alfadriver wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
so lets see.. they spent all the money to get the car through crash testing and emissions.. and then limit it's sales to police only... and there is a demand from the public..
And people wonder why GM almost went belly up
did the G8/GTO ever sell enough to justify importing them?
Demand is very relative. I just never saw demand high enough for GM to import them for public consumption. Police sales tend to be different- being selling to a government entity and whatnot.
That could be a reason not to invest heavily in it as a non-fleet vehicle. But why go to additional effort to prevent it from being sold in alternative ways?
alfadriver wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
so lets see.. they spent all the money to get the car through crash testing and emissions.. and then limit it's sales to police only... and there is a demand from the public..
And people wonder why GM almost went belly up
did the G8/GTO ever sell enough to justify importing them?
Demand is very relative. I just never saw demand high enough for GM to import them for public consumption. Police sales tend to be different- being selling to a government entity and whatnot.
But you can't get any hype with a price tag that high either. If you have a subsidiary charging a "maximum", mostly dollar to dollar conversion, to the parent company for its "patented" design, you have a recipe for disaster.
There was decent demand until the price was announced, then it went away faster then a cockroach seeing light.....
How dare you sell our cars, these are for the government only.
You not THE MAN, you just a man.
So...NO CAPRICE RWD V8 FOR YOU!
By only offering certain collector models for two or three years, the value goes up.
Although the SSR isn't nessecarily awesome, it's still a form of a collector vehicle, built for three years.
Impala SS: as cool as it was, built for three years.
GTO: RWD, stick, fullsize coupe goodness, built for three years.
G8 GT: Built even shorter, and going to be a collector's vehicle.
These things aren't nessecarily built for profit, that's what the vanilla cars are for. These cars are GM's weekend toys. Its kindof a hobby, they don't really make money off of them, but it keeps enthusiasts happy, and since their volume is low compared to their other cars, the collectability and value tends to stay a little higher.
They're made for a few years for a reason, IMO.
Javelin wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
I think a lot of the problem with the GTO was the name. I seem to recall a LOT of purists being up in arms about them "Defiling" the GTO name with the Holden Import.
It put a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.. which is a shame, it was a very nice car.. a very FAST nice car
Which was an absolutely idiotic argument. The original GTO was a big engine in a plebian midsize car with no adornments, just raw power and understated looks. The GTO name was sullied by the 1973 version, which I'm pretty sure doubled as an aircraft carrier during the Falkland War, and the 1974 which was a Nova with a Shaker.
I never freaking got that. It's OK for the Charger to be a FWD 4-banger POS and then an old-ass Mercedes with 4 doors and an auto only, but the GTO comes out as a red-blooded, Corvette-motored RWD 2-door sport coupe with a stick and people hated it because it wasn't flashy?
Sorry, that reasoning always boiled my blood.
So true, so very true. I'd like a modern ( or classic) GTO someday. The G8 was a nice car too.
the 04-06 GTO was put out there as a market test to see if the American buying public would buy a mid sized rwd car with a big V8. they only made and imported a certain number of them over 3 years, just like they said they were going to.. then the G8 came along to see if the American public wanted a similar car but with 4 doors.. and they did..
the Camaro is pretty much the 2nd gen GTO. they can't build them fast enough, and the new Caprice is the G8 with a longer wheelbase- which means the Caprice is a 4 door Camaro...
Javelin wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
I think a lot of the problem with the GTO was the name. I seem to recall a LOT of purists being up in arms about them "Defiling" the GTO name with the Holden Import.
It put a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.. which is a shame, it was a very nice car.. a very FAST nice car
Which was an absolutely idiotic argument. The original GTO was a big engine in a plebian midsize car with no adornments, just raw power and understated looks. The GTO name was sullied by the 1973 version, which I'm pretty sure doubled as an aircraft carrier during the Falkland War, and the 1974 which was a Nova with a Shaker.
I never freaking got that. It's OK for the Charger to be a FWD 4-banger POS and then an old-ass Mercedes with 4 doors and an auto only, but the GTO comes out as a red-blooded, Corvette-motored RWD 2-door sport coupe with a stick and people hated it because it wasn't flashy?
Sorry, that reasoning always boiled my blood.
Never said the buying public was intelligent. If it was, we would all be driving sports cars and Minivans
they do a good job of making police cars aggressive looking
Javelin wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
I think a lot of the problem with the GTO was the name. I seem to recall a LOT of purists being up in arms about them "Defiling" the GTO name with the Holden Import.
It put a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.. which is a shame, it was a very nice car.. a very FAST nice car
Which was an absolutely idiotic argument. The original GTO was a big engine in a plebian midsize car with no adornments, just raw power and understated looks. The GTO name was sullied by the 1973 version, which I'm pretty sure doubled as an aircraft carrier during the Falkland War, and the 1974 which was a Nova with a Shaker.
I never freaking got that. It's OK for the Charger to be a FWD 4-banger POS and then an old-ass Mercedes with 4 doors and an auto only, but the GTO comes out as a red-blooded, Corvette-motored RWD 2-door sport coupe with a stick and people hated it because it wasn't flashy?
Sorry, that reasoning always boiled my blood.
QFT!!
Don't forget the asshat dealers that priced the GTO out of contention and sales tactics used . . . "We need to do a credit check before you can test drive" . . . ugh . . .
One of the old man's friends went on and on how his 69 GTO would destroy my "Grand Prix" . . . until he rode in it 
Looks much cooler than:
