, while retaining Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac’s blazon of arms.
The only beef I really have about the post-2000 Cadillac shields is the elimination of the martlets. Seriously! The ‘ducks’ are important–they’re a part of Antoine’s arms, self-styled by him in 1687 or so that hearken directly to the de Lamothe family of France. More importantly, Antoine was one of the residents of the New World that ‘assumed arms,’ not relying on a College of Arms to appoint his heraldry, but making them up his own dam’ self, because THAT is the spirit of America. The right to make your own heraldic symbols (instead of one being granted to you by a King) was embraced by founders and Presidents in large numbers. I love that Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was one of those early adopters of assumed arms, and that every single Cadillac on the road serves as a posthumous thumbed-nose to the enemies of American freedom.
If you’re interested in the ‘official’ Cadillac blazon, it’s “A shield quartered; 1 and 4 argent a fess sable three martlets of the same, two in chief and one in point; 2 and 3 counter quartered 1 and 4 gules, 2 and 3 argent three fesses azure.” Yes, I’m a heraldry nerd.
There’s no reason any one car should look like any other from one year to the next. There’s no real ‘evolution’ in the automotive world. It’s all re-invention. The only reason one (for instance) Buick looks like another Buick is because it’s consciously designed so. Car companies depend on design heritage to keep people coming back to one company or the other.
Is there any reason to keep Childe Harold Wills’ script slapped on every Ford year after year since 1907? Do Buicks need Ventiports? Do Cadillacs need long skinny tail lights? For that matter, do Rolls Royces need stainless steel Parthenon grills? Of course not. Those details give cars differentiation and distinction, without which we would all be driving identical squarish SUVs.
Does General Motors need a largely generic typeset capital GM? No…but it was generic for a reason. It was devoid of personality, because its subsidiary companies had their own personalities: Indian arrowheads, Tri-shields, bowties, and so forth. The old GM logo was strong, basic, simple, timeless, and non-offensive. No one loved the old logo, but no one hated it either. That was the point that the gm design execs don’t understand, or don’t care about.
I think they borrowed half that logo and color from Goodwill… another company that sells junk.
Goodwill is almost a high end boutique here in NYC.
The clothes and even furniture a second hand but still quite desirable – nd priced appropriately.
The Salvation Army is further down market, but also quite picky about what they sell.
We joke in industry that when HR run out of ideas that kick off 360 degree evaluations and when marketing have no new ideas they rebrand. So possibly after more than USD$1M of spending on a logo and GM now have to rebuild their brand recognition again!!? This at a time when GM has stopped making right hand drive cars backing away from 40% of the worlds market for car sales. Interestingly Ford and Toyota still make and sell into the RHD markets and Ford has not changed its logo since 1927.
Bill “Gentle Morning: It’s a vitamin laxative suplement ……”
Me: “I’m dyin’, here. Can’t breathe. Laughing. Too. Hard.”
That was magic, wasn’t it.
Why are we surprised? Really? Who can forget the incredibly AWESOME launch of the New Bold Chevy Volt at the LA Auto Show back in 2010.
Some of the Comments on the Y / T video were priceless:
10 years ago people thought GM sucked. Has anything really changed?
BTW if you have to, here’s the AWESOME Chevy Volt Dancers and their tribute to the Chevy Volt!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUPmqN6KAwM
Do the laws on trade marks preclude them from changing their name to General Electric Motors?
gm = genteel moderate or gentle mover ?? great mistake?
Great Mistake!
General Pain in the Ass would be a better title — probably also trademarked
New Coke bounced back. Maybe GM will make electric trucks that can pull semi’s or Uber young kids through a 4×4 park.
No, scratch that dream.
We had our own little marketing snafu around here a few years back when the holy and righteous (sadly no longer) Jesuits in Milwaukee bowed to the PC crowd and changed the name and mascott of the Marquette University from the Warriors to the … Gold. They didn’t even have a mascot or icon, styled or anything that I remember and pretty much got laughed and lambasted into changing it within the year to the current Golden Eagles.
One thing I heard that does explain the New Coke debacle was that they planned to switch from real sugar to the corn syrup that was coming in and other companies were using. It was cheaper than sugar and cut the costs of producing drinks. The theory was the bad taste was on purpose and after the public clammor and introduction of Classic Coke… with corn syrup … people had mostly forgotten how Coke actually tasted.
I don’t give General Motors that kind of crafty cunning.
Scott –
LOL on your quip “You just didn’t read the paragraphs that go with the logo”
What are they teaching in Art school?
WB has changed its logo recently. It was evident in the New Animaniacs reboot as well as other newer animated features from WB.
https://www.designboom.com/design/pentagram-warner-bros-logo-01-18-2021/
It transforms into an Uber lounge chair.
What would worry me if I were in the market for a GM product is what changes they are making in the product.
