At least GM didn't... - PY Online Forums

red70goat · #1 01-23-2005, 09:48 PM

...make the GTO a 4 door!...just checked out the 2006 Dodge Charger on the Dodge website...a 4 door

I had a 68 Charger R/T and it wasn't a 4 door!!!....It seems like the manufacturers are intent on building ugly cars and then trying to save face with a legendary name...a 4 door????

red70goat · #2 01-23-2005, 09:48 PM

...make the GTO a 4 door!...just checked out the 2006 Dodge Charger on the Dodge website...a 4 door

I had a 68 Charger R/T and it wasn't a 4 door!!!....It seems like the manufacturers are intent on building ugly cars and then trying to save face with a legendary name...a 4 door????

rabon008 · #3 01-23-2005, 10:04 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by red70goat:
...make the GTO a 4 door!...just checked out the 2006 Dodge Charger on the Dodge website...a 4 door

I had a 68 Charger R/T and it wasn't a 4 door!!!....It seems like the manufacturers are intent on building ugly cars and then trying to save face with a legendary name...a 4 door???? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

True, but GM has stuck the "SS" emblem on many 4 doors. I guess they meant "Super Sedan" rather than "Super Sport". And there are other ways to look bad - like the bubble-topped, one-off "SS" Vette. I suppose that stood for "Super Stupid". Talk about ugly.

judge_jury_executioner_69 · #4 01-23-2005, 11:29 PM

have you guys ehared a dodge magnum ? i dont knwo if it has a hemi in it or not. but i heared one the other day and at idle it didnt sound liek it was running at all but when they got on it it really woke up. its gotta be up there (at least for newer cars) for one of if not the best stock sounding cars i heared.

HUMBLER · #5 01-24-2005, 05:27 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by red70goat:
...make the GTO a 4 door!...just checked out the 2006 Dodge Charger on the Dodge website...a 4 door

I had a 68 Charger R/T and it wasn't a 4 door!!!....It seems like the manufacturers are intent on building ugly cars and then trying to save face with a legendary name...a 4 door???? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Our Holden "GTO" 4 door is much better looking than this POS however!! Was watching the NAIAS coverage and man those Dodge guys must be livid over this one.

68GTOConv · #6 01-24-2005, 10:38 AM

I always like the look of shock when I tell people that my "SS" daily driver is a 3.8 liter V6. Yep, the badass 6th gen Monte Carlo "SS" with the 3.8 V6 and FWD :-) Don't make me open up a can of whoop ass ....

But even funnier, the 200hp V6 car that I have now is noticeably faster than the V8 (305) Monte Carlo SS cars I owned before, an 86 and an 87.

GM will put SS on just about anything it seems :-)

Mike M

thirdgen455 · #7 01-29-2005, 02:49 PM

GM should have. They could have brought over a 4 door called it a lemans, striped down version with the 4.8L out of the trucks. made a real nice daily driver and proably sold well. I refuse to buy another FWD car. since we had a kid my wife is wanting a 4 door. A 4 door or even a 2 door lemans that is basicly the same car with the smaller engine and cloth interior would sell. the same reason the mustangs sell they sell the crap out of the V6's.

I don't userstand what happened to engine options? used to be able to buy a base model car with a V8 and then get a few performance options.

I for one would have loved if they came out with the "GTO" in a 4 door, just don't call it a GTO. you got Lemans, Tempest, and T-37 to choose from. but I'm sure it would be called something like a G-ugot4doors or something like that

charlzm · #8 02-04-2005, 10:40 AM

What's in a name? The Charger guys have been screaming almost as loud in their forums as the GTO guys were here that this new version of their beloved icon is an abomination and that people must be strung up for it.

I think a more rational perspective will reveal that it's all about the $$$.

A car company designs a RWD midsize platform. After they've already spun off numerous vehicles from it (GM with the Holden Commodore, Opels and even the Caddy that zigged: the Catera: Dodge with the 300 C and the Magnum wagon: Ford with the Lincoln LS, Jaguar S Type and the Thunderbird), they decide to put a few or even a lot of retro cues on it and then market it under the name of a 30 to 40 year old car. Any sales are gravy on this platform, as they have already designed it and made back production costs many times over.

Let's see... following this plan, GM only sold about 11 to 12k GTOs in the USA. Dodge will probably sell a lot more Chargers, since I suspect they will be doing fleet sales to police departments and taxi companies with it. And Ford's Mustang? We all know how well that's doing.

So, what differentiates these three similar marketing plans? The clue is in the previous sentence: marketing.

Go to the Holden website and watch their Monaro commercials. The one with the lions (Holden's "mascot") kicks much butt. Where's a similar thing for the USA?

Sorry, I think I'm rambling a bit here, but what I'm trying to say is that GM either should have never called the car a GTO (but I think they did it out of fear that no-one would care about a $30k car called a Monaro in the USA) or they should have marketed the living daylights out of it. They are the world's largest automaker. Frickin' hire a top flight PR firm that can penetrate the market, for crying out loud!!!!

red70goat · #9 02-04-2005, 11:33 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Charlzm:
They are the world's largest automaker. Frickin' hire a top flight PR firm that can penetrate the market, for crying out loud!!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

...never happen...would cut into Lutzs' bloated pension...can't have that.

charlzm · #10 02-08-2005, 03:07 PM

Auto makers throw around money like it was dirt when it comes to market research and advertising. I knwo a guy who works for a big ad agency in New York and he just finagled 100k out of an automaker (I shouldn't say who) to do research to find out why a particular demographic does and does not buy a certain make of car.

I'm just wondering why GM is so ineffective at this game.

Remember those awful Pontiac commercials from a few years back that were supposed to be like a reality show of some kind? "If we gave you the keys to a Grand Prix, where would you go?". Lame.

Remember the Grand Prix drifting on a dry lake bed and when the driver emerged, it was a blind woman? Better, but not compelling.

"The first-ever G6"? Puh-leeze. And giving it away on Oprah didn't seem to help much, since no-one I run into except for my car guy friends can even tell me what kind of car it was.

Ads need to be "responsible" (there was a huge flap over a Corvette spot last year that showed a little boy driving the hell out of a Vette in his imagination, but stupid housewives got the ad pulled as irresponsible), so there will be no race tracks or drag strips in them. People must be shown driving them in reasonable ways or else stupid conservative cop groups and bored, intolerant control-freak housewives have to "protect the children" by nipping these in the bud.

Maybe that's why auto commercials from other parts of the world are more interesting?

Nah, Volkswagon has memorable US commercials.

Bottom line: GM needs to hire a better agency with edgier instincts if they ever want to improve the image they present to the public.

And better cars wouldn't hurt. The Monaro GTO is a step in the right direction.