http://waw.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_california/

 

that's what worries me.

 

Wow, a sobering piece for sure. We (little ol' Camaro messageboard members) already know the road back for GM will be hard. Still, the biggest question that remains pretty much unanswered is how GM ever allowed itself to get to where it is (or, most recenty was?) to require a tooth-and-nail comeback in the first place. When cars and trucks are your bread and butter, how can you possibly ignore one side of your product portfolio and a pretty big one at that?

I think the excuse of pumping up the truck side of the equation at the expense of the car side because "that's where the market went" is pretty lame and wouldn't withstand a great deal of sober scrutiny. Something else had to be, or is going on for such stupidity. Cars still make up a very large part of the overall market. To ignore a market so large, even if it has shrunk somewhat from it's former glory is suicidal on a corporate level for a company. I'm not sure we can point the finger at Zarella and stop there, GM's decline began years before, likely years before ol' Ron began peddling nylons and toothpaste.

Brand management, puhleez. GM has been defanged and emasculated to the point of being neutered. GM was strongest when it's inter-division rivalry was at it's most competitive. I'm quite sure Sloan is rolling in his grave.

Hmmm, rant mode off....

 

Hey I'm doing my part! I currently have 5 Chevies and am already making plans for two more.

 

 

unless you have 2004 sales figures telling the opposite or you can just tell the future, there's still a lot of truth in the article. if anything, i'd bet his prediction of continuing sales slide at Chevy is spot on.

 

The USA is more complex than in the good old days when Cali set the trends. I no longer believe Cali is the harbinger of American fashion or buying trends.

 

Cadillac sales jumped 40,000, nearly 25%, the following year (2003).

 

California isn't a "predator state" like this guy says, we simply have a lot of people with a lot of money. Where I live for example it's hard to find people in cars older than 3-6 years old. Just because a trend starts in California doesn't really dictate if it will be a big hit somewhere else.... also we like rwd cars a lot more since a lot of us living in California haven't seen snow in a while. (last time it snowed where I live was 1989, also we've had what 7-10 days of rain this year... ideal conditions for convertibles, roadsters, rwd etc etc.)

 

Chevy sales are up, and I believe they will continue to go up if they expand the car line up and have a more full line of cars like years ago. They need a full-size RWD car, a RWD sport coupe (Camaro), a Ute or Elcamino type car would be nice to.