Pretty sure he meant styling wise, not platform wise. (did platform wise sound stupid to anyone else)

 

The big reason cars are not changed any more from year to year like in decades past is because of Fed regulations. Every new part has to be tested and pass the regulations. Its almost ridicoulous. And all this testing of parts costs tons of money. So in turn they dont change things like they used to so quick or easily because everything must test and be passed first.

 

You guys are also forgetting that back in the 60s' when cars routinely sold in volumes of 500,000 - 1,000,000(!) that it didn't take very long t pay for all the tooling!

That said:

American approach to car design:

Come out with an all new car. Spend a lot of money developing it. Since it is all new, you will inevitably have some quality issues at launch (with 100% new parts, it's all about probability). Next, run that platform relatively unchanged until it is so hopelessly out of date that you have to do an entire new car at great expense and risk to quality.

Examples: Taurus, Lumina, Mustang, Cavalier, etc.

Japanese approach to car design:

Come out with an "all new" car. It's really only 50% new or less. Many of the parts are carryover from the last model. Since 50+% of the car is "tried and true" you are much more likely to have a "high quality" launch and greater long term quality. It doesn't change much, but people don't seem to mind. Since this is a less expensive way to develop a car, you can afford to do it every 4-5 years.

Example: Honda Accord, Civic.

 

so...does this mean that the 08 Camaro will have to run untill about 2017 ??


Thats what the GM track record shows....and that IS a problem.

 

yep, I was talking about the styling.

 

That's what I meant... the C5 stayed a "fresh" design b/c it didn't need anything as it was done right from day one IMO...

Ol' Wermy said what I made a pathetic attempt at paraphrasing