Goodbye High Performance GM unit

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

Man... I was kinda digging that cobalt.. I dunno why.. but I was.

I wonder if there still going to come out with the G8 with the big motor and a six speed. I've heard Pontiac will still be around as a special order/niche vehicle anybody have any clue what that means?

nicksta...the G8 GXP is already out (415 hp, 6 speed trans). Pick your poison, manual 6 speed or automatic 6 speed:

www.pontiac.com

Bryce

Thats really a shame. Its what helps drive peole into showrooms and modding their cars to be as good as or better than those halo models.

Dumb move IMO.

atlantamx3 wrote: Thats really a shame. Its what helps drive peole into showrooms and modding their cars to be as good as or better than those halo models. Dumb move IMO.

It is probably hard to justify them on a balance sheet. Quantifying the effect of those cars is difficult.

Bryce

Cool at least they got that one out before it all gets shut down. Hopefully they'll sell a few of them enough to keep them around for a little while. I was in a dealer showroom a couple of weeks ago and they said it wasn't released yet and they didn't know if it was going to be.

I guess they are gonna put those guys to work on the Pelosi.

Holy crap! BAD move GM, really, really bad. This does not look good...

From an enthusiast standpoint, it sucks...but this is EXACTLY what GM should be doing to stay afloat right now.

Seriously, kill off all of the high-performance stuff and focus on the cars that people are actually buying. Once the numbers look a little better...then you can bring back the performance lineup.

Racer1ab wrote: From an enthusiast standpoint, it sucks...but this is EXACTLY what GM should be doing to stay afloat right now. Seriously, kill off all of the high-performance stuff and focus on the cars that people are actually buying. Once the numbers look a little better...then you can bring back the performance lineup.

I totally agree, niche cars, while being our passion, make little to no profit, they are just to draw people into the showroom, then the sales staff sells them a 4 door FWD blandmobile.

Hmmm even in the 70's they didn't let the performance guys go. Do you think GM might be in some sort of financial difficulty? It does make you stop & think.

Seriously, with the new "Stimulus Bill" even if every project in there was 100% just exactly what we needed and stimulated the economy equally all across the country (and neither statement is true) the sheer magnitude of the bill is guaranteed to cause serious inflation and rising interest rates. Somehow it has to be paid for. Having to deal with the fallout of the bill will carry many large companies over the edge. Large companies have serious amounts of accumulated overhead that don't respond well to large changes in the market.

GM is probably anticipating, correctly, that the number of people who will spring for the "exotics" will dwindle to below the level that they can support themselves. So many people will be worried enough about tomorrow that the factory performance car may have to disappear for a while.

And then there's the Grassrooters. We don't need the factory to make our performance cars for us. Sure it's easier with their stuff in the wrecking yards and their blueprints for the how to, but it's not necessary.

So buck up and look on the bright side, your performance car will stand out from the crowd much better because of the rarity.

What a stupid idea, they finally get something right then they quit making it. Typical GM decision.

I wonder if John Hienrcy (sp?) will be out of work now?

gjz30075 wrote: I wonder if John Hienrcy (sp?) will be out of work now?

He retired about 6 months ago

Travis_K wrote: What a stupid idea, they finally get something right then they quit making it. Typical GM decision.

I don't think they have much choice. It sucks for enthusiasts but obviously their back is against the wall.

Xceler8x wrote:

Travis_K wrote: What a stupid idea, they finally get something right then they quit making it. Typical GM decision.

I don't think they have much choice. It sucks for enthusiasts but obviously their back is against the wall.

in all likelyhood they lose money on these special cars.. I doubt the volumes are even close to breaking even. So sad.. but they'll be back. I think. maybe.

I still can't beleive they are getting rid of Saturn and keeping Buick and GMC.

What's going to happen to Saab? I didn't get a chance to go through all the coverage yesterday.

carguy123 wrote: Seriously, with the new "Stimulus Bill" even if every project in there was 100% just exactly what we needed and stimulated the economy equally all across the country (and neither statement is true) the sheer magnitude of the bill is guaranteed to cause serious inflation and rising interest rates. Somehow it has to be paid for. Having to deal with the fallout of the bill will carry many large companies over the edge. Large companies have serious amounts of accumulated overhead that don't respond well to large changes in the market.

