Attention GM Suckers! General Motors’ important small rear-drive “Alpha” platform is apparently in trouble, if GMInsideNews reporting (via Truth About Cars) is right. Alpha is the latest American attempt to compete with the BMW 3-series. It cost a billion bucks. But thanks to bureaucratic product-bloat–a process familiar to students of the F-111 fighter and Microsoft VISTA–the supposedly small and sporty platform has locked in a “sub-optimal geometry” on the front suspension (which GM is reportedly trying to mask instead of fixing) and is hundreds of pounds overweight. … There’s a reason some companies go bankrupt, you know. And corporate cultures are hard to change. … [Work in UAW attack? Readers expect. Thx-ed Why does GM have to try make one platform, designed to be a 3-series fighter, serve as underpinnning for at least four three cars, including a bigger Cadillac and the Camaro? Ideally, after all, GM would produce a great 3-series platform and another equally great bigger platform. But thanks to above-market union wages, work rules, pensions, etc, GM’s cost structure won’t allow spending for that many different basic designs. Hence the attempt to turn the Alpha into a Veg-a-matic platform that does everything–but does it in familiar, mediocre GM fashion.] ….
Update: Megan McArdle puts in a bad word for conglomeration. …