Barely two weeks after GM Product Development Chief Tom Stephens announced plans to slap a plug-in hybrid option on a new compact crossover from Buick, General Motors bailed on the project, in part because of Twitter. From Jalopnik: 

“We spoke with two unnamed sources at GM, one in design and one in marketing. Both told us the same thing — the Buick crossover was killed after higher-ups read tweets decrying the styling of the plug-in electric platform prostitute of a crossover.” (1)

Behold the power of Tweets! Especially this one from “kbb_lasessions” which contains an all-damming catchy nickname:

“Buick plug-in crossover still looks like VUE, with a touch of Buick. I dub thee the Vue-ick # GM”. 

Ouch. But in all fairness, it wasn’t just Twitter that led GM to abort the vehicle, its obvious copy and paste design conjured up negative press from consumers, analysts and journalists alike who had a chance to drive and view the prototype. 

“I thought it was kind of a boring looking vehicle,” said Automotive News Product Editor Rick Kranz, “What General Motors had done is just take the Saturn Vue and put a new front end on it to make it look like a Buick is what it came down to, so you had a waterfall grill and some other Buick elements but really it was not enough to make it a successful vehicle, it was an okay vehicle, and okay is no longer good enough for any car company.” (2) 


Sources: 

(1) http://jalopnik.com/5340996/gm-aborts-buick-crossover-after-negative-twitter-response
(2) http://www.autonews.com/article/20090820/VIDEO/308209965/1219

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