Re: alfa-digest V9 #269

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

The problem with Ford and GM is they almost NEVER make the kinds of 
cars that enthusiasts crave. They CAN. They know how, they just don't 
and won't. I remember well how, in the early '60's, when Ford came up 
with the gorgeous original Mustang, in spite of the fact that it was 
light, nimble, and quick 2-seater with mid-engine and a integral 
'bread-basket-handle" roll-over bar,  Lee Ioccoca, in a famous memo to 
Henry II, said: " ...When I see the type of people who want us to build 
this car (the real ca-buffs), I am more and more convinced that is NOT 
the kind of car that Ford should be building..." When we finally got 
the Mustang, what was it? A warmed over Ford Falcon. The Focus SVT is a 
neat car with a great engine and tranny. But if Mitsubishi and Subaru 
can come out with AWD rally versions of their Imprezza and Evolution, 
why can't Ford make a balls-to-the-wall rally version of their winning 
Focus?  Obviously they could, but they must not want to. If they did, 
I, for one, would be standing in line at the Ford dealership right now.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6

On Sunday, Feb 16, 2003, at 12:20 US/Pacific, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 11:29:36 -0500
> From: Eric Storhok <alfa@domain.elided>
> Subject: Engines....
>
> I hope you all don't think I love push rod engines- I don't.  But in 
> the 10
> years I've worked in the industry, I've quickly become a realist.  Both
> Ford and GM each have one line of cars that people actually care what 
> is
> under the hood in the US (Focus and Saturn).  Other than that, they 
> don't
> seem to care much.
>
> Mind you, most of you reading this are not our core buyers.  Which is 
> sad
> for me, as that means that Ford will never make that really cool small
> sedan besides the Focus- which isn't all that bad, but its stops there.
>
> 2 examples- lets say you had a chance to buy a car with a really good 
> 3.0l
> 4V V6.  This engine is a good one- revs nicely, and even Alfa Romeo
> considered this for a future powertrain (no kidding...).  I would bet 
> that
> 90% of you have not bought this car, or if you did, it was not because 
> of
> the engine.  Taurus.
>
> next- how in the world can you explain that we sold 200k+ Tempo/ Topaz 
> cars
> a year???  That has to be one of the worst cars of all time- crappy 
> engine,
> crappy handling, disconnected steering.  This is more cars than Alfa 
> made
> in a year.  Oddly enough, when the Contour/ Mystique was introduced, 
> it was
> not very popular- it did everything the Tempo did, but at $5k more.
>
> The auto industry is all about money.  Whatever it takes to make as 
> much
> money as possible in a industry that the competition is more fierce 
> than
> most other.  So if you had a choice of spending $1B on making a really 
> nice
> OHC engine or  $25M updating your current design which will do 85% of 
> the
> OHC engine, its an obvious choice.  And $1B would be realistic if GM 
> were
> to part ways will ALL of their pushrods.  Even Alfa made these choices-
> here in the US, we never saw the new TS I4 line- heck the I4 design was
> never seriously updated in its essential design since '54.
>
> For all of us, though, the whole package that we got was greater than 
> the
> sum of the parts.  The BMW 2002 was a much better car from a technology
> standpoint, but the 2000 GTV kicks its butt all over the place.
>
> More recently, Alfa chose (or was forced) to use the Fiat cast iron
> block.  I hate that, but I see that economically, it was a sound 
> decision.
>
> Anyway, the above are opinions, so take them as you will...
>
> Eric
>
>
> AROC Detroit Homepage:  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alfa/index.htm
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