The only two lines that the younger generation looks at are compacts and muscle cars. How did GM put itself in a situation were it doesn't have a serious product for either market. Now that the f-bodies are gone and the cavalier is a joke, what are new buyers supposed to see in GM?? Old faithful brand loyal customers will keep buying out of tradition, but this is going to really hurt chevy's brand image down the line. Right now, GM has NOTHING that appeals to the 15 through 20 something generation and It looks like its just going to get worse before it gets better

 

The Vibe, baby... it's all about The Vibe!!!

 

I wouldn't call Cavalier a joke. It's currently GM's biggest selling car, and I've seen quite a few hopped up pretty nicely out here.

As far as GM loosing a generation, best I can tell, it was lost well before Camaro & Firebird was discontinued. Most of the time, I see newer Camaros driven by people my age or older, yet newer Mustangs I see driven by people in their 20s with the only exception being the Cobras.

 

i agree with what is said..im 19 and the only thing that gm currently makes that i would want is the GTP and the caddy CT other than that i couldnt afford anything else (silverado ss and corvette) and im not a big fan of suvs..i hate parking next to them its a b*tch backing out

 

Loosing a generation? Read this:

http://www.detnews.com/2002/autosins...a01-589344.htm

A few quotes:
Indeed, the trusty little entry-level car is even outselling the popular Ford Focus by about 17,000

"Young people took parents into dealers and said 'I'd like one of those please,' "

Younger buyers on a budget like the Cavalier for its price, but stylish extras are available. "You can also get a spoiler and CD player

"Cavaliers always sell well. There's never been a down period."

and, finally:
In August, sales for the Chevrolet Cavalier zoomed 90.4 percent over August 2001

Loosing a generation? Hah!

 

Being a 20 year old, I might be able to shed some insight on this.

I have some friends with Cavaliers, and some friends with other compacts.

Friend with Civic: Oh yeah, I have a Civic! I love it!

Friend with Corolla: My Corolla is awesome, I treat it like crap and it's never given me a problem.

Friend with Cavalier: *sigh* Yeah I have a ****ing Cavalier. It sucks, but I'm poor.



I don't know if selling people these cars is going to get a generation of buyers to Chevy. My friend with a KIA sounds happier with his car than most Cavalier owners I've spoken with.

 

HaHaHaHa, you are soo out of touch to believe this. Chevy has lost all street credibility with the the younger generation after the loss of the camaro. No one ever seriously respected the cavalier. People buy them b/c they are cheap and quickly learn they are POS's. Now even Neons are going to be pushing 200hp.

A camaro in 5 years is ridiculous. A whole generation will have passed by gm by then. Maybe the new GAGT will fill the hole.

 

Ive been saying this for a while.

Remember the commerical with the kids in the bedroom upstairs? Remember being like that when you were a kid? Although you probably couldnt afford an fbody at that point, they did fill quite a few kid's dreams at night, and now they're gone.

GM has the Vette to fill that void, but for some reason I always thought Camaros were cooler when I was a kid. When I went to car shows with my dad I remember looking at 1st gen Camaros, but there were never too many Vettes. I wanted a 4th gen so bad and my dad's friend got a 96 V6 in early, I thought he was the luckiest kid in the world.

 

....MY generation.......

Personally, with the new EcoTech (sp?) engines and other market positioning (i.e. performance parts division) I think GM is finally getting into position to cater to the younger generation quite nicely.

Who they seem to have forgotten all together.....are people my age (45), like me.....people who who wouldn't be caught dead driving an SUV, truck, Ford, DMC or foreign car.

Other than a used C5 / F4 (last I checked GM doesn't get a dime of this sale) what am I supposed to buy that has affordable performance??

It looks like I'll need to make do for at least five long years with a used car........

 

Shareholder driven companies (Like most US companies) only live for the next quarter. Well, in the next quarter, Trucks are where the money's at. Forget about cars. And for the next few quarters, they'll make lots of money. Then they will loose their ***. Right now, the Big 3 are scared to death because everybody's making trucks now, profits and sales are slowly evaporating, and they are being tromped by the koreans at the low end, the Japanese in the middle, and the Germans on the high end. How many "We are going to make some serious butt kicking cars in the next couple of years" articles have you read about the Big 3 lately?

Sample business planning meeting at a shareholder driven company:

Marketing: "We should redesign this car, it's stale and needs updating".

Bean Counters: "It has been in continuous production relatively unchanged since 1982. Most of the tooling has been paid off since 1985. We make lots of money on this car. If we redesigned it, it would cost 2 billion dollars and would require amortization of all new tooling, meaning we would make less money per car."

Marketing: "we won't be able to compete."

B/C: "That's okay, we'll make more money this quarter (or year) if we just keep making the old one. Plus we have trucks."

------repeat for next several quarters---

Years later:

Marketing: "we are a laughing stock in the auto market because we are so outdated. Sales have dropped 50% Avis won't even buy from us anymore"

B/C: "There is obviously no interest in this product or market. We will discontinue it."

 

Heck, I'm 37 and I don't see anything left that appeals to me either!

I've always been a Chevy loyalist. Other than the Vette (too expensive) and SS Pickup (that damn extended cab)... there's nothing for me to get excited about.

I'm seriously thinking of jumping over to Cadillac.

 

i'm 23 now and have had gm products for most of my life. most of my friends have fords. the main reason why?: because ford is putting out an affordable muscle car for my generation. i could barely afford to buy a three year old trans am let alone a new one. now given most of my friends would rather have the trans am, but its just not realistic. especially not if they can buy a new GT for the price of a two or three year old gm. my car is a '97 with 85k miles and is constantly falling apart or breaking and the maintenance is extremely costly. i just recently had to purchase a $400 fuel pump because there are no aftermarket ones. as a matter of fact, it seems for a while there that the only place you could get a replacement for anything on my car was from the dealer. i now have no arms or legs. just my two cents.

 

Well well.

Being that Cavalier is now second only to the Civic in small car sales, and that it seems to be the only small car to increase sales (despite needing a rebody) while everyone else has decreased, I'd say Cavalier has all the credibility it needs right now.

Sure, it doesn't have street credibility, but I'd say the new Neon SR/T is an extreme case....the SR/T is LT1 quick! But off the top of my head, only the Civic & the SVT Focus are unquestionably faster. But young people buy only 2 types of cars: used or cheap . Only one matters in the sales wars, and I am glad to see that GM is being competitive in at least one area of affordable cars. Now, if only the aftermarket catches on.

 

It is that exact thinking that is killing GM right now.

 

How so?