What new car do you feel missed the boat and why? What would you do to fix it (that is actually doable and low cost).
(limit yourself to cars less than 2 years old)

Me?

Pontiac G6:
With a new nose would make a perfect Chevy Malibu. But seems a bit sedate for an "Excitement Division" car. Not the sales failure that some would believe, but definately not doing as well as the car it replaced, even when compared sedan to sedan!

Simply lacks the personality, agressiveness, and fun of the Grand Am. Changing the name to the genaric G6 didn't help. Neither IMO does a 2 door coupe that's bound to get mistaken for a Toyota Solara. You just know you are going to see lots of print & opinion that GM "copied" the Solara's design, just like the HHR is is never mentioned in the press without PT Cruiser somewhere in there.

Grand Am got it's personality from it's body cladding, and Pontiac should return to that, just don't make it as obnoxious. I know Pontiac is suppose to be turning into a grown-up's division, but Pontiacs are starting to look like what Buicks should. Ground effects, a rear spoiler, perhaps a few wild colors like Dodge is throwing on their Chargers will change the image of them.

And for Gods sake, give the car a real name. Call it Grand Am, call it LeMans, call it Tempest, but don't give a relatively low keyed car a low keyed name.

 

I don't think it needs more cladding. That's what made the grand am a joke in the first place. However, I do agree that a more agressive design would work better as a pontiac - some fender flares and muscular proportions would do a lot to beef up the image while keeping a clean design and avoiding tacky add ons. Let's also not forget about the handling (supposedly not great) and the lack of a performance model.

I also think most of the other recent models have missed the boat. Rebate levels seem to support this.

Malibu - they spent how many hundreds of millions of dollars to turn a stylish European car into THAT.

SSR - Would have been a slam dunk home run at $30,000.

XLR - Fit and Finish quality not on par with other $70,000 cars. or $25,000 cars.

LaCrosse - Booked first class tickets through Price Line....tell everyone Buick is going to be a premium brand and then peddle this car with pushrods and hubcaps.

Camaro - Didn't even buy tickets for the boat trip. Denied that the boat was even coming.

Cobalt - This car made it to the boat just in time to watch them pulling up the ramp - i.e. very close to making the boat but just not fast enough.

Corvette - They arrived early to board the boat and obtain the best seat on the boat. How this car consistlently makes it onto the boat while nothing else does I'll never know!

 

I think that the styling of the G6 is beautiful. I cannot believe anyone would suggest that the cladding should go back on.

HHR: Missed the boat by about 5 years. GM copies a car that has been around long enough to get boring, and is due for a refreshening shortly after the HHR comes out.

Lacrosse: Although improved over the regal / century, who would buy this over a chrysler 300? It has and does nothing to stand out over all the other similarly priced boring FWD sedans. As for the styling, it is generic and bland.

SSR: I agree that this would be a great vehicle at a MUCH lower price.

Saturn Ion sedan: Decent enough car, but looks that not even a mother could love.

GTO: Bringing back a legendary nameplate like this should have been an instant success. From what I've read here and elsewhere, it is supposed to be a really well built machine. However, the fact that they merely rebadged a foreign car with dull styling and priced it out of the range of its target audience, turned a sureshot to yet another failure.

My prediction: G6, cobalt, solstice, and sky, will be successful cars

 

I think the Camaro "missed the boat." I mean, its just so...Nonexistant... Ford is laughing all the way to the bank.

Other than that, I think the award goes to the Ford 500/Mercury Montego twins. Talk about doing nothing with a whole lot...

 

I won't even address the bulk of the product line, its so lost, but the few that are near misses, I'll take a shot at (and at least one that is so off base, it stretches the imagination):

SSR - too heavy, not enough interior space for as large a vehicle as it is, fit and finish poor, a hit at $35K, not $50K

Cadillac as a whole is very, very close. If these were the new lines of Buicks, we'd have some winners here. But, they need a coupe/conv. They need the ULS. But for god's sake, dump the letter designations - they are beyond stupid, call the cars by their real names. The interiors are buick level, not top notch. And Art & Science has its good moments, but when compared to the Bill Mitchell Caddies, it clearly shows that their styling and design still have room to grow. Lose the front wheel drive remnants!

G6 - Call it a Grand Am for gods sake. Overall, Pontiac needs to lose the bird beak faces. Wayyyyyyy overdone. And introduce the entire series at the same time. GM is losing sales with this piecemeal intro approach.

