Why (some) GM products suck

[tw]

Now that GM cannot take revenge on honest reporters, the reporter said what he really saw. From the NY Times of 23 Jun 2009 is the description of a crap design implemented only so that the world 'hybrid' can appear on its sheet metal:

A G.M. Hybrid That Misses the High Notes
Queried about the hybrid — how many they would build, when we might see it — officials hemmed and hawed like parents pressed for the whereabouts of a pregnant teenage daughter.

Now we know why. ... But it’s time to add the Malibu Hybrid to the growing pile of hybrid failures from General Motors.

These half-hearted efforts have included pickups (now defunct) that couldn’t save fuel, but could run your power tools. Even the guys who wear tool belts to weddings wouldn’t bite. Then G.M rolled out full-size hybrid S.U.V.’s from Cadillac, Chevy and GMC. These 20-m.p.g. behemoths have proved as popular as the A.I.G. corporate jet.

And last week ... G.M. abruptly pulled the plug on the car after just a year of production. In May, Chevy sold just 706 Malibu Hybrids, along with only 35 units of its sister car, the Saturn Aura Hybrid.

The Aura and Malibu are so-called mild hybrids, which makes them as authentic as supermarket salsa. To keep the price down, the Malibu forgoes the things that let full hybrids generate impressive mileage: a large electric motor that can propel the car with no help from the engine, a sizable battery pack and a continuously variable transmission to efficiently mix and match electric and gas power.

Instead, the Malibu adopts a simple motor-generator driven by a wide engine belt and connected to a small nickel-metal-hydride battery pack in the trunk. ... Unlike full hybrids, the system delivers only supplementary squirts of electricity; aside from automatically shutting down and restarting at stoplights, the engine is always on duty.

What is the Saturn? Just a Chevy with a different name. Business school graduates are still designing GM cars.

It's a hybrid only if one thinks an MBA can be honest. It is exactly what happens when Rick Wagoner got promoted Chairman of all GM because he ran GM North America into record losses. Another trophy for bean counters - and also why Ford need not run to the government for protection. When do we fire up the oven in Detroit - so that business school graduates will be removed?