Expanding on Z28's ideas, GM has this deathy fear of turbos, too. Superchargers are awesome, but right now turbochargers are the cool thing. Put one of those on the damn Cobolt SS and kids will be begging their parents for one if it stays around ~22k. Dont worry about making it too hot looking, just a simple rim upgrade and a lower stance will do. People are going to put different body kits on so that'll be covered. There, you now have infinitely more times the youth appeal that you did.

We also need a fast truck. No more of this 345 horse power sissy panzy bull ****. A supercharger is fitting for this type of vehicle, but not in this body. Get that damn 6.0 liter out of the regular cab, dump the compression, keep the LS6 heads (or give us some LS2 heads) and buy 15,000 magnachargers. 500 hp/ 500 tq. Keep the 20" rims and lower it a little. Carpet and power door locks/mirrors would help too, AC should be an option. The engine is already available, the heads are available, the prototype truck is built, now go kill dcx/ford. I'd give body parts for a truck like this.

 

I have a few problems with the way the poll is set up. First ,it's only Chevy as a choice,not GM as a whole. This skews things heavily toward Ford. Second , it doesn't take into account the Japanese makers which are possibly more inportant targets for Chevy/GM than Ford and DCX.

That said, I'd say Ford will Own the hearts and minds of enthusiasts for the first half of the decade with the second half going to GM. I don't think DCX will be able to avoid sticking its German foot into its corporate mouth for very long. I do see all three taking market share back from the imports starting with the European makes and then the Japanese.

 

Sadly, Ford... here too..
It seems the demise of the F-Bodies only threw fuel on their fire to be the best auto maker, at least in the eyes of the masses..
From things like them still serving up a TRUE FULL SIZED SEDAN(in sporty form no less), Vic/Maurader(sp?)giving them a LOCK on ALL public service vehicles; to having the 2+2 sports coupe class all to themselves..(you can't compare an 18,000 unit/yr GTO here..)And then they have the "Truck of the Year"...again..
Really, to the untrained eye, it seems as if the other BIG 2 are working for Ford...secretly ofcourse..
(when you said Chevy, I understood it as "GM" as a whole)

 

I did that purposely. I wanted to restrict it to the high volume brands for the respective big three.

 

Yeah, those who want to compare Ford motor co vs GM also want to factor out Fords import brands (Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo, Mazda, and Land Rover). Wouldn't this skew things towards GM then? . So comparing the volume leaders was a good idea since it concentrates on the core brands which in this case are Dodge, Ford, and Chevy.

I voted Ford, with Dodge coming in second. Hard to beat the Focus (soon to be turbo), Mustang (9 or so varients), Lightning, GT, and Shelby Cobra (soon to replace GT) lineup. SVT will also expand and so we can expect a rebirth of the sports sedan (SVT Futura), as well as others within Lincoln and Mercury. The Ford brand alone will pretty much have every market covered from the lower end turbo focus to the mega dollar 550+hp GT's and Shelby Cobra's. Much more diverse than either Dodge's or Chevy's

Go outside Ford (they're not the only Ford motor Co brand doing peformance), and you'll see Miata, Rx8, possible rx_7 turbo, R series Jags, DB7/DB9/Vanquish Astons, T-series Volvo sedans, etc...

 

I thought this thread could use this link:
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forum/in...showtopic=4389

 

I just came back here for the 1st time in 3 days & the results of this poll is an eyeopener being this is perhaps the most rabid Chevy site you can find!


The poll is set up just fine. Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford are brands. There's no point in putting the whole of GM up because GM's various brands are all independent. This is the same as comparing all F-bodies to just the Mustang. May as well compare all "W" cars to the Taurus.

There are strong Pontiac loyalists who wouldn't consider a Chevrolet, and vice versa. Nothing wrong with that.

