Find Reviews by Make:
43 Comments on “What’s Wrong With This Picture? Less Than The Sum Of Its Parts Edition...”
Read all comments
Latest Car Reviews view all
Latest Product Reviews view all
Recent Comments
- Lou_BC: @Carlson Fan – My ’68 has 2.75:1 rear end. It buries the speedo needle. It came stock with the...
- theflyersfan: Inside the Chicago Loop and up Lakeshore Drive rivals any great city in the world. The beauty of the...
- A Scientist: When I was a teenager in the mid 90’s you could have one of these rolling s-boxes for a case of...
- Mike Beranek: You should expand your knowledge base, clearly it’s insufficient. The race isn’t in...
- Mike Beranek: ^^THIS^^ Chicago is FOX’s whipping boy because it makes Illinois a progressive bastion in the...
Car Reviews By Make view all
New Car Research
Who We Are
- Tim Healey
Managing Editor - Matt Posky
News and Social Media Contributor - Timothy Cain
Sales Analyst - Murilee Martin
Junkyard Finds Author - Matthew Guy
Contributor - Chris Tonn
Contributor
- Adam Tonge
- Bozi Tatarevic
- Corey Lewis
- Jo Borras
- Mark Baruth
- Ronnie Schreiber
Sky + volt = thunder?
Not a bad looking photoshop. If that’s the concept, the production car will look like a Corolla.
Putting the Volt Powertrain in a Kappa Roadster probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Gotta do something with the Kappa platform. Better that than pasting a Buick shnoz on it.
It makes sense to offer to keep the Kappa Platform alive as a Chevy now that they have axed Pontiac and Saturn.
The Kappa represents a Billion Dollar hole in the ground dug by the ego of Lutz. However as long as they make these for less than the variable costs of labor and materials they can come out ahead.
RedStapler
i thought i’d read once that GM lost $10K on every Solstice/Sky it sold
RedStapler: But they can’t….
The delaware factory is kapa specific, and pretty high labor for f-all output.
I would still like to have a long talk with the engineer team who forgot to find a place for the gas tank. What the hell were you thinking? It was a brand new platform! This was a good indicator of the shape that GM was in at that time.
And they still havent fixed it.
Adding a battery is out, they didn’t even find room for a trunk (before you start with it’s a roadster, see the miata with a folding hard top and way more trunk).
Unbelievable to me is that some hold Sol/Sky as an example of GM doing good.
It might have driven half decently and definitely it looked sharp but the engineering is 2nd rate. That top/trunk combo is wretched. Comparing it to the Miata reveals a stark contrast between the skin deep beauty of Sol/Sky and solid engineering on the Miata.
@Bytor: the battery might fit if they lose the folding roof and shrink the gas tank, I’m thinking the coupe/targa variant stuffed to the gills under the backlight.
Oh, and call it the Chevette.
Crikey Ed, you’re on a roll today. What is this, post #11?
maniceightball: What can I say, I’m feeling inspired today! Do you want to be let off the ride?
This is why you need Bob Lutz around. Only “the great one” can market these “gotta have cars” !!
God that’s ugly.
With the brilliant turbo engine at the right price a Sky or Solstice would be tempting.
But the car just shows how insulated and stupid the designers at GM are.
The convertible top is an absolute piece of crap, and even with the Pontaic targa version the hard targa roof won’t fit in the storage area.
This is just another case where GM apologists could claim that there’s just no way to do it better, except for the fact that Mazda does it much, much better (500 pounds less, large trunk, side airbags, much better interior, much better transmissions), and at a profit instead of a $10K loss.
If GM is going to have the Kappa platform live on as a Chevrolet then it should at least use the Chevy Nomad Kappa based concept, and only offer it with the tubo engine.
Nothing’s wrong with the pic, they just can’t make the car. Sure is a purty render though.
Edward Niedermeyer:
Heh, keep ’em coming!
Since no one else currently thinks nothing is wrong with the picture…
Front end tries to look like the new camaro or malicebu, yuk.
Headlights are blue and squinty will have little coverage area at night.
Seats come to a point.
Too much glue at the rear view mirror mounting point.
i thought i’d read once that GM lost $10K on every Solstice/Sky it sold
A supplier I used to work at had parts on the Kappa. The story I heard (second hand) was that the exotic body panels are formed by a never used before hydroforming process and GM badly underestimated how much it would cost.
Of course, Lutz wouldn’t compromise his ‘vision’.
Whats wrong with that picture? It doesn’t show the GMC, Buick, and Cadillac versions.
“maniceightball :
Edward Niedermeyer:
Heh, keep ‘em coming!”
+1
paris-dakar :
May 1st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
A supplier I used to work at had parts on the Kappa. The story I heard (second hand) was that the exotic body panels are formed by a never used before hydroforming process and GM badly underestimated how much it would cost.
—————————————————
Should have outsourced to China and have workers hammer the aluminum panels into shape at $1/hour.
Aston Martin used to be like that. But of course they hired Brits and it was insanely expensive.
They can call it the Corvette-ette.
As long as GM is hellbent on keeping Buick, the Sky would make a nice Skylark or Riviera. And I wouldn’t mind a G8-based Park Avenue, although a G8 Impala makes more sense.
