THE AUTOEXTREMIST

August 31, 2011

The True Believers have their day in the sun as Ford and GM “re-imagine” two of America’s greatest automotive icons.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 8/29, 9:00 p.m.) Detroit. As you read this, the True Believers at the Ford Motor Company and at General Motors are in the thick of re-imagining two of America’s greatest automotive icons: the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Corvette.

For Ford, it’s a clearcut case of coming up with an all-new Mustang to coincide with the legendary pony car’s 50^th Anniversary in 2014. For GM the task is a bit more complex, as they’re working on two different cars at the same time: the upcoming seventh generation of the car, which is due in the spring of 2014 or thereabouts, and the “reach” car or the “clean sheet” eighth generation of America’s most enduring two-seat sports car, due approximately five years later.

The implications of the task at hand are crucial for both car companies, but let’s start with what Ford is dealing with first.

It could be argued that the Ford Mustang is much more clearly linked to the “face” of the Ford Motor Company than the Chevrolet Corvette will ever be linked to GM for the simple reason that Ford has always put the Mustang front and center, while GM, through its Chevrolet division, seemed to sporadically tout the Corvette over the years, but only when it was convenient or politically expedient within the company to do so.

In other words, the Mustang represents the very soul of the Ford Motor Company while the Corvette – though it could have and should have been the very essence of GM – has always been treated as an afterthought, except by the True Believers who worked on it, of course.

It’s gratifying to know that the management at Ford – and the Ford family as well – appreciates the Mustang and what it means to the company. Few people remember that when Ford jumped into the fray in the early 60s with its “Total Performance” marketing push, it was a clear departure from the (long-ago defunct) Automobile Manufacturers Association ban on direct involvement in racing and high-performance marketing activity that had begun in 1957. And more important it was a clear departure from GM, whose Chevrolet and Pontiac divisions were involved neck-deep in racing, but who had to do it through “back door” arrangements with qualified outsiders, all designed to fly under the radar and not raise the hackles of the “suits” down at GM’s corporate headquarters who illogically wanted to adhere to the ban.

Ford was not only thumbing its nose at an organization that had long outlived its usefulness (the then AMA), but it was launching an aggressive move against its crosstown rival in the hopes of capturing the hearts and minds of America’s youth, and hopefully, some serious market share gains as well. Ford raced openly in every major racing activity it could participate in, wrapping an entire corporate advertising and marketing campaign around that fact.

And when it came to the creation and launch of the Mustang, for one unforgettable moment in time Ford captured lightning in a bottle and unleashed what was then a perfect combination of sporty looks, affordability and value, and it rocked the automotive world as we know it.

On April 17, 1964, Ford unveiled the Mustang to rave reviews and an overwhelming response. 418,000+ were sold in the first year and a million Mustangs were sold in the first eighteen months of its existence. And even though Ford has had some bad patches with the car at times (the dreadful Mustang II was the low point), it has remained Ford’s most distinctive and emotional presence on the streets and byways of America. Yes, it could be argued that the F-150 pickup and the Taurus have had their moments, but nothing comes close to the Mustang for long-lasting impact and appeal.

So given all of that it’s completely understandable why the company is expending so much time, energy, effort and money on the next-generation Mustang. It’s quite simply the heart and soul of the Ford Motor Company, and there’s a persistent push within the company not to screw it up – and rightfully so.

What will the package be like? Lighter, of course – that goes without saying with the upcoming fuel economy standards – and slightly smaller (but not that much smaller), more efficient (definitely), even more nimble (independent rear suspension? count on it) and executed to the extremely high quality and dynamic standards that Ford has established of late (and keeps adding to with each subsequent new model).

But what’s the single most important “hook” for the Mustang? The way it looks. If design is the Ultimate Initial Product Differentiator in this business (as I’ve said many times before), then to say the overall look and feel of the new Mustang is crucial would be a monumental understatement. The new car has to be right from the very first glance and it has to exude Mustang.

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Because we all know what a Mustang should look like, at least we think we do anyway. But it will be the toughest – and most exhilarating – challenge a designer can face. And with the very soul of the company on the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

I’ll get back to the Mustang in a bit, but if Ford designers have the soul of the company in their hands, what kind of task do GM’s True Believers face with the next Corvette?