Corvette? Huge hit. They finally got the C5 right (except the *** end is just a tad too short and blunt from some angles).

GTO - Love it mechanically. Love the interior. Hate the cavalier body. Hate the ovoid front end shape and the roofline. I, for one, don't see a problem with the price though, as long as the dealers don't gouge. I make it a point never to pay above sticker, or do business with dealers that ask above sticker. I'll drive cross country (and probably lose money in the process, but its the principle) to avoid gouging. Face lift this thing (for relative pennies) and it could be a hit after all.

HHR - Who asked for it? Who wants it? Why did they do it? Its a waste of precious development resources. Don't they have any kind of management review before introducing models???? Oh yeah, thats right, these are the same automotive and business gurus that killed Zeta, but approved the Aztek. I'll be surprised if HHR survives a single model year. They should have named it Aztek II and been done with it.

After these, I don't see anything worth commenting on. The rest are rental car fleets.

 

Dodge Charger.

 

I think the G6 could have been executed better.

It's a nice enough looking car....but is sure devoid of any "driving excitement" that I can detect. The steering feels very much like my first car's. A 1970 Olds Delta 88.

Don't really like the name much either. I'm not sure how much equity the Grand Am name has left however. Through the '70s and early '80s....Grand Am represented some upscale sportiness for Pontiac. Over the past 10 years Pontiac has squeezed every last drop of worth out of that name. In 1978, magazines were comparing the new downsized A-body Grand Am - with it's 301 V8 and sport tuned suspension - to European sporty cars.

The last GA however, was nothing more than a cheap, sort of flashy car with cladding.

Anyway, getting back to the G6....

Drop the electric steering box, and revise the suspension. That would be a good start. I'd also consider making a turbo Ecotec with manual trans available.

If you're going to talk the talk....you ought to walk the walk.

 

G6 should have gone further. Should have had hydraulic steering in GT form. It also should not have come in base V6 form. Also, it needed desperately to launch with all its guns blazing - coupe, 4-cyl, and especially GTP. I say this for 2 reasons: 1) More models would mean more sales (and less "its a flop articles") 2) Magazines would have first tested the performance model. The second one is a big deal actually. Whenever a manufacturer releases a new model, the mags always test the high performance one. Thus, readers only hear about the attributes of the best model. Check the first month reviews of the new Mustang, where the V6 that makes up over 50% of the sales gets only a sidebar at best. It was the same when the new Grand Prix came out - GTP Comp G was the one they tested.

As far as cars that missed the boat, here are a few more.

1) GTO. I love this car, and we have a 2004 in our driveway, but there is no denying the fact that this car missed the boat. IMO, if the '04 had the '05's tweaks, along with NO market adjustments, it would have been a seller. People honestly were looking for a reason to like this car in the beginning, but assymetrical exhausts, no hood scoops, and a $40,000 sticker in some dealers surely turned many off. That's a shame, because as most here know, the GTO is easily one of the best cars sold in the States, and is head and shoulders above far pricier vehicles.

2) Saab 9-2x. Just one more GM car that had a good premise, but didn't go far enough, and of course, cost a little too much. Should have had nicer interior, and more power. As it is, the 9-2x lists for 27,675 - 3k more than an identically eqiupped WRX sportwagon.

3) Grand Prix GXP. Yeah I know, not even out yet. But we all have seen this show before, and know how it will turn out. The GXP has a great premise - the best V8 in the world stuffed into a car with awesome suspension upgrades. The problem? It starts at $29,000, going up to $37,000. Perhaps GM thought they could get this price for this car. In reality, they open themselves up to a game of window shopping that they just can't win. The magazines will test a fully loaded one for $37,000, and match it up against cars way out of its league. Then come the details that kill GM. Only an automatic - a 4speed. Only FWD - most competitors have RWD or AWD. And the W-body platform just doesn't have the refinement of the other cars. Lat place finish. Of course, we all know that this car will never sell for $37,000. In fact, with rebates currently available, you could get this car for $27,000 easily. At that price, the car is playing with Accords and Maximas, a much better comparison.

I could go on, because when you think about it, just about every car GM produces has just missed the boat. If only it had a manual. If only it had more power. If only it handled a little better.
In general, GM invests too little and then lists their cars too high. The result? They end up giving back all the money they "saved", plus a little extra.

