Yada yada yada. “And then out of nowhere came the ZR1, which has a supercharged V8 that manages to be both docile and extraordinarily savage all at the same time. I’ve been trying to think of a dog that pulls off a similar trick, but there isn’t one. And anyway, this car is not a dog.
“Oh, it’s not built very well. After just three days in my care, the boot lock disintegrated and the keyless go system refused to acknowledge the keys were in the car, but I didn’t mind because there is simply no other car that looks this good, goes this fast – in a straight line and around corners – and that most of the time bumbles about like a forgetful uncle. And when you throw in the price tag of just £106,690 – lots for a Corvette but modest next to a similarly powerful Ferrari – the case for the defence can sit down and put up its feet knowing that the prosecutor simply has nowhere to go.
It is an epic car and I’m only sad that unless the healthcare and pensions company that makes it can be turned around, it will be the last of the breed.”
I dunno, being endorsed by Jeremy Clarkson feels something like Tony Soprano endorsing the free-enterprise system. Seriously, Jeremy Clarkson is a big-mouthed show off with nothing much more to show – than his big mouth!
tsofting :
You might say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
But Jeremy does seem to have a problem with American cars’ electronics, albeit in the first instance he failed to report that the problem (with a Ford GT) was the result of an after-market addition. Until he did.
So, no credibility problems there (cough Tesla push cough).
This ZR1 will stand in history as the zenith of Chevrolet’s achievements and the swan song of General Motors.
It is quite likely that MY2009 will be its only year.
Long after our grandchildren are driving air cars or bicycles to work they will still be talking about the ZR1.
I wonder if some bailout money has ended up in Jeremy’s Swiss bank account?
Hearing him wax poetic about American Iron just doesn’t seem… right.
Nice to see some sympathy for an industry on its deathbed, I suppose…
TTAC Religions aside, please let’s give credit where it’s rightfully due. This is GM brilliance even if built to a price. I challenge anybody to point at a similarly priced (non-D3) car that can keep up with this beast.
I think Clarkson liked the Corvette a few years ago as well — then he took it out on a road.
Clarkson speaking well of the the dying/dead? It’s an old European tradition.
“de mortuis nil nisi bonum”
He probably dropped the keyless remote in his cup of tea…
“It is an epic car and I’m only sad that unless the healthcare and pensions company that makes it can be turned around, it will be the last of the breed.”
At least he gets that part correct.
I almost dropped my monocle in my caviar when I saw this headline. Imagine that, a lowly American product impressing the brits!
Are we talking about a different Jeremy Clarkson, here?
He’s been extolling the virtues of Corvettes for AGES! This isn’t news.
This is one of the cars that is the epitomy of what US car companies do well. High powered V8 engined cars that go like stink. It’s exceptional in that it has excellent handling. If only GM could make all it’s cars with V8’s, they would likely be in great shape right now. Of course, no one will likely admit that.
“Buyers don’t want gas guzzling V8 cars and oversized SUV’s.” There are a lot of statements of complete BS that somehow pass for wisdom these days, but this one is right up there with the best.
‘“Buyers don’t want gas guzzling V8 cars and oversized SUV’s.” There are a lot of statements of complete BS that somehow pass for wisdom these days, but this one is right up there with the best.’
Well, you can buy the Hummer brand for a song and prove the world wrong. ‘Cause evidently those pesky sales numbers don’t show what people want.
If I had the money, and could get rid of CAFE, I would do it in a minute. They aren’t selling it for a song, and you would still need a lot of cash to keep it going while you fixed it.
Taking the recent perfect storm of downward sales across the industry and temporarily high gas prices as a sign that the world changed against V8’s is a mistake. There will be a market for them for a long time to come. GM is losing money because of CAFE and small cars, not because of SUV’s. If they had back every dollar lost on little crap cars, they wouldn’t be begging for dollars now.
“I wonder if some bailout money has ended up in Jeremy’s Swiss bank account?
Hearing him wax poetic about American Iron just doesn’t seem… right.”
I’m pretty sure the ZR1 is still plastic. American plastic.
