GM continues to destroy value (and other new model rants)

The arrival of this month's Road & Track in my mailbox (and its primary feature, "New Cars 2005") gives me yet another opportunity to reflect on some of the more interesting aspects of the 2005 models:

1. Buick is offering four models that are all 4-door front drivers with V-6s. Whose brilliant marketing plan is this? Seriously, I challenge Buick's product planners to come on this board and have a discussion.
2. Chevy hopes the Cobalt will hook them up with the youth market, but it appears that they never noticed that styling is a big deal for the youth market.
3. GM needs to fire all of its designers other than the ones working on Cadillac or Corvette. Not that I'm a fan of the "new edge" Caddy look, but at least they're trying something bold. They need risk-takers. Who is approving designs like the Malibu Maxx?
4. BMW needs to make two bold moves, which are a) firing Chris Bangle and b) killing iDrive. First, Chris Bangle. Chris, your boldness is admirable but your direction is just totally at odds with what people are looking for in BMW design, and you're destroying the equity of one of the greatest consumer brands in the world. The fact that the 3-series (which accounts for over half of BMW's car profits) will not be fully "Bangle-ized" is a clear admission that the Bangle theme is a failure with consumers. You heard it here first: I predict that Bangle will be out before the end of 2005. WRT iDrive, BMW's insistence on keeping this around is pure arrogance. It has been harshly criticized by one publication after another without exception. Yet BMW insists that their buyers just need to adjust to their product. Anytime you're in a consumer product business and you find yourself telling your customers that they don't know what they're talking about, you're in big trouble. This is a perfect example of how the biggest problem with success is that you start to believe your own bullshit (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go out and rent "Star Wars Episode 1").
5. Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 for $50k. Need I say more? Okay...C6 Corvette for $45k. Overall though, I can't complain about Chrysler. Their new designs are bold and interesting. There are still large chunks of their product lines that need revision (Sebring, Stratus, Neon) but they're going in the right direction. Here here!
6. Ford: J Mays has to go. His idea of creative design is copying old designs. He made his name with the New Beetle. Since coming to Ford he's brought us the Thunderbird, GT and Mustang, all of which are ripoffs of earlier designs. The GT and new Mustang are indeed beautiful, but you can't sustain a company on the designs of the past. I predict that Mays will be out before the end of 2005 as well.
7. Put a 400-hp Corvette engine in the Pontiac GTO and you make it damn exciting, even with that bland exterior and annoying GM interior. Still, Pontiac has three 4-door sedans and three 2-door sedans in its line up. Another product planning embarrassment akin to Buick's.
8. Saab and Saturn - GM continues to show its expertise at value destruction by slowly killing great brands.

Yet another car blog, but...

Yeah, I know, I know...you already get enough car info from reading AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Road & Track (my favorite monthly, but also a pet peeve right now - more on that later), Racer, Autoblog.com, Edmunds.com, blah blah blah. You don't NEED another source of news about cars and that couldn't be more true. There are so many conventional and alternative sources of news about cars that there's not a lot of value in providing more of the same.

So what you can expect here is not more of the same. You can expect:

• More honest critique - When was the last time one of your car magazines was REALLY critical of anything automotive (other than iDrive)?
• More discussion of how automotive news is covered - Do the big car magazines (and web sites) really have your best interests at heart, or are they whoring themselves out to the car companies?
• More coverage of great automotive experiences - The best events and driving roads. Having a great car is neat and all, but if you're just using it to get to work (or school) and back you're missing out.
• Less "OH MY GOD THIS IS SO COOL" and more "Is this really as good as they say it is?"

Enjoy, leave comments, and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping in.

Andy