Gents:
You obviously don’t get it……though you almost did. General Motors is REALLY thinking way forward with this new logo by signaling that they intend to shift their focus away from manufacturing cars & trucks to “providing transportation” for the masses, i.e., those in their 20’s/30’s living in urban centers in tiny apartments and have no intention of ever owning a car. The logo itself is an APP ICON for GM’s core business, which is to be an online transportation portal, offering a range of services, from bike/scooter rentals, ride-sharing, car rentals, leasing, motor freight, etc. You touched on that idea BACKSTAGE….and inadvertently inspired a bold new vision for America’s premier carmaker. Who knows, they may even buy out Uber……and call it GUBER. Get with it guys!
Another specific effort by the folks who brought us the notorious Gillette Ad, to feminize & undermine masculinity.
You see it everywhere in young men from 15 & up. They’re uncertain & non-commital about their maleness in order to allow chameleon-like cover. They’ve learned that pride in one’s gender – if it’s not the female gender – is unsafe.
Where are all the Mothers & fathers decrying this demonization of men?
Next time, GM should hire whoever designed the CHOAM logo for Steve’s cup. Nice “Dune” reference.
From the bold upper case LOGO by the creators of the GTO (MUSCLE CAR) to a wimpy lower case plug me in logo.
That does it! I’m definitely buying a Honda for my next ride. I was headed in that direction anyway, after GM…oh, sorry, now I’m doing it too…”gm” made the bonehead decision to stop making cars and build nothing but side-by-side refrigerators on wheels (aka SUVs).
The two words that pop into my head upon seeing this new logo are: American Airlines. You remember when they merged with USAirways and trashed their “eagle” logo, easily one of the most recognized in the airline industry, for that desecration of the American flag?
This whole EV thing is bass-ackwards, anyway. They’re expecting this mass movement to electrics when (1) there’s not nearly enough of a charging infrastructure and (2) the nation’s electric grid — already kind of fragile — threatens to get even more so with millions of people plugging in overnight and (3) they’ve ignored the needs of people who want to travel in their cars rather than commute. Who wants to spend hours recharging on a tiring, cross-country drive?
Thanks guys, this video was a riot. I’m one of your peers, by a few years, of grumpy old guys who think everything sucks.
The passion and love affair with our vehicles seems to be waning…and what a shame! I loved working on, waxing and driving my vehicles from the past, and it brings back strong memories, even the smell of motor oil and such. I had the pleasure to own several I could not afford today…67 SS impala, 64 box Nova, 57 Chevy short bed, Volvo P1800, and so many more I wish I still had. Some people ask me how I could afford to own these vehicles when I was so young then, and I have to remind them that these were not classic, rare rides when I bought them in the 60’s and 70’s. Try going to a Mecum auction today and you will lay down some serious cash to take one home.
“Why does everything have to suck?” My thought exactly.
More suck to come I think after the 20th and all the companies really have to kiss up to the insanity.
The new logo looks like it belongs in the original Tron movie. Except that the overall color scheme in that film was stronger.
Makes you want to grab ’em by the GM logo.
Doesn’t a ride service have to have a car to give you a ride in?
That’s racist against go karts!
(Reposted from YT)
Upper case = Capital
Lower case = small letters
Rather than being the capital carmaker in America, GM—excuse me, gm—has decided to be the small carmaker. Not small car maker, because it doesn’t have to do with the size of the car, it has more to do with the size of the minds at GM—excuse me, gm.
Edit: Bill, I drove two Camaros for 23 years, both stick shifts: a 79 Rally Sport (Red/Blk), and an 88 IROC. Sigh…I should never have sold that IROC.
My pride and joy was a 67 SS Camaro that after suspension mods I could throw around like a Corvette, even keeping up with them pylon racing. Today’s GM cars just plain suck!
1973 or earlier are the only GMs I would even consider buying.
I lost my interest in GM products in the 80s. The Chrysler Pentastar at least had a bold new look.
In my opinion, the only good new thing from GM was the LS1 engine.
I should have lost my interest in GM after I bought a nice new IROC, but NOOOOOO, I had to buy a 3yo previously leased Seville STS with an aluminum Northstar engine. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson with mother’s 73 Vega with an aluminum engine, but NOOOOOO! Overheated once, when I “developed” a huge hole in the radiator, warped the engine, blew the head gasket, and the cost of replacement was not worth value of the car. And that was AFTER $10k in maintenance in 5 years: rotors that warp when you have to slam on the brakes ONCE, drop the engine for a tune-up, ugh. 🤦🏼♂️
I have to admit, you can’t beat a Caddy for the ride, but I never should have sold that IROC.
If you have to take that many words to explain what your logo means, you have undoubtedly failed at understanding what a logo does.
