Re: Barnstormin': Why the Nurburgring Kinda Sucks
The cars would not be as good as they are now if they had not held themselves to the highest possible standard. If they had been doing this 20 years ago they would be in much better shape today. They are doing it because they raised their sights far above what they were then. Twenty years ago they weren't even trying to be the best in the world when Toyota(Lexus), Honda(Acura), and Nissan(Infinity) were. When the original LS400 came out it put the accepted world standard in luxury cars to shame-because that was their objective. Toyota as a company benefitted from that achievement and shed their image as a company that only made cheap small economy cars. GM testing at the 'ring is a product of that same achievement mindset, and that mindset is the important thing. Twenty years ago they didn't have the self esteem to believe that they could compete with Mercedes. They now see themselves as players at the highest levels. They now see that they have to be-that good enough just won't do. It should also be noted that 20 years ago they were still trying to dig themselves out of the mess that Roger Smith had left the company in and were at that time focused on improving quality and reliability, and developing new, modern engines. They did-and they don't get enough credit for it. They are still saddled with that image of poor quality from that time. Like Toyota did then, GM has to make that big leap to dominating the competition at the highest levels-excellence on the world stage-to turn their reputation around. The German manufacturers have never had to dig themselves out of a hole with a bad reputation. Whether deserved or not their excellence has been accepted buy the buying public forever.
These achievements do carry some weight. I have to stress again that it's not just that they have some fast 'ring times, but how much better the cars became in the pursuit of those times. We are just now seeing the fruits of all that work. The cars that have really given them something to brag about are all '08 and '09 models-it's all happened just this year. Right when things were getting good the ladder got kicked out from under them. A good friend of mine who likes cars, but isn't really a car guy, was of the same opinion as most everyone else that the big three should be building better cars to deserve any help from the taxpayers. I started firing off links to him for all the road tests and reviews for the new Corvette, CTS-V, Cobalt SS, and Malibu. His response was-"I was blown away-I had no idea they were building cars that good." When you can show a laymen that a Caddy is faster than BMW's best that carries some serious weight. When you can show them that testers with an anti-american bias like the Malibu better than the Camry and Accord, that's a big deal. Ring times are something that are easy to grasp for people that don't understand complicated car stuff like we do. The whole world competes on our turf so for us to just be the best here simply isn't good enough anymore-we have to be the best here AND the best on their turf too.
Don't forget that the Malibu plant was running 24/7 and still behind demand before the credit seized up and the media and congress started telling everyone that American cars were all junk. Just when things were getting really good.
Originally posted by Brian Lohnes
These achievements do carry some weight. I have to stress again that it's not just that they have some fast 'ring times, but how much better the cars became in the pursuit of those times. We are just now seeing the fruits of all that work. The cars that have really given them something to brag about are all '08 and '09 models-it's all happened just this year. Right when things were getting good the ladder got kicked out from under them. A good friend of mine who likes cars, but isn't really a car guy, was of the same opinion as most everyone else that the big three should be building better cars to deserve any help from the taxpayers. I started firing off links to him for all the road tests and reviews for the new Corvette, CTS-V, Cobalt SS, and Malibu. His response was-"I was blown away-I had no idea they were building cars that good." When you can show a laymen that a Caddy is faster than BMW's best that carries some serious weight. When you can show them that testers with an anti-american bias like the Malibu better than the Camry and Accord, that's a big deal. Ring times are something that are easy to grasp for people that don't understand complicated car stuff like we do. The whole world competes on our turf so for us to just be the best here simply isn't good enough anymore-we have to be the best here AND the best on their turf too.
Don't forget that the Malibu plant was running 24/7 and still behind demand before the credit seized up and the media and congress started telling everyone that American cars were all junk. Just when things were getting really good.
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