Select media, Twitterati and fanboys are taking in the very best of GM hype today at a “tweet-but-don’t-photograph” event. But 140-character messages of hope, renewal and awesome are a bit thin to draw real conclusions from. Not that such semantics stop the faithful from trying. Apparently GM has an ATS concept, based on the mythical Alpha RWD platform. Because GM needs a “real” 3 series fighter in addition to an Epsilon II Buick fighter. Speaking of which, the Epsi II-based Riviera Concept is being teased, as is a Malibu refresh. Between the new concepts and Bob Lutz’s admission that GM’s interiors once resembled “solidified lava,” the twits become downright effusive. “I am bathing in future,” tweets one. But it’s the future of car shows, not showrooms (with the exception of some drooling over the Malibu refresh and it’s allegedly touch-friendly interior). And we already knew that GM can make pretty concepts.
Looks like the new Buick 5/3rds scale Cayman….
GM interiors once resembled solidified lava, Bob? Guess you haven’t sat in the new Camaro. Or the Impala. Or several other current GM products.
Since the 1990s, GM has built many wonderful concepts. Unfortunately, precious little made it to the showroom floor, or what did was so watered down that no one cared.
This falls into the “Who cares?” category at this point.
People don’t buy concepts; they buy what is on the showroom floor.
Here is wsn’s rule:
The strength of a car maker is inversely proportional to the difference between its concepts and production models.
The strength of a nation is inversely proportional to the difference between its published law and how things are actually done.
The car pictured here looks pretty much like the Solstice coupe, with some neon ground effects. Very 1995. Why is this supposed to be impressive?
Tweets and fury signifying nothing…
“…GM needs a “real” 3 series fighter…” — never had one, never will.
Twotone
Hey, factory neon. Now I’m waiting for the hubcaps that keep turning when the car stops.
Why is the on/off button on the trunk lid?
I can’t wait! I know there are good things coming, if I’m to use GM’s latest products as a gauge.
Give GM credit–of the two wards of the state, they alone are getting people to at least talk about them in a positive light.
This and the 230 campaign are cheap, clever, and effective–three things you wouldn’t normally expect from GM.
Meanwhile, the hacks over at the other tax suck continue to wallow in…what? More stories about hammering former ‘partners’ out of their property?
Go GM.
I can’t wait! I know there are good things coming our way that is, of course, if I’m to use GM’s latest products as a gauge.
Man…
I thought I was the downer here..
Im tryin to eat a perfectly sloppy meal.. and I need to make a intelligent comment..
———–
Whats always bothered me…
The concepts that GM puts out.. dont look nearly as good as the stuff on the market.. unlike the Old Old Chrysler. Shit, I remember walking into walls and door posts just staring at the 300M that was on the road. I used to love that car.
Now.. its a Deals on Wheels spokesperson.
I just have no faith in GM anymore. And im sick and tired of being told”.. “its coming. I swear its coming.”
Accords, I did the same thing with the ’90s Chryslers. Problem is, they didn’t age too well.
Concept Stingray… Never gonna happen
Chrysler Firepower… Nope
Dodge Copperhead… never did
Shelby Series one …oops they accually built one
Ford GT90 … Nuh-Uh
Pontiac Banshee … banished
For a few Concepts that were built i look mostly to chrysler:
Viper
Prowler
Crossfire
and…
2002 Thunderbird
New GT40
05 Mustang
Point Is: Never mattered. The Viper and Mustang were the only Concepts that went on to be everything they could be.
Concept cars give engineers false hope. No one fawns over The Chevy Beat/Trax… No matter how much Mike Bay wants them to.
Oh and on another concept turned ugly :
Why is the Volt’s cowl so high?
No, Really. my 92 Accord wagon with a bigger engine has a cowl that lays low. The volt has nearly three inches of highth difference between the base of the windshield and the bottom of the door glass.
I hate high cowl cars. The Fox platform cars were one of the worst, but most anything FWD from Detroit suffers the HORRIBLE-HIGH-COWL.
can i get an AMEN?
Careful calling Alpha mythical…..it ain’t.
GM doesn’t need a 3 series fighter. They need a Honda Civic and Toyota Prius fighter. Small, economic WELL-BUILT cars. That they can try to build a new generation of buyers with. Since they lost the last few. And maybe a sports car that younger people can afford. Oh wait, they just killed those.
Idiots, Idiots, IDIOTS.
Like I have said before, and also in my report of the Geneva Motor Show, there is absolutely NO POINT in showing make-believe electric cars that are still 3 or 4 years away from reality. It makes people think, “right, I will wait for one of those beauts then” rather than buying current models and keeping the industry alive.
I am sure people stopped buying when Obama announced C4C 3 months before it happened, and I am sure this also has the same effect, but for longer !!
“I am bathing in future,”
Yes, you are. The ever-just-around-the-corner that’s been GM’s future for the past quarter-century, where the renaissance product that’s so far ahead of the competition will finally emerge.
Of course, this ignores that time doesn’t stand still for GM’s competition, either (you think BMW will leave the 3-Series to rot?!) and that all this masturbatory material doesn’t change the fact that the Aveo, for example, still represents what GM thinks of the mass market.
I can’t believe people still fall for this kind of thing. Remember the HyWire, Sequel and Sixteen? GM was giving it’s fans something to wank over back then, when the Cobalt, Aveo and such were what was really on-deck and we were still subject to the Cavalier.