It only makes sense: If an automotive brand looks like it has no future, American consumers are going to avoid it. They don’t want to be driving around in the equivalent of an Edsel, and car owners are always concerned about the long-term availability of parts and service on their rides.

And now J.D. Power & Associates’ annual “avoider” study proves just how powerful a disincentive it is to car buyers if they must worry about the future existence of a brand they’re considering.

About 18 percent of new-vehicle buyers surveyed earlier this year cited their concerns about the future of the brand as a reason for avoidance. This reason was included in the study for the first time, and it instantly registered a strong fourth place, behind avoiders’ timeless turn-offs of styling, price, and perceived reliability.Continue reading...

For decades, the founders and builders of General Motors relied effectively on a brand architecture based on creating lifelong customers by offering them brands and product lines “fit for every purse and purpose.”

So even the new, slimmed-down GM isn’t about to simply cast millions of its owners away as the company terminates its Pontiac and Saturn brands and peddles its Hummer and fate-uncertain Saab marques. Eliminating hundreds of GM dealers even of its surviving brands, such as Chevrolet, will untether even more customers.

After spending the last several years trying to wrest “conquest” sales from import brands, GM doesn’t want to make its hard-won customers easy marks for any competition.

That’s why GM is intensifying its efforts to reach 6.8 million owners of its abandoned brands who are now becoming “free agents,” and whose brand loyalty has become tenuous. It has just launched what Susan Docherty, vice president of U.S. sales, called a “massive initiative” to keep these folks in the fold, beginning with an “extensive” direct-mail campaign last month inviting them back into GM dealer showrooms for an oil change.Continue reading...

For the latest Black Friday Live! updates from Abe Sauer, tune in to brandchannel all day.

Google will launch its own smartphone brand. [Mobile News Direct]

Seeking growth, Cadbury will increase advertising in India. [Warc]

HSBC returns focus to Hong Kong business. [NY Times]

The last Pontiac rolled off the assembly line Wednesday. [Detroit News]

Fearing sluggish sales, retailers ramp up online savings offers. [WSJ]

M&A activity on Wall Street can be a good thing or a bad thing. [WSJ]

(More headlines: UK "family brands," Lululemon, Taobao.)Continue reading...