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Originally Posted by OrangeFury
When I used "sporty" I was more referring to the look as opposed to the performance. The two Grand Ams I had were sporty-looking and came at a much lower price tag than even the cheapest base Malibu (which I doubt your avg kid in their 20s would even classify as a "sporty" looking car).
I'm talking about the segment of the population that is coming out of college, entering the workforce, no longer wants to drive a beater but can't afford a $25K+ car. Pontiac filled this niche extremely well...sporty-looking cars and an affordable price. Now what are their options...a loaded up Cobalt?
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As a guy who bought a Grand Am in his 20's, I understand completely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BEARS-SS
GM could market the same car (Camaro SS and Firebird) and sell the firebird for 5K more, even with the same specs. I love my Camaro SS, but the moc-ups I've seen of imitation firebirds are amazing. The pointed nose and the huge bird on the hood, I'm sure they'd to alright.
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But thats the thing, the models wouldn't add many sales or have a high profit margin. It would need one or the other to survive. Low volume + low profit = money pit. Chevy can get away with selling inexpensive cars with small margins because of their large volume. Cadillac sells in a much smaller volume, but each one have a much higher profit.
And don't forget about the additional costs associated with tooling and engineering/validation. Those costs are more or less fixed for any one model, but if you sell 1/5 the volume (vs a Chevy) each vehicle sold has to cover 5x as much of that cost. Expenses could be dramatically cut if the sheet metal and most of the interior is kept the same ... but then that becomes a much frowned upon badge engineering job (G3-Aveo).
The unfortunate thing is, Pontiac has been squezed out of the middle. Just like Saturn and Oldsmobile. If GM had the market share they had 40 years ago, there'd still be room for Poncho. But they don't, and there isn't.