MINI-VAN TO HEADLINE GM'S MAJOR REDESIGN FOR '97.

Byline: Brian S. Akre Associated Press 

Eighteen years after General Motors Corp. decided against making a mini-van, GM 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 will make another try with a new generation of mini-vans scheduled to hit showrooms soon.

The mini-vans are part of a major product overhaul at GM for 1997. The automaker will replace a third of its domestic product line.

``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 mini-vans as an example of the old GM's failure to use its production expertise for vehicles that customers want to buy.

In 1978, the company misinterpreted its own research that showed a potentially huge demand for a mini-van.

GM executives concluded the mini-van would cannibalize profitable sales of station wagons.

Ford Motor Co. also rejected the mini-van concept, mainly because it lacked a front-wheel-drive assembly deemed crucial to the product's design, Barabba said.

Chrysler introduced its mini-van in 1984, helping to sustain the company's remarkable turnaround. The mini-van devastated station wagon sales, and for years Chrysler had the new market to itself.

When GM finally introduced its late and not-so-great mini-vans in 1990, they lacked the broad appeal of Chrysler's product, Barabba said.

But with GM's second generation of mini-vans due in showrooms soon, ``we got it right this time,'' he said.

The new mini-vans and cars also will be a test of GM's ability to correct a fundamental problem: its failure to create distinct identities for vehicles built on the same basic chassis, drive train and other platform components.

Barabba acknowledged that GM squandered its ``brand equity'' in the 1980s, when it became impossible for many customers to distinguish a Chevy from an Oldsmobile from a Buick from a Pontiac.

``In the past they've mostly competed with each other, rather than with other vehicles,'' he said at a news conference.

Barabba insisted that will not happen with the new generation of GM mini-vans and cars.

``They will not look alike. They do not ride alike. Their performance is profoundly different, and they will not be positioned in the marketplace alike.''

These are the first new GM vehicles since the company's switch to a brand-management system in which GM focuses each vehicle on a specific group of buyers who will not be targeted for other GM products.

By 2000, GM hopes to have one vehicle in its lineup for each consumer group it has targeted.