Thank goodness they didn’t use the TR7’s initial tag line—the shape of things to come—for this ad.
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Last Call: It's Too Late Edition
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29 responses to “Last Call: It's Too Late Edition”
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If you put a little blue pill in the gas tank it turns into a TR-8.
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Wait ’til she finds out he’s only got the 4.
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Looks like he already found out how to make the headlights pop up.
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Up front there, that’s quite some… garland of corn?
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Since it’s Valentine’s day. What’s the worst car to bone in? I’m 6’4″ so my vote is anything… At all. Ever.
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If you already have a school bus full of kindergartners, you should probably stop boning anyway.
Also, is that particular bus really equipped with a swing-arm herding aid on the front bumper?-
Notice the height of the girl with the white sleeves compared to the bottom of the windshield. Now increase the differential by a few more inches to allow for the height of the curb. If she crossed the street directly in front of the bus, the driver would be unable to see her.
The arm makes the kids walk farther in front of the bus, to where the driver has an unobstructed view.
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“The shape of things to come” indeed…
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Maybe this will get better coverage tomorrow?
What scarcely seems believable is this report in Autocar.http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/gm-plans-sale-vauxhall-and-opel-brands-psa?page=1
GM is looking to sell off it’s European operations, Opel/Vauxhall to the French PSA conglomerate.
https://images.cdn.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/gallery_slide/public/images/car-reviews/first-drives/legacy/logo-psa-gm.jpg?itok=-2AQi5zJ-
Most of all, I find it odd that PSA is interested in Opel. More trouble with unionized factories and mediocre products to add to their portfolio?
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I would have thought that it might go the other way. Insignias seem better than 508s. WTF is DS about? I’d rather have an Astra over a 308. I’d possibly consider a Citroen but I’m still pissed off about them dropping ‘L’hydropneumatique’ partly because I still own a CX and a BX.
I think that GM might have forgotten how important and valuable Opel’s intellectual property rights are and how important Opel has been for their Australian, South American and South African operations. They could take a lesson from Ford on marketing mass market brands and small cars. Also, Vauxhall is way more successful in Britain than Opel in Europe but I can’t see that continuing if they close Ellesmere Port.
I suspect that GM Detroit doesn’t really understand the world outside Fortress America and that non USA engineered products suffer from ‘Not Invented Here’ syndrome in the same way the Australian Falcon did at Ford. What will happen at Buick? Will it actually become a Chinese engineered brand? Holdens that are rebadged Korean cars have been market failures, but rebadged Opels have been very successful. So many questions and no answers.-
The “European” Opels and Fords we have gotten in the USA in recent years have not sold well in the United States because they could not compete with other cars available in the U.S. market, particular Asian brands. The “World Cars” from GM and Ford, by contrast, seem to be doing well here. For example, the new Chevrolet Cruise is a GM product that is getting rave reviews from everyone in the American market. I know they make the sedans we get in the USA and the Hatchbacks mostly come from Mexico. This is a “World Car” that is being sold and manufactured in Europe, and the Opel Astra appears to be identical, as is the Vauxhall Astra, as is the Holden Astra, as is the Buick Verano. I wonder if the the real question is whether GM is abandoning the UK and EU markets, or if GM just doesn’t see the need to have a separate corporation in each country.
When you say “GM Detroit doesn’t understand the world outside of Fortress America” you need to remember that Vauxhall and Opel ARE owned and operated by GM Detroit and have been for decades and decades. How much difference is there between the Chevy, the Vauxhall and the Opel?-
Chevrolet pulled out of Europe in 2015 “to focus on Opel” as wikipedia puts it. You can buy the Camaro and Corvette in some countries and there’s some private import of pick-ups and whatnot, but that’s it. So if they sell Opel, GM will have absolutely nothing in Europe. No wait Cadillac Is also sold in a few European countries, but pretty much nobody is buying.
