Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragoneye
+1...But did the author take into account that BMW, Porche, etc don't make every-day, inexpensive family sedans? Or that they are significantly smaller companies selling significantly smaller numbers of vehicles than GM? Which means that 50,000 5-series aren't going to have the same effect on overall Fleet fuel economy ratings as 250,000+ Impalas would...not to mention RWD suddenly makes the Impala unattractive (for stupid reasons) to half of those buyers -- meaning reduced sales on an all-new product.....
I think GM could have gotten a few more RWD cars out already...but I don't think anything they've done up until this point (on the RWD front) has been all-out wrong. I don't think comparing GM to these companies is very fair.
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I think you're missing a point that may not have been so clear. Obviously (and I sure wouldn't expect this) GM isn't going to make nothing but RWD products for the market, BUT a few RWD products don't have to be killed because they have to achieve a fleet average of 35mpg by 2020 (2015 really), especially when by and large most of the cars they make already are FWD. It makes them look scared when companies like Porsche, BMW, Nissan, Toyota and others are making and developing RWD products that are a LOT smaller of companies that have even tighter finances to work with than GM.
I think if GM made nothing but FWD cars, though they would find buyers most of everywhere, but they'd lose their sheen as a global powerhouse. To be that you have to offer compelling products that appeal to a range of tastes, and that's where RWD comes in. Like I've said before GM would be STUPID to cancel future generations of cars like the CTS and G8 because they're already such stellar and capable vehicles. Making them further efficient to fit in with the times where fuel economy and environmental pollution from cars is such a concern shouldn't mean the end of them, it is more than doable. If every report mentioning "RWD" and "GM" didn't sound so dire I doubt discussions like this wouldn't even occur.