Beat Not Coming

[SmartPassion]

Looks like news about the Chevy Beat coming to the US was premature.

Downer of the Day: Chevy Beat not coming to U.S. - AutoblogGreen

[SuperGeek]

" It seems that fuel's meteoric rise didn't come soon enough for GM to engineer the Beat to meet U.S. safety or crash standards."


It's called foresight, GM. Look ahead, watch the curve, anticipate. One day the Hummer and Silverado will go the way of the dodo. Think of 5, 10, 20 years down the line. Build _everything_ to U.S. safety standards and sell it everywhere. An American company that specifically designs a promising car to not be driven in America? Inexcusable.

This is why GM is hurting so bad. If they had production of 500,000 small cars to be sold in the USA their profits would rival those of oil companies.

[Dave Van]

I can't believe that GM did not make the Beat to US specs! About as short sighted as can be. The US car makers better get groups set up for mini and micro car production ASAP...or be bought up by others.

[BigWarpGuy]

It looks really nice. It would help Chevrolet's image by having it in the USA. There seems to be a Chevy Beat site with a forum.

[Red_fortwo]

This seems to be more of the same big-corporate, navel-gazing, "the consensus from our last monthly committee meeting..." decision making that has the American automakers getting their clocks cleaned by their competitors while they hold "customer response surveys" and "manufacturing feasibility studies." Design for all markets. build where expenses are lowest, sell to whoever says they want it. By the time the Previously Big Three enter the truly mini/micro market, it will be so overcrowded with Asian and European imports that they'll still have to sell at a loss to gain any market share.

[2smartArizona]

I can't believe they would be dumb enough not to design to American standards, yet they would seem to have less trouble making the Opel Astra meet American standards. One more step towards another year of hurt for GM.