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Yes, in Vauxhall’s case since 1925. I was referring to the way in which their engineering and design resources outside the USA which have achieved so much on tiny budgets are being thrown away because they’re ‘not invented here’ in Detroit. Outside the US the Cuise has done poorly and has just been replaced in Australia/NZ by the Astra, with the Cruise sedan being rebadged as Astra.The new Cruise/Astra have much in common, like Golf/A3, but the important chassis engineering for the platform was done by Opel.
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“Outside the US the Cuise has done poorly and has just been replaced in Australia/NZ by the Astra, with the Cruise sedan being rebadged as Astra.” Let’s be sure we are talking apples and apples, here. I referenced the 2017 Chevy Cruise which is identical to the Opel Astra, Vauxhall Astra, Holden Astra, and Buick Verano. If you are saying that single design is doing poorly everywhere, that would be a good reason to pull out of the EU market because it is a great design. If you can’t sell this car, you might as well give up. I don’t believe these identical cars have separately designed suspensions. “Chassis engineering” amounts to nothing more than shock valving and spring rates. I don’t know where this car was designed, but in the past I would have assumed it was designed in Europe. Have you read anything that says GM intends to pull out of the EU market? Are they simply eliminating brands and facilities that are not sufficiently profitable and moving toward a single brand approach like Toyota has for its non-luxury cars?
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The new Cruze (aka Astra sedan) has only just been released in Australia, I haven’t looked for any reviews as yet, but the old, designed pre-bankruptcy Cruze was disappointing. It shared a lot of the platform with the Astra, the rear suspension was different for example. My impression is that the Germans did the basic platform and then the Koreans worked on making it more “cost effective” for the Cruze.
I don’t know how much is different with the new models, but the base of the A pillar is quite different between the sedan and the hatch. Very similar overall though, so you wonder why they have done what they done.
The bottom line is there is a lot of heavy lifting being done by Opel, including the basic/major platform engineering for basically all of GM’s fwd cars. I wonder how much of the design/engineering facilities they might retain or transfer if there was a sale, for retention of corporate knowledge and continuity as much as anything else. There would be a lot of cost and heartache if they had to suddenly start from scratch with a new team.
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Lots of good points, even though I’d rather have a Peugeot than an Opel across the entire lineup. DS is a complete mess without self-respect and respect for their history. But partly because Citroën is struggling so hard, and because I consider lots of Opel products sub par, I don’t understand why they’d use time, money and effort at buying the competition.
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From the link above…
“However, Evercore ICI, a global consultancy, has told German newspaper, Handelsblatt, today that GM may be forced to pay PSA to take Opel with all existing pension costs. It says Opel is worth 1.1 billion dollars (US) without the pension costs.”
“General Motors’ European operations have been unprofitable for the past 16 years, with combined losses put at over $9.1 billion since 2009. The US car making giant initially expected a return to profitability in 2016. However, a devaluation of the British pound and cooling sales in the UK following the Brexit vote is claimed to have resulted in an added $300 million of unexpected currency losses in 2016, leading to an operating loss at Opel of $257 million last year.”-
What it didn’t say: Opel was tossed over the edge by cost-cutter
José Ignacio López de Arriortúa. The “Lopez-effect” is named after him. Press suppliers to the bone – experience a violent fall in quality.
Opel used to be a clear #2 right behind Volkswagen. After Lopez was done and, ironically, moved on to Volkswagen, the brand was shattered. They used more than a decade to get on their feet again. It doesn’t help if a new car drives well, is silent and efficient, and nice to look at – as long as it falls apart already during the warranty period, you just don’t want to own it.
So I’m not surprised they’re still not turning a profit. What surprises me though is the low valuation of 1.1bn$; a number reflecting hopelessness. Opel sells about 1 million cars a year, down from 1.5 million + in the pre-Lopez years. Volvo was sold to Geely for 1.5bn$ (after having cost Ford 6.5bn$ in 1999), but they only sell 400k cars a year. If GM actually has to pay to offload Opel and ends up without representation in Europe, that’s pretty harsh stuff.
