What are some of your ideas to help GM get back on their feet and be a contender in United States.. Maybe some one is watching and reading.. Comments about concept ideas maybe issues to be dealt with and what you like in a car would be cool to hear.. One idea I have is for GM to be more personal and attentive to the customer.. I would love to see dealerships that deal only with their performance divisions.. Chevrolet and their SS and Z06's.. Saturn and their Red Line segment.. Cadillac and their V-series.. I think that would give added value to the vehicle.. Make our cars stand out.. Just my idea.. whats yours..

 

Product, product, product! GM is going through some tough times, although not as abad as Ford.

As for dealers with just high performance stuff, thats a neat idea but I ond't think it would fly.

Often there were be a certain model to draw people in--if only for a look. Most can't afford that and but the lesser model. Sometimes anyhow.

GM has to continue to improce qaulity, interiors, more HF DOHC V6's and a few RWD models.
Along with better advertsing.

GM has improved lots in the last few years but they have to continue to do so.

 

They need to focus on creating innovative, higher quality cars at an affordable cost. Not just in their high-end models, but in all their consumer vehicles. The quality of materials used in just the interior of the SS alone is horrible compared to some of the foreign sports cars in the same price range...it's embarrasing. Just remember the majority of market is going to be focused on "something that gets me to and from"...and the majority of people are going to want something that is affordable, has good fuel economy and is, of course, reliable....that's just something the three US auto-giants are sadly, in my opinion, are learning the hard way.

 

build an awd cobalt.. well.. at least a cobalt i don't have to take to the service department once or twice a week.

 

Lose the SS badging off the Malibu, Malibu Maxx, Trailblazer, Silverado and give it back to credible contenders with real HP like the Camaro. Bring back the Cavailer because people miss it and it was actually selling unlike this **** we have now. The Cobalt stays because it rocks. Make the Cobalt a convertible also.

Bring back the TransAm. Uh, make more retro cars without the worry of things not selling. Those are selling, lose the SUV's because those aren't selling. Focus on making eco friendly cars for those tree huggers, reduce the price on the pickups and oh yeah... drop Oldsmobile and market Saab & Saturn a little more. Nothing changes with Pontiac with the exception of the Transam. Make the GTO more powerful too and less looking like a Grand Am. Quit throwing the same motor all of your cars... thats gay.

Bring back better personal service and create more aftermarket for the cars they make besides stupid flash upgrades. Remove all there executives because they don't know **** about making a quality car. Retrain the engineers to actually think for themselves rather then cloning every car they make the same way. Make them more unique with more unique motors, drive trains and interiors/exteriors.

 

My 2.4L SS will spank a 67-69 Camaro SS 350. Back in the 60's there were lots of SS models with lots of powertrains. Todays SS models are almost all faster.

 

Ditto.

 

Ditto that too.

 

An AWD sports car. I think thats something GM is missing and needs to pursue. An AWD system would take up space and cost more of course but an AWD Cobalt would be great.

This subject is pretty closely related to what being discussed on the GM Blogs (last 2 posts).
I've left a suggestion for a AWD cobalt, as much of a long shot that is.

GM Blogs

"Specifically though, I promise to work on the creation of a line of small, agile, rear-wheel-drive cars." Sounds good too...


And yeah, there needs to be some solid economical cars. GM is already working on electrically assisted disels I believe. And a line up of cars designed to run off 85% ethenol is in the works.

 

A few ideas:

Here's a hint: Bring back the Camaro.

Also, cut back on the various divisons that are all producing vehicles that are near clones. For example, Pontiac and Chevrolet have meny vehicles that are built on the same platforms and are basically the same (ex. Malibu = G6, Impala = Grand Prix, etc.). Chevrolet and Pontiac should merge (or just dump Pontiac....SORRY Pontiac fans), and keep Cadillac, and Chevy trucks (again, merge Chevy & GMC). It is just stupid to sell an Impala and Grand Prix when you could save money by building only one of these and marketing it to both groups.

I was so dissapointed when GM announced Oldsmobile was being cut, because they had such a good line of attractive vehicles. At the time, I felt that that division had the best vehicles overall. There is not a car that I would not have parked in my garage sold with an Oldsmobile badge. They shold have dumped Buick or Pontiac.

GM is the only company left that recycles cars between it's divisions. The way I see it, they should be like this:

- truck line (merge GMC/Chevy Trucks and include Hummer)
- affordable car line (merge chevy/pontiac, sell Cobalt>>>Corvette)
- Luxury car line (Caddillac, but with some cheaper models that would be like Buick or Oldsmobile)

Just my thoughts, but I think that would be better in the longrun. Chrysler & Ford produce much less individual vehicles and re-use fewer platforms across different vehicles. GM wastes so much money by having all these seperate divisions that are basically plugging out mechanically identical vehicles with only cosmetic differences.

