GM can do a car in 18-24 months?? NOT!
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Joined: Jan 2000
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From: Albany, NY
Originally posted by guionM
I know that the Solstice at the 2002 show isn't the structure of the car. But that is the most visible start-to-finish example of how long it actually takes a car to get to market at GM. This is a car that had alot of firepower behind it and alot of those very same new systems & methods that GM spoke of was at it's disposal.
GM's claim is that they can get a car from inception to the market in 18-24 months. Something the old Chrysler used to do. IMHO the much bigger GM should be able to repeat that (with much better success in quality than Chrysler used to have).
The Solstice went through GM's system at maximum top speed, and it still is taking 36 months to go from inception to production. Admittedly, the Colbalt took a bit less, but it's using a chassis & components that were already engineered and in use by Saturn here & Opel in Europe, and it still took longer than the 18-24 months advertised.
I know that the Solstice at the 2002 show isn't the structure of the car. But that is the most visible start-to-finish example of how long it actually takes a car to get to market at GM. This is a car that had alot of firepower behind it and alot of those very same new systems & methods that GM spoke of was at it's disposal.
GM's claim is that they can get a car from inception to the market in 18-24 months. Something the old Chrysler used to do. IMHO the much bigger GM should be able to repeat that (with much better success in quality than Chrysler used to have).
The Solstice went through GM's system at maximum top speed, and it still is taking 36 months to go from inception to production. Admittedly, the Colbalt took a bit less, but it's using a chassis & components that were already engineered and in use by Saturn here & Opel in Europe, and it still took longer than the 18-24 months advertised.
The solstice is hot and I'm glad it is getting built, but it kind of ticks me off to see another low priced sports car going from just a concept to production on a brand new platform in less time than the end of the 4th gen to the 5th Gen Camaro. They are only expecting to sell 20,000-30,000 Solstices and they could easily sell 3 times as many 5th gen F-bodys. THe F-bodys should have had a better business case. Hell even in its 10th year with no marketing support from GM they still sold almost 70,000 F-bodys. With all this new focus on niche vehicles, the Camaro should have been the first niche vehicle out, it would have sold in more volume than the SSR, Solstice, and GTO combined.
Last edited by Z28x; Feb 6, 2004 at 08:21 PM.
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