Overpromise & Underdeliver

That seems to be the mantra of General Motors. They just don't get it.

I've written in the past multiple times about how frustrating GM is to deal with and how they are clearly one of the worst run car companies in the world. But they just leave themselves so open to criticism with their practices it's embarassing.

How long have they been touting their electric car The Volt for? Years and years. The car looks great and is forward thinking......or at least it was back in 2005 or whenever they first launched it. That was cutting edge and they surprised people with the look of it then. As Andy Nulman constantly writes about on his POW! blog using the art of surprise is a great marketing tactic. Unfortunately GM couldn't back up their surprise anytime soon and now everytime the word Volt is used in conversation it is met with a snear.

....and then you get this from Nissan

I didn't even know Nissan was working on an electric vehicle (one however, would assume most smart car companies are working on an electric vehicle)! So what do they do, they role out a model and show it actually being used in the world. Wow! Surprise and the novel concept of showing the car exists and can-in-fact function in the real world. Not just concepts or dreams or figments of someones imagination. A real live test model.

Thumbs up Nissan, and yet another loss for GM. Your culture of losing is getting well established at this point General Motors.