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“…GM Detroit doesn’t really understand the world outside Fortress America.”
I wish GM had figured this out before they bought Saab.-
Given GM’s previous “success” in selling other brands (Saturn to Penske, Saab to
KoenigseggSpyker/the Russians/the Chinese, Hummer to the Chinese) I’m adopting a wait-and-see attitude to see if GM is truly willing to sell the current model ranges (and their technology, which GM might want to use in other future non-Opel models), especially given that PSA is part-owned by DongFeng.
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PSA took over Chrysler Europe / Talbot / Rootes / Simca / Matra / Alpine in the past, and look how well those brands are doing now!
…oh
(and yes I’m aware of the as yet vapourware Alpine revival)
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The revival is the completely unrelated Renault Alpine brand, Alpine was the name applied to the British Chrysler/Simca 1308 🙂 Plenty of sightings of the new Alpine so I don’t think it’s vapourware. Peugeot do seem to have an ineptness in this. Look what they’ve done to Citroen
Alpine
http://only-carz.com/data_images/models/simca-1308/simca-1308-11.jpg
Alpine
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–7F7ju6Cs–/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/ch4njiy1tgxr4kvdxld3.jpg-
The Renault one was of course the brand I had in mind, I just forgot Renault owns it (and Matra, though it sold on the name), not PSA. There’s been tons of sightings of the new Alpine for sure, but Carlos Ghosn is very hard nosed, wouldn’t be surprised if he killed the project if the economic winds changed direction slightly. Sister company Nissan were flaunting the IDX for ages, looked like it was going to be a real car, then nothing. I’ll believe it when I see them on the street.
Why those two brands came to mind is that it seems the French manufacturers never seem to take another company over and preserve the brand, like VW, with the exception of Citroen absorption by Peugeot to form PSA or Renaults acquisition of Dacia, all the names dissappear.
PSA over the years acquired multiple marques: Panhard, Talbot, Simca, Hillman, Sunbeam, Hummer, Commer and Singer. Not one of these names survive. The former Rootes facility ended up making Peugeot 206s before it closed. Not saying all these badges still had value, but it’s kind of laughable to see them now scramble to create a makey-uppy brand like DS to try move upmarket after squandering existing brands. It’s like BL all over again.
Similarly Renault acquired Matra and used this illustrious sports car maker to build..people carriers. What the..? The espace was a success of course, but way to kill a name. Similarly with Alpine, they did truck on with it for a while (though unable to use the name in the UK because of the Rootes/PSA connection going all the way back to the Sunbeam Alpine sports car), but eventually they took it and the legendary Gordini name and rolled that up into Renaultsport, which has made some cracking cars, but all with Renault badges, even the Spider.-
Matra was independent for quite a while after it started making Espaces under contract to Renault. In the same way they’d made Bagheeras and Murenas for Simca/Chrysler. The end came when the Mk5 Espace was rolled in house at Renault and theAvantime failed.
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I don’t trust the story in the local fishwrap that went with this image (the background of the image is way wrong for the alleged location) but it’s too fun not to post.
Story: http://www.inforum.com/variety/4217307-neighbors-walcott-couple-share-unexpected-valentine-moment-during-fargo-visit
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92cc31d69c472b008b98abfac72697e3b010b61f121d65aad72e5b6c6f714d82.jpg
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On our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple I did that in the snowy yard with my pickup. She was less than impressed. All was forgiven a few months later when the annual flower seeds I put in the ruts came up and bloomed.
And in NASCAR News, Gordon Kirby speculates that Daniel Suarez’s family will purchase Joe Gibb’s Racing….hence Carl Edward’s retirement. Gordon speculates Edward’s return next year with Penske….maybe…although Kirby generally gets it spot on…
http://gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2017/the_way_it_is_no569.html
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