FLU: I’ve been a car guy since I was a little kid. My dad worked for Ford Aerospace and we used to get tickets and pit passes to the Ford GT team events at Laguna Seca and Sears Point (up in the Bay Area).
All of the discussions about legacy costs and business models fail to capture the most important elements about any car purchase: The quality of the car and how it appeals to the driver. Or, as car dealers say, “The feel of the wheel drives the deal”.
My first exposure to American quality were the cars that defined “American Muscle”, the Chevys, Fords and Mopar vehicles from the 1960s and early 1970s: The GTOs, Mustangs, Vettes, Cudas, etc.
Those cars were well designed, well built and fun to drive. They defined a generation and you’re hard pressed to find cars that performed that well right off the showroom floor.
I look at the new Corvette Z06 and how it performs versus the Porsche 911 on the skidpad. The new Vette handles better, is faster and is actually smaller than the 911 (Chevy chopped two feet off the back). It’s also significantly cheaper than the Porsche. Good luck convincing anyone that the Corvette is a better car, though.
GM can build good cars, but they haven’t been competitive in years and in large part because of the constraints they’re facing. If BK is the answer, so be it. If there are issues regarding unfair Japanese advantages, then we need to address those as well. As a kid growing up in the Silicon Valley in 1970s and 1980s, I also know about “dumping” and how the US had to protect the semiconductor industry against unfair Japanese business practices.
