Other Editorials

Red Toe Tag

Jim Dollinger
Saturday, December 31, 2005

The "Red Toe Tag" was another of many unremarkable marketing campaigns by GM. We were leasing full size crew cab 4x4's for $300 per month. GM lost money on each. TBlazers at just over $200. Meanwhile salespeople earned $100 per from the factory as spiff. Managers and dealers also shared in incentives. GM put the money on the table to move units, but unfortunately the Corporation lost big dollars trying to move metal. The worst part was the distress nature of the merchandising. GM just doesn't get it that people see our products as second rate and only worthy of consideration if drastically discounted. They won't change direction, and it is the root cause of share loss. In this business image is everything and GM's is not very good.