Lutz and G8
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He should be proud.
Bringing over Opels as Saturns and Holdens as Pontiacs was the obvious idea nobody wanted to do.
Mister common sense.
Last Updated:
He should be proud.
Bringing over Opels as Saturns and Holdens as Pontiacs was the obvious idea nobody wanted to do.
Mister common sense.
Too bad GM America couldn’t do what GM Europe and GM Australia do so well.
Got to give Lutz credit… He is not some song and dance MBA. He gets criticized for speaking his mind but I find it totally refreshing that I feel like he is not trying to con me like some fool MBA.
lets see what the bean-counters at GM do to the G8 before we get our hopes up….but as of now, this seems like a good idea on Lutz’s part.
GM’s got compentant people working for it…
Ford…well….you know.
I love this car.
It’s still shocking to me that the shoddy Grand Prix, and until recently the awful Grand Am existed for as long as they did. While they could have and should have been selling something like this. The G8 is going to fly out of the showrooms.
Definetly a great and sensible move.
But look at ford, they can’t even seem to do it with the focus and maybe instead of renaming the boring 500 to taurus, they could have even tried bringing over that new mondeo. Now that would be genius.
Finally the UAW and bean counters are out of the frickin way… Maybe… We will have to wait and see. Can you imagine a real/competitive car from GM NA? There must be a boom market for Carhart jackets in hell.
I knew from the day he joined that GM would turn around. he’s one of the few true “car” enthusiast executives in the industry who truely appreciates peformance, quality and design. He may have been citicized, but it’s because of him and his team of superb designers and engineers that GM is finally producing the products it needs to. within the next five years, I predict that ALL GM cars will be either class standard or class leading. they’ve made giant leaps in the last five years.
A round of applause for the smartest man in the car biz in recent times.
The Solstice/Sky are still something exotic to behold on American roads.
Don’t get so excited all you GM bigots. Three problems with Putz’s strategy.
1.) Will they ever make a profit on cars like this G8?
2.) Quality is still an unkown.
3.) Honda/Toyota/Nissan are always ahead of GM. For example…the Nissan Altima avialable now is more advanced than this G8 concept car!
when did gm hire the glad garbage bag man to work for them? he’s the perfect spokesman for garbage
How is the Nissan Altima “more advanced” than the G8? In it’s rehashed Maxima design? In it’s use of shoddy interior plastics?
Brian, you sound like an angry angry person. What’s with the name calling? To your points…
1.) Why, as a consumer, do I care about a company’s profits if I like their products? I would happily invest in Toyota, but I would never own a Toyota. If this is important to you, keep in mind that if the car is successful; GM won’t have to discount them, GM will achieve a good economy of scale and it will enhance Pontiacs reputation. This is more of a long-term strategy, not the typical GM quick-fix. There’s a reason that successful companies tend to be the ones that make the best products.
2.) Correct, the quality is unknown. But many GM vehicles rank at the top of quality surveys. And it’s not like GM quality could ever be as bad as Nissans, which you refer to in your third point. Toyota’s quality is suffering from growing pains as well and has handed over many top rankings to GM.
3.) Your Altima is a bad example. It’s a marginal car designed to appeal to the unwashed masses. Now, if you had said the G35…
Yes, HonYotaSan have produced many more appealing mainstream and high-end sedans than GM for thirty years. So? Times change.
Your comments smack of the kind of arrogance that we saw from GM in the 70s and 80s, and Ford in the 80s and 90s. Maybe your attitude is foreshadowing Toyota’s fate.
Misrepresentation will get you nowhere. FYI… the new Nissan Altima was ranked #1 for Family Sedans in their most recent issue. GM was ranked near the bottom. I trust Consumer Reports more than you!!!
Yes I am angry about delusional fools like you who live in a fog. In the meantime the Detroit Metro Area is suffering badly. GM, Ford, and Chrysler has tanked the housing market because of their inability to design and manufacture competitive products. Relying on propagnda will not gain them marketshare or profitability!
