Not every thread about a Subaru or a Volvo (regardless of the model) degenerates into rants about how they don't offer a competitor with the Fit or the Versa.
I will try not let this get into a rant, but Mitlov, the car business is not about
"canyon carving through the twisties with a shift lever that falls readily to hand, piquing the interest of any autophile," it is about people actually walking into dealerships, plunking down their hard earned dollars, and
buying cars.
It is about making money. Not one of the US makers does this. It is because they do not make products enough people want to buy.
Your tax dollars are about to bail these companies out just for this reason. The dealers have been screaming for an entry level product that could compete with Honda and Toyota for the last twenty years and what we got was the Tahoe, Solstice, Camaro and the G8 because Lutz thought he could generate fat profits off of them.
And he was totally wrong. That is because for every G8 that is sold, Toyota is moving about a bazillion Yaris sedans with option pack B and accessory floor mats, with service pack. And they're movin' the exact same car in Canada, America, Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa and makin' more money on every one they sell. And for the last 30 years, GM just hasn't gotten this point. This is coming from a person who has worked for both Chrysler and GM and seen them alienate their customers for the last 25 years promising them quality product that was never delivered. Our customers were then delivered to the Honda store down the road. Doesn't anybody get this in America?
Fact is, the G8 is about to be sh*tcanned, along with the Solstice, because
GM doesn't sell enough of them to make money on each unit sold.But hey, if you want to pay taxes to bailout a car marker like GM so it can make cars people don't want to buy, I hope Wagoner gives himself a $50m bonus for pulling the wool over your eyes. Why would you need to sell cars when you can feed from the public trough?