Born as a Harley Earl styling exercise and then willed to respectability by the mad genius Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Chevrolet Corvette has led a star-crossed existence within GM. At times a proud beacon of the technological might of the company – like today’s current sixth-generation car – and at other times a cash cow stripped of all credibility in a malicious effort by malevolent executives hell-bent on extracting every last dime out of its legacy for profit, the Corvette, in spite of many missteps over the years, endures as America’s greatest and signature sports car.

If there was ever one car that has encompassed the hopes and dreams of GM’s True Believers over the decades, the Corvette is it. Every great name in GM’s history from 1953 on to today has at some point in time worked on the Corvette. And despite GM’s adherence to the wildly misguided racing ban early-on and some legendary dimwit marketers over the years that just didn’t get the car, some great Corvettes emerged to become true legends. Cars like the original Sting Ray racer (my favorite all-time car), the Mako Shark, the brutally beautiful Grand Sports, the SCCA and GT racers throughout the years, the magnificent concept cars, all the way up to today’s current car and the legendary Corvette Racing team, which remains the first and only “official” factory-sponsored racing team in GM’s history, as remarkable as that statement sounds.

(And memo to all of you out out there who point to the former Cadillac Le Mans and current World Challenge Cadillac racing programs: Let's just say that the Corvette Racing program is the first and only "official" factory-sponsored racing program in GM history that has mattered and still matters today. The Cadillac Le Mans prototype program was a disaster from the get-go, and the current Cadillac World Challenge program is a misdirected and misguided waste of time and money. - PMD)

So even though the Corvette hasn’t enjoyed soul-bearing status for GM like the Mustang has for Ford, to the True Believers who live with the Corvette legend every day there isn’t any greater honor – or any greater challenge for that matter – than to be tasked with coming up with the next-generation Corvette.

First up in the product sequence is the “C7” Corvette, a slightly smaller, slightly lighter and far zoomier-looking car than the one it is replacing. Equipped with more-efficient drivetrains that won’t lack for power and finally boasting the interior fit, finish and design execution that has held the current generation car back for so long, the seventh-generation model will be a transitional car that will carry the Corvette flag into battle for the next four to five years after its introduction.

Note that I said four to five years. Mark Reuss and the other True Belivers at GM are painfully aware that the C7 can’t hang around as long as the C6 has (the bankruptcy had a lot to do with that), so though the new car is in fact a transitional car, the Corvette that comes after it will not be.

What will that car look like in 2018? Look for a much lighter weight package and a mix of technically-diverse and highly efficient drivetrains that will still deliver Corvette-levels of performance while using much less energy. Will it be a front-engine design? That’s the perennial question, but I can tell you as long as the stewards of Corvette within GM believe that the car must maintain a modicum of affordability, it most definitely will be. But, that doesn’t mean that a higher-performance, higher price-point “exotic” Corvette won’t be available as well.

With Cadillac readying their entry into the $100,000+ luxury-performance sedan market in order to compete with Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and others as I mentioned last week, watch for GM to allow its True Believers to design, engineer, develop and more important produce a true exotic mid-engined Corvette that will exist over and above the eighth-generation car. This car may in fact be the machine that hard-core Corvette enthusiasts have been speculating about and clamoring for forever it seems. A no-apologies, no-excuses Corvette and a technological tour de force for the company designed to compete against the absolute best high-performance exotic cars in the world.

At this very moment in time we have two car companies wrestling with two automotive icons with enough legacy and legend on tap between them to last many lifetimes.

And I couldn’t imagine a more uplifting scenario.

In Dearborn, Ford’s True Believers are on a mission to rejuvenate the very soul of the company while “re-imagining” a Mustang that will resonate for a whole new generation of enthusiast buyers.

At the same time GM’s True Believers are engaged in what has become an eternal quest to imbue the Corvette with the kind of credibility and desirability that will not only resonate with a tougher and more demanding consumer audience, but will result in a car that will live up to the legacy of the legendary Corvettes and the legends who created them.

It’s easy to get lost in this business and it’s easy to dwell on the mundane or the infuriating things that drive everyone crazy. And the relentless day-in, day-out slog of it can get mind-numbingly overwhelming at times.

But I think it’s invigorating to know that as you read this some of the most talented people in this business are hard at work honing two of the greatest automotive icons that this industry has ever known.

The challenge is daunting and the implications of their actions will impact their respective companies and resonate in the market for years to come, but the True Believers – the ones who eat, sleep, and breathe this business – wouldn’t have it any other way.

I find tremendous comfort in that.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

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