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Warren Brown wrote an article about the 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS this morning for the Post. His review of the Cobalt tangented into some of the most important lessons that Detroit’s big three need to learn, Zippy Affordability Blazes Better Trail for GM.
General Motors should stop trying to please everybody. It’s a strategy that embraces the lowest common denominator. It’s hard to make a favorable impression when your primary objective is to avoid offending as many people as possible. You wind up pleasing no one, or next to no one, or so it seems. You are relegated to second-class status. Or worse, you are forgotten.
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That told me that the Cobalt SS was the car that Chevrolet regarded as the real Cobalt, the one the company regarded as the most representative of that compact economy car line. That being the case, I wondered why the company wasted so much time, money and marketing muscle pushing lesser Cobalts — disparagingly regarded as “rental cars” by the automotive media.
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No one regards the comparable Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, or Toyota Corolla as a “rental car,” although all of those models can be found on somebody’s rental car lot. A Civic is a Civic. An Elantra is an Elantra. A Corolla is a Corolla. All are compact economy cars with good road manners and excellent quality. Their reputations are so strong, their names speak for themselves.
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I suspect it’s because of GM’s dedication to the lowest common denominator — the company’s tendency to take a good idea, such as the Cobalt, and dilute it as much as possible in pursuit of maximum affordability.
The end result is a line of cheap, forgettable cars. That’s too bad because as demonstrated by the tested SS, the Cobalt is so much better than that.
And I can’t help but think that the Cobalt would be even better had GM not squandered money and reputation spreading the car’s value over a broad field of less-than-impressive materials and mediocre performance in pursuit of more sales.
GM needs to abandon that practice, even if it means losing aggregate sales. It should consider trading volume for memorability, which could lead to an increase in higher quality sales — cars and trucks sought by consumers more for likeability than price.
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But they all said they would strongly consider buying the Cobalt SS, although it comes with two fewer doors and a substantially higher price than the workaday Cobalt sedans flooding the rental fleets.
“I don’t get it,” said a Virginia friend after taking a spin in the Cobalt SS. His first experience with the Cobalt was via a car rental agency in South Carolina.
That rented Cobalt was so ordinary, “it was depressing,” he said. But the Cobalt SS was “a boss little car, something I could see myself owning,” he said.
“I don’t get it,” my friend said. “Why doesn’t GM put this one [the Cobalt SS] in the rental fleets. It’s like GM wants us to have a bad impression of its products. That doesn’t make sense.”
Enough said.
It all comes down to producing cars that work too hard to appeal to everyone that they appeal to noone. In my opinion, American car models are too broad and there is too much desire to water brands down to a lowest-common-denominator.
In Germany, Mercedes-Benz is more of a “tool-car” that offers cars at most levels of affordability while still not offering garbage “rental cars.” There is a difference between offering fleet-level vehicles and what people perceive as “rental car quality.” Fleet-worthy vehicles are considered durable. Most European taxis are diesel Mercedes sedans. While not the luxury S-class sedan, the reputation Mercedes-Benz has in Europe comes from the ubiquity of these MB workhorses.
When people think of rental cars, they think of plasticky sub-compact tin boxes, not durable everruns. Do you see what I mean? American cars (not trucks — American trucks are built, and priced, to be workhorses) have become associated with being the vehicle you buy until you can afford a Toyota or a Mercedes. Even Saturn is being shuttered — and rightfully so, since it has long ago lost its novelty and associted nationwide appeal.
And, while this article is about General Motors, the same can be said about Ford and Chrysler, too. Yes, you will tell me about the Corvette and the Ford GT and the Jeep and even the Hummer and all of these little eddy brands. Well, when we take the trucks and the sports cars away and you’re left with 2-door coupes, 4-door sedans, 5-door hatchback, and wagons, what’re you left with? Especially when it comes to “tool-cars” and quality sub-compact and SMART-like high efficiency vehicles? How about resale and reliability statistics?
Around here in Arlington, cabbies are replacing the unquitous Crown Vic with Toyota Priuses and Camry hybrids. On that note, the Crown Victoria was the last real success story when it came to fleet vehicles: cop cars, cruisers, taxis. Too bad the Impala — an amazing car when it was the real Chevy Impala SS — doesn’t seem to get the pick up the Vic did.
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