Questions for Susan Docherty

[ChevyHighPerformance]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DWPC:
GM really hit the rugged 4x4 mark with the H3, but is marketing it as no more than a hip Explorer or an over-sized Civic. Why is the H3, a US-made true offroad 4x4, mainly marketed as a platform for DVD players and party animals? Why don't they show that it can actually go places that my father's Buick couldn't? Why aren't they going head to head with Jeep and Land Rover? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I asked something very similar of one of GM's execs who is involved in the Hummer line. I was told that the even though the H3 has superior off road capability, they feel that most people will never take the vehicle off-road. I then asked why is there a $1000 premium on the GM extended warranty if only a small percentage were going to take the H3 off-road and abuse it, which means the extremely rugged/over designed H3 should be more reliable and fail less. He didn't realize that the H3 had a $1000 warranty surcharge. Two weeks later it was lowered to $500.

There is a commercial running here that shows the H3 going down a steep snow covered hill. That's about all that I have seen that demonstrates its off-road ability.

If you look a some of Susan's previous projects, you'll see that she knows the target market segment pretty well even though the H3 was started before she came to the Hummer line.