1991 Corvette Black on 2040-cars

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General Motors shaking up its marketing... again

One of the things that dogs the full comeback of General Motors is the instability of its marketing. That part of the automaker got yet another big shakeup today when GM confirmed what I have been tweeting for a few days - strong rumors that the Chevrolet and Cadillac ad accounts are walking to new ad agencies.
Cadillac, GM's luxury brand, is going into review from Fallon Worldwide, Minneapolis and the indications are that Campbell-Ewald, Chevy's old ad shop, will end up with most or all of it. C-E just announced that it was moving from its long-time home in Warren, MI to a new downtown Detroit office next to Ford Field, just blocks from GM.
The other shoe to drop shortly will be the shift of GM's most important brand, Chevy, from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco to McCann-Erickson of Troy, MI. McCann used to be the agency for Buick and GMC, as well as GM's corporate advertising, and has retained some pieces of business over the last few years. Sources have even told us that it was McCann that did a lot of the creative work on Chevy's new ad platform, Find New Roads. (Not to be confused with a former McCann tagline for Saab, "Find Your Own Road.")

GM pickup truck plant in Flint to add 1,000 assembly workers

FLINT, Mich. — General Motors said Tuesday it will add 1,000 workers to build new heavy-duty pickup trucks at its plant in Flint, Michigan, and will give priority to GM workers who were laid off elsewhere. The announcement comes the day after GM said it was starting to hand pink slips to about 4,000 salaried workers in the latest round of a restructuring announced in late November that will ultimately shrink its white-collar workforce in North America by 15 percent out of 54,000. GM has come under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump and Midwestern lawmakers for its plans to stop production at five North American factories and cut up to 15,000 jobs in all. The automaker has said it is trying to find new jobs for 1,500 U.S. hourly workers at the affected plants. Flint's truck plant could be a haven for many of these employees. Sales of heavy-duty pickups in the United States have grown to more than 600,000 vehicles a year, up more than 20 percent since 2013, according to industry data. Prices for luxury models can easily top $70,000. GM on Tuesday will celebrate the launch of a new generation of heavy-duty GMC and Chevrolet pickups at the assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, that is now building all such trucks for the company. Elsewhere in the company on Monday, two people briefed on the cuts in the white-collar salaried workforce said GM is cutting hundreds of jobs at its information technology centers in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Michigan and more than 1,000 jobs at its Warren, Michigan Tech Center. GM is filing new required mass layoff notices with state agencies and disclosed the cuts to lawmakers. The largest U.S. automaker announced in November it would cut a total of about 15,000 jobs and end production at five North American plants. The cuts include eliminating about 8,000 salaried workers, or about 15 percent. GM cut about 1,500 contract workers in December and said 2,300 salaried workers accepted buyouts, officials said. "These actions are necessary to secure the future of the company, including preserving thousands of jobs in the U.S. and globally. We are taking action now while the overall economy and job market are strong, increasing the ability of impacted employees to continue to advance in their careers, should they choose to do so," GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said, adding the bulk of the cuts should be completed in the next two weeks. Morrissey said GM would provide salaried workers with severance packages and job placement services.

Drivers buy new $300K McLaren 720S, 2019 Chevy Corvette, and wreck 'em

Two high-powered, high-priced sports cars, wrecked in their infancies. No doubt they were fun while they lasted. In Great Falls, Va., a tony suburb of Washington, D.C., that hugs the Potomac River, someone was out enjoying driving the McLaren 720S they had purchased only the day before on a leafy, two-lane road. Then, horror: In an instant, the car hit a tree, mangled and destroyed "because of speed," according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Purchased Friday. Totaled Saturday. This McLaren 720S, costing around $300,000, was destroyed today in Great Falls because of speed. The driver was taken to the hospital with thankfully only non-life threatening injuries. A reminder to slow down, or it could cost you. pic.twitter.com/XhC3LKRY1t — Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 14, 2018 Then on salvage auction site Copart, a brand-new orange 2019 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport lies in a warehouse in Lincoln, Neb., its front left corner crushed, wheel askew. It had just 15 miles on the odometer. We know nothing of the backstory, except for the obvious front-end damage and secondary damage to the undercarriage. The rear end and 6.2-liter V8 engine, which makes 460 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, look OK. The most current bid as this was published was just north of $9,000. It's tempting in both cases to assign the blame to over-eager drivers who weren't quite yet able to corral all that power. In the case of the McLaren, the supercar makes 710 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque from its quad-cam, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8. It goes from 0-62 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds and boasts a top speed of 212 mph. We're not saying the unidentified driver was a newbie, but this car is definitely not for newbies. Police write that the incident is "A reminder to slow down, or it could cost you." As in, $300,000. Or at least the depreciation for driving it off the lot. Related Video: