Posted on 11/26/2008 7:02:07 AM PST by yankeedame
GM's current precarious situation didn't come about overnight. There are arguments to be made that various government regulations led to the disaster and that management can't escape much of the blame, and there are plenty who contend it was a series of disastrous union labor contracts that have put the company at risk. But there's one thing everyone agrees on: Over the past few decades GM put some truly terrible products out on the market. Unreliable, uninteresting and flat ugly, these were cars that simply destroyed GM's reputation....
1. 1971-1977 Chevrolet Vega
Legend has it that when Chevrolet Division Manager John DeLorean went to the GM Proving Grounds to get his first look at a prototype of the new 1971 Chevrolet Vega, the front of the car literally fell off onto the ground. But that bad omen didn't keep DeLorean from putting the Vega on the market.
Responding to increased import sales, the Vega showed up at the same time as Ford's similarly ill-fated Pinto. Both were relatively conventional cars by Detroit standards, with their four-cylinder engines in front sending power back to a solid rear axle. In fact, the only innovative thing on the Vega was the all-aluminum block around which its 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine was constructed.
Unfortunately, the art of building aluminum engine blocks was in its infancy back in 1971 and the unlined cylinder walls of Vega engines were scoring almost instantly. That led to lots of oil burned and early death for this engine. Throw in haphazard build quality and sheetmetal that you could practically hear rusting away, and the Vega truly rates as one of GM's great debacles.
But the Vega was actually a sales success. Chevy sold nearly 268,000 during the 1971 model year, over 390,000 during 1972, almost 396,000 during 1973, and over 450,000 during 1974 (sales finally collapsed during the 1975 model year). After all, its mini-Camaro looks were handsome and in an era of fuel shortages it was pretty stingy on gas. Plus, back then there were millions of buyers who insisted on buying only American products. But ultimately that meant there were just that many more people disappointed by the Vega. By the mid-1980s, Vegas were being junked so aggressively that some salvage yards in Southern California had signs up saying they wouldn't accept any more. When even the junkyard won't take a car, that's trouble
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2. 1980-1985 X-Cars
It's hard to imagine the hoopla that surrounded the introduction of the all-new 1980 Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Citation, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix in April of 1979. These four awkwardly proportioned "X-Body" front-drivers directly replaced GM's rear-drive compacts (of which the Chevy Nova was the most prominent) and promised a revolution in how the corporation designed and built cars. Chevy alone sold an incredible 811,540 Citations during that prolonged 1980 model year based on that promise. Unfortunately, the reality was that these four- and six-cylinder cars probably suffered more recalls and endemic problems than any other GM vehicle program.
The problem wasn't so much the basic engineering of the X-Body cars as it was that no one apparently spent any time doing the detailed engineering that determines a car's success. So customers complained of disintegrating transmissions, suspension systems that seemed to wobble on their own mounts, and brakes that would make the whole car shudder every time they were applied. There were so many niggling faults and a seemingly endless series of recalls that sales of the car almost tanked by its third year. Still, through 1985, a few million escaped to the public, souring hundreds of thousands on GM.
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3. 1976-1987 Chevrolet Chevette
The Chevrolet Chevette was already outdated when it appeared in 1976. Based on GM's "T" platform, it was a primitive, front-engine, rear-drive subcompact in a small-car world that was busy being revolutionized by front-drive cars such as the Honda Civic and Accord, Volkswagen Rabbit and Ford Fiesta. It was underpowered too, originally being offered with a 1.4-liter Four making 53 hp or a 1.6-liter version of the same engine rated at 70 hp.
Chevrolet saved itself a lot of development time and money by picking up the Chevette design from GM Brazil. The Georgia-built small car was a solid sales success too, selling almost 450,000 units in 1980 alone. But it was always a car that sold strictly on price, with no real virtues of its own. And it was a huge help to Chevrolet in sneaking in under the federally mandated CAFE standards. But it also meant that for 11 years GM didn't bother developing an advanced small car specifically for the American market.
In fact, when it finally came time to replace the Chevette in 1987, what Chevrolet did was create the "Geo" sub-brand and put redecorated Isuzus and Suzukis onto the Chevette's bottom rung on the model ladder. In truth, Chevrolet has never had a homegrown vehicle in this subcompact segment since the Chevette died, and that could be one of the company's greatest missteps of all.
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4. 1982-1988 Cadillac Cimarron
There's nothing wrong with the idea of a smaller, more athletic Cadillac. But it was a terrible idea to rebadge the Chevrolet Cavalier and attempt to pawn it off as a true Cadillac.
