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GM moves to cut $1 billion from midsize car R&D

08/09/2006, 8:06 AM

By admin

General Motors will reduce its annual costs to develop new midsize cars by $1 billion through sharing parts, designs and factories, according to financial publication Bloomberg. Plants in North America, Europe and elsewhere will use the same chassis on models such as the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Saab convertibles, Jim Wiemels, who oversees GM’s global production, said during a conference yesterday in Dearborn, Michigan. The change will reduce spending on new midsize cars by a third, or $1 billion a year, GM spokesman Dave Roman said.

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08/09, 8:58 AM

posted by:

Anonymous

Doesn’t matter. GM has the market wrapped up before the new models roll out anyways. R&D is to convince the retarded non-GM buyers that our cars are the best in the industry. Everyone wants GM cars even without the needless R&D anyways

08/09, 9:18 AM

posted by:

LMFAO

I was wondering where the GM freaks had gone. I haven’t seen them post for a while. The internet must have gone down in Redneckville, but it looks like it’s back up!

08/09, 9:30 AM

posted by:

ss

why dont they cut the truck/suv funding and up the mid-size cars?!? will they ever learn?

08/09, 9:38 AM

posted by:

DaveO

Right on SS. Get a clue GM. Build a real midsized wagon with some style and see what happens.

08/09, 10:00 AM

posted by:

hal

GMs future: more lame rebadging, more market share decline. Meanwhile Toyota, Honda etc are raking in the profits and investing in new engineering and design.

08/09, 10:01 AM

posted by:

indi

DaveO, your wagon is coming, in the form of the Saturn Aura Wagon, should be out Q1 or Q2 of 2007.

08/09, 10:05 AM

posted by:

jay

I still don’t see any Bold Moves for Ford… That SHOULD be what GM is saying, because they are the ones currently moving foward. And Ford is just using it as an ad campain to showcase it’s “bold” cars.
I’m a Ford guy, but I’m not going to be errogent and stick my nose in the air and say Ford is doing better than the competition, because unfortunately they aren’t.
And I would rather have the best product with the best “bang for the buck” ratio, and right now Ford isn’t making that car.
Gm should be using that slogan, they’re the ones making bold moves and beginning to make ok (not great, but ok) cars.

08/09, 10:42 AM

posted by:

Piablo

Very true Jay. Great comment. It’s pretty sad how Ford ran Jag into the ground. I am still surprised I never saw an Aston Martin version of the Crown Vic or Taurus.

SS, they are not cutting SUV funding because they are selling quite well. Now that’s what I call, “an inconvenient truth”.

08/09, 11:03 AM

posted by:

Anonymous

Just what you need when you’re in trouble: “Cut your budget aimed at the future.” What sort of future do you expect then?

j i m

08/09, 11:04 AM

posted by:

ss

but you cant feed a monster as big as GM with SUVs alone. They need a competitive small and mid sized car. GM needs to stop the badge engineering and get back to distinctive models/brands. Platform sharing is a good idea… look at the Cobalt/G5…do they really think that’s a good idea? Why not give it a distinctive appearance (maybe some cues from the Solstice) and only offer it with 2drs and the 170hp and 210hp engines from the Cobalt. They really need to get some crazy, out there, ground breaking designs on the road. Everything in there stable is boring. GM is still making the same mistakes they always have, but they tell the public everything is getting better because they shut down factories and fired some ppl.

08/09, 11:25 AM

posted by:

chuck

gm is coming out with some great vehicle right now. the new cts looks great, all the new crossover are going to blow the competion away. those suv are as roomy as a yukon with the gas mileage of vehicle half that size. Plus did you read the article on the inside line at edmunds about the two mode hybrid that gm, bmw, and chrysler are developing. all these hybrid people that are spending $4000 more for are going to be kicking themselves. gm is on the road back

08/09, 12:51 PM

posted by:

Carlos

It’s that last billion that adds the details that make a car great instead of good. Or good instead of bad, in GM’s case. They need to ADD a billion for greatness, but no…

08/09, 4:32 PM

posted by:

Patrick

More clones, more boring cars, more uninventive/unoriginal cars, hey more traditional GM bull****. This is why GM is dying. This is why Toyota is going to be the #1 car company in the world in a few years. This is why Japan makes the best, most reliable, and highest quality cars on the planet, hey, lets include Germany in that statement too save the reliability. GM sucks. Thats all there is to it. In their final hour, instead of stepping it up on their car design and stepping it DOWN on truck design which has proven to be a failing market , they cut money on their R&D for midsize cars? Makes no sense. But then again, I never really got the whole clone thing anyways, probably since it clearly doesn’t work.

08/10, 7:15 AM

posted by:

Anonymous

I didn’t realize GM HAD R&D for their vehicles? It certainly doesn’t show with their current offerings. What a waste of money in the first place I guess. Or money foolishly spent.

 
 
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