NYCshopper
03-21-2007, 01:58 PM
Woods will help drive Buick sales in China
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/BUSINESS01/703210328
http://us.tnpv.net/2006/WKA200611/WKA2006112880688_pv.jpg
The universal appeal of golf great Tiger Woods could be the first key to making General Motors Corp.'s Buick brand more globally integrated.
This year, for the first time since he began endorsing Buick vehicles in 2000, Woods will appear in Buick television commercials in China. GM filmed Woods for the first of those commercials in late February or early March.
GM sold 304,230 Buicks in China last year, up 25% from 2005. U.S. sales of the brand fell 15% to 240,657 last year, from 282,288 in 2005.
Speaking to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit on Tuesday, Buick General Manager Steve Shannon said Buick is making the brand's North American and Chinese operations more globally integrated.
"It's not very mixed right now," Shannon said. But in the next two to three years, the two national operations will begin to share more marketing and development functions, he said. There are no plans for GM to export vehicles to one market from the other, he said, but he expects the operations to develop products jointly.
Shannon also said that Buick will bring back a "Super" version of the LaCrosse and Lucerne sedans to elevate the "design, power and performance" of the vehicles. GM is expected to unveil the new versions at the New York auto show at the end of the month.
Shannon said the Super line, together with the new Enclave crossover in North America and the Park Avenue sedan in China, should help to better define the brand.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/BUSINESS01/703210328
http://us.tnpv.net/2006/WKA200611/WKA2006112880688_pv.jpg
The universal appeal of golf great Tiger Woods could be the first key to making General Motors Corp.'s Buick brand more globally integrated.
This year, for the first time since he began endorsing Buick vehicles in 2000, Woods will appear in Buick television commercials in China. GM filmed Woods for the first of those commercials in late February or early March.
GM sold 304,230 Buicks in China last year, up 25% from 2005. U.S. sales of the brand fell 15% to 240,657 last year, from 282,288 in 2005.
Speaking to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit on Tuesday, Buick General Manager Steve Shannon said Buick is making the brand's North American and Chinese operations more globally integrated.
"It's not very mixed right now," Shannon said. But in the next two to three years, the two national operations will begin to share more marketing and development functions, he said. There are no plans for GM to export vehicles to one market from the other, he said, but he expects the operations to develop products jointly.
Shannon also said that Buick will bring back a "Super" version of the LaCrosse and Lucerne sedans to elevate the "design, power and performance" of the vehicles. GM is expected to unveil the new versions at the New York auto show at the end of the month.
Shannon said the Super line, together with the new Enclave crossover in North America and the Park Avenue sedan in China, should help to better define the brand.