Guion, you must have ESP, you read my mind!
Think about their name for a second, GM as in General Motors. If a military guy didn’t found the company then the name must be a pseudonym for generic motors. Kind of like “Ibuprofen” is to Advil. In my lifetime, I can’t remember a car GM has produced that they didn’t kill after it broke the generic mold. I see the Corvette as [salesman voice]“The supercar your wife/secretary can drive”[salesman voice/]. Which is why it’s been around so long.
Now that I think of it wasn’t Gm mainly responsible for pushing cars to front wheel drive, insisting they were cheaper and more safe to drive? That couldn’t more wrong, cheaper for them to build and safer in park maybe.
Am I way off here?

 

I'd buy a C6 (finances willing) and I think opinions will change once the cars start appearing on the street. Styling tends to grow on one with time and I remember just as many naysayers when the now "classic" C5 debuted.

I'm a little surprised Guy would go off on such a rant. Usually we receive a steady diet of "have patience, it's in the pipeline" with a dash of "what's taking Solstice so long." As indicated, in a matter of months additions such as the G6, Cobalt, STS, etc. will be upon us adding legitimate offerings in their respective segments.

GM does need to pick up the pace and hopefully the new money invested in computers and development pays off. At least this shows they are aware of their geriatric development cycle and have made steps to improve the process. Maybe the growing, more diversified chassis lineup will lend to quicker production turn-arounds as well.

Obviously taking the "wait and see" and "better late than never" approaches will cost GM buyers, but I don't ever envision them taking too many big risks either. Ford and Chrysler seem to be in more of a position that requires it.

 

I'll be the 1st to admit that GM has some great stuff in the pipeline. But GM is dragging their feet in getting the stuff out.
Case in point:

When GM redid carline, they did all divisions at the same time. All cars of a particular body were made in the same plant(s), so it only made sense. Yet today GM seems to be completely incapable of doing this, despite having streamlined operations, better manufacturing organization, millions of dollars in virtural reality design and near supercomputer engineering abilities. Instead, the "mid-lux" cars are staggered (Grand Prix will be 3 years old when Impala finally moves to the new midlux chassis), the Zeta carswill come out a single step at a time, and by the time GM does get these cars out, it will be old news that someone else has already done.

But to give credit where credit's due, GM does seem to have a plan to hit us with their sporty cars all at once. Pontiac's GTO, Buick's Rivera, and Chevrolet's Camaro all seem set for 2007 production at Oshawa as 2008 cars, and Cadillac also seems set to get a coupe that same year based on Zeta-Sigma. Also, IF Chevrolet get's the Nomad and/or a Kappa based car, it's likely to happen early in the 2007 calender year as well.

It's great that GM has all this new technology and has the ability to move cars from idea to paper in 18 months. But GM's organizational structure and their layers of management makes all that high technology virturally worthless.

GM can produce a car from idea to production in 2 years. Ford proved the technology works with the sub-two year gestation of the Ford GT (the GT's been out for awhile, but the Solstice is still well over a year away despite both having the same starting period!). It's that GM's structure & mentality won't let it happen.

 

I don't think this is all that bad , really... it let's GM roll out new but similar cars at different times, so they don't "steal each others thunder" so to speak when launched...

Plus you see all-new cars more frequently iwhich you do not with the "all at once" approach...

 

I agree with both you and guionM. guionM is right, 3 years between the GP and Impala is too long, but I'd also like to see cars rolled out at different time, but shorter times. 6 months would be fine. Letting them come out at different times gives them time to work bugs out and improve the later cars based on feed back from the fisrt wave (ie. Vue vs. Equinox, Ion vs. Cobalt, Malibu vs. G6)

The mid lux should have rolled out like this:
GP - spring 03
LaCrosse - Fall 03
MC - Spring 04
Impala - Fall 04

 

Sounds like a nice solution to the problem.

 

Wow, what a write up.
I agree that GM has a ton of quality cars coming up... but also I agree that its taking them quite a while to get them here. Just waiting for the Cobalt and G6 to hit the market feels like forever. I still think that there are some GM suits that need to be washed out of GM. Wagoner and Cowager seem to be pretty dedicated to the upcoming cars, as is Lutz, Hill, and His Fbody-ness.
We seem to have the right people up top, and we seem to have enthusiast engineers with a lot of sporty cars dancing in there heads. I also want to know who whom or what is holding up these cars in the pipe line.
I was upset to find out that the Solstice would wait on the sidelines for another year. As for the Zeta cars, im glad to hear that they will come out in one punch, but where are they going to be built? What factory is going to be converted or built to make them? 2007 isnt all to far away when someone things about the time to design, approve and build a new factory, and then have cars on line being built.

