Word: gm
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cars, Detroit's auto designers knew they were in trouble. A law passed 17 months ago required automakers by 1985 to turn out cars that average 27.5 m.p.g., v. 17.7 m.p.g. for the average 1977 auto. As recently as February, General Motors Chairman Thomas Aquinas Murphy protested that GM could do so only by making nearly all its cars as small as the boxy-looking subcompact Chevette. But that may not happen after all. In a "hypothetical scenario" submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington.* GM engineers spell out in some detail how they intend...
Diesels In. By 1985, the V-8 engine, which today goes into 77% of all GM cars, will be dead; the last ones will go into 1983 Corvettes. Only one-third of GM's 1985 cars will even have six-cylinder engines; two-thirds will have four-cylinder power plants. Diesel engines will drive 25% of the company's fleet, at least if the regulations on how much nitrogen oxide they can pour into the air are not tightened further. Diesels are noisy, smoky and heavier than gasoline engines, but they burn less fuel...
...cars will, on average, shed half a ton of weight or more. The typical GM car today weighs 4,200 Ibs.; by 1985 the average will be down to 3,100 Ibs.-320 Ibs. lighter than the company's average 1977 subcompact. Obviously the "large" car of 1985 will be a lot smaller than the behemoth of today. But GM hopes to accomplish much of the weight reduction by such methods as paring down the thickness of cylinder walls and engine blocks, using more lightweight aluminum and alloys, and expanding the use of front-wheel drive systems, which...
...GM still insists that it committed no fraud: if a buyer expected a 350-cu. in, 170-horsepower engine, he got exactly that. In some cases, however, consumers have complained that their dealers could not replace oil filters or fan belts because the Chevy engines have slightly different specifications from Olds engines (GM says it told the dealers about the switches, though the dealers may not have paid attention or informed the buyers). The Chevy engines also delivered one or two fewer miles per gallon than Olds engines...
...tout each car model as unique, autos are actually highly standardized products with many interchangeable parts. Ford and Lincoln cars made by Ford Motor Co. share the same engines, as do Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler cars made by Chrysler Corp. Other automakers have escaped so far the trouble GM has landed in because their advertising has not given consumers quite as strong an impression that each car is sui generis as GM's ads have...