One thing General Motors was not was an adventuress company. Despite Cadillac division’s claim of being at the forefront of automotive technology, Pontiac’s claim of being at the cutting edge of automotive excitement, and Chevrolets claim of being… well, America’s car company, the General on the whole prefered to dole out its product innovations at the excruciatingly slow pace of the Chinese water torture. With a few notable exceptions, like Buicks all out attack on electronic engine controls and the Chevy Corvette team’s pushing the limits of lateral acceleration, the General pretty much kept a tight lid on the enthusiasm of the division troops.
When dealing with GM then, it’s important to keep in mind that this was a company in the midst of major changes. There were some indication of the direction the company was going. GM was engaged in a crash diet. It wanted to become a leaner more athletic company that could react faster to changes in the market. This fact was openly acknowledged. The company knew, by checking the corporate mirror, that it was looking at a dinosaur – lumbering, slow, and burdened with unnecessary layers of fat. In this case, corporate fat – excess levels of management.
From the enthusiast’s point of view, the number of interesting cars to come from the General in the past few years had been abysmally few. And the few that survived the corporate morass to see the light of production did so only as a result of Herculean efforts by the champions of those programs.
What Junkies are Saying