Brian,
Please lighten up. I’m not delusional. This is from Autoweek…
“Saturn won’t overthrow Toyota for title of best seller, but it now has a strong package in Aura to start winning over skeptics and making them into believers, as it did with us. In the end, Aura is the better choice.”
I’ll take an automotive publication’s results over one that tests foot massagers. And your opinion doesn’t mean much. It’s no secret that Nissan’s quality is lacking and the interior accommodations are generally pretty chintzy.
Detroit is suffering badly, so? It’s up to the city and the state to offer incentives for industry to stay, like Ohio and Kentucky did. Blame the UAW, blame politicians. But you can’t blame companies who want to source affordable labor. No car manufactures domestic or foreign are choosing to go near that tainted city, or the UAW if they can avoid it. Vehicle production still exists in the world, just not in Detroit.
“Bringing over Opels as Saturns and Holdens as Pontiacs was the obvious idea nobody wanted to do.
Mister common sense.”
While I like to be able to name many variations of the same car spread among several brands with several names over several years, why not just bring Holdens and Opels over-as Opels and Holdens, then?!
More propaganda from a GM bigot or employee.
Here are the facts…
1.) Consumer Reports is a much more credible source on auto quality than Autoweek! When smart people evaluate a car they go to Consumer Reports! And in the most recent issue evaluating family sedans, all american cars were again near the bottom of the pack (except Ford which was near the middle) and the Altima, Camry, and Accord were at the top.
2.) Do not even try to blame the UAW for GM, Ford, and Chrysler inability to design and manufacture competitive products for the past 30+ years! Even if the big three vehicles were priced 20% less, I would not consider buying one due to their shoddy quality, fit and finish and ride!
3.) Detroit’s downfall was directly caused by the deterioration of the big three. These companies leave destruction and dispair when they abandon a city due to their gross incompetence and inability to compete due to INFERIOR MANAGEMENT.
Gorgeous car! But, I will not buy it since GM long term reliability is not there yet. The Japanese figured out 20 years ago that producing cars with at or above average looks, safety, steering and handling, reliability, and fuel efficiency would be a successful formula. I hope Mr. Lutz recognizes the value of this simple but powerful recipe. He certainly does not want to turn GM into another Audi, a car maker with exceptional designs and driving experience, but below average long term reliability.
“More propaganda from a GM bigot or employee.”
Again with the name calling. What’s your deal? Are you fifteen? So you’re aware, what you’re calling “facts” are not facts. They’re your opinions.
The reality is…
1. I do read CR whenever I research just about any large purchase. However you need to use more than one resource to get a well-rounded picture of anything. I would not value the opinion of CR’s rankings as much as an automotive publication because I find topic-specific publications more critical in the ways that I care about. Please continue to cherry-pick whatever articles you wish. The Altima is a very good car. Just not universally ranked as highly as the other choices available.
2. Ford and GM evidently can design and manufacture competitive products anywhere but in the US. What’s the link? The UAW. And again, it’s laughable that you criticize domestic quality, fit and finish and ride. And yet you tout Nissan and speciffically, the Altima. Your rationalization is inconsistant.
3. Detroits downfall was caused prior to the deterioration of the big three. Ford and GM prospered in the late 80s and early 90s, yet they started to pull out of Detroit anyway. And the city did nothing to keep manufacturing there. With NAFTA, Ford and GM were provided incentives to locate in Canada and Mexico. It was the overvalued domestic UAW labor that caused all of this to happen. And,yes, inferior management in the 60s and 70s agreed to these boneheaded union contracts.
“I trust Consumer Reports”
This one phrase says a lot about his sad lack of credibility. As far as the new Nissan Altima being more “advanced” than the G8, how so? The low rent plastics in the interior, the less than solid sound the doors make when closing or the rehashed Maxima styling?