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GM plans high-performance future
By Richard Truett
Automotive News / July 11, 2002
General Motors is putting the pedal to the metal in an effort to get high-performance niche vehicles into its showrooms and to bolster dealership parts department sales of its performance parts and accessories.
In a speech Wednesday to Detroit-based auto writers, Mark Reuss, executive director of GM's Performance Division, said GM plans to:
Build at least one high-performance model for each division, a vehicle that leverages the division's performance heritage, such as Super Sport or SS models for Chevrolet and GTO for Pontiac.
Look a for a suitable rear-wheel drive platform for a next generation Chevrolet Camaro.
Take on Honda and other import-brands with its own array of high-performance four- and six-cylinder engines.
Enable younger drivers to customize their vehicles with factory appearance packages and performance kits to be sold over the counter at GM dealerships. GM will first introduce items for entry level vehicles from Saturn, Chevrolet and Pontiac.
"As people buy our vehicles, we'd like for them also to be able to afford and buy performance and appearance pieces that they may not have had the money for when they bought the new car in the first place," Reuss said.
GM can move fast to bring some high-performance vehicles to market. If the vehicle retains the same engine but just gets horsepower and suspension tweaks, GM's Performance Division can have it in showrooms in as few as 12 months, Reuss said.
But GM will be playing catch up. GM has not had a four-cylinder that performance enthusiasts have embraced. And Ford's Special Vehicle Team or SVT, will build its 100,000th high-performance vehicle this year. Also, Honda dominates the small-car tuner market.
Different strategy
However, GM's performance strategy differs from that of Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group. In most instances, GM's performance models, Reuss said, will be marketed as a way to freshen products that have been in showrooms for awhile or where the assembly plant is not being fully utilized.
"Part of the way we look at performance on existing brands is that we look at the lifecycle of a product," said Reuss. "We are not going to go crazy in the last year of a lifecycle of an architecture of a product. We want to look at the business of when it makes sense to do a performance version."
Reuss said the GM Performance Division is working with all GM divisions to identify potential performance vehicles and to create tuner parts for older vehicles.
"We are going to have a pretty consistent rollout of different products and different power train options as we go through the next couple of years," he said.
GM's performance vehicles won't just be cars. Trucks also will be given more horsepower, firmer suspensions and special appearance packages. Reuss said the new Hummer H2 especially lends itself to the performance treatment.
Jon Moss, GM's manager of special vehicles, said GM in the past has not done a good enough job bringing many of its performance-oriented show cars to market. Though Moss wouldn't criticize former GM North America president Ron Zarrella, who left last year to go run Bausch and Lomb, he did say the new regime at GM is much more open to building performance vehicles that will be put into production.
Said Moss: "We have done some (performance vehicles), but not as much as we'd like to. But now here comes Mark Reuss. He's established the Performance Division. The whole idea is…to take some of these 'wow' cars that we are doing and make them real and get them into the showroom. Bob Lutz and Reuss are empowered now to make that happen.
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