Post by Kasey Kagawa

Ah, GM. How your antics amuse us so. First, Bob Lutz, head of GM North America and VP of Product Design, sends all the Chevy/Pontiac fans into a tailspin by announcing that the General’s plans for RWD platforms had been put on hold due to government emissions standards, and then Wagoner went over him and reassured us that the Zeta platform that the upcoming Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet Camaro will be based on is still on schedule. Now, Lutz went and opened his big mouth again to Automotive News, citing the success that Porsche has had with expanding their brand into SUVs and the potential success that the Panamera sedan might have and venturing that a similar trick could be performed with the Corvette brand. Rick Kranz, product editor at Automotive News, goes even further: “But since the Panamera sedan is bound to be a home run — ditto for the four-door Rapide — there must be a market for a Corvette sedan… Memo to Bob, Ed (Welburn) and Tom (Wallace): Build it!”

Here’s a memo from me to Lutz, Welburn (GM Design Chief), and Wallace (Corvette Chief Engineer): If you haven’t noticed from the collective retching sound that the Internet automotive enthusiast websites made when that lovely bit of news came out, people aren’t exactly thrilled about the idea of a four-door ‘Vette. Also, GM doesn’t exactly have a stellar record of making great sports sedans. There’s the Cadillac CTS-V, and then there’s…that’s about it, actually. I can’t see the Corvette True Believers buying into a rebadged Pontiac G8, either.

What Mr. Lutz and Mr. Kranz forgot was that the Panamera and the Rapide are being pitched as separate cars than what they’re based on. The Panamera may be a fresh design from top to bottom, but the Rapide is basically a stretched DB9. Both cars aren’t being presented as a four-door 911 or a four-door DB9, however. They’re both pitched to be new cars, whereas with a four-door Corvette, you’d be trying to sell people on the fact that it’s a four-door version of the Corvette, when one of the main things that makes the brand special is that it’s undiluted, even by progress in some areas. Long nose, V8 up front, rear wheel drive, fiberglass body, two seats and two doors. That’s what a Corvette is, just like how a rum and coke consists of two things: rum and coke. If you start adding things to the mix, you might end up with something worse, and you might get something better, but it sure as hell won’t be a Corvette. Instead, focus on making the G8 and the Camaro capable of stomping not only the Mustang but whatever the Germans and Japanese can throw at it (and trust me, there won’t be any shortage of competition when they come out).

A Corvette sedan? Lutz not opposed to the idea [Autoblog]