Sad Day at GM

[black88gt]

"Coinciding with the release of General Motors' Viability Plan, the automaker has disbanded its High Performance Vehicle Operations team, the crew responsible for the line V-series Cadillacs, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, HHR SS and the V8 version of the Colorado. According to Vince Muniga, a spokesman for the General, "All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold. The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs." Muniga went on to say that there are no plans for high-performance versions of upcoming plans, but once (if?) GM is in a better financial position, the team could be reinstated."

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/18/brea ... perations/ (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/18/breaking-gm-disbands-high-performance-vehicle-operations/)

[Inferno333]

F-ing gay...

And I thought that was some of GM's saving graces.

[ZacFields]

Unfortunately, high performance cars are very low-selling. This move was all about giving the general public (where most of their moo-lah comes from) what it wants.

The Cobalt SS I looked at when I graduated high school in 2004 was listed at around $24,000. It was a great car, but a comparable Cobalt LS (pretty much everything the SS is without the supercharger that year) was about $5,000 cheaper. Then the base model Cobalts were even about $5,000 cheaper than that.

With the way the economy is going, the cheaper cars are all that the majority of people can afford these days. There's always the folks that could shell out the money for the higher-end cars, but there's much fewer of them today than there were 2 years ago.

They'll be back, but GM has officially gone on the defensive. They're just trying to stay afloat through this recession. They'll be back on the offensive (being the innovators and coming out with cool and new cars) once this thing is over.

[ZEE]

They should just file bankruptcy and quit taking the tax payers 'bail out' money. Then they can reorganize, renegotiate union contracts and cut the fat so they can get back on track before the government takes total control over the way they run their business.

[Domestic Disturbance]

Ya, like I said before the performance division is usually just fluff as far as profits go. It's a very specific market that most buyers never consider, price related or not. I'm just hoping the camaro gets good press when they get it out finally.

[Jappbox]

Man... well hopfully this means a new corvette price will be a little cheaper...Might look in to picking one up then.

[Scott]

the corvette will now be available in 4 cyl and with 4 doors :vom:

[lil krumm]

the prices of v8 colorados just shot through the roof. thats what i wanted for a DD.

[Drifte]

Man... well hopfully this means a new corvette price will be a little cheaper...Might look in to picking one up then.
supply and demand says: more expensive, will be even rarer of a car. Although the current production line may be at an all time low price.

[Drifte]

Honda turned to luxury (as well as nissan/toyota) now our "new" cheapo import tuner car is Hyundai, Kia. Then theirs the Chevy Aveo, $9,500 brand new, power nothing, no a/c. A/C costs about $1k more!

[Domestic Disturbance]

toyota turned to junk, and I have the proof in my driveway.

chevy aveo should have been a saturn. that hurts both of those brand names.