General Motors Corp. will shift its 2008 advertising for Buick, GMC and Pontiac to promote their fuel-economy edge over competitors after the three brands' U.S. sales fell 25 percent last month.

New commercials single out Toyota Motor Corp.'s Tundra pickup and 4Runner sport utility vehicle and other models as having lower efficiency than GM models.

"The market is flooded with fuel-economy messages, and we needed to tell our story," Frakes said. The "pump less and drive more" commercials emphasize the range and fuel economy of the models, she said.

The ad campaign is one of a number of steps GM is taking to arrest a 16 percent drop in sales the first half as customers abandon pickups and SUV models in favor of more fuel-efficient cars as gas topped $4 a gallon. GM's sales fell less than analysts forecast in June after the automaker added six-year, no-interest loans and $6,000 incentives in the middle of the month.

Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said June 3 that the automaker will shut four truck plants by 2010, make more small cars this year and consider dropping its Hummer brand of large SUVs. Detroit-based GM said last week it's also studying whether to bring a mini-car to the U.S. for the first time and is shifting more engineers to fuel-saving projects.

Mileage ratings

The new television commercials, from Publicis Group SA's Leo Burnett, show the GM models at a fuel pump near competing vehicles from Toyota, Ford Motor Co.'s Mazda and Chrysler LLC that GM says have either lower miles-per-gallon ratings or shorter-range mileage than the GMC, Buick or Pontiac models. The advertisements started running in the pastweek, Frakes said.

Previous commercials for GMC, Pontiac and Buick included spots emphasizing the brand image rather than fuel economy, Frakes said. Television, radio and print advertising the rest of this year will focus on cars and car-based SUVs, she said. Marketing of larger SUVs and pickups will be aimed at Internet shoppers, she said.

GM has been highlighting fuel economy with the Chevrolet brand as part of an initiative announced in November, spokesman Terry Rhadigan said. For the so-called premium brands of Cadillac, Hummer and Saab, some of the changes have been more recent, spokeswoman Joann Krell said.

Cadillac in the past few weeks added the CTS sedan's 26-mpg rating for the first time in a new advertisement, and Saab started a campaign last week pointing out the use of fuel-saving turbochargers in all of its models, Krell said.

GM has extended its incentives, which give the highest rebates on trucks, through the rest July for all U.S. brands. Starting tomorrow, customers will no longer have to trade in a used model to get the full rebates, Frakes said...

via detnews