You don't think that all the money we are borrowing for the surge in Afghanistan and all the military spending in Iraq might be inflationary as well?

Yeah because GM will sell soooooo many Camaro's if there's no halo model. Please! I'm the biggest GM supporter here and even I think this is a stupid idea. People go into dealerships to look at these cars. They may not be able to afford them, but a lot of them end up buying something anyways. If there's nothing interesting in the showroom, people don't come in! This would be like Mazda closing up Mazdaspeed, killing the MS3 and RX8, and expecting people to still walk in.

P71 wrote: People go into dealerships to look at these cars. They may not be able to afford them, but a lot of them end up buying something anyways. If there's nothing interesting in the showroom, people don't come in!

I don't have data.. but.. I'm going to stick my neck out there and say that something like 95% of the car buying public dosen't know what the hell a mazdaspeed 3 is... Corvette yes.. Viper yes.. Hotted up cobalt.. not really.

The division wasn't making money it was cut.

Snowdoggie wrote: You don't think that all the money we are borrowing for the surge in Afghanistan and all the military spending in Iraq might be inflationary as well?

There are a lot of things inflationary out there, just none that have ever been the magnitude of this spending package. On top of a lot of other things, the bill is turning out to be the final nail in a lot of coffins.

Many inflationary things out there sorta grow and you don't know where they're headed so you keep working and hope things don't change too much. The bill on the other hand lays it out there and companies can make better predictions of the changes in store or more easily see the handwriting on the wall.

With companies like GM I'm sure their pundits were working on it's impact from the get-go. Once it was in place they simply said "OK, here's what we have to do to survive" and the axe fell on some of the less profitable portions of the company.

ignorant wrote:

P71 wrote: People go into dealerships to look at these cars. They may not be able to afford them, but a lot of them end up buying something anyways. If there's nothing interesting in the showroom, people don't come in!

I don't have data.. but.. I'm going to stick my neck out there and say that something like 95% of the car buying public dosen't know what the hell a mazdaspeed 3 is... Corvette yes.. Viper yes.. Hotted up cobalt.. not really. The division wasn't making money it was cut.

I would have to agree. Most people seem pretty focused when they go car shopping; a buyer steps into a dealership and says, "I want a sedan/minivan/truck, show me what you've got." Few minivan shoppers are going to step into a GM dealership, for example, even if there is a cool halo car on the showroom floor.

Performance cars have to stand on their own, profitability-wise. Hence why you see so many sports cars that share their architecture and engines with their lesser siblings. If a performance car doesn't make any profit, then it has to go when the times get rough.

I doubt that this spells the end for HiPo models from GM. Perhaps someone with more historical knowledge can help me out here, but I seem to remember GM "oficially" getting out of racing before, but some very special cars slipped out the back door or were avaialble if you knew the right RPO code. And IIRC Dodge wanted performance models in the early 80's but had no in-house performance arm, so Shelby got the contract and we got the Omni GLH, etc. I hope that GM is not going to let the best FWD performance car value of the decade slip away that easily! They may not need the Halo effect of the SS cars, but my hope is that you can still order one, even if it isn't advertised.

My suggestion, Code ZL1. You can get the supercharged V8 in whatever Chevy you want by checking this box. Obvious on the CTSv, more fun on the Aveo!

ignorant wrote:

Xceler8x wrote:

Travis_K wrote: What a stupid idea, they finally get something right then they quit making it. Typical GM decision.

I don't think they have much choice. It sucks for enthusiasts but obviously their back is against the wall.

in all likelyhood they lose money on these special cars.. I doubt the volumes are even close to breaking even. So sad.. but they'll be back. I think. maybe.

IMo the reason they are in this situation in the first place is that they havent made much other than boring rental cars for years. Now just when they come out with one i actually liked (cobalt ss) they are going to go back to making crap again.