{"id":32611,"date":"2010-11-09T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-09T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=32611"},"modified":"2010-11-09T08:00:35","modified_gmt":"2010-11-09T13:00:35","slug":"goodbye-mr-goodwrench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2010\/11\/goodbye-mr-goodwrench\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Mr. Goodwrench"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Goodwrench name was long associated with GM racing sponsorships, especially NASCAR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

General Motors has sidelined thousands of workers since its bankruptcy, last year, and though it has begun rebuilding its job rolls as sales improve, the maker has decided to make at least one more cut: Mr. Goodwrench.<\/p>\n

The long-familiar figure, the symbol of the company\u2019s dealer service operations, is being retired as of February 1, 2011.\u00a0 First hired on three decades ago, the Mr. Goodwrench brand is being set aside to allow for more specific brand-related \u201cCertified Service\u201d operations for each of the four automotive brands, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC, that survived last year\u2019s run through Chapter 11.<\/p>\n

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Click Here for Free Subscription!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Our No. 1 priority is providing a world-class ownership experience that creates positive long-lasting relationships with our customers,” said Steve Hill, GM’s vice president for customer care and after sales.<\/p>\n

The move doesn\u2019t mean General Motors \u2013 or its dealers — are cutting back on the service side of their business.\u00a0 Anything but; along with financing and insurance, and used car sales, that\u2019s where most retailers actually make their money.\u00a0 In recent years, selling new cars has often proved a showroom\u2019s loss leader.<\/p>\n

But GM now believes that it needs to focus on the core automotive brands rather than confusing matters with another name.<\/p>\n

Born in 1977, in an effort to create a unified brand that could capture used car service business away from independent repair shops and service chains, Mr. Goodwrench has become a familiar fixture to TV viewers. \u00a0And not just through television commercials.\u00a0 Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno featured a character, Mr. BadWrench, the evil twin of Mr. Goodwrench.<\/p>\n

And the GM service brand was a key NASCAR sponsor from 1988 to 2005 \u2013 which meant a long association with the sport\u2019s dominant driver, Dale Earnhardt, during six of his seven Winston Cup victories.<\/p>\n

GM briefly tried sidelining Mr. Goodwrench once before.\u00a0 The character \u2013 played by Stephen Colbert, now a Comedy Central host \u2013 was revived in 2003.<\/p>\n

But considering the significant changes GM is making across its operations, it now seems likely the Goodwrench character \u2013 and brand \u2013 will vanish for good.<\/p>\n

Dealers will learn more about the new service strategy during a web conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

General Motors has sidelined thousands of workers since its bankruptcy, last year, and though it has begun rebuilding its employment rolls as sales improve, the maker has decided to make at least one more job cut: Mr. Goodwrench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32611"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=32611"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=32611"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=32611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}