The New General Motors

I have mentioned in my Cadillac SRX and CTS Sport Wagon quick reviews that American automotive companies absolutely need to step up their game as soon as possible in order to survive. Not only do they need to have products that are comparable to the rest of the world, they also need to find a new way of marketing. On August 10^th 2009, the new-post-bankruptcy General Motors did just that.

The People

Following the direction of the new CEO, Fritz Henderson, GM Public Relations team has opened the doors to one hundred people who they believe to be influential in their domains and invited them to Detroit for a product and technology presentation. I happen to be one of those hundred people (yea, really!) and I was fully expecting to see a bunch of other car dorks such as myself. That was not the case however; being a social person, I have made a point of finding out who was from where and why they are here, and here is a list of some of the people whom I have had the pleasure to speak with:

• A gentleman who worked for a private firm which was responsible for finance report writing to the government. He was a very private gentleman and seemed to have bigger-picture perspective on things. I spent a good twenty minutes listening to his thoughts on the industry, past and current administrations and the economy, all delivered in a calm and almost un-opinionated fashion. You can tell that he is one of the guys who does all the grunt work and receives no credit for it.
• A writer for a popular culture magazine who knew nothing about cars. On the way from the airport I was explaining to her why the Suburban we were in was getting approximately eighteen miles-per-gallon. At first she was shocked at this low figure, down to a point where she almost started feeling uncomfortable being in the car. Only after I told her that this vehicle was designed to carry eight people and their luggage in relative comfort, in all weather conditions, on- or off-road, while pulling a trailer (had to exaggerate slightly to drive my point across) did she begin to understand why it was using so much more fuel than her Sentra.
• Two mothers from California. I met them as they were hovering around one of the many cross-over vehicles that GM is about to launch. They said they liked the cars, but then I begun asking them questions; how do you feel about all these buttons on the dash? Do you feel that the tailgate opening is wide enough for your needs? Did you notice the sliding rear seats? Is the seating position good for you? Did you notice the convex mirror that allows you to see the rear seat passengers? We had a friendly chat, I think they started looking for other features that were either poorly designed, in the wrong place, or ones that were just wonderful and would have made their lives easier. The devil is in the details.
• There were a few people that were deeply concerned about the environment and many of them would not stop talking about hydrogen power, electric cars and therefore, of course, the Chevy Volt. I listened to some but kept my views to myself.
• Bloggers of all kinds; mothers, news, politicians, and people like me.
• Finally, car dorks. Yes, my peeps, and we chatted only about cars: design, chassis sharing, badge engineering, F1, new technologies, etc. Yes, very dorky stuff.

So, why does it matter who was invited? It matters because these people were not GM fanboys, they were not automotive media, they were not anyone in particular but they do represent, or maybe influential to, the people who may potentially be buying GM products. This is significant because in order to sell their products GM has to get the people into their cars. They have to show why GM cars are better, they have to convince people that they are getting a high quality product that will work well years down the road.

The Event

The event began with a dinner on Sunday night at the GM Heritage Center in downtown Detroit. Unfortunately, I was not able to make the dinner, but my friend Mike Juergens was, and he provided the pictures. The following morning, we were taken to the GM Design Center where Bob Lutz gave a quick keynote speech and had time for a little Q and A. Being slightly shy, I chose to approach Bob after his speech and asked him about the future of the recently-killed Pontiac G8, which I happen to think was a great car. His response to that was that he and Fritz Anderson see very differently on this car; Bob loves and thinks it should be sold as a Chevy whereas Fritz says that it should be killed. Bob did admit that there may be some design issues with the current car and that the G8 chassis is “definitely not dead” and may make a comeback in the future as something else. Cool.  The rest of the morning was spent in GM’s design center, where we were shown design studios of each of the remaining brands and later taken to an auditorium where several new Cadillacs were presented: a CTS Sportswagon, a new large Cadillac XTS, and a new small, something-in-between-the-1-and-3-series, called ATS; I’m sure no one will ever get these names confused [sarcasm]. In addition to that, also shown were the Camaro convertible, the Chevy Spark, some limited edition Corvette, as well as an updated Malibu and Aveo.

Following a quick lunch, we were transported to where prototypes of the Chevy Volt are being assembled. We were given a tour of that facility and had several engineers explain the assembly, parts fitment, R&D, and testing processes. Look for a full article and a video on the Chevy Volt in the near future. There are not pictures from the morning events as cameras were not allowed. Sorry.

An hour-long bus ride placed us at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds. The first thing you notice about the Proving Grounds is the size;: this place is probably the size of a small suburban town. We pulled up to a hangar-like building which to my surprise was crawling with news media, many of which were live on the air. Inside, the perimeter was set up with various display boards, engines, and other technical bits. In the middle of the room were chairs in front of which was a podium, all clearly set up for a press conference. Outside of the building were several dozen of GM’s newest and greatest products set up in what appeared to be the formation of the original LeMans starting grid.

