[Hylton]

Originally Posted by Number 3

If only your comments were true. Yes the cost structure has an impact on what the car will cost. And yes it would be nice if every care we built had "no compromises” Unfortunately; to BE General Motors you have legacy costs from your history, a history that brought a LONNNNGGGGGGG list of wonderful cars including now 5 Generations of Camaros. Innovations, inventions and creations that most of you are unaware of. GM was god in the crashworthiness world when I took a break and worked for another OEM, because we did so much incredible work over many years on saving lives in car crashes.

So BEING GM has legacy costs that the Japanese and German OEMs don't have. You act like it is GM's own fault in your posts. But you don't seem to be bothered that the reason the Japanese and German OEMs don't have these costs is because the government funds the health care completely. They have no costs. Did you know that the Japanese OEMs benefit $1,000 to $2,000 dollars on every car because of manipulation of the YEN. Yep free money.

So don't bash GM for this. Our government has let it happen, and the American people don't give a darn. Any lack of competitiveness isn't in our ability to design, engineer and build great products, it is in the very social issues that we as Americans ignore.

As far as no compromises? Well try to imagine every engineer getting their way. Only a very few cars on the road use THE best leathers, woods and metals without cost in mind. For all of you posting that “this little change would have only added a little cost or a little mass so GM is a FAIL for not doing it” you need to understand what it’s like to keep a car under mass and cost targets. Mass means fuel economy and performance. If 20 engineers just asked for a little bit more, virtually no more, the car would have been heavier and cost more.

So please quit making statements like that. This is an incredible car by any stretch. I've shown it to my friends at that Japanese OEM where I used to work and watched them pour over it with keen interest and enthusiasm.
Sorry to rant. It’s just so hard reading these comments about how easy it is and that GM is a FAIL because they don’t get it. That is the problem we have in the eyes of many people at the government level right now. They have no policies like they do in Germany or Japan that help their own industries and for some reason many of you seem to be ok with that. Why can’t the Big 3 compete? Why can’t Michael Phelps win a gold medal with hand cuffs on.

Again, sorry for the rant, but it had to be said IMO.

Man do you ever sound like Scott!