Posted on 09/28/2007 6:17:37 AM PDT by vietvet67
DETROIT: General Motors solved one problem this week by reaching a deal with the United Automobile Workers. Now it hopes its new Chevrolet Malibu will help solve another - winning sales and market share back from its Japanese rivals.
For years, family sedans have been a lower priority for GM and the other Detroit automakers. They focused instead on big trucks and sport utility vehicles, which earned tidy profits, while letting Toyota and Honda dominate the less-lucrative market for cars.
But the best days for those big vehicles have passed, and GM is eager to break the Asian stranglehold on midsize sedans, with a redesigned Chevrolet Malibu set to go on sale Nov. 2 that it views as its most important vehicle in years.
The company is spending $100 million to introduce the new "Bu," as executives call it, significantly more than it has for any other car in recent memory. It has to invest heavily, experts say, in order to make a dent in the market led by the Toyota Camry, the country's best-selling car for the past seven years, and the Honda Accord.
"It's tough to get the broad American public to reconsider an American car in that price class," the vice chairman of GM, Robert Lutz, said at an industry conference in northern Michigan last month. "The Camry and the Accord have established, and justifiably so, such strong brand value, which means that you've got to have a really outstanding car."
While the Malibu may be improved, so is its competition. This month, Honda began selling a redesigned Accord sedan that is bigger, more powerful and more luxurious than previous versions. The Camry and Nissan Altima were also overhauled last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
One of my friends had a Jag like yours. I tried to talk him into getting a used 5 series BMW, but he had his mind set on the Jag. It was a very expensive car to get back to being a nice ride, but he still has it and likes it.
Bzzzt. The 95 XJ has Japanese electrics and was actually more reliable than the Lexus LS400 of the same year. Try again.
Wow, that’s nice. Is that a Holden make?
Um, cite your source, please.
I think you have the wrong mdoel, considering that I *have* the Brit car mag reviews of the XJ from that era, and they don’t say that.
Looks like fun.
Holden Caprice, current/just released model.
“Holden Caprice, current/just released model.”
Sweet. And of course GM has nothing like that over here. Keep building ‘em boring, GM.
To my understanding, the Holden Caprice (nice American name, there, lol) actually will make it to the US market, as a Pontiac.
Not so. As I designer myself, though not one working in the automotive field, I can assure you that GM’s designers are just as good a everyone else. A casual look at their concept cars can verify my stance. The problem is management and accounting.
That being said, an alert observer will see they are starting to put better designs out. Hopefully their quality will follow suit.
God, I can’t stand the term vanilla. I hear that all the time discussing football. “Vanilla” carries negative connotations, despite its most direct meaning being “tried and true.” Investing in diversified mutual funds is certainly “vanilla” but it’s also a tried-and-true recipe for success. It doesn’t really apply to cars since the styles come and go as they have pretty much forever.
I didn’t say, by the way, that the Camry was a prime example of design. I’m stating that it isn’t ugly - far from it, actually. The Camry and Accord strike me as attractive cars - much more so than the Altima. Without dissecting the individual features of each vehicle, I will say that the lines and proportion of the Camry appeal to me while the Altima’s lines and proportions (and odd headlights) do not. It’s a matter of opinion (outside maybe the Honda Element and Toyota FJ, for example, which I think are incredibly hideous).
Please don’t state that the Camry IS ugly. You think it’s ugly and that’s fine. I think anybody who likes Picasso needs a blood, hair, and urine test, but I won’t state that it IS ugly. I just think it’s some of the ugliest work I’ve ever seen. Just acknowledge that you aren’t the authority on what is and is not a stylish car.
No, it’s the Holden VE Commodore, a smaller car, that’s coming over as the Pontiac G8. The Caprice is larger.
“To my understanding, the Holden Caprice (nice American name, there, lol) actually will make it to the US market, as a Pontiac.”
Given the GTO flop, that surprises me.
Oh, also - Holden used to make and sell the American Caprice down there... but when GM stopped making RWD sedans, the Australians didn’t buy into the FWD concept and Holden struck out on their own and built their own platforms with the old names.
Holden’s managed to survive and thrive because nobody at GM USA was paying any attention to what GM Australia was doing. So long as they turned a profit, GM USA could care less. Now GM Aus and their designs might end up saving the company... if GM USA lets it.
The GTO “flop” was entirely due to a marketing campaign that was nothing short of a disaster. The *car* itself was great and got glowing reviews.
I went to buy one, but the GM “buying experience” ran me off.
Well, if it’s just a matter of opinion, there are no authorities, are there? However, studying art and design for six years, and working in the field another quarter century affords me the luxury to express my opinion with more clarity than just saying “I like it”, don’t you agree?
It won’t work. They are fighting the riceburner-lover religion. Jap car owners are convinced those things are superior and nothing could pull them from their religion. Oh no. I have blasphemed again.
“Think I’m going to enjoy driving it? :D”
For a few months...
Of course there are authorities. The biggest authority is the consumer, and I believe that voice has been heard loud and clear regarding the Camry and the Accord.
I’ve studied art and design myself for twenty years, so I think I have a say as well. I acknowledge, at least, that my opinion on the subject isn’t the end of it.
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