hemidakota
11-14-2003, 11:01 AM
Is Solstice the "Next Corvette"?
http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/gallery/5992_image.jpg
(TCC Staff Member) GM's confirmation this week that a production study is under way on the show-stealing Pontiac Solstice roadster raises an intriguing subject: What does it take for a handsome or groundbreaking car to create a halo that lights up its brand, or even an entire automaker's lineup?
GM's product developer vice-chairman, Robert A. Lutz, voices certainty about the Solstice. He's a bit biased, having driven the Solstice onto the Detroit auto show stage barely four months after he arrived at the number-one automaker in 2000. Lutz had ordered 24-7 work on the Solstice from the get-go - and it turned out to be "car-of-the-show," according to media onlookers.
Now, according to a Detroit News report (November 11), Solstice is being studied for assembly at GM's Wilmington, Delaware, plant, and Lutz is again ebullient about his "protégé on wheels." The Solstice, declares the 72-year-old alumnus of every Big Three producer, "will do well in a place like California where a lot of people who, for the last 20 years, wouldn't think of setting foot in a domestic dealership and it would get them in there."
As automaker marketers and dealers know only too well, curiosity is one thing and a sale is another. Chrysler Group executives said the same thing a year ago as the Crossfire, sharing parts with Mercedes-Benz, starred on its show stands. Only 587 Crossfires were sold in October, however, and hopes that it would rejuvenate the Chrysler brand and draw hordes of enthusiasts to Chrysler dealerships have not been realized. Likewise, the updated Ford Thunderbird, an icon in its original trappings as a trendy two-seater in the 1950s, has fared less well than Ford Division executives had hoped at an extravagant display that took up a special mezzanine at the Detroit show in 2001. The T-Bird will phase out on a "hiatus" after an annual sales rate of fewer than 20,000 cars a year.
The Solstice will arrive at Pontiac dealerships in 2005 or 2006, if it indeed goes through to the sign-off procedures at GM, perhaps as a latter-day Corvette. Fifty year ago, the Vette reached Chevrolet dealers as a nifty two-seater priced below $3000. It had the lines and powertrain of a thoroughbred. The car associated with the late GM President Ed Cole and styling vice-president Harley Earl left a mark that transcended numerous product flubs GM was to come up with later. Somehow, the Vette never added a four-door model (unlike the T-Bird), or outlandish design touches like fins or a rear engine (like Porsche), but it has its own dedicated plant in Bowling Green, Ky., a national museum there, and well over a million owners and past owners.
Is the Solstice the Corvette of the 21st century? GM would like to think so. -Mac Gordon
Reference: http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=6602&sid=173&n=156
http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/gallery/5992_image.jpg
(TCC Staff Member) GM's confirmation this week that a production study is under way on the show-stealing Pontiac Solstice roadster raises an intriguing subject: What does it take for a handsome or groundbreaking car to create a halo that lights up its brand, or even an entire automaker's lineup?
GM's product developer vice-chairman, Robert A. Lutz, voices certainty about the Solstice. He's a bit biased, having driven the Solstice onto the Detroit auto show stage barely four months after he arrived at the number-one automaker in 2000. Lutz had ordered 24-7 work on the Solstice from the get-go - and it turned out to be "car-of-the-show," according to media onlookers.
Now, according to a Detroit News report (November 11), Solstice is being studied for assembly at GM's Wilmington, Delaware, plant, and Lutz is again ebullient about his "protégé on wheels." The Solstice, declares the 72-year-old alumnus of every Big Three producer, "will do well in a place like California where a lot of people who, for the last 20 years, wouldn't think of setting foot in a domestic dealership and it would get them in there."
As automaker marketers and dealers know only too well, curiosity is one thing and a sale is another. Chrysler Group executives said the same thing a year ago as the Crossfire, sharing parts with Mercedes-Benz, starred on its show stands. Only 587 Crossfires were sold in October, however, and hopes that it would rejuvenate the Chrysler brand and draw hordes of enthusiasts to Chrysler dealerships have not been realized. Likewise, the updated Ford Thunderbird, an icon in its original trappings as a trendy two-seater in the 1950s, has fared less well than Ford Division executives had hoped at an extravagant display that took up a special mezzanine at the Detroit show in 2001. The T-Bird will phase out on a "hiatus" after an annual sales rate of fewer than 20,000 cars a year.
The Solstice will arrive at Pontiac dealerships in 2005 or 2006, if it indeed goes through to the sign-off procedures at GM, perhaps as a latter-day Corvette. Fifty year ago, the Vette reached Chevrolet dealers as a nifty two-seater priced below $3000. It had the lines and powertrain of a thoroughbred. The car associated with the late GM President Ed Cole and styling vice-president Harley Earl left a mark that transcended numerous product flubs GM was to come up with later. Somehow, the Vette never added a four-door model (unlike the T-Bird), or outlandish design touches like fins or a rear engine (like Porsche), but it has its own dedicated plant in Bowling Green, Ky., a national museum there, and well over a million owners and past owners.
Is the Solstice the Corvette of the 21st century? GM would like to think so. -Mac Gordon
Reference: http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=6602&sid=173&n=156