 

I agree with what all the above have said. As far as the G6, I wont even bother to drive one until a manual coupe becomes available. I have looked at the four door stickers tho, and 28 K is too much for that car, about 6 k too much. It is a much better car than the Grand Am looks wise. Price must be what is hurting sales.

Cobalt is not bad, I really like that is has a prop rod underb the hood. The price is too high tho, there are too many stripped 4 door crank window models clogging dealer lots, and they all ride too high like they have lift kits installed.

The biggest dissapointment to me tho is the La Crosse. GM took a successful name, Regal, that was rated highly by even by japan biased consumer reports, as a better car than Camry, and they killed the name and the car, once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The new LaCrosse is not a suitable replacement for Regal. Why do you buy a Regal? Cuz you want to haul around full size adults in comfort. Cant do that with La Crosse. People who are above average in height must do contortions to get in the back seat, then they cant sit up straight without smashing head sideways against the headliner. An adult has to do the detroit lean in the back seat Didnt anybody test this out before production????

I wont be trading my Regal in on a LaCrosse, but on an Avalon, where there is plenty of room in back, headroom and legroom. Way to go GM, lost another loan to DiTech!

 

Speaking of the G6.....the concpet car made the boat. The car we got almost made it. Hate the 112" wheelbase and lame 3500 V6 for a G6 GT---its a joke. Poor choise in engine lineup.

I did see a GTP G6 at the car show and kinda liked it. 18" rims help alot and the 3.9L should do the trick. Needs 6 speed auto to extract all the performance though. And they will probably over price it.

Cobalt almost over shot the boat---excellent car. Just get the 2.4L in 5 speed and auto in it.


Buicks Lucerne has problems too. Namely the 3800 V6. Buick wants to go up against Lexus and bring s 195hp V6 to the party? Like bringing a knief fight to a duel at high noon.

What is more preplexing is that they got it right with the Lacross by putting the 3.6L HF V6 in it

 

Almost everything that GM has introduced recently, including the Corvette. And most of the problem could be easily fixed--just lower the sticker price.

Yes, I know. Flame away.

But the Corvette has grown too expensive. At $35K, almost every 350Z sale could be a Corvette sale. When you're looking at 350Z stickers in the 30s, (and a few down to 27), and real-world Corvette prices are in the 50s, it's almost impossible to justify.

So GM throws away tens of thousands of buyers a year, and risks Nissan slapping a turbo on the 350Z and making it very competitive with the Vette in terms of HP.

Can you say "zero forethought?"

The Sky and Solstice aren't gonna be fast enough, sorry. Slap a 5.3 in them and price them to compete with the 350Z, and you have my respect again. Easy choice, very cool.

The Z06? Great car, but we don't know a price. It could be $65k or $75K. And no convertible. Sorry, GM, I buy convertibles. This is why i just caved and bought a lightly-used 2003 Viper instead of waiting a few years to see if there would be a Z06 convertible. I hope the Z06 will show as a convertible (and not be priced as high or higher than the new Viper), but until then the GM stable at this household shrinks again.

GM makes no car that I would buy at sticker price. Sorry, truth hurts.

 

You have been rockin' the ganj if you think that any significant number of people who would actually consider a C6 would cross shop a 350Z.

The Z06 is supposed to be a fairly dedicated performance vehicle with few compromises. A convertible would be much too large of a compromise.

Solstice and Sky should do alright, even though there probably should be no Sky.

Cobalt is alright.

G6 is not exciting. Although some people think the last gen Grand Am was too boy racerish or over the top, it sold well. People wanted something like that in that segment.

GTO is one of the best vehicles you can buy, but apparently GM forgot that people are irrational and just had to have an exhaust tip on each side and hood scoops (although dealer policies had a great deal to do with the lukewarm sales of the 04).

I have not driven a Lucerne or LaCrosse, but by their specs they do not seem to be good enough to beat Lexus.

The Saab 9-2X was a dumb idea. As is the Saab Trailblazer.

SSR was short on performance for the price it demanded.

 

Ford 500. I've seen one on the highway and thats it.

 

G6. Guy pretty much said what I though word for word.

Pontiac missed the boat with axing the Grand Am also. I never like them but they had their CLEAR spot in the lineup. There were a lot of people who liked those annoyingly cladded things too.

Ford 500. Too much 'Taurus' not enough 'what they say it is supposed to be on the commercial.'

 

Dodge Charger...based on aesthetics alone.