[Hitman]

Because they knew that selling it could and probably would come back and bite them in the rear. Another company would have come in and taken a Iconic American nameplate and made it better than they could have ever done.

[goatwgn]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Because they knew that selling it could and probably would come back and bite them in the rear. Another company would have come in and taken a Iconic American nameplate and made it better than they could have ever done.

Look how good Pontiac did in the '60s within the confines of GM control. Even in the '80s with inferior platforms to work with, they did more with less than other GM divisions did at the time. Chevrolet has needed all the help it could get over the years from GM, and when Chevrolet Division got more control over the Corporation, they dragged the other divisions down with them into the abyss. Instead of letting Cadillac design a top of the line car (worthy of the Cadillac nameplate) and then having BOP and Chevy "badge engineer a car down from that, they went the other way and designed a cheap Chevy and "badge engineered" other cars (including Cadillacs) from that. Instead of the '57 Bel Air looking like the "Baby Cadillac" you had a "Cadillac" that looked like a run of the mill "cheap Chevrolet" (Cimmaron-Cavalier). GM has since about 1971, also tried a little to hard to kiss up to the Government regulations and control. It is ironic IMO that the same government that implemented control over the auto industry with EPA/ CAFE/ NTSA and other nonsense ended up having to "bail them out" after sucking up to these things costs enough sales to practically kill them off.