fusioneh Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I was on automobilemag.com and stumbled on something that in past times never would have seen the light of day. I just had to share it here. The article was about the success of the Chevrolet Malibu and they were quoting a bigwig from GM. (Now depending on the spin you put on this information, this post could have gone in about three different places. I figured it would be seen by the most users here.) I repeat the post below... "From the product development side we need to take a good look at...the Ford Fusion," said Jim Federico, who heads up midsize vehicle development at General Motors. The link for this can be found at; http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6627636/aut...sion/index.html It seems to me that this is indicative of the kind of trouble that GM is in. They are no longer "leaders". Like their products or not, there was a time when they did not "take a good look at anyone". GMC really does seem to have lost its way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Interesting quote. The hard work from Ford to remove the old prejudices contiunes. I'm sure die-hard fanboys will continue to dismiss this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I saw something over on Autoweeks twitter feed that some GM exec was scared of the new Sonata too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 GM has made a tactical error with it's mid sized car plans, they've taken far too long to react and now they are looking at what competitors are doing in the hopes of getting a clue...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snooter Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 welcome to why GM has become a has been...what you are referrring to is only a small part of why GM has and is failing..here is an example...on january 23 1985 the late great roger smith made this quote "he (rogers smith) did not say where the saturn plant would be built, but said it would turn out half a million cars a year with mileage of 60mpg"..not my words but you can see how bad GM has been..in this case 25 years ago the idiots were lieing to the public about 60mpg vehicles...fast forward to today and little if anything has changed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grbeck Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 GM hasn't been the leader in much of anything since about 1979. Even then, Ford regularly whipped GM on the product-planning front. What saved GM was its sheer market presence and the fact that its products were usually more polished and refined than the domestic competition, even if they were 3-4 years too late. GM's problem is that it only discovered its loss of leadership about five years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blksn8k2 Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 How do Ford and GM compare capacity wise today? I'm just curious to know now that GM has dropped several brands and has trimmed the number of dealers. Once they finish with their fire sales of discontinued models will they still be in a position to be number one in terms of sales? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 I was on automobilemag.com and stumbled on something that in past times never would have seen the light of day. I just had to share it here. The article was about the success of the Chevrolet Malibu and they were quoting a bigwig from GM.(Now depending on the spin you put on this information, this post could have gone in about three different places. I figured it would be seen by the most users here.) I repeat the post below... "From the product development side we need to take a good look at...the Ford Fusion," said Jim Federico, who heads up midsize vehicle development at General Motors. The link for this can be found at; http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6627636/aut...sion/index.html It seems to me that this is indicative of the kind of trouble that GM is in. They are no longer "leaders". Like their products or not, there was a time when they did not "take a good look at anyone". GMC really does seem to have lost its way. Interesting that no one has mentioned this little nugget over at GMI... can't wait to see the flames when it finally gets posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark B. Morrow Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ford has beat Chevy on product numerous times: Ford V-8 1932 - Chevy 1955 Ford F-100 Modern Pick-up 1953 - Chevy finally abandoned its 1947 model in mid '55 Ford Ranchero 1957 - Chevy ElCamino 1959 Ford Thunderbird 4 seat 1958 - Chevy Monte Carlo 1970 Ford Falcon 1960 - Chevy II 1962 Ford Econoline 1961 - Chevy Van 1964 Ford Fairlane (Intermediate) 1962 - Chevy Chevelle 1964 Ford Mustang 1964 - Chevy Camaro 1967 Ford Three-Way Doorgate 1966 - Chevy 1969 Ford Econoline (Revised) 1968 - Chevy (Revised) 1971 Ford Thunderbird 1983 - Chevy ? Ford Taurus 1986 - Chevy ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snooter Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ford has beat Chevy on product numerous times: Ford V-8 1932 - Chevy 1955 Ford F-100 Modern Pick-up 1953 - Chevy finally abandoned its 1947 model in mid '55 Ford Ranchero 1957 - Chevy ElCamino 1959 Ford Thunderbird 4 seat 1958 - Chevy Monte Carlo 1970 Ford Falcon 1960 - Chevy II 1962 Ford Econoline 1961 - Chevy Van 1964 Ford Fairlane (Intermediate) 1962 - Chevy Chevelle 1964 Ford Mustang 1964 - Chevy Camaro 1967 Ford Three-Way Doorgate 1966 - Chevy 1969 Ford Econoline (Revised) 1968 - Chevy (Revised) 1971 Ford Thunderbird 1983 - Chevy ? Ford Taurus 1986 - Chevy ? about the only thing on your list i would say is a ford failure is the 4 seat t-bird....i always considered the 2 seater to be a timeless design and when it went to 4 seats it went to crap...other then that looks good to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark B. Morrow Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 about the only thing on your list i would say is a ford failure is the 4 seat t-bird....i always considered the 2 seater to be a timeless design and when it went to 4 seats it went to crap...other then that looks good to me I guess it depends on how you quantify a failure. The '58 T-Bird outsold the '55-'57s combined. For McNamera the 4 seat Bird was a great success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 How do Ford and GM compare capacity wise today? I'm just curious to know now that GM has dropped several brands and has trimmed the number of dealers. Once they finish with their fire sales of discontinued models will they still be in a position to be number one in terms of sales? I can't remember where I saw it or when, but I seem to remember reading an article that said they'd defintely drop out of first/second, but other than that, I'm not sure where they'd be positioned in the sales heirarchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenCaylor Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 I guess it depends on how you quantify a failure. The '58 T-Bird outsold the '55-'57s combined. For McNamera the 4 seat Bird was a great success. 1958 was also the first of four times the T-Bird would win the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark B. Morrow Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 1958 was also the first of four times the T-Bird would win the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. 5 times if you count the '64 award to the whole Ford Line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 (edited) GM countered the 4 seat T-Bird with the Riviera, but it was years after. The 1990 Lumina was a response to the 86 Taurus, but was a lame attempt. OTOH, the Corvette was 2 years before the 2 seat T-Bird. So, not all the time was Ford ahead. Edited January 14, 2010 by 630land Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ford Econoline 1961 - Chevy Van 1964 Added bonus: No cheesy 70s songs were written about the Econoline or the Club Wagon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 In looking over the 'glory days', say 1955-73, Ford was more daring. GM mainly made $$ restyling their full/mid sized cars annually, and offering more options, colors, models. A lot of GM's 'all new' cars then were usually at the same time as Ford. Such as 1955's, 1965 big cars, '68 mid sized, Vega. After the 73-4 fuel crisis, one of GM biggest risks was the 1977 smaller full sized models, which were a hit. Another was the FWD X-Cars, which were hits at first, but we know the rest of the story. After that, GM got complacent and sloooow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blksn8k2 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 GM countered the 4 seat T-Bird with the Riviera, but it was years after. The 1990 Lumina was a response to the 86 Taurus, but was a lame attempt. OTOH, the Corvette was 2 years before the 2 seat T-Bird. So, not all the time was Ford ahead. Even the Corvette faithful will readily admit that if not for the introduction of the '55 T-bird the Corvette would have died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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