I do disagree with what seems to be just about everyone in that the C6 is probably the finest looking Corvette since 67. The C5 was really nice looking, but the C6 tops it, and by a lot. I do think that Tom Peters has some seriuos tallent, and that the Aztec was a fluke. I personaly dont see the whole big deal with the Aztec as there are many cars out there that are far worse, i.e. Scion xB and Element. Yeah, its not attractive, but its has that goofy Pontiac with the grills and the scoops. The C6 looks so sexy, and If I had the money, I would get one in a sec.

 

I think this is the biggest issue with the speed of getting their new vehicles out. There seem to be so many tiers that a vehicle has to get through at GM. By the time it gets approved, the insiders have long ago heard about it, gotten the specs on it, are eager for it to come out, and are forced to wait a long time just to be able to purchase it. It seems GM has all the technology in the world right now to design a car in ligntning fast speed but it doesnt help that the new car has to go through so many ranks.

However, while we get the inside scoop on vehicles and actually see how long GM's process takes, the average Joe doesnt see this. It may be a little wait, but once vehicles like the Cobalt, Solstice, G6, Zeta cars, etc. start hitting the streets, the public will still be wowed by them im sure. One thing I would change is GM showing these cars at auto shows so early before their official launch. Cobalt wasnt bad and neither was the C6 (both publicly shown only months before their official launch), but the public knew about the Solstice a LONG time ago.

 

Now THAT would be better a better idea.

 

That is precisely the problem.

 

Great post guion as always.When they do get there stuff out they will be a day late and a dollars short.Hope they wake up and smell the sales from the other car companys...




GM can move quickly when someone takes a blowtorch to their rear end. The Corvair was GM's sports car till early sales figures of the new Mustang came in. Suddenly, GM got serious & created the Camaro in less than 2 1/2 years... without a supercomputer or virtural reality design departments.






August, 1964. GM initiates the F-Car Program.
GM made the decision to go ahead with an entirely new program to compete with other automakers in ways that Chevy Corvair could not. Dubbed the "F-Car" at first, it would later become an automotive legend called Camaro.

August, 1964. Styling begins.
Chevy engineers and designers worked in conjunction with Fisher Body Division to see that the performance of Camaro did not take away from its styling. Computers were used extensively for the first time, as were other unorthodox methods. Transparent quarter-scale bodies, like the one shown, let engineers view stresses and part relationships.

It did come fast.But not at light speed.Computer where used just not like to days.The idea and the smell of sale came much faster then the car.

 

mpfarout, one thing that redplanet brought up (i think thats who said it) was that now days GM doesn't make everything. they hire companies to do certain parts. so modernly when a new car is designed, it takes a while because GM will have to haggle with the subcompanies on who makes what, and when they need to get it done by. then the factories have to set up their assembly lines, adding to the mix.

 

i have a tendency to say bad things hoping that it will speed things up. for some reason, in my wondering mind i think that its possible that Lutz is a secret member viewing everything we right.

 

To me looks and style of a car are important but so is its ability. Meaning I can love the C6 even though its styling isn't as cool as the C4 Vette's IMO (Not a huge C5 fan either.... too big) But I love its performance abilty. The LS2 is a killer motor and GM has dropped the curb weight again so thats good. I can love a car for 12 sec 1/4's low 4 sec 0-60 sprints and top speeds in the upper 180's!

Hey I'm not a huge Mustang fan but the 03-04 Cobra are nice for because of their power and modding potential.

The GTO same way, although I like the interior quality and the usefullness of the car overall. More refined more grown up F-body the way I look at it. Some competition to a 3 Series coupe, dare I say M3..... I'd buy a GTO especially next year with the LS2!

CTS-V Home Run, great look and style, with power to back it up! Big winner! Only imnprovement is the materials used in the interior and the lack of other colors. If I had the cash I's give it a serious look!

 

Good post and spot on GM needs to really get moving and stop wasting precious time! Move it GM!