ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996              TAG: 9608120033
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-6  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: TRAVERSE CITY, MICH.
SOURCE: Associated Press 

WILL GM REBOUND FROM MINIVAN FIASCO?

Eighteen years after General Motors Corp. decided against making a minivan, the automaker will soon find out if it has learned anything from one of the most expensive mistakes in corporate history.

After giving away a huge market to Chrysler Corp., GM makes another try with a new generation of minivans due to hit showrooms soon. The minivans are part of a major product overhaul at GM for 1997. The automaker will replace a third of its domestic product line.

How well the new vehicles sell will be seen as a sign of whether GM's latest efforts to improve the way it develops and markets its products have worked.

``The next 12 to 18 months are critical for the new General Motors, given the substantial number of new products being introduced,'' industry analyst Scott Merlis said Friday at the University of Michigan's annual automotive management conference.

Vincent Barabba, GM's corporate planning chief, cited the company's experience with minivans as an example of the old GM's failure to use its skills to produce vehicles that customers want to buy.

In 1978, the company misinterpreted its own research that showed potentially huge demand for a minivan. GM executives concluded the minivan would cannibalize profitable sales of station wagons.

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