Well actually that's only a small part of the story......I just thought that would make a catchy title.

http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosins...b01-197995.htm

 

$722 Mil? I don't know much about economics in the auto industry yet, but that sounds like a lot for a project like this...even more interesting is the final sales figure of $3.6 BILLION if they sell a minimum of 200,000 (Dewar said it could reach 300,000!) at a minimum of $18K each (Many will sell up to $25K+)

So where does that $2.88 Billion profit go? And thats just for the 2004 model year, the profits would be amazing for the following years of this generation of Malibu's.

 

My vote goes to rolling every last nickel into the Camaro.

 

To me, $722M sounds like a pretty reasonable tab to develop an entirely new car, even if it is sharing a chassis.

As to the $2.88B profit, well, $722M is only the engineering cost. The cost to build each copy (with both fixed and variable costs included) is probably pretty close to its selling price of $18,000, so there won't be a ton of profit to be had.

 

There's still alot of money going to making the car and to the company's pension obligations, not to mention alot of other things.

 

Oh ok, I thought that 722$ Mil meant everything, materials, plant, engineering, labor, etc....

 

Did the French style the outside too?

 

My goodness, that thing is ugly. Looks like a Wimpala that's trying too hard to smile.

I find it amusing that the Big 3 is constantly fretting about overcapacity, and then turns around and tells everyone how much more content and cost they're baking into their new product.

 

Definetely not.

Even though I don't consider the Malibu being good-looking, it is 100 times better looking than some current French offerings.

French manufacturers, however, have been making pretty good seats, though. No, I'm not talking about the Peugeot's and Renault's of the 80's but the most recent offerings (Renault Laguna & Megane and Peugeot 307) I have had a pleasure (???) to drive. Comfy and supportive and not too hard or soft.

TS

 

GM must be pretty impressed with French design. They snagged Renault's chief designer several years ago.

 

Ha!!! Hence some of the ugly cars they've put out lately...

 

im interested in seeing what the specs are gunna be, and see what the hatchback version is gunna look like. a malibu was my first car, so id like to see something a little bit more sporty come out of the new generation of the vehicle