Comments on: Delta Dawn: Chevy Gets A New Small Car!

By: Johnster

Johnster — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:41:32 +0000

Oh, great. The Cobalt gets a facelift with new sheet metal and a new name.

By: simonptn

simonptn — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:45:42 +0000

“General Motors will unveil a Chevrolet compact car at an auto show this fall, with production slated to begin early next year…”

Excuse my ignorance but how is this even possible?
Even if this is in production somewhere else in the world how can it be done so quickly? Announcement to production in less than a year?

But if the decision was made a long time ago why wasn’t it announced before?

Someone please enlighten me … it seems like things don’t add up. Is it just BS baffling brains or are they just changing the badge on the grill?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:51:15 +0000

If the car isn’t as good as a Honda Civic, everyone involved should be fired.

Yes but likely GM’s guiding market-segmentation philosophy will be “Anyone who makes more than minimum wage should be buying an Impala — let’s make sure they’d never want to be caught dead in this thing”.

Hence the crap-by-design theme that gave us the Aveo.

By: lprocter1982

lprocter1982 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:59:38 +0000

truthbetold37:

That’s been the case for the past 15 or 20 years. Same for Ford and Chrysler.

By: truthbetold37

truthbetold37 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:17:00 +0000

If the car isn’t as good as a Honda Civic, everyone involved should be fired.

GM needs accountability.

By: lprocter1982

lprocter1982 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:55:52 +0000

You know, Buick doesn’t have a small car yet, so maybe Chevy will get this new compact, and GM will turn the Cobalt into a Buick… or Cadillac. Yeah… a new Cimarron… that’ll be a good idea….

By: Campisi

Campisi — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:19:31 +0000

Hopefully this is a replacement for the Aveo. Yeah, the Aveo’s sales are competitive with the Yaris, but the Cobalt gets similar enough mileage to compete with the Aveo while being a larger, faster, better looking car.

By: offroadinfrontier

offroadinfrontier — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:45:51 +0000

“I, too, for six figures a year, can throw stuff at a wall to see if it sticks.”

knee-slapper!

I’ve never understood this, either. It’s beyond cannibalism and into a whole new ballpark(that wouldn’t be very PC to announce on such a public forum).

Instead of making one GOOD car, let’s throw together a crappy platform and throw 4-5 crappy cars on top.

1 car. Hatch, Coupe, Sedan. Maybe a few different trim levels. Done.

I understand that a few imports have excess small-car experience (for reasons that are a debate in itself), but is it really THAT hard to develop an affordable, efficient, reliable, safe, small car?

By: galanwilliams

galanwilliams — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:52:14 +0000

It seems they were kicking the idea of the “Beat” around for well over a year — starting back in March of 2007, when the price of gas was really causing some concerns!

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Car_Shows_and_Concept_Cars/Concept_Cars/GM_Makes_Trax_-_and_Groove_Beat_-_for_NY.S283.A12134.html

By: raast

raast — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:39:19 +0000

Lordstown, Ohio – hey isn’t that where GM made the Vega???

By: psarhjinian

psarhjinian — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:17:22 +0000

Let’s play this out; here’s the Canadian Chevy showroom:
Aveo (hatch, sedan)
Optra (hatch, sedan, wagon)
Cobalt (coupe, sedan)
HHR (ok, Cobalt wagon)

That’s not even counting the Pontiac Wave (hatch, sedan), Pursuit/G5 (coupe, sedan) and Vibe.

Seven models–wait, I forgot the Astra, that’s eight–and not even combined do they outsell the Civic (sedan. period. full stop). And–you can bet on it–not all, if any, of these will be out of production. With this many models, is it any wonder that none of them get decent marketing support, let along competitive engineering?

Can I get a job at GM product planning? I, too, for six figures a year, can throw stuff at a wall to see if it sticks.

By: SupaMan

SupaMan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:08:28 +0000

It’d be interesting to see what this new compact is all about…especially if GM beats Ford at the turbocharging game.

By: Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:37:59 +0000

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

By: serpico

serpico — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:05:15 +0000

The Geo Metro is back!

By: Bancho

Bancho — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:16:33 +0000

tulsa_97sr5 :
“I’ve got my fingers crossed for a rebadged G3 personally. Chevy would sell a ton of those.”

I lol’d hard at this. The concept of recursive badge-engineering is a mind boggler :)

Thanks Tulsa!

By: turbosaab

turbosaab — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:19:31 +0000

1.4T … sweet!

By: seoultrain

seoultrain — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:10:15 +0000

I’m confused. How would this not be the Cobalt replacement? It’s not going to be a 20-25k premium compact with a 1.4T. The only reason not to cut the Cobalt is having to prematurely kill the SS Turbo, which just came out.

By: Cicero

Cicero — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:07:43 +0000

Yes, replace the Cobalt.

Please.

By: tulsa_97sr5

tulsa_97sr5 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:46:22 +0000

I’ve got my fingers crossed for a rebadged G3 personally. Chevy would sell a ton of those.