Will The GM Minicars come to the U.S.?

[CADILLACSIXTEEN]

Will GM's Minicars come to the U.S. After All?

GM Daewoo President & CEO Michael Grimaldi has made some interesting statements recently about the GM minicar concept trio we saw some time back. The same ones that Bob Lutz seemed to soft pedal and discourage enthusiasm regarding - incredibly, just as they were being shown off at NAIAS and we the U.S. public (not people in Korea or China) were asked to vote on them. After all, GM "doesn't speculate on future product" and "doesn't owe us an explanation" of why this or that product might not be arriving in showrooms at some future date. (They just 'slip up' when they tell us a Camaro or Volt is coming years from now...) By contrast, Mr. Grimaldi's statements seem bullish on the minicars, but then again he is the president of GM Daewoo, which would likely be producing or at least engineering the cars, even if Bob's recent appearance on a Fastlane Blog VIDEO CLIP stated "There's no reason that we couldn't produce those cars here," - a hard thing to imagine given the profit margin on every UAW-built Cobalt GM sells (not to mention the fact that the larger-than-Beat Aveo is imported). We've heard folks in the know here say the Beat is a "done deal" for the U.S. market. Is this now becoming the (un)official stance at GM? - Ming

From AutoWeek:

Remember those cool little cars—Trax, Beat and Groove—General Motors showed at the New York show? Michael Grimaldi, president and CEO of GM’s South Korean-based Daewoo Automotive Technology subsidiary, thinks one of those cars, or at least a car like that, will be coming to the United States fairly soon.

Speaking to the Society of Automotive Analysts in Detroit, Grimaldi, a GM vice president, said, “GM doesn’t sell a minicar here in North America because there is no market. If there appears to have been a shift and if we can make those vehicles economically, we can then determine if we should introduce those vehicles here.”

The three concepts were built on Daewoo’s global, Korean-built, small-car chassis that underpins the Chevrolet Spark and the Daewoo Matiz. If GM does end up bringing a minicar to the States, it’s a good bet it will be built either on that chassis or a similar one.

“We are going to see significant changes, in obviously not just GM’s portfolio, but everyone’s products,” Grimaldi said. “It’s going to take a broad comprehensive strategy.”

Grimaldi went on to say that GM expects to invest more than $6.7 billion in Daewoo over the next four years, and that if a minicar is given the green light it could be out in as little as two years as a 2011 model.

SOURCE:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...024/LATESTNEWS

[johnstarnes]

The Beat looks both great and production ready...I suspect it would sell like crazy..here's hoping GM puts it out and soon and with no "watering down" of its visuals...cute little bugger!

[Dave B]

I saw them at the auto show and they were getting a lot of attention. I think there is a market for them and GM should make one of them. They would sell well.

[Smellhound]

Originally Posted by johnstarnes

The Beat looks both great and production ready...I suspect it would sell like crazy..here's hoping GM puts it out and soon and with no "watering down" of its visuals...cute little bugger!

Your 'watering down' comment is key. What this shouldn't be is another Aveo. What it SHOULD be is a car about the Aveo's size with more features and better looking (and of course at a premium price).

The key is to convince consumers (or respond to the fact that they already want) about a car that is the same size or slightly smaller than an Aveo, but yet costs about as much as a mid level cobalt. Of course, the reason it will cost that is you are getting more than 14 inch steel wheels, and seats that look like they came out of a 1991 Geo Metro.

If these cars are produced, I think GM needs to put as much work into them, and make the as feature rich as a Cobalt or Malibu...but just in a much smaller package.

[ronald mcretard]

Originally Posted by Smellhound

Your 'watering down' comment is key. What this shouldn't be is another Aveo. What it SHOULD be is a car about the Aveo's size with more features and better looking (and of course at a premium price).

The key is to convince consumers (or respond to the fact that they already want) about a car that is the same size or slightly smaller than an Aveo, but yet costs about as much as a mid level cobalt. Of course, the reason it will cost that is you are getting more than 14 inch steel wheels, and seats that look like they came out of a 1991 Geo Metro.

If these cars are produced, I think GM needs to put as much work into them, and make the as feature rich as a Cobalt or Malibu...but just in a much smaller package.

i totally agree. if 2011 rolls around and i have a choice between a Beat with good features for $14k and a Volt for $30k, I'll choose the Beat.

[likearock00]

Blah. I don't think there is a market here for a minicar. They look cool, but the key to the success of these cars would be functionality and economy. If they could find a way to get some really good MPG out of these things without them going 0-60 in a half hour, they might have something. If this is going to be a rehash of a smaller Aveo with similar MPG, it'll tank.

[armycam68]

I think they should dig out the stamping for a Chevy Vega. I loved my Red 73 Vega GT! I am sure with the now available tecnology a Vega would be a Super Compact Car. Bring back my Vega!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW...it got 25mpg on a trip with a carburetor. What the hell are the engineers in Chevyland doing...........the answer is not on the golf course!
Bring back a few baby-boomers from retirement to show the X-Generation how to build cars quickly to meet the ever changing market.

[atomicshark]

This trio represents a clean break from GM's usual design thinking. They would compete perfectly against Scion. If GM were to create a new "young" brand it could be done with these cars.

They could easily be sold inside of existing Chevy dealers, just like GEO years ago, but with better style and marketing.

This is not an endorsement for bringing back Geo. That brand is thankfully gone.

[mgescuro]

I think there is a market here in the US for the minicar. But the market isn't as large and will probably be centered around the large metro areas where a minicar will prove to be very useful.

THe key for Chevy is to be able to compete effectively with SMART.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Originally Posted by johnstarnes

The Beat looks both great and production ready...I suspect it would sell like crazy..here's hoping GM puts it out and soon and with no "watering down" of its visuals...cute little bugger!

Guys this car isn't something really small or something never done before... It's approximately the dimensions of a Geo Metro.

[tomcat_cool17]

How are the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa sales so far this year?

[rbost]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

I think there is a market here in the US for the minicar. But the market isn't as large and will probably be centered around the large metro areas where a minicar will prove to be very useful.

THe key for Chevy is to be able to compete effectively with SMART.

In addition to features, I think that unless there is a productivity issues arouns producing us spec and non us spec vehicles on the same assembly line, gm should start importing these from GMDAT asap for sale in the us as a test - limited production.

If successful, then consider producing in NA. If we have to wait for the where in NA this thing will be produced, the momentum behind this will probably have either ebbed or been taken by someone else who got there quicker ( eg SMART )

[eaton53]

They should do the Groove too.... Scion abandoned the segment with the new Xb.

[dallennium]

This is an absolute must.

[T-Type]

Originally Posted by armycam68

Bring back a few baby-boomers from retirement to show the X-Generation how to build cars quickly to meet the ever changing market.

Please, the baby-boomers are the ones that ran GM into the ground. Those baby boomers can stay retired AFAIC.