Bob Lutz talks about the boneheaded management at Old GM.

[Jesda]

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/show/1525?play

"Car Guys vs Bean Counters" is a VERY good book.

Bob Lutz (of GM, Chrysler, Exide, Ford, BMW) talks about how GM analyzed and brand-managed itself into a hole by leaving product development to MBAs, analysts, marketing executives, and accountants instead of the creative types with a passion for automotive design. In the book he admits to several of his own mistakes. I'll post a review of it in a week or two.

"If you want intelligent people, boy, GM is loaded with them. Common sense gets left aside."

Watch the video for an overview. He criticizes the Aztek, the Envoy XUV, and canceled projects like the 7-passenger Saturn Vue which would have been the same vehicle with the addition of a massive rear overhang.

[dre1507]

interesting.

[OriginalWheelman]

Great vid. I think I'm going to buy that book. He made a lot of "WTF GM?" moments make sense.

[dre1507]

^^This.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I never understood the point of the LWB GMT360 trucks. They fill a niche that doesn't exist. If you need room for 7 and a V8, you buy a Tahoe/Yukon. The LWB Envoy looks weird, too, like it went through taffy stretcher. And because the roof is so much higher in the rear, it reminds me of those weird giant rat things from the roll-in-the-hay scene in Star Wars episode II. I think it was II, anyway. I try not to remember.

But the Envoy XUV was a terrible idea on top of all that weirdness. I've seen plenty of them, but NEVER EVER not once ever with the rear retracted.

[Jesda]

Its amazing that some d!ck "ran the numbers" and was sure as heck that they'd sell 90,000 units a year.

They sold 13,000.

All you have to do is play with the data inputs and you can churn out any magical result you want. They assume the guys in management don't know how the projections were mathematically reached (and its true, they probably dont) so the analysts are treated like wizards with special powers.


And I can't hold it against a company for trying to use formulas to duplicate and maintain its success, but the brand and image sensitive auto industry doesnt work that way.