The compact J-Car program was already well under development at GM by the time Cadillac decided it wanted a version of its own. With little time on its hands and no desire to spend much money, what they came up with was a Cavalier with a different grille, a slightly modified interior and some hydraulic dampers between the body and front subframe. Otherwise, the 1982 Cimarron was powered by the same 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine as the Cavalier, backed by either a four-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission.
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.
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5. 1991-1995 Saturns
Saturn was GM's attempt at a do-over. Starting with a fresh plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., and a fresh labor agreement in that location with the UAW, the idea was that GM would create a fresh dealer network that would sell fresh new products in a refreshingly straightforward manner. It didn't quite work out that way.
Actually GM did a rather good job of setting up the plant, dealers and "no haggle" sales schemes - Saturn buyers really did seem to enjoy shopping at and buying from Saturn dealers.
But Saturn's cars were thoroughly mediocre. Built around a steel space-frame with plastic body panels bolted on, there were gaps between the panels big enough to stick a hand through. Yes, the plastic panels were resistant to collision damage, but they discolored and faded quickly, and as they aged, they cracked. Beyond that, the first Saturns had four-cylinder engines that sounded like threshing machines but didn't make a lot of power. These cars were nothing special in either handling or looks, and they were neither particularly space- nor fuel-efficient. At least they weren't unreliable. But Saturn's cars were simply no match for competition from Honda, Toyota, Mazda and a half-dozen others.
So GM, which got so much right when launching Saturn in 1990, blew the opportunity to build a new, loyal customer base by not getting the product right.
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6. 2001-2005 Pontiac Aztek
When Pontiac introduced the Aztek crossover vehicle for 2001, it was actually getting a jump on a new market. Unfortunately, however, the Aztek was just about the ugliest thing anyone could remember being unleashed on America's roads since the 1958 Edsel. No, that's not fair — the Edsel was way better looking than the Aztek.
Pontiac had shown the Aztek in concept form back in 1999 and, generally speaking, the reviews were excellent. But while engineering the concept vehicle as a production machine, GM took an incredible wrong turn: the corporation decided to base the new Aztek on the existing platform of its front-drive minivans. And because the minivans had certain dimensions that would be expensive to change, the Aztek wound up with some of the most awkward dimensions imaginable. For instance, the minivans' tall firewall and resulting high cowl worked fine on those plain boxes, but left the Aztek appearing tall, narrow and oddly fragile.
Compounding the mistake of was the Aztek's horrid shape, and the whole thing was covered in awful, gray plastic cladding. Hideous.
In its defense, the Aztek was roomy and versatile and had solid, easygoing road manners. But that was nowhere near enough to compete with the Japanese crossovers.
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7. 1978-1985 Oldsmobile Diesel V-8s
From the late 1970s and into the early '80s, Oldsmobile sold the most popular car in America: the Cutlass. Olds was on a sales roll; it seemed nothing would be able to stop the division. Then came the Oldsmobile diesels, and stopping is exactly what they did best.
Instead of designing a new series of diesel engines from scratch, GM decided to base its new diesel V8 architecture on the existing gasoline Oldsmobile 5.7-liter V8's. Of course the modifications were extensive in order to handle the 22.5:1 compression ratio of diesel operation—much stouter iron block, new cylinder heads, reinforced bottom end—but it was still a series of modifications rather than a clean-sheet design. Soon after the 5.7-liter diesel V8 debuted in Oldsmobile full-size 88 and 98 models (during 1978), the engines started tearing themselves apart.
That extreme fragility was despite the fact that the 5.7-liter diesel option cost between $800 and $1000 extra per car and only made a puny 120 hp and a stingy 220 lb-ft of peak torque at 1600 rpm. In short, these engines were awful. But the 4.3-liter version of the diesel V8 was even worse—rated at only 90 hp, it was somehow even more fragile.
The diesel V8s (and a short-lived diesel V6) were eventually offered throughout most of the Oldsmobile line and spread to the other vehicle divisions as well. And when the engines inevitably blew up, the cars they were in would either head to an early death in a junkyard or have a more reasonable powerplant swapped in.
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8. 1981-1984 Cadillac V-8-6-4
There was nothing wrong with the theory behind GM's attempt to turn Cadillac's throttle-body injected 6.0-liter V-8 into an economy engine during the 1981 model year. The technology was called "Modulated Displacement" back then, and the idea was that as engine load decreased, fewer cylinders in the engine would actually be fired to produce power. In other words, at full throttle, the "V-8-6-4" was a V8, as it reached speed it became a V6 and when cruising it was a V4. That was the theory; in reality, most of the time these engines were just broken. Conceptually it's almost identical to what GM is selling today as Active Fuel Management on some V8s.
