General Motors Hadirkan Chevrolet Kalos

Jakarta, KCM - Beberapa hari menjelang berlangsungnya International Motor Show 2006, PT General Motors Indonesia mengungkap produk unggulan yang akan dipasarkan pada pameran otomotif terbesar tanah air itu.

Bertempat di Hotel FourSeasons Jakarta, Selasa (18/7), GMI memperkenalkan kendaraan small sedan bernama Chevrolet Kalos kepada para wartawan media cetak dan elektronik Ibukota.

Kalos sebenarnya sudah pernah diluncurkan di Shanghai Motor Show 2005, namun sedan kompak yang diimpor dari Thailand itu baru masuk ke Indonesia pada tahun ini.

Baca Lengkap...

custom products and customizable experiences

"Nike's Riley on the World of "Custom" Today: As consumers start to expect custom products and customizable experiences how should product design evolve to provide relevant executions that engage consumers' desires? Everything from design flexibility, one-off manufacturing, streamlined distribution and consumer interaction will need to be analyzed and revolutionized. We are approaching the era where the consumer truly decides what form, what features and what aesthetic their individual product will embody—not the designer, not the brand planners, not the marketing team and definitely not the focus group. The Microsoft/IDSA Designer Spotlight Series presents Ray Riley, IDSA, senior director of advanced innovation for Nike's Global Footwear Division, Wednesday, July 19, at 1:00 pm ET. This session will be an open ended exploration of the world of custom today, the possibilities for tomorrow and the rules that will need to be broken to get there.



Co-authoring at Philips

According to Green, the conventional industrial model is under increasing pressure and will ultimately no longer be able to sustain itself. This creates a whole new set of challenges for companies like Philips. People are becoming more empowered, and want to 'co-author' by demanding a greater say in the products and services they choose. How do you cater for this sea of change?

Philips does so by regarding people not as consumers of technology, but rather as living side-by-side with it. "Our focus is to understand people's everyday lives rather than letting technological roadmaps dominate the direction of future developments," says Stefanie Un, Senior Research Consultant at Philips Design in Eindhoven.

Design control : Companies that "get it"

As customers become producers and take more and more control of the design of their products and services, the revolution (and make no mistake, it is a serious change in power and that is a revolution) they are generating is bound to unnerve those on the losing end. Companies that "get it" and begin to integrate consumer input into the actual making of stuff and experiences will find enormous opportunites. Those that don't will lose and get mad.

Check out some of the Blogs :
Buzzmachine Blog
Businessweek design : Crowdsourcing
Philips : Making the future more tangible

Quoted from :
Businessweek : Nussbaum on design, July 19 2006

GM to enter alliance talks with Renault and Nissan

GM to enter alliance talks with Renault and Nissan

(Monday, July 10, 2006) General Motors will enter "exploratory discussions" with Renault-Nissan on a potential alliance, the U.S. automaker said Friday following a board meeting. GM cautioned the discussions were preliminary and non-binding and that implementing its massive restructuring program remained the automaker’s "top priority" French car maker Renault welcomed GM's decision to discuss the possible alliance first proposed last week by the U.S. automaker's largest private shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp.

"Following GM's board decision, we look forward to starting the discussion process soon," Renault said in a statement issued in Paris. GM chief executive officer Rick Wagoner will lead the discussions and has already arranged to meet with Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan, the American automaker said. 'We periodically receive interesting proposals and we owe it to the company and its shareholders to explore how they might work, and to objectively weigh the potential benefits and issues that each might present.' Wagoner said in a statement. "That is exactly what we recommended to the GM board in this specific case, and exactly what it has agreed we should do" Wagoner contacted Ghosn before the proposed alliance was made public June 30, a GM spokeswoman told AFP. although she would not confirm reports that a meeting was set for July 14. Reports have circulated in Detroit that Wagoner and other GM top executives are opposed to the idea of a merger, despite the interest expressed by Renault-Nissan and the warm welcome issued by the stock market.

Hints of caution were evident in Wagoner's statement. "Given the complexity of any potential relationship, it has to be carefully considered on its merits before coming to any conclusion. We are committed to an objective and thorough review of that potential," he said. "We will enter into discussions with the managements of Renault and Nissan with an open mind - eager to hear their ideas of how an alliance between our companies might work to our mutual benefit." Tracinda issued a statement which belied some doubts as to Wagoner's openness to the deal. These talks are "a good first step," Tracinda said in a statement. "but a full and objective evaluation of this unique opportunity will require establishment of a board committee that receives independent financial and legal advice."

While news of the potential alliance has given GM shares a massive boost last week, some analysts said it may not result in long-term gains. Dennis Virag, head of the Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said GM's decision to study the proposal was prudent. "They have a fiduciary duty to look at the proposal," he said. "But in the end I don’t see those two getting together They're both troubled companies in a way. They both have significant internal problems they have to address before they take on outside issues" General Motors remains focused on implementing a massive restructuring program that involves the shuttering of 12 plants and the elimination of 30,000 jobs. Wagoner is battling to restructure the U.S. car giant following its loss of US$10.6 billion last year.

Joseph Szczesny, Agence France-Presse (Detroit, Michigan)

Chevrolet Europe : results 1st Half 2006 (Fr)

Chevrolet Europe: bilan semestriel

Par Patrick Garcia le 9 juillet 2006 | (2) Commentaires | Permalink

Chevrolet Europe dont tout le monde sait (ou devrait savoir) que les productions proviennent de feue Daewoo (constructeur coréen moribond repris par General Motors) continue sa progression en inscrivant un record de ventes sur les 6 premiers mois de l'année. Avec une hausse de 11.2% par rapport à la même période 2005, Chevrolet vient d'atteindre les 1.42 % de parts de marché (1.33 en 2005) en Europe. Une progression qui s'explique par la multiplication des points de vente (2000 à ce jour) et une politique tarifaire agressive bien dans la continuité du précédent logo. la nouvelle génération de voitures débarquant à peine, les records devraient s'aligner sur les feuilles comptables encore quelques années.

Ce sont 160.732 véhicules qui ont été vendus de Janvier à Juin 2006. Dans ce chiffre est inclus 19.548 automobiles produites par Avtovaz GM pour le marché russe (le marché européen incluant la Russie) et aussi 546 véhicules issus des lignes de production américaines.

Il faut noter que ce pays, paradoxalement avide de logos américains, réalise des scores importants. 44.760 Chevrolet y ont trouvé preneurs durant les 6 premiers mois de l'année, le tout représentant 4.9 % du marché local.

Les autres pays adeptes du Chevrolet coréen sont l'Italie (20.487 autos: +23.3 %), l'Espagne (15.028 autos: +10.6 %) et la Grèce où la marque occupe 2.2 % du parc de voitures neuves.

Etonnament, la France résiste malgré l'engouement latin manifeste. Les Chevrolet Captiva et Epica Diesel devraient inverser la tendance assez rapidement.

Chevy Captiva Test : Part 4 - Each market its catalogue

Essai Chevrolet Captiva (4) : à chaque marché son catalogue

Par Olivier Duquesne le 4 juillet 2006

Link :
http://www.leblogauto.com/2006/07/essai_chevrolet.html#more