Posted on 11/26/2008 7:02:07 AM PST by yankeedame
IMO anything GM puts out hurts their reputation.
Much of the hole GM is in is because of decades of poorly made crap that they foisted on us. They felt entitled to our business. This gave rise to Japanese companies who made better cars. GM is making better cars than before but in few segments are they as good as the Japanese. People like me who American companies drove into the arms of Honda aren’t switching back without being given a gigantic reason and so far GM’s products aren’t at all compelling enough to win me back. I’m very, very, very happy with my current company and you don’t change horses in mid-stream without good reason.
“Cadillac tried to sell the Cimarron as a domestic alternative to cars like the BMW 3 Series—that was just pathetic. Not surprisingly, practically no one fell for it and the Cimarron never sold well. But to many people, this proved that GM at the time had little regard for the storied and significant Cadillac brand.”
That one was a stunner! Slap a Caddy badge on a god-awful Chevy Caviler and pretend its like a BMW!
But anyone who bought an Aztec has only themselves to blame!
My first car was a ‘72 Chevy Vega. What a POS! I had to put a quart of oil in it everytime I filled the gas tank.
“gave rise to Japanese companies who made better cars.”
And the Chinese who are busy innovating by trying to make more fuel efficient cars.
They forgot to add the late 70’s into 80’s trucks rusting away.
The people I know who own Hummers love them. And they love them because they are SO politically uncorrect. The Hummer has a great underground following.
It is an excellent car off-road and has great towing.
It is also a status symbol (like the people who drive $100,000 Mercedes). It makes people heads turn. And the people who buy $70,000 Hummers don't really care too much if gas is $3 or $5 dollars a gallon.
The Hummer is never going to be the #1 car in America (or even #30). But GM makes a profit on everyone and there is demand for them. Too bad other GM cars are not like that...because you put a string of cars like that together and all of a sudden you have a profitable company.
At this point just thinking about GM makes me mad.
Best car I ever owned was a 1973 Cutlass “S”. Once the pollution control junk was ripped out, the Pontiac 350 engine was simplicity itself to tune, it was OK on gas and it was very, very fast and extremely reliable.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to. More’s the pity!
It may show a bad misreading of the market. While GM was building land yachts they were ignoring the small car market. When gas went up the Japanese had all sorts of stuff ready to go and were able to pounce all over them.
GM was introducing the H2 (and establishing Hummer dealerships) at just about the same time that Toyota was taking the green-tech high ground with vehicles like the Prius and other hybrids.
I have to throw the BS flag on this. Toyota and Honda both came out with some very poor milage monster trucks and SUVs at this same time also...
ML/NJ
“IMO anything GM puts out hurts their reputation.”
I would have to disagree with you on one product - The Corvette. Only because of the amount of care and PRIDE that goes into the entire process of that car makes it a good one that is full of modern technology - of course at a premium price.
My first car was a 1973 Vega. Install a relief tube under the drivers seat while stationed in Texas. This piss-mobile was perfect for a dumb beer drinking fool . Shipped it to the Philippines where I had the alum. motor cylinders bored and steel sleaves installed. Ran HOT! .. Sank the car in a river and shipped it back to USA .. Finally gave the pissmobile away in 1990 ..
I called my parents Citation, The dominoe effect car. Once you got one thing fixed, it wouldn’t be a week until something else went wrong.
And my mother almost died in a Chevette from a crash that wasn’t going more than 15 mph. She ended up practically under the hood. She never would get into anything else like that and drove a Olds Cutlass until she passed away a few years back.
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