 

No criticism was intended, I'm just used to looking at GM as a whole lately. I guess my point is that Chevy hasn't been given the blessings of GM's enthusiast car buget yet. Performance Chevies are coming and we might view the balance differently at the end of the decade . For now it is certainly Ford's domain. I think it will be a close call between Chevy and Ford at decade's end. You know what happens to frontrunners.

 

No doubt, Chevrolet will have no shortage of performance cars by decade's end, but will the buyer's of those cars actually be brand loyal people? I doubt it. Neon SRT-4 guys and Mustang fans are a pretty loyal bunch to Ford and Dodge.

Meanwhile, you have Camaro loyalist and Corvette loyalists, not so much Chevrolet loyalists.

Especially now that front wheel drive 6 cylinder Impalas are Chevrolet's 2nd quickest car, and even they have speed governers!

 

Well, i'm one of those few Chevolet loyalists. More than I am a Camaro or Corvette loyalist. I've owned Quite a few Chevy trucks,a pair of El Caminos ,a Monte Carlo, a Chevelle,a '57 210,a few Novas and a Camaro . I admit , that the pickings are thin right now , but I don't see myself in a Ford anytime soon. I really like the new GTO and I love my Firehawk but I'm holding out for a new El Camino. I'd consider a new Camaro if the timing was right but I'm hoping for more RWD choices from Chevy. Obviously, the Chevelle holds a special place in my heart, but I don't have as much hope for a new one now since GM seems unwilling to do both a Camaro and a Chevelle. I do expect some surprises over the next few years. I'm sorry to see the FWD Impala and M/C continue for another generation. I had high hopes for RWD replacements.

 

I wanted to go with The General, but truthfully had to vote for the Blue Oval bunch. The continued popularity of the Mustang and Ford's commitment to this platform and the other SVT brands make it a no brainer.

Perhaps when the big auotshows come around in 2007 I won't feel this same way... nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more GM .

 

now that I re-thought about it, ford will have the most, but dodge will have gained the most (or at least in perspective to what they had).

 

Good point. No debate from me.

Consider that just 24 months ago, Chrysler had only the Prowler & Viper as sub 7 second 0-60 runners.

Now, Neons run below 6 seconds, the rear drive 300C and Magnum station wagon both will likely do 6 flat, a [u]pickup truck that does 157 mph and does 0-60 quicker than all but a few US production cars, there's a SRT Crossfire that will run 0-60 in about 5 seconds coming soon, and to top it all off, in about a year, a smaller-than-300C 4 door "coupe" That has more torque than any current US made car save the Viper and Ford GT!

Perhaps "gained the most" is a bit of an understatement?

 

Dodge. They build factory cars that are very powerful, and offer upgrades that don't void warranties. Gotta love that.

After driving and then buying an SRT-4, Dodge has my hats-off salute. Nicely done, guys.

 

Absolutely correct!

Ford is simply building on it's already well established base. DCX however, is agressively pursuing this enthusiast and "near-enthusiast" base. Both Ford and DCX are moving at a feverish pace to win over GM enthusiasts that are left without cars.

When Chevy re-introduces itself into this performance world, their products will literally have to be world beaters --they will have to blow people away--- just to make an impression. Cobalt SS..for example...will be a good start. It will probably out handle an SRT-4....but will that be enough? It will certainly be short on power when compared to the SRT-4. And not just that, I think that I read somewhere, that fully one third of SRT-4 owners have purchased at least one of the Mopar upgrade packages for their cars. One third! Those packages have only been available for a year. The car itself for only a year and a half.

I'm confident that DCX's LX cars will change the performance landscape....for a long time. There are already new forum sites popping up dedicated to these cars and their enthusiasts....and the first production LX's just started shipping this week! I can only imagine what might happen when people start driving 6.1 HEMI SRT-8 Chargers or the rumored 5.7 HEMI supercharged SRT-8 Magnums and 300C.

Yup, by the time Chevy returns....from a marketing point of view...they'll need to be pushing alot of water uphill.

I just hope Chevy's performance products (other than Corvette), will be up to the task.