Re: GM Fiascos

[Chris.Prael@domain.elided]

From: Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>

> Actually, the various GM fiascos (fiaschi?) noted by
> Sr. Rollins in his letter were very much in the past -
> mostly in the '70s and '80s. They're off the
> badge-engineering kick that gave us Cavaliers
> pretending to be Caddies, and are now producing some
> genuinely good automobiles - none to my taste,

Anyone who thinks that GM's fiascos are in the past has to have had his
brain disconnected for the last 5 or 6 years.

First, we might consider GM's great "safety" crusade for the front
running light feature.  Residents of California know that GM's ads 
featuring the "safety feature" stopped after a couple months.  That is
because the State of California has been collecting data for 35 years
on their 'Daylight Test Sections'.  The data says that daylight use of
headlights makes no difference in collision frequency.  GM was told to
drop the ads or be prosecuted for fraudulent advertising.

Second, I drove a rented Chevie Monte Carlo last spring. Even though
Chevrolet's engineering department was a major contributor to the
development of automotive kinematics, this was the sorriest handling
vehicle I have driven in decades.  

Note that both of these fiasco are current.

And where do you get the notion that GM had quit badge-engineering.
That Cadillac Catera you must have been driving is an Opel in real
life.

Time to wake up and take a sniff of the rotten fish.

Chris Prael

------------------------------