http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums...howtopic=11056

 

I expect a HUGE shake-up in the Zeta program.

Stay tuned.........

 

like the el camino?

 

No.

Sweeping changes in the program itself.

 

Charlie, word is this is one of those instances where "supercomputers" that cut engineering time come into play. Yep, those same ones I've been critical of GM not taking advantage of.

Also, Holden will come out with the cars a year before North America, which will have a little longer to do what they have to do. Finally, there will be quite a few existing items included, so there's a few more short cuts.

As for the time span, the word is No Way!

That seems to puts the "no" and "not necessarily" into perspective.

 

HMMM lots to think about.

 

Gotcha.

 

Now for less cryptic stuff:

*The info in the link is accurate. The El Camino is currently planned to be built on the same assembly line as the sports coupes.

*Zeta cars are planned to run about 400,000 cars per year and produced on at least 3 continents. In short, Zeta isn't going to be as prolific as some of us think. Consider, Holden produces about 60,000 Zetas per year for Australia, and exports another 10-20,000, China is probally good for another 10-20,000 cars. That leaves about 300-320,000 Zeta based cars per year for North America, with some destined to be exported as Opels, if greenlighted.

That essentially means a GTO, a Camaro replacement, a Monaro, and sedans for Buick, Pontiac, & Chevy that will be produced in WAY smaller numbers than the current "mid-lux" W body Impala, Grand Prix, & LeCrosse.

Reading between the lines, the Zeta sedans (at least the ones scheduled for this decade) will NOT be replacing the FWD sedans!

*Finally, the Canadian Auto Workers Union is scheduled to have nationwide negoitiations with the big 3 this year. Follow them closely & draw your own conclusions.

 

So how many years is GM going to get out of the W-body? I think its ridiculus that GM will let this platform go on for 25 years to compete with the state of the art Japanese and European competition, who have been dominating the family sedan market even before the W-body debuted in 1988.

I guess GM will eventually phase in the Epislon platform to replace the W-body.

I can't believe GM didn't remake the El Camino years ago considering trucks were/all the rage for the past 15 years.

Maybe its a good thing that Zeta won't be a high volume platform. Usually all of GM's high volume cars suck(Impala, Cavilier, Lumina, Regal, LeSabre, Malibu, Century, Grand Am, Sunfire, Acheiva, S-series, L-series all sucked for the past 20 years) Small volume GM cars are usually better(Corvette, Firebird, Camaro, Seville, Eldorodo, GTO, Grand Prix coupe)

 

The elizabeth plant can do 200k cars per year IIRC. The figures from last year show Holden made approx. 120k vehicles for australia and exported an estimated 50k (accuracy of those numbers is unknown as I may have missed some vehicles).

 

I dont think that any of us here thought that Zeta was here to be the main streem chassis for the future?
I hope that GM does not keep the W body around for much longer. Its a great chassis, but time is up. I hope that perhaps Epsilon II can be strectched to go pretty big.

 

Opps.

I don't have Holden's 2004 production yet, but Holden produced 153,300 cars for domestic and exported 36,000 of those in 2003. Holden is projected to reach 180-200,000 this year depending on exports.

Holden is expected to produce up to 180,000 cars this year, depending on exports, and be up to a full 200,000 in time for next year's Zeta based VE.