After fifteen minutes of mingling, a press conference did start. CEO Fritz Henderson discussed the future direction for the company, new products and their approach to advertising and to potential buyers; may the best car win. The day’s second session of Q&A followed, this time with Fritz… and guess what I asked? Yup, G8. Fritz suggested that I go drive the Camaro and that some relative of the G8 may make a come back. We were then ushered outside and told to go play with cars.

The Cars

The latest and greatest were represented, from new family cross-overs, through full-size trucks and vans, to halo cars such as the Camaro and the Corvette. Everyone could drive whatever they wanted on one of two courses: a city course, complete with intersections and stop signs, and a good-sized autocross course. Riding shotgun with you in each car was someone from the engineering or design team on that particular model. For the most part, these people were asking questions with regard to how the drivers liked the cars, and being opinionated I made comments, both positive and negative (but constructive!), about things such as interior layout, space efficiency, etc. I wonder if they listened.

I checked out all the cars and was particularly impressed with GM’s offerings of smaller SUVs, a.k.a. cross-overs. They all seemed well-made and thoughtfully designed and addressed issues that may otherwise get missed, such as:

• Access to the third row seat.
• Power tailgates with height-adjustable opening, so the tailgate does not hit the garage door.
• Cup-holders, cubbies, storage areas.
• Blind-spot vehicle detectors.
• Nicely integrated entertainment systems as well as nav, Bluetooth, iPod controllers, etc… stuff you’d normally see on higher-end cars.

I drove the following cars and here are my quick impressions:

• Buick Enclave – seemed long but didn’t feel big when driving, may be a nicer and smaller replacement for families who in the past would drive a loaded Suburban or Expedition. The towing capacity is 4500#, which may be important to some who would actually be switching from a Suburban. Gas mileage range is from 17mpg in the city to 22mpg (24 on 2WD) on the highway, which is about average for its class.
• Cadillac CTS Sports Wagon – I gotta say, I really like the CTS. It’s sharp looking, despite the fact that some say it has too many cheesy chrome bits, it drives great, and the automatic transmission is one of the best ones I have ever sampled, especially when put into sport mode;: smooth, shifts quickly, holds gear on deceleration, very nicely done. I would seriously consider buying it.
• Chevy Silverado Hybrid – I drove it because I was interested in the hybrid system. I actually like the hybrid technology, as it works great in the proper application, but its downside is its considerable higher initial cost, which may not be recouped over time. The truck drove great, for a huge truck. The powertrain was smooth and one could hardly feel the internal combustion engine turning on and off. On a 90+ degree day, even when running on battery, at no point was the interior uncomfortable. This vehicle and its SUV cousins get 20mpg on the highway and in the city which is very good given the size, payload and towing ability of these vehicles.
• Chevy Camaro – I was on the fence going into it, but pushing the V6 automatic model mildly on the autocross course I found it nicely balanced, at least at lower speeds. I don’t like the interior, like at all; too old-looking for me and the windows are too short and I had a hard time finding a comfortable sitting position (I’m 6’2”). On the other hand, all of that doesn’t really matter as there are only two kinds of people out there; the ones that want a Camaro and the ones that do not. On the other hand, one can’t deny the fact that it is a badass looking vehicle.
• Chevy Equinox – After a quick drive, this really did look like a solid choice in a very competitive market. While there was definitely nothing earth-shattering about the Equinox, there is equally nothing inherently wrong or bad about it.

So you say “yeah, but Toyota and Honda are known for their reliability, and GM is not.”  Well, that is not necessarily true. I happen to believe that GM products are actually very reliable, but they have other issues. By saying that a vehicle is reliable, it means that it won’t leave you stranded on the side of the road or it won’t require any major repairs, and GM has actually been quite good at that, certainly not any worse than others. The problem with GM vehicles has always been the ungraceful way in which they aged: the quality of materials, how parts are attached to each other, rattles, noises, etc., and GM seems to know this too. The new cars are much different than that of GM’s past and they really deserve a fair look.

After driving all of these cars, I went over to the tent area to grab a drink and chat a little bit. I started talking to this one GM representative about how great this event is, and then another GM employee sort of joined our conversation; he was shorter, wearing a polo shirt, Camaro hat and shades. Two minutes into the conversation I was about to say “hey you look a lot like Fritz…”, and then I looked on his name tag. What do you know, the whole time I was talking the CEO of General Motors, Fritz Anderson. In the next twenty minutes I asked him where he saw GM heading and what his next steps would be. Confident and proud of GM new offerings, Fritz said that he believes in GM products, and that the company will be heading toward specific core brands yielding less badge engineering. GM also has a new vision of how to show their products to the potential customer, and an event such as this one is definitely a revolutionary way of doing just that.

Fritz and I, chatting.