The way I see it, GM purposely screwed other niche cars to sell one specific niche car.
For example, the 98+ Trans Am was supposed to have a few Corvette-esq options, like a Heads Up Display for one. Instead, GM decided that it would compete with the Corvette too much. Even though those with the money for a Corvette would rather buy the Corvette. As if some guy with the means to buy a Corvette is going to buy a Trans Am instead just because it has a HUD. That's pretty dumb. Now where is the passion for the car there? How come 20% of the Trans Am's features were stripped because the passion for the car was only there for the Corvette? Greed? No... How come the Corvette (to this day) is the only Chevy car with GPS? Or how about electronic ride control? Or active RFID intelligent key system? Or any of the other things that are common on Altimas, Accords, etc. They killed off the Grand Prix because it had a HUD! I mean, how does a Grand Prix (a top selling Pontiac sedan) compete with a Corvette (the top selling Chevy sports car)?
I don't feel that GM has a passion for anything except suckering people into buying crappy cars. They don't produce in large volume making all their vehicles more expensive (which pushes the mark-ups higher too) and they cut every corner they can. Instead of producing cars with lots of options, they funnel people to the very few cars with the options people want that consequently cost nearly double what people are looking to spend for a vehicle with those options.
The Corvette is a bad-@ss car, but when the only option to get a car with the features you want is either a Corvette or stepping up to a Cadillac, then I feel it's total BS.
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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary
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