Scion was to grab the attention of a younger market. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would call them “performance” cars. :mamoru:
lol, yeah its just a coincidence that the matrix shares the same motor suspension and platform as the corrola, it was designed by gm though :mamoru:
True, and both cars get a toyota drivetrain. I can’t remember what made this a joint venture between the two companies. But it definitely wasn’t the first time GM and Toyota worked together on something. When Toyota first started building cars in the U.S. it was in a GM facility.
EDIT -
1983 THE GMATOYOTA JOINT VENTURE INTRODUCTION In February 1983, General Motors Corporation and Toyota Motor Company of Japan announced a joint venture plan to co-produce a small, front wheel drive auto in a plant vacated last year by GM in Fremont, California. According to the agreement, the two com panies will produce a car comprised of a Japanese engine and trans mission and a U.S. body. The name of the new car, which.wil1 be marketed by Chevrolet, has not been decided. It will not replace any existing GM or Toyota car.
So this may have been a way for Toyota to get some of the domestic sack riders and for GM to catch a few more Import humpers knowing that each company was involved. :gotme:
I wouldn’t count the G8 out just yet, as we sit here and watch oil fall through the 60’s despite a 1.5 million barrel per day cut by OPEC.
People are going to get tired of their econoboxes they hastily traded in for in a hurry as gas heads back to $2/gal.
What will make a case for the G8 is simple economics.
If they can make it on this side of the globe, on a shared platform, they can make it work. There will always be a need for a larger sedan - especially if gas prices go back up.
The big issue is if they can get back to the ~30 mpg highway with the V6, like the old GP/Regal/Cutlass Supreme bodies… something that’s doable with DI/AFM/Belt-alternator start-stop, etc.
If GM can get past these bad times, I’d bet the Zeta replacement would be back on the table.
^ They may not need to make it here the way the dollar has been heading.
Of course, I wouldn’t put it past GM to move production to the US just as production overseas becomes a huge bargain because of high US dollar values. I mean, they brought over the GTO just in time for the US dollar to tank making it far too expensive to import from Australia.
GM, always late to the party. A little recent history recap off the top of my head:
GTO imported from Australia while the US dollar was at all time lows (making it much more expensive to import).
Introduced their new full sized vehicle truck/suv line as gas was reaching record highs.
About to introduce their overpriced plug in hybrid Volt as gas prices are falling like a rock.
And of course, thinking about killing the G8 because people don’t want V8’s just as they’re about to start wanting them again.
And yet I’m still tempted to drop a couple grand on GM stock if it falls below $5 again.
Whats all this jazz I hear about a almost completely automated GM plant in Laos. Someone told me that it will be able to run on 10 people and spit out a few hundred cars per day?
I hear they are building roads, ports, and power for this “new city” just to encompass this plant and a similar ford plant too???