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Originally Posted by Evergreen6

That's great information, thanks for sharing, and I can't say I fully understand it all but it is interesting to me. But based on the graph, I think? it's good news that most of the circle is above the "meets" red line.



I think that might also speak to niche. Toyota and Honda are good at sedans. Not that GM isn't or can't be good at sedans, but T/H captured a lot of the market in the 80's and have held on to it. Meanwhile, GM and Ford have held on to the truck market and they do trucks really, really well. It may be a good business decision that GM isn't trying to compete in a saturated, lower-margin sedan market where people have largely moved away in favor of more utilitarian vehicles.

I miss GM of the 80's and early 90's. That's when I fell in love with their stuff. The S10, S10 Blazer, full size Blazer. Beretta GTZ/GTU/Indy/GT/Z26. Cavalier Z24, Sunbird GT. Lumina Z34 coupe, Euro sedans and coupes. Camaro IROC, Buick GNX, Firebird Formulas, Turbo Trans Ams. Pontiac Grand AM GT's, Pontiac Grand Prix, Bonneville SSEI, Impala SS. Olds Cutlass convertible. 454 SS pickup, Syclone, Typhoon. Some of these cars made the Corvette feel a little boring and stodgy!

GM used to sell really ordinary cars that could be had in really cool trims in a way that made people feel special, like they owned an enthusiast vehicle, something truly fun and a notch above the rest.

I can't even get a half-chub over anything labeled "RS" from Chevrolet anymore. GM makes boring cars. I don't want some Trax imported from South Korea. I feel like a dork when I'm driving one, and like we as a nation have sold part of our soul, auto manufacturing, to a balance sheet. The Equinox is useful, but no matter how it's configured, it's still a boring crossover and it feels like it's more at home in some single 57 year old woman's garage, full of feral cats. I can't tell you what Buick makes; I just don't care. And I'm not going to spend 60-80k on a Tahoe, sorry GM, it's the same stuff you use in your trucks for 30 grand cheaper, always has been.

So that's kind of why I just don't care that GM finally put the Malibu out to pasture. What a tortured name. TO say GM abandoned sedans is a true statement - but in reality, that happened 30 years ago.

The last glimmer of light seems to be in ZR2 pickups. I have a hard time wanting a Silverado other than for comfort, otherwise it looks like a truck on antidepressants that's gained a lot of weight. Something more at home in Grandpa's garage than your cool uncle's garage.

But I get distracted. GM lost its way a long time ago and I stuck around for cars like the Camaro, and a couple of trucks, and that's....it. The C8 is amazing, but Corvette has never been in my sights. Can't see myself owning one now.

Can't argue with your logic. Just want to reiterate on a point that drives home with me. The past cars highlighted represented some of the brightest and most popular ideas to come from Chevrolet and GM in the past 50 years. Many of these products, however, were plagued with poor manufacturing and problematic components which contributed to their demise and the overall reputation of quality of GM. It was an unfortunate pill for GM to swallow, and I believe that the company could've saved perhaps a quarter to half of those past products.

It took GM almost 50 years from the mid seventies to standardize quality into their cars and trucks. Imagine some of the good ideas, such as Pontiac Grand Prix, Bonneville, Chevrolet Lumina and Z34, Cavalier Z24, even the SS454 pickup (that already had some quality built in), built to today's standards and performance. Some of those cars could have been legendary as well as top performers. Unfortunately it was the advent of the 80's and 90's quality that underscored GM's poor reputation, that took many years to overcome. I am a loner in my opinion, but if it were not for the lackluster quality at GM that was suffered from the 80's thru the 90's, perhaps we would have been able to retain and develop some of those good ideas that perished.