Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 20:42:06 GMT From: "Richard G" <rgrandwinopsamnline.net> Subject: Re: Whats wrong with the V6?
<<but the marketing team just missed it i.e. Saab, which is a love-it-or-leave-it type of car. I like 'em, you like 'em, but the public is not thrilled>> Now that GM has a larger hand in the marketing Saab has enjoyed some great success in numbers of units sold and subsequent visibility. When we purchased our '99 9-5, my wife was concerned that she never saw another one on the road. Two years later and the are all over the place (metro NY area). This 9-5 has the v-6 and I don't have any problem with it. On the other hand The New Generation 900/9-3 convertibles seem to have given away a lot of their functionality at the expense of appearance, i.e. no trunk room and the interior appears to have shrunk a bit. I drive an '92 900 convt. and it has amole driver room and trunk space, which are two things I need in a car. I was going to purchase a 2001 Viggen Convt but couldn't get past the fact that it doesn't have enough usable trunk space and the driving compartment feels a bit too tight. The Viggen however is a veritable rocket on wheels and a lot of fun to drive. "Just Bob" <uctraingnopsamanet.com> wrote in message news:kpdu2ucfih4k38hlfgn39s4d4m06rtcfqmnopsamcom... > On Sun, 30 Dec 2001 09:29:20 -0500, Curtis L. Russell > <sagwagonnopsamatlantic.net> wrote: > > >A design failure > >is ultimately an engineering failure, not an issue of pennies or cost > >cutting. > > Not necessarily. Many design issues are style issues - which does not > relate to engineering at all. The engineers built it to do what the > designers asked - it was just what they asked that was wrong. > That's not to say that American auto manufacturing is not littered > with engineering failures due to designs that didn't work, or > engineering that didn't work in production (or maybe even in > prototype, who knows). Sometimes the design is fine, the engineering > is fine, but the marketing team just missed it ie Saab, which > is a love-it-or-leave-it type of car. I like 'em, you like 'em, > but the public is not thrilled. > > But the actual problem at American manufacturers is much bigger. > The problem is that of age old management with hundreds of little > ants scrambling for their piece of the management pie by hook or > by crook. Decisions are made based on how a particular individual > might get ahead, and rewards are based on "who knows who", or > "who helped who", not who does what best. It drives from the top, > where the Board itself engages in petty wars of upsmanship, and > it is driven down from there. > > Bob
