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From the Chicago Tribune:

GM puts brake on rear-drive vehicles
Published April 10, 2007

General Motors has put a hold on future rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

"We've pushed the pause button. It's no longer full speed ahead," Vice Chairman Bob Lutz revealed in an interview.

Two of the most important RWD cars in the works are the Chevy Camaro sports coupe due back late in 2008 and the full-size, RWD replacement for the Chevy Impala sedan for 2009. Both are expected to be huge sellers and contribute major profits to a GM till burdened with IOUs the last few years.

"It's too late to stop Camaro, but anything after that is questionable or on the bubble," said Lutz, noting that also means Camaro derivatives -- along with a big Impala sedan, "if we call it Impala."

The RWD cars, you see, would be larger and heavier than front-wheel-drive cars or are high-performance models.

So it comes down to the matter of fuel economy. Or as Lutz says: "We don't know how to get 30 percent better mileage from" RWD cars.

That 30 percent bogey arises from a proposal by the Bush administration to raise corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards by 4 percent a year so cars would have to average 34 m.p.g. by 2017, up from 27.5 m.p.g. today. On top of that, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate carbon dioxide expelled by cars, a gas that contributes to global warming. The EPA doesn't do so now.

"We'll decide on our rear-drive cars when the government decides on CO(-2) levels and CAFE regulations," Lutz said, adding that limiting CO(-2) would increase mileage, too.

"Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of burning gas and directly proportional to the amount of fuel burned. If we legislate CO(-2) from cars, why not legislate we take one less breath per minute since humans release capricious amounts of CO(-2) each time they exhale?" offered a testy Lutz.

Lutz also points out that higher mileage will come at a price, with the proposal to raise CAFE certain to increase costs by as much as $5,000, which will be added to a car's sticker, an amount most consumers won't be willing to pay. There are no hard numbers for how much CAFE compliance adds to the sticker now.

"Rather than buy new, people would hang onto their old cars. We could eat the $5,000, but that would put us out of business."

Besides, those who see cars as more than just an appliance are eager for the new RWD offerings.

Among other cars affected are a high-performance midsize Pontiac, a replacement for the full-size Buick Lucerne sedan, a compact smaller than the current CTS at Cadillac and possible 300-horsepower versions of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters.

"This is very disappointing," noted Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc., in Grand Rapids, Mich. Most of the cars coming are necessary to GM's turnaround as showroom magnets.

"What the public buys makes CAFE work, not what the industry builds," Merkle added. "To improve mileage you change demand, not supply, by raising gas prices through taxes. But no politician is going to do that so they throw the responsibility on the back of the industry."

Lutz also objects to the talk that carmakers can easily raise mileage with a very low investment.

"Academics assure us that for $200 we can get 30 percent better mileage. If anyone can figure out how to do that for $200 -- or even for $1,000 -- I want them in my office today. Show me how to do it and we'll adopt it," he said. "If I could increase mileage by 30 percent for $200, why wouldn't I? What's my motivation not to when a gas-electric hybrid gets 27 percent better mileage and I hope someday to get the cost down to $9,000?"

Others insist that carmakers simply have to sell more small cars, such as the trio of 1-liter concepts that promise 40 m.p.g.-plus that GM unveiled at the New York Auto Show.

"Small-car mileage only counts toward CAFE if you build them here, and you can't build small cars here at a profit," Lutz said, explaining that foreign-made cars would count toward the automaker's import fleet, and its domestic fleet is where GM needs help.

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Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com

I knew this was too good to be true.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

hmmm...no mention on cutting the size or number of Hummers produced though..

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Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com

Maybe they could get the rear-drive high performance cars through as Rancheros or El Caminos. If they can class them as trucks, there's lots of standards they don't have to meet.

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

Here we go again (for those of us that have been around a while). This sounds like 1979 all over again -- I guess we should look for a new Chevy Citation to hit the streets soon. In any event, the odds look good that we are near the peak in high performance road cars.

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

I fear you might be right Chuck. I've been wondering for years when the second "muscle car" era would end. Oh well, at least I got to experience one in my life. Maybe in 20 years there will be a zero emissions hydrogen powered muscle car era.

Oh yeah, and it's been one heck of a muscle car era! I NEVER dreamed I would experience the incredible cars and performance we have today back in the 70's. I can still recall reading about the Chevy Monza when they put the V8 in it, and C&D was hot on the car since it did 0-60 in less than 10 seconds. I could never have dreamed of driving something like the M5 that can trap 109mph and trip the lights just under 13 sec with a good launch while being an overall outstanding car...just amazing. I’ve had the car for years, and I still am amazed each time I drive it. I don’t ever plan to sell it.

