GM used to make small, cheap sports cars

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone) 04/08/2018 at 13:57 • Filed to: None

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Then they killed them, only because the rest of the lineup they were in was full of badge engineered crap, nobody wanted to buy.

I mean, they had to trim down the business, but they could have saved to platform and move it to Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Also, fuck GMC!

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 14:15

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Anything can be a small, cheap sports car if you try hard enough

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 14:16

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The weird thing in Skys are holding their value surprisingly well. 

itschrome > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) 04/08/2018 at 14:25

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Even a Maybach 62??

cluelessk > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock 04/08/2018 at 14:27

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The Solstice hardtops are actually worth more than new.

AestheticsInMotion > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 14:42

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Can you imagine an LSX equipped z3 z3 competitor? Yes please...

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 14:50

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The thing of it was ,the solstice and sky and speedsters actually sold. This isn’t a case of people looking back and lamenting that a model they want used didn’t sell while new. They sold 15-20k combined year over year in USA if I remember correctly. It’s not too much, but for a small sports car, it’s respectable enough. Combine that with another 10-15k of the opel in europe and assorted worldwide sales and it definitely chunked the miata’s sales stronghold.

Ssfancyfresh > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 14:58

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fun little video on the sheet metal forming process that was used to create the panels for these cars.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > AestheticsInMotion 04/08/2018 at 14:58

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There are many LS swapped ones rolling around.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock 04/08/2018 at 15:01

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The styling has held up really well. It could fit into a new car lineup today. Combined with scarcity that has definitely helped resale.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 04/08/2018 at 15:03

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Dang it now I’m looking for cheap 1.8L Z3’s on CL for an LS swap. Yes this is something many people have already done.

boxrocket > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 15:18

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They sold to the people that wanted them and could live with the many compromises inherent in said ownership.

It takes a lot to make a Miata feel roomy in comparison, but the solstice/sky accomplished it, while feeling claustrophobic even with the top down (very high beltline/window sill), especially compared to an MR2 and S2000. The interior quality was abysmal, and the plastic transmission tunnel covers and door panels adhere to bare skin on days with only a hint of sunlight and/or heat (painfully, at times, especially if in shorts and short sleeves).

Montalvo > itschrome 04/08/2018 at 16:40

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You just aren’t trying hard enough

ranwhenparked > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 19:17

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The real problem was the plant they were using to build them was vastly oversized - over 3 million square feet just to build small, RWD, 2-seat sports cars. Three times the size of the Corvette plant, for a car with a much lower price point (and lower profit margin), and I don’t believe annual sales of the Saturn, Pontiac, Opel, and Daewoo versions combined equaled the typical Corvette volume at the time.

If it had been more economical to build, maybe by squeezing the production line into a corner of another plant that built higher volume models, it may have lived as a Chevy or Buick, but the Kappa cars were unprofitable from the beginning, and were probably always going to be.

wkiernan > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 19:46

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Apparently, besides GM’s chronic ADD, they also feel like if you sell only 10,000 cars of a particular model per year that isn’t enough to bother. A model has to sell hundreds of thousands every year for GM to not lose interest.

Therefore you will only get cars from GM that the vast masses of American consumers want to buy. Unfortunately the vast masses of American consumers are totally uninterested in cars that handle well and are fun to drive; all they want is an even huger and uglier SUV than their next-door neighbor has got.

Yes I know the Corvette seems like something of an exception; however GM manages to have average Corvette sales of 30,000 or so every year, so I imagine that gives the Corvette team some small leverage in their meetings with upper management and their perverted lust to make the GM lineup the most boring of any car manufacturer on the face of the Earth.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 19:59

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I get that they won’t come back anytime soon because GM doesn’t think that someone would buy one over a Camaro 2.0T.

But they’re wrong, so so wrong. The Kappas need to return.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/08/2018 at 20:33

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Also, I really don’t know why they can’t use some variation of the Corvette platform to make a new small roadster

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/ok-real-talk-i-6-corvette-is-not-a-good-idea-1822787072

Milky > itschrome 04/09/2018 at 09:33

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