Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, GMC

Back in 2005, General Motors began adding so-called "Mark of Excellence" corporate logos to all of its vehicles. The reasoning behind the move was that with eight brands, customers needed to know that vehicles from brands like Hummer and Saturn came from the GM family. Fast forward four years and The General is now down to four brands, and the company now feels that a strong link to GM proper won't necessarily help Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Beginning with future 2010 model year vehicles, the barely noticeable silver GM badge will not be added to new products. Vehicles like the 2010 Camaro and 2010 Equinox already don the GM logo, but the assumption is that the logos will stop appearing once the remaining inventory is used up.

GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan told The Detroit News that company research shows customers outside the Midwest don't associate brands like Cadillac and Chevrolet as GM products. Some would say that the move will serve to distance the company's brands from the bankruptcy of parent GM, while others may question whether the badging ever captured the attention of customers in the first place. With GM's new emphasis on strengthening the brands it has left, we'd say that tying the mother ship to any of the individual marques is pretty irrelevant and makes little sense. And besides, they're probably saving a few bucks on badges in the process, right?

[Source: Detroit News]

REPORT: GM dropping corporate emblems for 2010. Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges... originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They don't want people to know it came from them..