GM marketing chief Ewanick: “We’ll focus on Cruze all year long”

Joel Ewanik was recently named General Motors’ global marketing chief, so we sat down with him and Buick marketing honcho Roger McCormack at the Detroit Auto Show to find out how they plan to get more attention for GM’s brands.

• For both men, the priority is to get people in seats since GM appears to realize that it can’t just rely on people to trust its marketing. “We’re making great cars – the Cruze was the first car in its segment to get five stars under the new NHTSA standards,” Ewanick said, “we need to get people in sitting in the cars.” For Buick, McCormack said as well that his brand will focus on “Activities to get people in cars, sitting in cars, experiencing cars.”

• On the subject of settling Cadillac’s advertising, Ewanick said, “With Cadillac we’re trying to create some dissonance, putting them in ski resorts to remind people that Cadillac is a great brand for their snow activities with the all-wheel-drive sports wagon and CTS, SRX and Escalade.” To that end, the brand has done deals with the Northstar ski resort in Lake Tahoe and they’re doing one with Vail, in Colorado.

GMC Sierra All Terrain HD Concept is ready to play dirty

Cars are cool, but we certainly love ourselves some big, bad, hardcore pickups – you know, like the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. General Motors’ conceptual answer to Ford’s desert-blasting pickup is this, the Sierra All Terrain HD concept, which we’ll be seeing for the first time at the Detroit Auto Show next week.

GMC’s brutish pickup relies on The General’s 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8 for power – 397 horsepower and 765 pound-feet of torque, to be exact – and higher ground clearance, a wider stance and serious suspension upgrades make the All Terrain concept capable of storming through, well, all types of terrain.

Word on the street is that if GM gets up the gall to produce such a truck, it will likely be outfitted by a second-tier firm outside of the GM production lines (like a Roush F-150, for example). Regardless, we want this thing to be built, and badly. See a whole slate of new high-res photos for yourself in the gallery below. Oh, and don’t forget about the Ram Runner, Chrysler’s foray into the niche.

GM recalls select 2011 model year pickup and SUV models over axle fears

General Motors is recalling a handful light-duty GMT900 pickups from the 2011 model year due to faulty rear axle cross pins. Both the Chevrolet Avalanche and Silverado 1500 are effected, as are the Cadillac Escalade EXT and GMC Sierra 1500 – a total of 1,262 vehicles in all.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cites that these rear axle cross pins were not manufactured up to proper specification and that the pin could “fracture and become displaced within the rear axle.” NHTSA further details the consequences of a displaced pin, saying:

“The driver may hear a banging noise coming from the axle. If the pin shifts out of position, it could create an interference condition and cause the rear axle to lock. The driver may not be able to maintain directional control of the vehicle and a crash could occur without prior warning.”

GM will begin notifying owners about this problem in January, and dealers will install a new rear axle cross pin without any cost to the customer. NHTSA’s official statement is available after the jump