The old Modulated Displacement system worked by altering the rocker-arm fulcrum so that intake and exhaust valves on particular cylinders were held shut by their springs. Unfortunately the solenoids and primitive electronics that were supposed to make this work rarely worked themselves. And even when the V-8-6-4 was running on all eight cylinders it was only making a laughable 140 hp.
Even though GM abandoned the V-8-6-4 in everything except limousines after just one year, the damage was done. Here was one more half-developed, cynically marketed technology that GM just couldn't make work.
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9. 2003-Present Hummer H2
Going strictly on functionality, the Hummer H2 is a capable machine. It's very good off-road, it rides reasonably well on-road, it's plenty powerful enough, can tow a lot, and will hold a few people and a lot of their stuff. And since it's based on the same platform as GM's full-size SUVs, the corporation makes a lot of profit on every one it sells. Function, however, isn't the H2's problem.
The problem with the H2 is that it's proudly politically incorrect in an era when the forces of political correctness are winning. The H2 gets crummy fuel mileage, its looks come straight out of the military at a time while the military is fighting an unpopular war, and it's freaking huge. Some people may actually like peeving off their neighbors by being rebellious in their vehicle choice, but an antisocial image is tougher for a large corporation to pull off.
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. The H2 came to embody GM's presumed environmental callousness and the environmentalist fringe was vandalizing both Hummer dealerships and random civilian-owned vehicles. But worst of all for GM, when gas crested past $3 a gallon, the H2's sales cratered and they haven't recovered.
The Hummer H2 is a self-inflicted headache GM doesn't need.
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10. 1997-1999 EV1
Even today, the two-seat GM EV1 remains one of the best-engineered, best-working pure electric vehicles ever released to the public. With clever engineering throughout its aluminum structure, an incredibly aerodynamic body and a whole bunch of lead-acid batteries, the first-generation EV1 was able to go maybe 75 miles if driven with extreme care. The second-generation EV1 with nickel-metal-hydride batteries upped that range to about 150 miles.
The problem with the EV1 was that it was almost impossible to drive in traffic with anything approaching the ideal technique the car needed to stretch its range. So its real world range was often down around 40 miles and driving it was often a white-knuckle thrill ride as the driver tried to stretch out every last electron to make it to a charging station.
GM built the EV1 to satisfy a mandate from the state of California that 2 percent of a manufacturer's fleet sold there be zero-emissions vehicles (that number would rise to 10 percent by 2003). However, the EV1 and electric vehicles built by other manufacturers finally convinced the California Air Resources Board that the zero-emissions mandates weren't achievable by then-current technology. This led to the cancellation of the mandate.
So GM canceled the EV1, and when the leases on the 1117 it had produced ran out,GM took them back and crushed them. To the committed environmentalists who had leased one, that was completely unacceptable. And suddenly the world was full of conspiracy theories about why GM "killed" the electric car (see the movie clip below). If the Hummer H2 makes GM seem callous toward the environment, the way GM handled the EV1 makes the company seem downright hostile. It's been a public relations nightmare.
However, the experience GM gained by producing the EV1 may pay off in the long run as many lessons learned with that car are being ported over to the new 2011 Chevrolet Volt.
Sometimes even the darkest clouds can have shiny silver linings.
In the past, GM vehicles typically had problems with electical components after 40k miles. Ford’s weak spot was usually the transmission at 60K. I swore off (and at) both many years ago.
You know I had three of those Chevettes, which I bought for 500 bucks or so each used and I came to know it so well from the work that had to be done on them that I came to have a perverse affection for them, although some features of the design, such as the placement of the A/C compressor, were quite stupid.
The vehicle that put me over the edge about GM is also one I kept when I bought a new Hyundai in April-my 01 Aztek. It had all the usual Aztek failures, and yeah it’s ugly, but you never had to look at it while driving it and it is versitile and fairly frugal. My beef with GM was a transmission that died early at 60K and the attitude at GM customer service about it. I’d have been happy if they’d have gone 50/50 with me but they weren’t interested in helping at all. The rebuilt transmission has gone twice the distance of the old one.
But here’s the probllem with GM. Over the first 3 years, the following items failed-transmission, AC, fuel sender, lower intake manifold gasket, battery, O2 sensor, rear hatch struts, body control module-and the air cleaner housing is the worst item to deal with ever. To get the Aztek I traded a Suzuki Sidekick that went 120K on gas, oil, spark plugs and one set of brake pads. And GM sold it’s stake in Suzuki....