I am a simple man, and I was hoping for some help, here. I have often read that CAFE helped to kill Detroit. Could someone explain to me how this works?
Thanks.
Corporate Average Fuel Economy is basically a rule that says that the fleet you sell must, on average, meet a certain fuel economy standard. There are penalties for non-compliance.
This means that the domestics, whose best cars were always on the porkier side, has to build and sell cars that it’s not very good at making. The result is that they often sell them at a loss. With very few exceptions, this means that the foreign makers who traditionally specialized in four and six cylinder cars could keep doing what they knew best, while the American’s had to learn new tricks.
You can make all the arguments you want on how they SHOULD have done better, but that doesn’t change the results.
Those of us against CAFE point out that it has lots of shortcomings, and really hasn’t reached the left’s goals. We think we would all be better off without the rule, that if you want to reduce pollution you should reduce pollution or tax it. Same for consumption. Attacking the supply side is usually not the best way to get things done.
Detroit would have gone on making gas guzzlers at their own peril, or maybe, they would have used the profits from V8’s to learn to make smaller cars AT A PROFIT.
Okay, so I still don’t get it. Detroit does not have the know-how to build cars that are worth owning and are efficient? This is like saying that a company can make great 16 inch pizzas, but when they try to make 12 inch pizzas, they don’t have the ability. It seems to me that Ford and GM produce great small products in Europe; how is it that we ended up with Vegas, T1000s, Escorts, Pintos, Cavaliers, Topazes?
Detroit made billions from its SUVs, and we still don’t have Civic/Camry/Accord/Corolla quality cars coming from the Detroit manufacturers.
This is not a result of CAFE. This is a result of poor leadership and poor decision making. If the producers don’t value a segment of the market, they are not going to produce good products for that segment.
Ruckover,
It’s not just size. Try thick vs. thin crust. I have NEVER been to a pizza place that was competitive in both. What would happen to your favorite pizza parlor if they were forced to sell a new product they weren’t good at in equal amounts to their best stuff? Sure, they might get better at it, or they might go under.
It’s easy to say they screwed up. Yes, they failed. Now, why did government have to help?
Lastly, you can now buy one of those great european small opels at Saturn. They lose money on every one. They still are not selling well.
I would love a euro focus, but everytime they bring one of those cars over here it fails to be a hit.
Lastly, Michael Jordan sucked at baseball. Can you imagine if the government decided he would be a baseball player when he was in college? What we would have missed out on!
To put some perspective on this. Clarkson loved the previous generation ZR but on the track only. On the road, he said, it was undrivable.
This ZR1 he drove from California to Utah where they participated (May driving CTS-V and Hammond the new Charger) in the drag races on the salt flats. Clarkson broke 176 mph in his ZR1, May broke 163 mph and Hammond 150. They all loved their American cars.
Are we talking about a different Jeremy Clarkson, here?
He’s been extolling the virtues of Corvettes for AGES! This isn’t news.
Exactly! Clarkson has always had a love for American muscle cars. The Shelby Mustang, the GT40, and the Corvette. His review of the ZR1 was glowing, favorably comparing it to Ferrari. He considers the original Mustang the greatest car of all time.
Richard Hammond, a co-host, has a similar love for the current Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger, although he readily admits their faults.
I suppose their perception of American cars mimics the public at large. They were mesmerized with the charisma and glamour of classic cars, disappointed with recent ones, and beginning to see the promise and redemption of the latest models.
Landcrusher,
One last entry on this topic. I appreciate the posts, but I will disagree with you in one way. The big three (I grew up near Detroit, so I can’t bring myself to say the big 2.7) have had billions of dollars to become good at making smaller cars. I do not think it is beyond their ability. Look at Toyota. They made their name building smallish cars, but they sure did make a heck of a good big car line when they created Lexus. If Toyota could figure out how to create a rival to Benz, why couldn’t Detroit pony up the funds and the desire to compete in the sub-compact, compact segment of the market?
The MJ comparison does not hold water in this way: there are thousands of engineers who work on projects, not one brilliant person who designs everything. If GM, Ford, and Chrysler had invested in R&D for smaller cars, they would have create products that were as good as an from Honda or Toyota.
