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I have this feeling that GM is too slow in developing and/or bringing vehicles to the market.
Just a few examples.
Cruze: First time I read about Cruze was around late 06 or early 07, car came out in Europe in 08 and we didn’t get it until late 2010 and still no coupe, wagon, or hatch and the diesel is over a year out. Even though it looks great but it’s time to update the exterior.
Camaro: First saw the concept in 06 (same show when concept Challenger was revealed) we didn’t get the Camaro until 2010 where as Challerger was available at least a year earlier. And it’s not like they have to develope it from scratch, platform was around and so was powertrain, just needed to be tweaked.
Colorado: showed up in 04, and to this date had no major changes, the only changes it had was bigger engine displacement, and V8 offering. Why not at least offer a 3.6 v6 and do a mid-life refresh back in 08? On top of that we still need to wait 2 years for a new model to show up?
Silverado: Took almost 3 years for the new chassis to show for 900 HD models, and no mid-life refresh with the 900’s. No high end trims available to compete against king ranch, platinium, and harley davidson. Plust that body and interior is outdated 3 years ago.
I wonder how long it’ll take them to build the 130 and 140 if it’ll get green light?
Now I am aware of GM finacial troubles back in 08, but they had finances after bail out. It just seems that other companies bring their products to the market way faster, or it’s just that we find out what GM is working on earlier? For the most part I like GM products, but in some cases they are outdated compared to competition. -
This is an interesting topic — something I’ve been wondering about for some time now. I think it could be that GM announces/shows the new/upcoming products too early, which adds to the perception that it takes a while to bring them to market. Couple that with the financial stuff and it’s pretty clear why things are this way.
I do hope this will get better with time, but wonder why the new-generation products are taking so long to “bring” to markets. For instance, development of the new Colorado is finished; why is it still 2 years out? There are contractors out there who can retool a plant in a matter of a quarter (with the tooling on order).
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Unfortunately, yes. But perhaps this will straighten out the operation:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2012/03/mary-barras-goal-for-2012-more-discipline-at-gm/ -
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i just gave my2006 h3 hummer to the wife- i looked at it more than i drove it- poor mileage-17 mpg . i could’nt believe it was full time 4 wheel drive after i bought it-in this day & age- i took the 2012 camaro from her- 22mpg- and 30 some on the hi way- i can live with that- although i need a truck- why cant we get a truck aerodynamic – mid size or small- that can get 22 mpg comb and 30 on the hi way- say something like the el camino- the heavy camaro gets it- all i need is a bed in the rear- maybe diesel or turbo gas engine- see alot of folks drive’n big-ass empty trucks around nothing in them- my truck days are over-
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Well the fastest Ive ever seen a car being updated is the 90s camry and accord. Every 4 years! Now thats risen to 6. I think all our regulations and safety requirements have burdened automakers and now it takes longer to finish a vehicle. Another thing is plant capacity, before The Great Recession, the industry as a whole had a lot of excess capacity, so it was easier to build a car faster than it is now. Overall, I think that the whole industry has slowed overall. And during the bankruptcy period, GM lost about a year of development, its kind of hard to efficiently work on a car when you dont know if youre keep your job. I think GM will get a little faster from here on out.
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