GM Europe Launches "Driving Conversations" Blog

How about a blog for the brands you market in South America?

With the price of motor fuel continuing to spike, I'm sure many North Americans would appreciate knowing about the Chevy Montana compact pickup truck you build in Brazil and sell in Latin America, and might well ask why it's not available here.

What about a blog that talks about all the great worldwide brands that should be marketed here? Or what about the worldwide diesels that are not offered in the US?

It's good idea about blog for South America, I think!

I second the proposal of a blog for South America, we get neglected too much!

Knowing what GM is capable of worldwide, and being able to comment on it. Good move. Now, just listen and pay attention to what we like of what we see - and bring it here! It is a bad time with the weak dollar to import European built vehicles but certainly the basic concept of global platforms allows for some otherwise soon to be idle US plant to build Tigra and Astra TwinTops and teh aforementioned compact truck here for our consumption.

can we just have a flat dash in the vette and hideaway lights the new camaro concept looks nice on the outside , i liked the iroc gauge package , i think the volt would sell like hotcakes, i sure hope a volt truck is in the works, i love my truck , i hope you have chrome wheels on the camaro v-8 the wheels on the video look chinsy , im old school cool , just trying to be helpful

Chief Pontiac said: "It is a bad time with the weak dollar to import European built vehicles but certainly the basic concept of global platforms allows for some otherwise soon to be idle US plant to build Tigra and Astra TwinTops and the aforementioned compact truck here for our consumption."

Good point.

Why isn't GM using some of their excess and idel capacity in the United States to make their European and South American-designed cars here? Why can't they make a "world car" in Janesville, WI just as easily as in Brazil?

Their plant in Janesville makes most of their Tahoe and Suburban SUVs and is now in dire straits as the demand for SUVs has fallen over the cliff. (Note to GM: You're in a state of denial if you think SUVs will once more return to prominence.)

Why can't GM retool a plant such as Janesville Assembly to make the Chevrolet Montana here -- and sell it to North Americans who are now desperately looking for a economical alternative to heavy SUVs and pickup trucks such as the Avalanche and Silverado?

Of course, the UAW would have to make concessions in order for GM to be able to profitably make the Colorado here, but wouldn't that be better than no job at all?

Saw this today in the Washington Post Small, Efficient Auto Designed to Be Sold Anywhere

Why doesn't GM steal a march on Ford and do the same -- but do it in one of their idle plants in the United States instead of Mexico?

V/R

Gary Dikkers

I had the pleasure of studying in Brussels, Belgium for Drew's European semester and had the pleasure of writing a paper on the European automobile industry. A paper which focused on the lopsided inroads Japanese automakers were making in European Community countries that did not have automakers vs. those that had automakers and the protections they had in place. You can probably figure out how those statistics went.

But what struck me the most in that fall of 1993 was the excellent vehicles especially the compact vehicles that Ford and GM were selling in Europe and failed to sell in America. I specifically recall two cars, the Opel Corsa and the Ford Mondeo. I will for as long as I live, I will never forget the beauty of that Corsa, the round bulbous headlights compact but cute size. It was quite simply the most beautiful compact on the road.

Ford's Mondeo was like the Honda Accord of Europe. It was beautiful, some thought it was somewhat conservative in style for the American market, I could not disagree more. It was the styling equivalent and approached the excellence of the Accord in its best years. But by the time the Mondeo reached American shores as the Mercury Mystique and Ford Contour all was lost. The design was turned upside down, ruined, devastated, and destroyed. From that moment on I knew what had to be done.

Europe needed to take over, get a foothold in America and bypass the nonsense. For GM that has finally happened with Saturn's conversion to the Opel of America. And I even hope the Corsa will make it to America if not under Saturn's upscale brand at least someplace in our lineup.

The bottom line was the Europeans were doing small cars right, luxury cars as well, and truly, the great brands of the world still reside in Europe. There is a lot that Europe can still teach Americans from brand building to the exotic market that America is still too timid to touch.

While I toured through Europe and walked the beautiful streets of Brussels, with its boulevards, museums, gardens, squares, and palaces that mimicked Paris with some of the finest architecture of Europe I contemplated our divergent automobile industries. And just like the European cities in which time and thousands of years put together, so too we need that long term approach to brand building, embracing heritage or simply focusing and keeping those things which made particular brands great in the first place, a continuity of purpose-that inner beauty and strength that helps to recognize Europe as the home of the world's greatest brands is what we need here.

So you don't need to listen to us, we need to listen to you, particularly at a critical energy focused time as this. But whether it's exotics, luxury or mini cars, Europe is ready for anything, and not all those lessons have we yet to learn from you.

Please tell me you'll have a guest appearance by Jeremey Clarkson (Top Gear).

You are terminating production of medium trucks in a Mexico plant, build the H2 there on the GMT900 platform, build those Saturn Astra's in Mexico instead or importing them from Europe. At a starting wage of $1.50 an an hour it's a no brainer. An updated light weight platform for a new world small pickup/ H3 hummer.