THE HEAD OF GENERAL MOTORS OF CANADA TALKS ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING, GREEN TECHNOLOGY AND WHERE THE AUTO INDUSTRY IS HEADING IN CANADA
Canadian auto dealer traveled to General Motors of Canada’s head office in Oshawa, Ont. for a one-on-one interview with Stephen Carlisle, the new President and Managing Director of General Motors of Canada Ltd. Here’s part of the conversation with our columnist and automotive journalist Petrina Gentile. You can watch the full interview at www.canadianautomotivevideo.com.
PG: “What’s your top priority?”
SC: “It’s to build the brands, build sales, and continue to gain traction on market share.”
PG: “How do you do that?”
SC: “Getting the word out is one way so that people know how terrific our products are. The technology overlay is another part. We have 4G LTE in so many of our models now. That is something that everyone values.”
PG: “What’s the best way to get your message out – is it with social media and digital marketing?”
SC: “There’s no one way. There’s lots of great ways. Digital is an exciting frontier. We have to go from a really broad approach to communications to one that is more nuanced. Toronto is a good example with its multicultural mosaic, which varies almost dealer by dealer. We have to work out – how do we get to those customers? The digital tools give us a way to do that versus when we couldn’t do that before. There’s no point in just saying the same message in 15 different languages. We have to find the right message for the customer… We have to find a way to communicate with you that’s meaningful to you and provide you with an offer that fits your needs best. The good news is we have all the tools to do that.”
PG: “Your message seems to be working — GM sales were up 15 per cent in June compared to June 2014.”
SC: “I think the messaging is getting through — what we have to offer and the technology. The whole team is pulling together now. We’re much more on the same page than we have been in the past, including our dealer partners. We had an exciting event with all of our dealers in Las Vegas. We showed them our future product portfolio… the excitement, the engagement, the whole tonality of that. What I like to say, the difference between success and failure goes a lot to discretionary effort. We’re going to get the discretionary effort from everyone if we’re really excited and believing in what we’re trying to accomplish. I think we’re getting there at a very fast rate.”
PG: “When it comes to green technology, what is GM banking on?”
SC: “We’re banking on more than one thing. This is why we’re so excited about GM’s Engineering Centre in Oshawa, which focuses on connectivity, environmental technologies, and light-weight materials to support fuel economy. We have to take our core technology — engines and transmissions — not the sexiest thing in the world to a lot of people, but still there’s always room for more refinement. On the new Cruze, we’ve taken a whole leap ahead on the core engine technology. We’re reinvesting in the extended-range electric vehicle so the next gen Volt is better than the prior one and less costly, more price competitive.
We announced the Bolt concept, which is an over 320 km range full-electric vehicle that will be accessible to the mainstream market. And we have diesel technology. What I love is that we’re doing a lot of that development work right here in Oshawa. We do all of the diesel emission fluid additive, which we call DEF, for the corporation in Oshawa. We’re doing a lot of the light-weight work for the corporation in Oshawa, which is great for our brands and our organization. It’s a broad-based portfolio approach that we’re taking to respond to the energy and environment needs.”
PG: “How committed to Canada is GM when it comes to manufacturing?”
SC: “We’re very committed. We made a big announcement at the Toronto Auto Show for the facility in Ingersoll — about $800-million in total to build the next gen of the Equinox, which is the hottest product category in the world so that’s commitment. We spent well over $1-billion in Oshawa and St. Catharines up until now. If you want to measure commitment and you want to monetize it, we’re in it pretty big already. And the Engineering Centre activity in Oshawa — we wouldn’t do that if we didn’t have the intention of being around for the long haul.”
PG: “Can Canada’s auto sector remain competitive in the long-term given the exchange rate and lower oil prices?”
SC: “Exchange rate is one factor among many. Obviously, it’s a cost advantage. But what we know about exchange rates is they fluctuate so they’re low right now but they’ll be high again. The question is: how high? And when? So we need to take that into consideration. We have to take the low-cost structure and break it down — we have to look at energy cost, social cost, and compare them against adjacent jurisdictions we’re competing against. We should recognize the federal Industry Ministry and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure for appointing Ray Tanguay to be their auto consultant, so we get a singular point of view on the competitiveness that will benefit the whole industry — not just GM. I think that’s a great move.”
PG: “What’s the biggest challenge for GM moving forward?”
SC: “There’s so much to do and get done. We’re heading into an intense phase of new product launches. We have such a terrific array of product and technology coming – optimizing all of it as they launch and through the life cycle. At the same time, we’re connecting to all these different consumer groups in a way that we’ve never connected before. Just the sheer volume of that is exciting. It’s a challenge, but it’s exciting.”
