Solstice Arrival Delayed Until 4Q 2005

[ragingfish]

Quote »Solstice: See you in SeptemberBy Jason Stein and Robert SherefkinAutomotive News / April 25, 2005DETROIT -- If early orders are an indication, Pontiac could have a winner in its Solstice roadster. GM quickly booked 1,000 orders for the two-seat convertible this month during a TV promotion.But now GM says it won't ship a significant number of Solstices to dealerships until this fall - well past its summer target date meant to coincide with the peak of the convertible selling season.Industry sources say fit problems are delaying the launch at GM's Wilmington, Del., plant.In material distributed to reporters in January at the Detroit auto show, Pontiac said the Solstice was "expected in Pontiac showrooms in mid-2005." But GMTV, GM's Webcast media site, said last week that the car won't be on dealer lots until the fourth quarter. GM spokesmen say the Solstice will arrive in substantial quantities in late September or early October.Dealers are cautiousSeveral Pontiac dealers say they are not promising delivery to customers until the fall, even though some vehicles may trickle out before then.One Pontiac dealership in Houston was able to order four of the first vehicles - but GM has told the dealership the vehicles may not arrive until October."Now we're saying, 'Hey, you can expect it in August or two months after that," says Joe Pierce, a new-car sales manager at Beck & Masten Pontiac-GMC. Pontiac gave no reason for the delay, Pierce says."They are being really vague about it," he says. "It's hard to give an estimate on time."Why the change?Multiple sources close to the situation at the Wilmington, Del., plant say the Solstice is suffering from fit problems on the front fascia and convertible top.Pontiac says it is "underpromising and overdelivering" to make sure cars satisfy customers."Quality is the biggest issue," says Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson. "That's the critical element at this point, getting the last little bit taken care of."Pontiac would not elaborate on quality issues. But it said nearly all startup programs have issues.A spokesman for UAW Local 435 at Wilmington refused comment.The Solstice, championed by GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz, is built on the new Kappa rear-wheel-drive architecture. The automaker used a rapid development cycle for the vehicle.Lori Queen, vehicle line executive for small cars, has said GM "blew up the entire vehicle-development process" in developing the Solstice.http://www.autonews.com/articl...52774RagingCommentary: Delays are ok, if the end product comes out RIGHT!

[ToolGuy]

Nice going GM! (removed)! Going to blow it yet again... People will buy other. Man I cannot stand to see things like this happen!

[tnpartsguy]

GM's Wilmington, Del., plant. Seems to me this plant was the same one that built Saturn's Mid-Sized cars....that were plagued with quality problems from Day One....

[ragingfish]

There's two ways you can perceive this.One is, yet another GM delay on getting a new product to market. This makes it look bad.OR, The other possibility is, rather than rushing a product to market that has quality issues, back it up a little bit, fix the problems NOW, before they hit the end consumer and it affects the overall perception of the product.IMHO, I'd rather them push back the arrival date by a few months if, in the end, I get a far more superior product in terms of quality, and even appearance!

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »IMHO, I'd rather them push back the arrival date by a few months if, in the end, I get a far more superior product in terms of quality, and even appearance!Amen to that. Maybe all the red ink has focused them on getting it right!

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »Going to blow it yet again...Yep, they sure did blow it. Don't worry though, you'll see this car (along with the G6 coupe and hardtop models) at your local Pontiac dealer by the 4th quarter of 2008. Maybe they are "working out bugs" so the customers won't have to be beta testers for this car. But for some odd reason, I doubt that... And yes, partsguy - Wilmington was where the Saturn L series was produced... Prior to that, the Malibu was slapped together there, and even further back, the Corsica (had one, yick ) and Beretta...

[kostby]

Hmmm. IIRC, Lutz rushed this concept from drawings to market in something like 12 months. He should've been honest with GM management folks and taken whatever amount of time it takes to develop it thoroughly and properly. An exploding (oops, uh folding) steel roof is a tough piece of engineering. Just look at all the reported problems they've had with with the Chevy SSR! There was a REASON that Ford only built Skyliners with the full retractable steel roofs for a few years. And those were full body-on-frame construction, assembled by hand when CRAFTSMEN worked the lines. A robot might work longer shifts, but it can't say 'oops, hang on a second, this piece doesn't line up right, let me whack it with a hammer'.I also find it totally AMAZING that GM took orders (and probably hefty deposits) for the first 1000 cars BEFORE they said, 'Oops, uh, you'll have it by WINTER.'By the time they retrofit an additional 500 pounds of chassis reinforcement into the dang things to make the roof system stable, it'll handle like a pig and accelerate like a Geo Metro.Kirk's rule of thumb for ANY development project: It takes 90% of the time to do the first 90% the project. The last 10% takes at least an additional 90% of the original time estimate!

[Kari]

I have to say, if I was one of the 1,000 people who pre-ordered this car, I'd be pretty pissed right now. I wonder if they did make them put down some kind of deposit...

[Atomb]

hmm...release a nice looking convertable sports car in the summer or in the fall/winter??//hmmm.... sure, releasing it in December won't hurt sales at all! somebody over there lives in a bubble. If I were them I'd push it until 1st quarter 2006 and have them at dealerships just as the weather is starting to warm up nicely (like it SHOULD be doing now...)It's like selling a house...good time of the year and bad time of the year.

[bud_one]