Honestly, I love my GM Chevey Avalanche. 60,200 miles and not a single problem, used it to tow campers and sailboats, firewood, 4x4 on snow and ice, backcountry and city driving. Throw the 3x kids in the back seat after school and they’re not crowded... I’ll happily buy another one it’s been such a good work vehicle.
Very close to my own sentiments. I own a Mazda, and it's a great little car. I also own a 2001 Dodge Dakota with more than a quarter million miles on it. Of course, it was a Daimler product, so it's still running.
No matter what the big 3 do from now on, until they get rid of the UAW, I won't buy another new vehicle made by them. In fact, I'm trying to reduce my entire organized labor footprint as much as possible. The union label means it stays on the store shelf when I see it.
The first car I ever owned myself was a used Chevette back in 1981. The driver’s side floor rusted out which was a common thing to happen to Chevettes.
I “obtained” a street sign that fit perfectly where the floor panel rusted out.
bump
Great article, but it would be even better if it mentioned the other marques that GM invested-in and proceeded to damage through insane product and technology choices.
Subaru, for example. One word: Tribeca.
If there’s one thing to hope for, it’s that Detroit has learned two key lessons from the Japanese: listen to the customers, and sweat the details. They can compete when they pay attention.
My one and only GM that I ever owned was due to my wife, while shopping she found a 89 Lesabre she liked (this was around 94), all the ratings on them were fairly good, and buying american meant that mechanics knew how to work on them right???
WRONG.
The coil packs went bad, and no mechanic could seem to figure it out, they’d replace the O2 sensor, it would work a week or two and then refuse to start, only to start without a problem 1/2 an hour later.. this went on for countless tows and “fixes”. Apparently every mechanic just hooked up the code reader the reader told them o2, so they replaced the O2.. turns out NO it wasn’t the O2, it was the COIL PACKS.. and they weren’t monitored by the computer. (I finally figured this out myself by doing some online investigating and ordered a mechanic to replace them) Finally this problem solved... less than a few months later the transmission dropped at 3am while we were on a trip and over 500 miles from home with another 500 miles to go.
The car had a whopping 60,000 miles on it, and was babied more than any other car I have ever owned even to this day.
That was my one and only experience with GM, and sadly for GM and her employees it will remain my one and only experience with them. I never held them in high regard and they basically proved me correct not to. Oh and just for the record, my coworkers buick just dropped its tranny 2 months ago with 60,000 miles... his was a 96.
I’ve owned many Fords in my day and never had a one of em die on me, I’ve owned Toyotas, Mazdas, VW’s, Chryslers as well... My fords cars had their idiosyncracies but they were reliable, ford full size vehicles I have owned are beyond compare, nothing else out there comes close. If ford could get the reliability and build quality of their full size divisions into their passenger cars they’d have no issues, as long as they let their Euro division style them... Man have they missed the boat on styling for a long long time.
I am willing to own just about any brand I have owned in the past again, with the exception of the GM family. I’d love not to feel that way, but honestly I will not put my money on the line with one of their products ever again, I can’t tell you how much money I wasted on that coil pack problem, and limping a car off the interstate at 4am with your 10 day old son in the back while you are trying to get to florida because your father in law has just had a stroke is something you damned well remember the rest of your life.
60,000 miles in the shop constantly and completely babied????
I basically spent the next day buying a new car so I could get to where I needed to be, too a huge hit on the trade in, and paid an incredible amount of stupid tax for going against my better judgement and letting the Mrs. buy a GM in the first place. Lesson learned.
In defense of the engineers who designed the Vega, let’s put some blame on the hard working, scum sucking UAW members at the Lordstown, Ohio plant who sabotaged it.
As for the Chevette, yeah that’s a management problem.
Me too. What a mistake.
All the UAW workers in the world can’t fix flawed design. UAW didn’t have anythign to do with the engine being a fatally flawed construct.
Believe me I won’t defend the UAW, but the vega was destined for failure on the drawing board.
I once bought a running Chevette for $50. My friends were universal in their opinion that I was robbed. I drove that car for two (long) years. After 730 days of constant foot-to-the-floor acceleration, I think I got it up to 65 miles per hour.
Yeah, my 2 Chevy’s and Ford drove me to Nissan and I don’t know when I would trust them with a $25,000 purchase again. Especially when I see how poorly they hold their value.
My brother had a diesel chevette years ago,it got 48mpg. The only reason he got rid of it is because it got beat up so bad that the drivers door wouldn't close.
Trucks have always been the saving grace of GM. Unfortunately, they crank out alot of crap cars.
No one wants to gut our manufacturing ability for the military. But we don’t want to prop up an industry that has shown for 30 years that it doesn’t really care about it’s business practices.
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