We went through a rebranding several years ago. We had a very early 90s logo and it didn’t work well on-line or at trade shows. There were many discussion with the graphic designers as to what we wanted to achieve. The result needed no paragraph to explain, we could see what jumped out at us.
If it hadn’t, we would have selected one that did.
GM need to hire Sterling Cooper again.
And here I was getting all ready to make smart cracks about succulents. I’ll stick with “Ram Tough”, thankyouverymuch…
GM = Gone Mental … Goodbye Masculinity … Globalist Morons. By the time that seven-year term note you sign to purchase your new gasoline-burner is paid off, your car will be obsolete and maybe illegal, if these ambulating progressive turds have their way.
My two words that come to mind on that logo?
“New Coke.”
Soft and squishy. Better suited to the way I form letters when writing to my 8 yr old granddaughter than the logo of something made of steel and designed to go fast.
[spoiler title=”Caution! Trigger warning …”] I’ve heard that “soft and squishy” is how imprisoned felons like the new residents. Perhaps GMC owners hope that this a prognostication of the future residence of GM management? [/spoiler]
Why does everything have to suck? You all described it as “weak”… is this not the trajectory of the American male? Afraid to be masculine, at least in public. Do not misunderstand me thinking I am saying men who are not rugged, hard, etc. are not ” real men”. I am not saying that at all. This is the result of the fear being imposed on men by the feminists and the woke, that ALL men must become soft, gentle, and submissive. If we don’t then we are 1) defective and part of the so-called problem, and 2) never getting laid.
There’s a REASON Sean Connery is still considered the best and archetypal James Bond. And why liberals and soyboys can’t stand him and trashed him as soon as he was safely dead.
Embrace the suck, is all that comes to mind…….
“Why does everything have to suck?” Indeed.
OK boys; you got me.
Pre-caffeine morning I saw the floral display and took that for the new logo. Given the rush towards a petroleum energy free future the flowers were about right at first glance.
Well played.
Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke!
Liberals and soyboys are genetically incapable of not F***ing with things. They’re worse than a 4 year old near a hot stove. At least the 4 yr old LEARNS.
I absolutely hate change. I sub sites & all is well UNTIL the IT people have to CHANGE things to justify their salary. If it’s not broken why “fix” it. Being IT challenged I hate change.
I’m not IT challenged, and I do hate change.
Change comes from the marketing department, not from the guys drinking bad coffee and eating cold pizza at 3am while they make that last change to the core code before the “new” website goes live in five hours…
It’s refreshing to know that the last GM product I owned – a 1978 Chevrolet Nova and relegated to the rust heap it became in 1985 – will remain the last GM product I will ever own.
Likewise with my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. At least I can trust it and still work on it because the electronics are understandable. I HATE it when everything is done on a touchscreen and “assisted” by a computer. I like to be in control and drive my car, not have it drive ME!
I haven’t ever bought a “Government Motors” car. Even though a few of them have tempted me at times (Corvette, Firebird, Camero)
I’m no longer even tempted. *WRETCHING NOISES*
I’d rather drive a freaking YUGO than anything with that badge on it. At least with a Yugo, you have to know I’m either dirt poor and had no other choice – It’s a beater car that I’m looking to ditch at the first opportunity – or – that I KNOW what I’m doing and it’s a STATEMENT.
That new gM logo isn’t even a statement. It’s a bending of the knee.
Q: What’s a Yugo worth?
A: Whatever a guy will give you for it for scrap metal.
I used to know a guy who took a Yugo, gutted it, mounted a massive V8 in the back seat, and painted the car to look like a broken-down beater.
He does sub 8-second quarter-miles at club events. To the amusement of all, except the drivers that he spanks!
Sounds very much like a Gremlin off-road 4×4 that I’ve seen.
Being a Corvette lover since I was old enough to see over the fenders, I feel I must defend the American Mid-level Attack Sports Car.
About the only thing that Corvette division has to to with (gm) management, is handing them huge profit checks. The last time Bowling Green took corporate’s advice, we got the watered down, underpowered first generation C4.
After that tanked, BG told corporate to go away, listened to the customers and started building SPORTS CARS again. The 2nd gen C4 was a great car. The ’96 model was fast, stable and solid as a rock. The C5 and C6 were world class, and the new C7 and C8 Corvettes can hold their own against Lambo, Ferrari, and Aston Martin, at a tenth the cost (to buy AND maintain).
Thank you.
Good to know. But I bet the electronics are STILL crap. (Kidding!) 😀
(I should mention that I’m well aware of certain automotive brands particular weaknesses. If something is going to crap out on a Ford, it’s most likely going to be the transmission. If something is going to crap out on a Chevy/Pontiac/GM car – it’s going to be the wiring or the electronics.)
The problem with a Chrysler product is under the skin, it’s a Fiat!
Yeah, don’t mess with your bread winner. At one point Chrysler’s Tank Div was the only thing holding them together.