Anyone who doesn't think people in different groups inside GM aren't lobbying to cut some other group instead of their group is naive. Cutting 25% of their white collar jobs is huge. That's 1/4 of their engineers, marketeers, designers, etc. Everyone is trying to point to the other guy as a way to save their own skins. 30K Vettes a year is less way less than the Cruze is making, which is being axed completely, along with it's plants. Just 3 years ago the Cruze was one of GM's star products. Today, people want mini- Suv's. GM was too slow to react.

Don't think about the plants. Think about the brains that make the products that go into those plants. Anyone at GM not working on new cross overs and electric vehicles now is subject to reassignment or the ax. Reassign their priorities and find out how slowly the wheel grinds.

 

Google how/why Ford is not touching the Mustang and you might begin to see why the Vette won't be touched.

It's prudent to trim underperforming lines, even though job cuts are hard...

Only thing to me that could derail the ME at this point is another global credit meltdown, leading to another GM bankruptcy.

I'd bet against your prediction with reasonable odds. It's a challenge for a big automaker to adapt to the new climate for sure, but over? Not nearly yet.

GM improving its operating margins is actually a good thing, which is why investors bid it up. As long as credit markets are good (so far, not 2008), it has cashflow (it does), and it can execute on a plan (prob good idea to keep Vette and ramp up on EV), it's ok.

It'd be one thing to bet against Aston Martin, which has had seven bankrupcies and is operating alone, trying to raise cash through IPO...

 

Autoline Daily reports that GM is shuttering business in India, South Africa, Russia, and a few other countries. The fact that they are killing off sedans leads me to believe they are following Ford's lead and concentrating on the SUV/CUV market. What that means for the Corvette is still unknown. But I'm concerned that there's been absolutely no marketing of the C8 to date. By this time in 2013, teaser commercials were appearing. If GM has a master plan for the C8/Cadillac variant, this is the best-kept secret in the industry. No one is talking.

 

GM's advertising sucks! Other car makers showcase their products with glamor...GM has a bunch of yahoos looking at trucks.

 

Obviously GM could build a Corvette SUV and probably will because Corvette is their strongest nameplate. Electrification is coming too. Genovation has already electrified the Corvette with 800 hp. https://www.carscoops.com/2018/11/st...nds-la-800-hp/

 

 

Yeah, and Genovation also stuck an electric motor and a huge battery in a C6 Z06 and "proudly" acclaimed that it would do 200 MPH, and only cost $300,000.

Hell, GM said , back in 2005, that the new 2006 C6 Z06 could hit 198 MPH in 100% pure stock form, straight from the factory, for just $65,000.

I bet my C6 Z06, with it's CAI and high flow heads and a tune will get that additional 2 MPH so I can claim that my Z06 will do 200 MPH, and I did it for way less that the additional $235,000 that the EV C6 Z06 cost.

Even a 100% pure stock 2009 C6 ZR1 at $120,000 with a measly 638 HP will do 205 MPH.

Gee, I wonder what would happen if I spend an additional $10,000 for an 80 pound Edelbrock supercharger, and have 657+HP and still have a measly 3250 pounds of weight to accelerate to 200+ MPH.

Do you know what the top speed of a 2019 C7 ZR1 is, with it's 755 HP ICE?

 

You would get about 15 mpg while the GXE gets the equivalent of 50+ mpg. The 1960's are over and gas guzzlers are out.

 

Wrong. Cruising down the highway at 70 MPH I now get 30+ MPG in my C6 Z06. adding a Edelbrock supercharger will not alter that as it only has 1/3 HP parasitic draw when not in boost(like what happens when just cruising down the highway and not racing Camry's).

Plus I don't have to send clothes ahead to motels along the way via FedEx when I want to do a two week road trip, and I can find a gas station anywhere to get another 450 miles of driving pleasure. Adding a supercharger under the hood does not eliminate any of the 22 cubic feet of cargo space in the rear of my Z06 as does adding a huge battery to an EV Corvette.

Have you ever considered how much money will have to be spent building additional electrical powerplants, transmission lines, and local sub-stations etc if all the present 17 million vehicles sold each year in the US were charging their batteries? Currently, we have all the infrastructure in place and paid for to supply the gasoline to fuel those 17 million vehicles that Americans purchase each year.

All that money to supply that additional electricity will show up in your increased utility bill each month, beyond what you are paying today.

My local utility is city owned and back in 2010 added a new 300MW generating plant costing $697,100,000 for the construction and a total of $1,200,000,000 when including financing cost. That was based on our increased needs for electricity without proving electricity for all those wonderful EV's that you believe can be operated on the "cheap".
Now multiply that $1.2 billion times the numfber of additional plants that would be needed nationwide.

 

 

The biggest problem GM had with the cruze was they actually put a solid driveline under it. The electronics are absolute crap (sister has one and I can attest to the laundry list of stupid crap that broke) but it is otherwise a stout car. They sold a ton of them and people are actually hanging onto them because they were pretty good. My buddy at a chevy dealer even said if they trade in the lease they tend to get another one or just end up buying it out. It's an econo crap box that I have a harder time getting out of than the C4 but it does its job... it's a girl car. I'm 5'10 and it just doesn't work for me. I see tons of them driving around too. They were pretty good for what they were. Imo, the facelift they gave it came a bit too late.

Anyway to the original question. This was coming for a while, the global market as a whole is down somewhat for automakers at the moment. Delay it perhaps but there is no impending doom or bankruptcy or anything like that lurking around the corner. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

I think that conclusion is way off base. They are just the third in a string of auto companies that will be doing the same thing. Autonomous electric vehicles will sell far fewer units than what the market has seen before. There is a fair number of people who aren't interested in driving and vehicle sharing is going to be a big thing. If you want a car you phone for one and it comes to pick you up and deliver you where you want to go. Will hit taxi's, limo's, light rail and personal vehicle ownership very hard. You don't want to be set up to manufacture and deliver millions of vehicles when there isn't a market for that many.

Bill

 

I don't think the Corvette is in any danger NOW, however should GM cost cutting they just announced not be enough to keep the company headed in the right direction, then all bets are off.

 

You are living in the stone age. The future will be very different than the past you know.

 

Remember Oldsmobile and Pontiac? Who predicted they would disappear? Nothing is forever.

 

I see cut backs coming in Vette programs and also higher prices to justify making a low production vehicle. This CEO doesn't impress me much in caring about anything but making GM more profitable.

More profitable means resources are better spent making things a lot of people want to buy. She's already cutting white collar jobs, not just factory jobs and factories themselves.

It would not surprise me if Vette production is stopped if the C8 is not meeting expectations.

"Its just business".

 

GM's advertising is designed to try to reverse what most people's perception is of them. Look at what they talk about in the ads and you can see most of it is like "really? Well I would have never guessed!"

GM isn't trying to sell a specific car. They are trying to get people to believe something different than they believe about their products. That's why they do these.