Man, I remember when the Kappa platform first came out with the Solstice, and there was so much made about it. It was supposed to be the revival of the enthusiast’s car. Rear-wheel drive and light cars for people who liked to drive. They went on about flexibility, too. There was going to be the Chevy Nomad 2-door wagon and a small Pontiac sedan to rival the 3-Series for $10K less. Then we started hearing about the Alpha platform, and that just threw me for a loop. Eh, guess it’s a moot point now.
I think “STINGRAY” is a good name for it. It will still be a piece of shit.
And I wouldn’t mind a G8-based Park Avenue, although a G8 Impala makes more sense.
I’m pretty sure there is a Zeta platform Buick in China.
guyincognito :
May 1st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Whats wrong with that picture? It doesn’t show the GMC, Buick, and Cadillac versions.
————————————————-
HAHA, love it.
somewhen REALLY needs to do a GMC, Buick, and Cadillac photoshop. i presume a Cadillac version might not look too bad though.
The Kappa is the classic example of how GM just doesn’t get it, and made an 80% car…
We nearly got a Sky, because it was so gorgeous and we want a 2-seat, RWD, convertible.
But when we sat in it, with the atrocious ergonomics: from the cupholder to the door locks to the cabin feel to that hideous abomination of the top [1], we scratched it off our list then and there.
And of course, GM did nothing to fix it. They should have rushed through a 2006 redo of the interior and trunk/top, but didn’t.
[1] We don’t want a practical car, but if you can’t head up the coast with the top down and an overnight bag in the trunk, and bring a case of wine home, its not acceptable.
No way they could fit a battery pack into this package. And I personally fail to see the point of electric sports cars. Electric makes the most sense in commuters, not something best enjoyed on long country drives.
They do offer a zeta-based Buick Park Avenue in China, and even sell a handful of them. Attractive car, but you hardly ever see one on the street.
Mosts of the Buicks sold in China are rebadged Daewoos.
If this had actually been a really good car to begin with – I would have no problem with something like this
I wanted a Sky. Lusted after it. Still do, actually. Dead sexy, good handling, plenty of power, reasonably priced. Kludge of a top, no trunk, impractical even by roadster standards. Bought a Miata instead.
Actually it is not Kappa platform, it is german -built opel Astra platform, so if Gm takes it and renames it using some nice greek letters, doesn`t make it much of a GM product.German Astra platform and german engines. That is what this Solstice/Sky/GT thing is.And slapping in it Korean Lithium -ion batteries won`t make it more domestic either.
GM is surely one of the finest automobile photoshoppers in the world today.
Did you know that a single UAW worker can manufacture 100 million of these fine vehicles every ten minutes? Mechanical reliability is significantly improved due to the lack of physical components, and fuel economy is said to be as high as 8,000 mpg depending on your monitor’s brightness.
Quickly now, send a copy to Motor Trend…
If this car had space for a single overnight bag, i’d own one already. It need to be redesigned, not rebadged.
jurisb, just because they make an Opel version for it, does not make it an Opel design. The Opel version is a Sky with an Opel badge. Your argument fails on multiple fronts. The Astra is FWD and the Kappa is RWD. In fact the Kappa is more like a Corvette light with hydroformed rails and all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Kappa_platform
Sad that GM can’t make money on this. Both versions combined actually outsell the Miata IIRC, so I fail to see what the problem is profit wise. GM got the major details right with this one but screwed up the small ones.
+1 to don1967. That’s f’in hilarious!
The new Chevy Fraudster
So do we get a GMC version next year? They already have a Canyon. Maybe call it the Crater.
Cadillac version…
Now that the laughter has died down, consider the idea. With the death of the XLR and the lossy margin on the Sky and Solstice, a revamp of the Kappa (perhaps with the new 2.8 DI V6 assuming it would fit) might make a very nice mid-30s Caddy roadster. It would certainly fit with the plans to take Cadillac somewhat downmarket. Don’t offer a Buick or Chevy version.
And before that idea gets dismissed out of hand, what matters is how many Cadillacs get sold and at what profit margin. The past is dead, all that matters is sales success in the future. Cadillacs are stylish, performance-oriented cars that are upmarket enough to be considered by upper-middle-class buyers. Over time they can move back upmarket if they can build a Lexus-like reputation.
In fact the Kappa is more like a Corvette light with hydroformed rails and all.
Shares a ton of driveline components with the Sigma also.
wsn : “Aston Martin used to be like that. But of course they hired Brits and it was insanely expensive.”
Reminds me of an iterview (I think) Carrol Shelby gave years ago, where he said that was how the body panels on the Cobra were made … except the Alu-beaters were “all a bunch of drunks, working in sheds under the railway bridge” (or something close to that…)
I smile everytime I look at a Zillion-dollar Cobra, and wonder what those drunks had any clue of the beauty and value they were whacking out at the time…
Sure Caddy version makes sense. Cadillac needs a smaller platform. I here talk of a FWD smaller Cadillac. Boo. Use this platform after you fix it of course.
Seriously, A Caddy can’t have the horror show of a top and trunk that the Kappas have. So it would have to grow to have a trunk (golf clubs) and proper top and maybe styling like the Converj.