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Despite strong profits, GM still fighting flat market share

Looking at the progress General Motors has made since it entered bankruptcy, it's easy to forget that the company still has a long way to go before it's the juggernaut it once was. A recent report from Reuters points out that, while GM is making money, it isn't making any gains in terms of US market share. Quite the opposite, really. Consider this factoid: In 1963, nearly half of the cars sold in the United States were from Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC or Pontiac. Now, the company's US market share is stagnant at 17.9 percent. That same number is half of just Chevy's 1963 market share. This is all despite GM going on a binge replacing or updating its models. "Market share increases are not instantaneous," Mark Reuss told Reuters at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. "We've got a lot of baggage. Don't underestimate what people though of us, or these brands, through these hardships and 30 years." The reasons for the stagnant market share are numerous. Reuters points out that retooling of factories and a focus on limiting incentives are both good things for profit, but not necessarily for market share. There's also the troubling turnover of the brand's marketing department. These issues don't change the fact that Chevrolet has lost 1.4 percent of its market share in two years, and that Cadillac - arguably GM's most improved brand overall - has lost 1.2 percent in the same period. Part of that can be blamed on GM's avoidance of fleet sales in favor of more profitable customer sales. "Our focus has really been on retail and that's where we've got the growth," said Alan Batey, GM's interim global marketing boss. "We want to grow GM and that means growing market share and profits, but it's not at all costs," Reuss said. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: paul bica - Flickr CC 2.0 Earnings/Financials Buick Cadillac GM GMC sales profits

A spotter's guide to Super Bowl LIV car commercials

Set to kick off on Fox at 6:30 ET on Sunday, February 2, from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, the big game will feature the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Throughout Super Bowl LIV, viewers will see about 50 commercials, each of which costs as much as $5.6 million per 30 seconds, according to AdWeek. Originally, there were more than 77 ad slots, so several companies could be paying well more than $10 million for a single, longer commercial. Numerous car companies have already announced their commercials, or their intentions to show commercials, during the game. Here's a roundup of the ones we know about so far. During the game on Sunday, we'll be livestreaming and adding links to the new commercials as they become available, so check back with us for that post.  Audi: E-Tron Sportback Maisie Williams has experience wearing many faces, and in Audi's Super Bowl commercial, she does her best Elsa impression. In the spot, titled "Let It Go," Williams faces the rigorous task of getting through L.A. traffic, but she's alleviated by the comfort of the Audi E-Tron Sportback electric crossover. The commercial is meant to signal the company leaving its gas past behind and moving forward to a sustainable future.  Genesis: GV80 Genesis makes its Super Bowl debut with a commercial that will show its all-new SUV, the GV80, to viewers around the world (many of which will be seeing the vehicle for the first time). The ad features Chrissy Teigen and John Legend as the purveyors of "new luxury," while "old luxury" is left for the birds. GMC: Hummer General Motors is bringing back the Hummer nameplate as a premium electric GMC truck. GM says it will have 1,000 horsepower and will be capable of going zero to 60 mph in three seconds. GM brought in NBA legend and Hummer fanboy LeBron James for the debut commercial. Hyundai: Sonata Hyundai is known for bringing in the big-time celebrities for its commercials, and 2020 is no different. A new advertisement called "Smaht Pahk" features John Krasinski, Chris Evans, and Rachel Dratch, all three of whom are from the Boston area. The trio gets into full character as they discuss the new high-tech parking feature on the redesigned 2020 Hyundai Sonata, and David Ortiz makes a cameo at the end. Even when New England isn't in the Super Bowl, New England is in the Super Bowl.

GM Design shows another early Hummer EV sketch

Like a new mother who's still so excited about her one-year-old baby that she can't stop showing ultrasound photos, General Motors is so excited about its biggest new baby, the battery-electric GMC Hummer, that it can't stop showing off development design sketches. The off-road monster with the 200-kWh Ultium battery pack debuted online on October 21 last year. The next day, the GM Design Instagram page posted some of the Hummer's early "theme sketches" leading to the production version. These had a conceptual flair to them, but were rather restrained. A month later, GM uncovered a series of development renderings showing off a much wilder truck bursting with more angles than a geometry text book. The archives have opened up again with a new "ideation sketch," this one between the first believable sketches and the second truck that Master Chief and Doomguy share on their days off.  All three sets of drawings show similar three-box proportions, it's the details that got a ton of love. On this newest sketch, the fenders flare a touch more than on the production truck, but the wheel wells are cut with the kind of clearance found on a Baja 1000 Trophy Truck. Out back, save for the tow hooks, the rear end is totally different than production. The sketch puts illuminated Hummer script across a narrow tailgate flanked by small square, taillights housing six individual elements. Beneath that, a bumper-less rear end puts nothing more than a sloped bash pate between the truck and the rocks it's just scrambled over. To our eyes, this is the best blend of production-ready comfort from the first sketches and zoot suit angles from the second that we've seen so far.  First deliveries of the GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 are expected before the year is out. When we get a chance to absorb the truck in its native habitats, we'll know whether there's cause for disappointment at what could have been. If so, with all this hunger among the monied for something different, we feel like restomodders have been given the perfect head starts on custom rebodied Hummers that would make things right. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.