Quote:
Originally Posted by MobilOne
Hi Vman455,
The GM cars may all be different. But they don't seem that way to me.
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Well, my point was that no matter what they seem, the statement that Chevrolets, Buicks, and Cadillacs today have the same bodies, engines, and transmissions is demonstrably false. Looking at the Alpha platform again, we have cars in three different sizes (compact ATS, mid-size coupe Camaro, and full-size CTS) with completely different bodies (strike one), with at least one unique engine option in each (strike two) and at least two unique transmission options (strike three). This is a far cry from the old days, when GM produced clones like the second-generation Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunbird, which were
exactly the same car with a different grill and wheels, or even than Chrysler's vans today, which do the same thing (to be fair, Chrysler is moving away from that too, e.g. the smaller Dart and larger 200, unique models on the same platform).
We're talking this:
...versus this:
Sure, they aren't
completely different cars, but they're differentiated enough that there probably isn't a lot of demographic overlap in potential buyers, if at all.
So, my thesis is: platform sharing today results in cars that are well differentiated in looks, size, feel, and performance, unlike GM's strategy of rebranding the same exact model between brands as recently as a couple decades ago (but still today with their trucks, I'll give you that), and if I'm going to buy an argument that this is not the case, I need to see some convincing evidence to support it.
