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Originally Posted by Ming
I wish more people would let me have my minicar without attempts to sabotage it with a "can't do attitude". Or a reality-check that somehow sees into the future and assumes "no one" will buy a smaller car "like in Europe".
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How many people here were saying “the Astra would out sell the Civic if GM just sold it here”. And we all know how that turned out.
What we have here is a bunch of car nuts like you that want some turbo mini car loaded with stuff and then we have the vast majority of Americans that have zero interest in a $20,000 mini car.
Americans want reliable, fuel efficient, cheap small cars. Daewoo is only good at cheap. Opel isn’t good at any of that stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ming
Still, you simply have no ground to stand on if you try to take anything away from GM Daewoo's international sales success for GM, as Chevy in Europe, for instance. The Europeans were not going for Trailblazers, Ventures and Astros in huge numbers. That's the sort of car Chevy was offering over there with very limited success. It took GMDAT to turn Chevy of Europe into what it is today, a growing powerhouse. Opel has not seen the same kind of sales growth. Why?
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Last I check Chevy’s sales in all of Europe are in the 200,000 a year range, nothing significant. Opel’s sales are in the 10,000,000 range. Daewoo’s massive growth has to do with the fact that they had nowhere to go but up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ming
There must have been a reason that GM Daewoo came off as more attractive (aside from the styling, which GMDAT models generally have more up-to-date than South American small cars).
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GM bought Daewoo because some bean counter figured out it was the cheapest way for GM to make small cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ming
Or perhaps GM should have stuck with its old Suzuki alliance, and kept pushing for a Metro replacement, instead of bringing the Aveo here.
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Yes if GM actually gave a crap about their small cars that’s what they would have done. And if they had it would be selling like the Yaris is.
Right now GM should be selling a Chevy and/or Pontiac version of the Suzuki Swift and a basic version of the Wagon R.