Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
I want to bring up a point that no one seems to want to mention. Let's talk about market share.
All these import companies showed up on American soil with 4-bangers when Americans were paying too much for gas—no, not by today's standards—and provided an alternative to the less efficient domestic products. GM market share drastically shrank. GM used to be over 50% of American car sales, but now that number is below 20%.
GM has room to take back that market share by taking away the one good reason to buy imports, fuel economy. If GM can compete on all platforms with all types of engines, there's a good chance that those sales will convert to future GM sales. That is how you get market share. GM should ambitiously attack imports with cars that are like imports, but they have to do it with American styling. The Camaro is a great example of American badassery when it comes to styling. Imagine putting a smaller, lighter Camaro against the slow FR-S. Put a turbo-4 in the Camaro to fight the underpowered H-4 in the FR-S. The Camaro will start taking their sales away. Put that same car against a Genesis. Take those sales, too. Suddenly, you're not just fighting other Americans for sales, you're taking back sales from invading corporations who bring nothing special to the table. When those Camaro drivers have a family, they'll be more likely to consider other GM vehicles since they'll be driving GM vehicles already, at which point they will consider a GM crossover. When they buy their kid their first car, they'll fondly remember their old Camaro. It wasn't the fastest thing on 4 wheels, but it was fun, and they'll want their kid to experience that, so they buy their kid an old Camaro. Over time, GM will take back the market share it lost over generations of fighting a losing battle over fuel economy.
Offering a 4-cylinder Camaro is good for GM. It doesn't mean GM has to give up anything. Maybe it means GM's competitors have to give up some market share instead.
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How about Chevy develops something for the younger people that doesn't have the generic grille. It makes the cars look like they are for moms and grandmas. Put the turbo 4 banger in a small car that looks edgy, price it right and built it right. Chevy needs some edgier car designs in my opinion. I get that cars like the Malibu are geared towards moms who want boring looking cars but if they want to steal market share away from imports, the cars have to get the attention. Imports already have the attention and the fan base so Chevy has to do something to take it back.
I don't think taking the Camaro down to Civic level is the right way to do it.