To use another sports metaphor, I never used to do bench presses; I only liked to squat because I was good at that. It was when I had a coach that forced me to work on the bench press that I got strong in that lift. I wanted to do what I was good at, but I became a better athlete when I had upper and lower body strength.
Thanks for your perspective.
As all here know, I am always too glad to throw out my perspective. :)
Anyway. Here is a last stab: I would bet that vs. your peers, you weren’t as good at pressing as squats. Even after your coaches helped. Not to be criticising, but you likely never moved beyond mediocre. You likely didn’t go on to be a world class press competitor. Well, world class is the ONLY way to be in the auto industry. Mediocre will end up getting you crushed.
Small cars from GM have become mediocre, but that’s not good enough. Still, they make some of the best trucks and SUV’s on the planet. They did fine with CAFE until the price of fuel went sky high (which lasted about a year?), and then they got nailed with the economy. There are lots of things wrong at the 3, and CAFE isn’t helping. It’s also not reaching it’s own goals. So we have an ineffective policy that is slanted against the domestic players. Not a great idea.
Ok, so I’m not done. Landcrusher, do you think there is something magical about smaller cars that cannot be learned by Detroit companies? Are foreign engineers better than US engineers, or do they go to schools that teach them how to build great fours or sixes while US schools teach how to build great eights?
We can build great vehicles . . . when the management decides that we should and when they put actual resources into those projects.
Oh, about the bench, I added over 100 pounds to my lift. While I sure was not world class, I became a much better rugby player.
It doesn’t have to be magical, only different. So you became a better rugby player, how did your marathon time improve? You are an athlete? What is so magical about the difference between rugby and distance running?
If the business was as simple as you make it out to be, anyone with the money to hire the engineers could make a competitive car in a couple years. It’s not that easy.
I am not in the car business, but I have been in the plane business. Many things take years and decades to move even little bits. It’s not just about ability. There is culture, desire, experience, prestige, suppliers, processes, egos, etc. You think that in the eighties, that if somebody wanted to gamble the future on a great small car he could have moved all of GM to do it? And why would he have? You have to know that most of the best people are going to avoid that whole division like it will kill their careers. Everything that is different, at all, will be a big stumbling block. You will have to spend more to make a cheaper car because most of the parts on the shelf aren’t really right. You have to spend more time and effort getting the suppliers to do something new, when they doubt you are really committed anyway.
Try talking to someone who has been in the business. Or a similar business. Heck, look at the PC industry where whole companies just die because they can’t make shifts and compete anymore. Add to all that the constraints of massive regulatory intervention and union issues.
It’s ugly dude. Sure it could have been done, I am not saying they didn’t fail, or that they could not succeed. However, I am one of their harshest critics, and I am telling you right now the deck is stacked against them, and has been for decades. I will blame them for a lot, but I give them a pass on the small car thing. It’s not their game, and the field isn’t level.
Landcrusher,
Here is the deal, while I could not run a marathon, there were three guys on the team that did. While I could not squat 700 pounds, we had two guys on the team that could. While I could not run an hundred yards under 10 flat, we had a guy that could.
A giant like GM or Ford can hire experts in all areas–if they want to–and that is my only point of contention with you. You seem to argue, at times, that Detroit can build big vehicles well, but not small ones. I argue that they have chosen this.
I will agree that they chose it, too. I won’t agree that they can simply unchoose it. They maybe could, but it wouldn’t be easy. Reasons include all the other interference into the process supported by laws that unintentionally make it harder for them. I also think it will take more time than any gas shortage ever seems to last.
I would also argue that perhaps if you were a car company you might find that the guys on your team that could run marathons were Toyota and Honda. The guys on your team that were sprinters were BMW and Porsche. If the market change supported marathoners, and the government said you had to sell a marathon car for every sprinter, that BMW and Porsche might be in trouble. OTOH, Toyota and Honda don’t have any new challlenges and keep on running.
****Edited to make the analogy make some sense, I hope****