I think people who didn't experience the 70's really have too little appreciation for today's cars. Dang, even my beater 11 year-old Volvo wagon has an all aluminum, DOHC, 4 valve/cylinder, turbocharged with intercooler motor -- the thought of such a beast of a motor was beyond comprehension in the 70's.

Hey, at least this time, I really don't think the nation will put up with another 55mph speed limit (not to mention what it would do to the economy).

Chuck

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

Key point here IMHO is the "We don't know how" statement. I think they don't want to know. Or they know, but it's just not how they do things at GM. I think this is the equivalent of a small child throwing themselves down on the floor and throwing a fit in an attempt to get their way. Why make this statement to the public? This is all politics. Let the GM faithful start writing letters to their representatives.

If this is true and it is 1979 all over again, all it means is that someone else will successfully fill the vacuum that they create.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Except this time no vacuum will be created (OK, except for the Corvette)- Japanese companies already out-do GM in all market segments. There will only be a little wheezing sound as the last gasp of air goes out of the General...

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Carl Fisher

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4651531

Absolutely! I think of the cars I got the chance to drive back then, even if only once or twice. Super Bee, Road Runner, Challenger, Cuda, GTX, Duster, Mustangs, Cyclone GT, Corvette, Camaros, Chevelles, Novas, GTOs, Firebirds, GS, 442. Just a ton of fun.



Yep. I drove my 1st Vette when I was 17. I thought that was awesome. Driving a Z06 makes that 70's one like nothing. I'm still amazed also when I get in my car. And taking it out on track it is just intoxicating



Today it's almost getting common place to have 300hp. Getting 500hp in a street car on pump gas without a big block and big loping cam. Unreal!



I hope the hell not.

Graham

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http://www.greywinds.com

ahh hell, i hear Toyota hasn't put out a performance car in 10 or more years. it ain't a monopoly if it is "furren owned" is it?

or is it Ford they are trying to purchase?

The muscle car era won't end, they will just be outsourced to the Chinese. Just like before, the American car makers said they "couldn't" meet the old emission requirements, couldn't make airbags, couldn't meet fuel economy standards. Then the Japanese came in and did all that and built cars that performed and got mileage etc. Then the Americans almost caught up, and now a new challenge.

THe Chinese are just starting to build consumer goods just like the Japanese in the 70's. So give them 5 or 10 years and with 800 gazillion cheap labor resources, they will sell us a Corvette thing called a Cheery or something for 200,000 Yuan which is $30K American and we will all buy them and put fart pipes on them and slam them to the ground and paint them lime green.. and .....I am making myself sick.....

"we" or is it "WEI" you should paint your Me Ottar lime green Rob.

Last time it was the reluctant Europeans that saved the day. I say reluctant since they always lagged behind the US in emissions standards in the early days. However, the Bosch 3-way catalyst with O2 sensor transformed the whole industry. Saab and BMW were the first to use it in production cars. The 1979 BMW 528i was a totally transformed car compared to the 1978 530i (almost identical except they got rid of the thermal reactors in place of the 3-way cat and for some reason slightly reduced the displacement). It was significantly faster, got better gas mileage and ran much smoother all in addition to being a much cleaner burning car. In 1980, BMW went with 3-way cats/O2 sensors on the whole product line here in the US.

Detroit developed junk like the feedback carburetor that responded to O2 signals. It seems like they did everything they could to resist port fuel injection. Remember the fuel injection system in the 1984 Vette that had a unit that replaced the carb? I guess it was two units -- think they called it crossfire injection or something like that.

I think GM and Detroit's problem at this point is that they are scared to lead the way. They have become drunk again on how much they have made off this SUV craze (i.e. milking multi-decade old platforms/technology), and they don't want to kill the cow that's providing the milk (i.e. big stupid SUV-type vehicles) while at the same time trying to sway the market to a whole different type of vehicle. Last time they were stuck on the thought of trying to get away from the 2+ ton land yachts, thinking the American buyer wanted that size at all costs. They got left holding the bag by producing a bunch of cars nobody wanted (or wished they hadn't bought after they did -- lol).

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

I see a piece of the problem in just about everyone's post. So many companies pile on weight to meet surging demand without long term planning for when the surge runs its course or for even for predictable changes ahead. The auto industry is not alone.

Lutz appears to be posturing to rally opposition to the EPA squeeze. He's big cheese, but Rick Wagoner is still the big dog. I'm sure he's spoken with Mr. President.

The car biz seems to be a tough one with peaks and valleys. I have to wonder though how successful they would be if they chose a different operating model. What if they put a real car guy in charge...like Lutz...maybe someone younger? Someone who has the engineering and marketing background rather than a former CFO. The visionaries seem to get stuck at the VP level.