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General Motor's newfound commitment to true worldwide product sharing is allowing for great strides in the development of its vehicles. The Saturn Astra, well that's a Vauxhall Astra in Europe. The Aura is a Vectra, and the Sky is an Opel GT. That doesn't take into account the numerous platform derivatives either, such as the Saab 9-3.
But Europe isn't the only source for future American products. The Pontiac G8 will be here in the US soon, early 2008 in fact. That doesn't mean the final product has been checked off yet. Will it look the same? Of course, it'll still be available with a V-8 as well. No, what's being worked on now is the little things.
The G8 comes from Australia where it goes by the name of Commodore, and is branded as a Holden. It's going to the Middle East as the Chevrolet Caprice, China as a Buick, and the U.K. as the fire breathing VXR8. So you're getting a car with motor development from down under, chassis development from difficult British B-roads, and numerous other tweaks from the other markets.
With all the major development occurring elsewhere and everywhere, American engineers can focus on tweaking the little things to ensure a competitive package, and one that will satisfy American tastes.
Our take? Australia makes some of the best big, V-8 powered, rear wheel drive cars out there. European small cars have no equal. Americans make the best trucks. GM has come up with a great idea here, letting the markets that are best at they do develop their respective vehicles, and then slightly tweaking them to fit other markets. All-in-all, the product gets better, GM gets better, and the consumer gets the best part of the deal.
via Motor Trend
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