GM switches product spending money from trucks to cars
04-24-2003, 09:09 PM
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GM switches product spending money from trucks to cars
I think this is VERY good news for the future of USAmerican companies into the car business. We will see some good offerings soon.
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By DAVE GUILFORD | Automotive News
DETROIT - General Motors is shifting product spending from light trucks to cars.
Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, says GM product-development spending will swing from nearly 70 percent on light trucks to nearly 70 percent on cars.
In the late 1990s, the automaker invested heavily in light trucks. GM at that time had focused its efforts on mid-sized cars and drew criticism for its slow response to the upsurge in truck sales, Cowger says.
"So we, in the '98-99 time frame, made a clear decision that we would convert some capacity to trucks," he says. "That's when we executed not only the new (mid-sized SUVs), we completely redid the (full-sized trucks) last year after only four years being on the market."
But car sales lagged as GM trucks gained popularity.GM's share of the U.S. car market fell from 30.0 percent in 1998 to 24.9 percent in 2002.
Now GM wants "gotta have" cars.
"If you looked at the capital spending, we were about 68 percent trucks," Cowger says. "Now for the next three years, it'll be 68 to 70 percent cars. So we've gotta come back and get the car portfolio, while not letting the truck portfolio get long in the tooth."
GM says it does not disclose its product development budget, but it has set a $5 billion capital expenditure target in North America for 2003.
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By DAVE GUILFORD | Automotive News
DETROIT - General Motors is shifting product spending from light trucks to cars.
Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, says GM product-development spending will swing from nearly 70 percent on light trucks to nearly 70 percent on cars.
In the late 1990s, the automaker invested heavily in light trucks. GM at that time had focused its efforts on mid-sized cars and drew criticism for its slow response to the upsurge in truck sales, Cowger says.
"So we, in the '98-99 time frame, made a clear decision that we would convert some capacity to trucks," he says. "That's when we executed not only the new (mid-sized SUVs), we completely redid the (full-sized trucks) last year after only four years being on the market."
But car sales lagged as GM trucks gained popularity.GM's share of the U.S. car market fell from 30.0 percent in 1998 to 24.9 percent in 2002.
Now GM wants "gotta have" cars.
"If you looked at the capital spending, we were about 68 percent trucks," Cowger says. "Now for the next three years, it'll be 68 to 70 percent cars. So we've gotta come back and get the car portfolio, while not letting the truck portfolio get long in the tooth."
GM says it does not disclose its product development budget, but it has set a $5 billion capital expenditure target in North America for 2003.
04-24-2003, 11:55 PM
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Hopefully all of that money will go towards the interiors. That is the only real area where GM is lacking. Their cars look good, ride nice, are quick, have great trannies, good mileage, but feel like an econobox when you sit in one.
They did great things with their trucks, I beleive, so lets hope they can do the same for cars.
They did great things with their trucks, I beleive, so lets hope they can do the same for cars.
04-25-2003, 04:35 PM
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i hope the new grand prix or malibu weren't part of that 70% cause they aren't there. what they need to do is rotate the us staff to another country and bring in the design team from vauxhall or similiar. i can imagine the people designing gm cars are in their 80's by now.
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