Re: Cafe Ruling
GM is a victim of it's own actions, and only has itself to blame in regards to the current status. Compare what was being made domestically to the rest of the world in 1980, and it can easily be said that Rip Van Winkle was at the corporate helm for a while...
Take the way-back machine 20 yrs. earlier to 1960, and GM didn't have a global market to worry about, and could make and sell what they pleased. At that point, the consumer was getting what the consumer wanted, which was exciting styling and performance, with little regard to economy or safety. Nash/Rambler had cars that get better economy in the 50's than the cars of today (whoa...), and also advertised safety, but guess what-- Nobody cared.
There is no reason that GM cannot produce exciting cars that are also fuel-efficient. It's called progress, and your post seems to go against it.
MB and BMW both have production diesels that have over 420 ft/lbs of torque from turbocharged engines that go 0 - 60 in 6 seconds, are 50-state legal, and already meet the fuel efficiency standards of 2025. This is in addition to other exciting offerings from the rest of the world-- We live in a global economy these days, if you haven't noticed.
It's called R&D, and R&D doesn't mean shoe-horning a Boss 429 into an engine bay that it doesn't belong in any longer.
Honestly man, not trying to start a fight here, but this could be THE BEST time for automakers to develop the most exciting products ever, while also positively impacting bottom lines and helping the overall economy, rather than bemoaning the "good ol' days" (which if they were really good is debatable), or loss of musclecars in general.
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