Driving into GM's future: Concept cars show product plan is on right track

[1931Chevy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs...88/1148/AUTO01
The Camaro convertible concept seats look much nicer than they feel. Really, they're not comfortable at all.

The seat belt doesn't work and the radio is a plastic faceplate -- designed to look impressive, but it doesn't actually play anything.

None of that matters when you get a chance to press the dash-mounted start button and listen to the V-8's deep throaty growl echo through a mountain valley outside of Bakersfield.

Chevy's Mustang fighter comes to life as a production model in 2009, but I got the chance to sit in the driver's seat of the one and only Hugger Orange muscle car last week and start her up.

Engineers have spent hundreds of hours perfecting that rumble, I was told.

Time well-spent, I replied.

As part of General Motors Corp.'s concept tour, the Camaro convertible, and some other concept vehicles such as the teardrop-shaped throwback Holden Efijy and tiny Chevy Beat were shown to journalists and displayed at a few Southern Cal events. And a few lucky dogs got to take a spin.
Easy on the clutch, shift into first and give it a little gas.

While the 2009 Camaro may have ties to the past, it points to GM's future and is proof the automaker is reviving its product line with newfound swagger.

"GM needs to design vehicles that capitalize on its American roots," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with Grand Rapids-based IRN Inc., an automotive consultant. "Vehicles GM can build that no foreign company can do as well."

The three show cars could hardly be more different, but they all point to a creative renaissance at GM. Time was when designers and engineers were in warring camps, each stifling the other.

[63cat]

The Buick Velite or the Buick Riviera should be next.

[megeebee]

Originally Posted by 1931Chevy

"GM needs to design vehicles that capitalize on its American roots," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with Grand Rapids-based IRN Inc., an automotive consultant. "Vehicles GM can build that no foreign company can do as well."

I would say they already do this. I have to wonder what kind of car with "American roots" would sell 400,000 at a time the way the Camry does. Few who live in my neck of the woods want an American anything. They want a Japanese car with Japanese roots.

Honestly, I 'm gettin' kinda' tired of "analysts" telling GM what they should do.

[tamatt27]

I think the only American Roots the Big 3 have left, that they won't likely lose their throne on, are the Muscle Cars and trucks.

[mgescuro]

GM needs to get Park Avenue on the concept tour in the US.... pronto!!
THen they can actually guage real American response to it.

[Havasavana]

Originally Posted by megeebee

I would say they already do this. I have to wonder what kind of car with "American roots" would sell 400,000 at a time the way the Camry does. Few who live in my neck of the woods want an American anything. They want a Japanese car with Japanese roots.

Honestly, I 'm gettin' kinda' tired of "analysts" telling GM what they should do.

I agree. What percentage of people walk into a dealership thinking about American roots; whatever that is? This analyst was a global brand manager at Amway before this gig at IRN.

[yoblues]

Originally Posted by 63cat

The Buick Velite or the Buick Riviera should be next.

First show me a Buick they are going to build not one they might build.

[steverino]

I'm sick of hearing about concepts. How about producing them ASAP and less show & tell

[goochman]

I watched Smokey and the Bandit last night for the first time in a looong while. Whats a shame is that old Trans Am/Firebird looked really good (minus the chicken on the hood) - I had a Camaro of the same design and had some good memories of it - too bad GM lost its edge in winning designs in the consumers mind.

[Aych Es Vee]

It would be so DAMN awesome if they built very limited numbers of the Holden Efijy.

Say, like, 10 or 20 of them ........even just 5 and I'd be very happy.

[mr_bots]

I wish the Beat would be given the green light. Who says a subcompact economy car has to be generic? And I wish I had the money for a Camaro, nothing can beat the exhaust note of a Chevy small block.

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by 63cat

The Buick Velite or the Buick Riviera should be next.

Absolutely, that is a nice looking vehicle.

[asim]

Originally Posted by steverino

I'm sick of hearing about concepts. How about producing them ASAP and less show & tell

I agree. Talk is cheap, we American require products to be satisfied.

[superstreet]

Originally Posted by 63cat

The Buick Velite or the Buick Riviera should be next.

i agree

[tgagneguam]

For me, GM's concept cars are a mixed bag. They demonstrate that when GM understands a market, they really can nail it; really, can anyone find any significant flaw with the Camaro? Of course not, it's friggen gorgeous!

The concept highlights the things that frustrate me the most about GM, too. It was announced 3 years prematurely. And while the concept's lines are fantastic, somehow those same designers seem to be completely out to lunch with virtually every production model that lines dealer lots. There really seems to be a disconnect between concepts and production (the stuff that really pays the bills).

I do believe that if GM put forth a "Camaro" effort-identifying the attributes of each niche and designing a car that addresses those attributes superlatively-with every production model, this talk about legacy costs, yen manipulation, eroding NA share, razor thin profits (in the event any profit is made)... would all be a thing of the past.

Of course, over the past 2.5 decades, we've seen the promised land before. I'm not certain GM will ever get there, though.

(Hmmm, all that from looking at the Camaro concept... again and again).