General Motors plans to reduce its powertrain warranty on Chevrolet and GMC vehicles for the 2016 model year, concluding that its offer of 100,000-mile coverage – in place for 8 years – wasn’t a strong enough selling point.

Um okay. Of all the world’s automakers, GM has really suffered from the old adage “perception is reality.” No matter what strides the company makes in quality, it just can’t seem to make the public’s perception of its new products square up with their excellence. For example, Cadillac makes two of the best sedans in North America and folks still think of Vogue tires and carriage roofs when they hear the name.

This news, coupled with the ongoing mega-recall episode make us wonder who’s making these decisions. It can’t come at a worse time. Could this have waited until the ignition switch thing blew over?

Here’s the reasoning behind the announcement: “Through research, we have determined that when purchasing a new vehicle, included maintenance and warranty rank low on the list of reasons why consumers consider a particular brand over another,” reads a dealer memo, sent by Chevrolet vice president Brian Sweeney and GMC vice president Duncan Aldred. Unfortunately, while there might not be a big up-side to a 100k warranty in buyers’ minds, taking it away has a significant downside.

On the bright side, people forget things quickly these days in lightning-quick news cycles. Hopefully the incremental savings of not covering repairs over that extra 40,000 miles will outweigh the cost of potential customers lost to competitors who still offer 100k mile mega-warranties.