 

I believe you're right....

 

They need a car that appeals to people that buy camry's for chevy not a car thats is better, worse, just equal. All of these specialty cars are not what makes them profits. Also look how long it took the Foreign companies to get of the perception that their cars were junk and GM to lose ground to them, it will take just a long for them to get back. GM vehicles are better right now than they have ever been as far as quality goes but they need to roll out new models faster, the current cars are only as good a lot of manufacturers last generation models.

 

and i agree with sneaky.. kill the ss badging.... it's meant for cars with some real power. these are new times, with new standards and it should take a badass car to get the badging

 

its not the product they can move cars, Lutz has the niche market covered the new lineup of cars are selling well and from what I can tell the fleet sales are good ...with the new line of trucks (which look fantastic) I can only believe that those will sell as well ...the problem is that they loose money on the cars they do sell ...for GM to get back on their feet they are going to need to do something about the UAW. If they can start making some money on the cars they do sell they will be in good shape ...

 

Keep the SS badge for the top oh the line models designed to really use the name...
malibu maxx ss?WTF?

Dont ever think of bringing back the cavvy (phoenix has a **** load of cobalts both lt's and ls's all over the place cavvy is dead people hate the cavvy)

Better more thought out ideas about interior design although the SS cobalts have a very good interior design the follow through was not up to par (door panel inserts)

 

Trucks and big SUVs have been the General's bread and butter for many a year. But in today's world that isn't gonna cut it anymore.

Sure, the trucks are really nice... but the prices they charge for them are rediculously high, and with gas prices the way they are it's just not gonna sell well.

GM needs to focus on making better cars, that's where the sales trend is gonna swing to. The Aveo is crap... the LS/LT Cobalts are average at best compared with the similarly priced imports. The Monte Carlo is just too large to be a coupe. I see Malibus and Impalas doing pretty well, and they're apparently very popular as fleet vehicles.

I do think Chevy is doing a smart thing with the "SS" line... it's not like Ford's (nearly extinct) SVT. They're doing more like Daimler-Benz with the SRT development. Make a more powerful, higher performing car for those who are willing to shell out a little extra dough.

As far as the "clone solution" goes... I'm in with you guys. You can market a few
re-badged items for your lineup, but GM is taking this way too far.

Cobalt/Ion is fine and Silverado/Sierra is okay.. b/c those are different luxury trims. But is with the Trailblazer/Envoy/Rainier/9-7X? Sure, it's a nice mid-sized SUV but 4 models is overkill.

And what is with these new mini-vans? Those are crap... Honda, Nissan, and Toyota are racking up on the soccer mom sales while GM is using the same platform that they have been for the past 10 years.

As a final note (before y'all stop reading this)... all automakers should drop the largest SUV in their lineup. Nobody really needs these things... they hog the roads and eat gas like mad. Nobody really needs them. So do us all a favor and take these things off the road.

 

Honestly? Declare bankruptcy and dump the UAW.

 

If I owned a company or sat on the board of directors, these are examples of things that make sense....
just my thoughts

 

The reintroduction of a wide SS trim level is a good thing. It represents a boost in performance and more accessory options - premium trim. If we went back to SS just on the super performers there would be no Cobalt with the badge.

 

WORD^^^^

 

think I can't eh? Just google the stats there were high 7 sec 0-60mph cars. Guess you never heard of gross hp?

 

Paddle shifting AWD Cobalt SS S/C...!! Enuff Said.!!

 

there are a few GM guys on here....i mean guys who are high up in the CO check the forum

if you dont beleve me than fine....but i'm telling you i know of 2 at least

 

You have to understand one thing though..... THe cobalts although tacky interior is leaps and bounds better than the previous cavaliers.... The standards are better they just need to quicken the rate at which they improve... And BUILD QUALITY! Hondas outlast everything on the road.... when taken care of... Take a page out of their books and build quality cars!

 

Just to confirm Avro's stats... here's a little something I got off of Motor Trend

1967 CHEVROLET CAMARO SS-350 Basic price: $2572 Engine 350-cid V-8 Horsepower @ rpm (gross): 295 @ 4800 Torque, lb-ft @ rpm (gross): 380 @ 3200 Acceleration, 0-60 mph, sec: 8.0 Quarter mile, sec/mph: 15.4/90.0 Braking, 60-0 mph, ft: 156

So... somebody else say the 2.4 isn't worthy of a SS badge...