What do you think the chairman of General Motors is driving this year?
F Not a Monte Carlo. After resurrecting the popular car as a pudgy sedan, GM finally got the lines right and gave the Monte the sporty look it deserved. They stopped making it in 2007.
F Not a Grand Prix, one of the best all-round cars GM has made. How about the Grand Am? The Vibe? There was a hot seller. They stopped making Pontiacs last year.
F Not an Oldsmobile. The sporty Alero sedan and the Bravada had quite a following, as did the Intrigue. Olds production ended in 2004.
Maybe it’s a GM policy: when superfluous models drag down the bottom line, eliminate the entire division, including the money-makers.
Here’s an idea: Build on product strengths instead of amputating a leg to cure an ingrown toenail.
What GM decides to do does matter. The American public has financed GM’s way out of near-bankruptcy. We want it to succeed enough to pay its debts in cash, not in stock certificates.
America’s former corporate powerhouse shows signs of revival now, thanks to the bailout, a sales bump from the stimulus money and the end of the drag of unpopular models within popular lines of cars.
Those solutions are one-time changes; they’re not long-term.
But, what if GM returned to producing only the popular models of its former lines, instead of adding models with no significant market share that actually competed against other GM lines?
What if GM started making distinctive-looking cars again, instead of barely tweaked lookalikes?
What if GM stopped issuing stupid memos — it’s “Chevrolet,” not “Chevy” — that insults every Chevy owner in the country?
What if GM’s leaders weren’t simply businessmen, but businessmen with an absolute, utter passion for cars? Maybe somebody like Papa John’s owner, John Schnatter.
Schnatter sold his early-’70s Z-28 Camaro in 1983 to start a pizza restaurant.
After Papa John’s success, Schnatter offered $250,000 in a national search for the car. When the Camaro finally came home last year, Schnatter celebrated by giving away more than 35,800 free pizzas to Camaro owners.
Now, that’s passion.
It’s the kind of passion that spurs automakers to build distinctive cars that turn into classics. The kind of cars that, once you’ve owned them, you’re never quite content until you’ve got them back. The kind of cars, in fact, that John Schnatter and the rest of us want in our garages.
GM has built those cars in the past. The question is, can they — will they — do it again?
Bobbi Mlynar
Reporter
joecitizen (anonymous) says...
okay, so we're waiting....... what is he driving? a Camry?
June 22, 2010 at 11:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I ordinarily buy used cars, but in my life, I have bought two brand new right-off-the- showroom floor cars. The first was a 1966 Mustang GT, and the second was a 1981 Z-28 Camaro, the last of the big body Camaros. Oh my but I loved those cars. When I sold them, they brought more than what I paid for them because within a short time, they had become so adored by collectors who could see their value. Wish I had either one or both right now.
Okay, Bobbi, tell us what kind of car the GM chairman is driving.
June 23, 2010 at 7:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Technically the GM chairman does not drive. He is driven around in a bullit-proof Cadillac limo with an American flag on one fender and the presidential flag on the other. :-)
June 23, 2010 at 7:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LAZER (anonymous) says...
Sad thing about cars today, when compared to when I was growing up...and even into my 30s: They all Look Alike. I have to search the car for the Brand Name.
I and my wife are very enamored of our 1998 Ford Escort Wagon. It is unique. I was disappointed in that, as I understand, 98 was the last model year for the Escort, replaced by the Focus--a funny looking (to me and my wife anyway).
Most cars and suv's are getting wierder and wierder looking every year. However, almost everything is going that way, too!
(Including Country Music...IT AINT' COUNTRY, FOLKS! Crap is more like it...all songs sound the same...no melody, more of a RAP recording--no, it and RAP...Ain't Even Music!
Later...
Sign me LAZER
June 23, 2010 at 8:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justaflushaway (anonymous) says...
Create, What was the car you and the Sgt had when you moved to Kansas?, Seems to me it was a blue 55-56 Chevy, I remember that it had Hawaii Tags on it,, yea I know that was a longggggggg time ago.
June 23, 2010 at 11:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
justaflush, OMG, yes that was a looooong time ago. It was a maroon '55 Chevy Bel Air with all its own chrome intact which is a rarity. It was our family car for awhile. In fact, we drove it cross country from San Diego.
Yup, it had Hawaii tags on it, and it brought several second looks. I remember how one person had asked my husband how we got the car to Kansas from Hawaii. He said, "Oh, didn't you know? They built a new bridge." The look he got said the man didn't know whether to believe him or not.
On another note, while my husband was in recruiter school in San Diego, I had put the car on a barge in Honolulu that was bound for San Diego. As luck would have it, the barge was also carrying a load of raw sugar. When we picked up the car in Dago, it was sugar-coated. Took several times through a car wash to get it clean. That was in 1975.
Unfortunately, Jim died before he could complete renewing that car. He had plans to paint it blue and white since maroon was not a stock color. He had the engine in perfect shape. Someone on vacation from Connecticut saw it by chance here in Emporia and offered me a price I could not refuse.
Thanks for remembering.
June 23, 2010 at 12:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Well, since we are going waaaaaaaay back to first cars owned. My very first car I owned, was when I was a junior in high school. It was a 1947 Plymouth Business Coupe which I paid the whole sum of $ 50 . I bought it from my uncle and drove it until I graduated from high school . I have owned a miriad of cars since then. Including a 1957 Ford Custom 2 dr., 1964 Ford Fairlane, 1967 Ford Fairlane GT ( 375 h.p. 390 ), sweet car, a 1968 Chevelle HT w/ highely modified 350, bored and stroked to 383 cu., also a sweet car, 1937 Chevrolet P.U. w/ 350 c.u. chevy, a 1956 Ford p.u. with a 390 c.u. Rambler Scrambler engine in it, which was a real oddity and several others . My sister owns a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT, a real sweet ride and I now own a 1973 Dodge Club Cab p.u., which I still drive. I love cars, always have since my dad sat me on his lap and let me drive his 1931 Studebaker Broham, which was about 16 years old at that time, the car, not me I believe I was about 4 or 5 at the time and I have had a love of cars, trucks and trains ever since, as my father and several uncles worked for the Santa Fe Railroad for over 20 years.
June 23, 2010 at 3:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Oh, yea and the one vehicle I had that I had big plans to make a street rod out of was a 1923 Phone Booth Model T Ford . But I never did get around to being able to do anything with it and sold it to a fellow from Oklahoma.
If you would like to see what a 1923 Phone Booth Ford is go to , http://www.redbubble.com/people/lexsi...
Of course this picture is one that has been street rodded .
June 23, 2010 at 3:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
USNretired (anonymous) says...
My Jeep Wranglers still look like Jeeps, even the 2008 is still a Jeep from first glance.
Big Ed is a Texas boy that drives a Caddy CTS-V.
June 25, 2010 at 5:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )