GM Teams with MTV to Attract Youth

Can the strategies behind the popularity of the “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom” help General Motors sell more vehicles? MTVScratch, a unit of Viacom, is hoping so as the consulting group has teamed up with GM to solve a serious problem facing the auto industry: Young customers, the current Millennials, don’t care much about cars.

The news of a five-year plan that Scratch has developed for Chevy was announced last week in this New York Times article.

The problem facing the industry seems to be a shift from the past when cars were more important to young drivers.”Young drivers proudly parked Impalas at a drive-in movie theater, lusted over cherry red Camaros as the ultimate sign of rebellion, or saved up for a Volkswagen Beetle on which to splash bumper stickers and peace signs,” according to the article. “Today Facebook, Twitter and text messaging allow teenagers and 20-somethings to connect without wheels. High gas prices and environmental concerns don’t help matters.”

According to the Federal Highway Administration, in 2008, 46.3% of potential drivers 19 years old and younger had drivers’ licenses, compared with 64.4% in 1998. And according to research firm Gartner, 46% of drivers aged 18 to 24 said they would choose internet access over owning a car.

The plan is led by Executive Vice President of Scratch, Ross Martin, and his team and is intended to transform things as diverse as the environment at the company’s headquarters, the look of its cars, the dealership structure and the dashboard technology. Even the test drive is being re-imagined, since young consumers find riding in a car with a stranger creepy, Scratch said.

The companies plan to make changes to models like the Sonic, Cruze, and Spark. New inspiration for colors will be geared toward young consumers, who have $170 billion in buying power, according to market research firm comScore. In fact, colors like “techno pink,” “lemonade” and “denim,” will be available on the Spark this summer.

Scratch also recommended that salespeople abandon the hard sell and the traditional commission system. Young buyers, they realized, are used to the Apple store, where salespeople do not push products. It’s “unlikely” that GM will adopt an idea like that though, the Times said.

“We tried to teach dealers how to calibrate conversations,” Martin told the Times. “Stop trying to be cool and give them the fist pump. They can tell you don’t get it.”

I don’t know about you, but I found this article extremely interesting, not because I am among this generation, (I wouldn’t be caught in a techno pink Spark — ever!) but because it makes us at AFN.net wonder if there’s a way that lenders could team up with carmakers to attract buyers in that demographic by offering Millennial-friendly financing plans.