Up until the late '70s, each division had their own engines. Then GM tried to quietly economize by replacing Oldsmobile V8's with Chevys. Customers didn't like it when they found out.
After that, the brands became more and more alike. They were even made on the same assembly lines.
A couple of decades of weak, heavy, slow engines (strangled V8s, rough fragile 4s and 90-degree V6s, etc.) after 1971 hurt them too.
(The 455 SuperDuty engines were amazing in some respects, but they were designed for a time with cheap gas and little-or-no emissions control devices. They were strangled - ~ 8.4:1 compression rather than 10:1 for pre-1970 engines. Similarly with the Ford 429 and 460 engines after 1971. They were nothing like the pre-1970 engines of comparable capacity when it came to generating horsepower.)
GM had too much overhead, too many layers of management, and too many dealers selling too many car models that were too alike. Plus, they had historical commitments to pay expensive medical benefits to current and retired employees (a good thing - but something that their competition didn't have to do due to their cheaper national health insurance programs or due to their weak unions). It was just a matter of time before it imploded.
It's kind of amazing that it recovered as well and as quickly as it did with the extensive federal help. And that's a good thing.
Cheers,
Scott.
After that, the brands became more and more alike. They were even made on the same assembly lines.
A couple of decades of weak, heavy, slow engines (strangled V8s, rough fragile 4s and 90-degree V6s, etc.) after 1971 hurt them too.
(The 455 SuperDuty engines were amazing in some respects, but they were designed for a time with cheap gas and little-or-no emissions control devices. They were strangled - ~ 8.4:1 compression rather than 10:1 for pre-1970 engines. Similarly with the Ford 429 and 460 engines after 1971. They were nothing like the pre-1970 engines of comparable capacity when it came to generating horsepower.)
GM had too much overhead, too many layers of management, and too many dealers selling too many car models that were too alike. Plus, they had historical commitments to pay expensive medical benefits to current and retired employees (a good thing - but something that their competition didn't have to do due to their cheaper national health insurance programs or due to their weak unions). It was just a matter of time before it imploded.
It's kind of amazing that it recovered as well and as quickly as it did with the extensive federal help. And that's a good thing.
Cheers,
Scott.