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- Aug 11, 2002
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A step inside the star chamber for new products that didn?t exist two years ago.
by James Amend 6/22/2003 (The Car Connection)
When the Chevy SSR comes to market later this summer, fans of the funky, roadster-like pickup will have a new design process, as well as GM?s number-one man, to thank.
According to sources inside GM?s Portfolio Zone ? a hush-hush area at its Warren, Mich., technical center where executives routinely wrangle over which new vehicle programs get the okay or the axe ? then-president and CEO Rick Wagoner got one glimpse of an SSR sketch three years ago and demanded on the spot that it go into production.
?He said, ?I don?t care what it takes, I want it,?? recalled Rick Spina, executive director of program management inside the portfolio zone.
?He stood right here and told everyone he wanted it in time for the Woodward Cruise, too,? Spina said, referring to an annual summer crunch of hot rods and classic cars along Detroit?s famous Woodward Avenue.
Evidently, Wagoner was so struck by the vehicle, which is slated for a limited production run of about 15,000 units, he also demanded that no design concessions were to be made.
Automakers ? GM, in particular ? have had a reputation for rolling out attractive concept cars only to slap them with an ugly stick prior to production.
?He said he didn?t want any poop, either. He wanted it exactly like that,? Spina said, cracking a broad smile.
Getting his way
Wagoner got his way and on his timetable.
The concept bowed at the Detroit Auto Show in 2000 and a year later, a yellow production-intent SSR was ready for him and then Chevy general manager Kurt
Ritter to cruise Woodward.
In 2002, Wagoner was back at Woodward, this time in a red, full-production SSR that included the original concept?s power retractable hardtop, a jigsaw puzzle
GM engineers were ordered to solve in just four months without sacrificing rear cargo space.
Perhaps best of all, however, investment was kept to a bare minimum, which probably has Wagoner?s inner financial manager smiling, too. The SSR leverages nearly its entire chassis from GM?s mid-size SUVs and 32 percent of the platforms? parts overall. GM also relied heavily on its math-based computer modeling expertise to cut down on development time ? it went from a sketch to a full-size model in just seven weeks ? and then the automaker spent a relatively thrifty $70 million to get its Lansing Craft Centre assembly plant ready.
But what GM folks love to boast about SSR is how it epitomizes the automaker?s revamped product development. Although Wagoner?s SSR was underway before industry maverick Bob Lutz arrived and shook up GM Design, the project was executed with the same focused decision-making of GM?s one-year-old Advanced
Vehicle Development.
In a nutshell, GM product development is no longer rife with bureaucracy; instead, once a program gets the green light, its path to production is guided by a single Vehicle Line Executive. It no longer kowtows to focus group research, either; as the Vehicle Line Executive is responsible for retaining the original vision. Short development times are held at a premium, too.
And it all starts inside the newly created Portfolio Zone, a spooky, clandestine area of GM Design that features a high-tech conference room, a portfolio business analysis room, a staging area large enough to comfortably accommodate three vehicles, and a three-screen, full-size vehicle imaging area.
?This is where we integrate the cerebral with the metal. We get away from design staff here, and we get away from engineering. This is a neutral area without hidden agendas,? said Spina, whose department works under GM Group Vice President Mark Hogan.
GM monitors consumer trends here, too, looking as far 20 years down the road. Portfolio analysis is also done here. It?s really a decision-making area, though, and the place where Lutz?s famous ?9 to 3 to 1? design process is executed. Future products can also be held up here until they meet certain requirements, such as regulatory or financial concerns.
Effectiveness
But is it really working?
?GM has talked the talk but we?ve yet to see them walk the walk,? said Erich Merkle, an auto analyst at the Detroit-based consulting firm IRN Inc.
?I haven?t seen the product coming out of GM that I see at the new domestics like Toyota and Nissan, which are eating at the truck market now. We have to see the product coming before we can really say whether it?s working. Right now, they don?t have that ?gotta-have? product they talk so much about,? he said.
Merkle thinks the SSR is a good start and that GM product development has indeed eliminated a lot of red tape, but ?so has Toyota, which has its development times down to two years,? he said.
Perhaps only time will tell. But what won?t be coming out of the new GM product development are flops like the Pontiac Aztek, which has involved more people and resources than Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In fact, arguably the hottest product to come out of GM?s new process might never see the light of day because of the system?s strict requirements and accountability measures.
?There?s a concept stalled here right now,? Spina said in loosely veiled reference to the popular Pontiac Solstice roadster. ?The dog just doesn?t hunt, but we love it so much that it?s just stuck here.?
by James Amend 6/22/2003 (The Car Connection)
When the Chevy SSR comes to market later this summer, fans of the funky, roadster-like pickup will have a new design process, as well as GM?s number-one man, to thank.
According to sources inside GM?s Portfolio Zone ? a hush-hush area at its Warren, Mich., technical center where executives routinely wrangle over which new vehicle programs get the okay or the axe ? then-president and CEO Rick Wagoner got one glimpse of an SSR sketch three years ago and demanded on the spot that it go into production.
?He said, ?I don?t care what it takes, I want it,?? recalled Rick Spina, executive director of program management inside the portfolio zone.
?He stood right here and told everyone he wanted it in time for the Woodward Cruise, too,? Spina said, referring to an annual summer crunch of hot rods and classic cars along Detroit?s famous Woodward Avenue.
Evidently, Wagoner was so struck by the vehicle, which is slated for a limited production run of about 15,000 units, he also demanded that no design concessions were to be made.
Automakers ? GM, in particular ? have had a reputation for rolling out attractive concept cars only to slap them with an ugly stick prior to production.
?He said he didn?t want any poop, either. He wanted it exactly like that,? Spina said, cracking a broad smile.
Getting his way
Wagoner got his way and on his timetable.
The concept bowed at the Detroit Auto Show in 2000 and a year later, a yellow production-intent SSR was ready for him and then Chevy general manager Kurt
Ritter to cruise Woodward.
In 2002, Wagoner was back at Woodward, this time in a red, full-production SSR that included the original concept?s power retractable hardtop, a jigsaw puzzle
GM engineers were ordered to solve in just four months without sacrificing rear cargo space.
Perhaps best of all, however, investment was kept to a bare minimum, which probably has Wagoner?s inner financial manager smiling, too. The SSR leverages nearly its entire chassis from GM?s mid-size SUVs and 32 percent of the platforms? parts overall. GM also relied heavily on its math-based computer modeling expertise to cut down on development time ? it went from a sketch to a full-size model in just seven weeks ? and then the automaker spent a relatively thrifty $70 million to get its Lansing Craft Centre assembly plant ready.
But what GM folks love to boast about SSR is how it epitomizes the automaker?s revamped product development. Although Wagoner?s SSR was underway before industry maverick Bob Lutz arrived and shook up GM Design, the project was executed with the same focused decision-making of GM?s one-year-old Advanced
Vehicle Development.
In a nutshell, GM product development is no longer rife with bureaucracy; instead, once a program gets the green light, its path to production is guided by a single Vehicle Line Executive. It no longer kowtows to focus group research, either; as the Vehicle Line Executive is responsible for retaining the original vision. Short development times are held at a premium, too.
And it all starts inside the newly created Portfolio Zone, a spooky, clandestine area of GM Design that features a high-tech conference room, a portfolio business analysis room, a staging area large enough to comfortably accommodate three vehicles, and a three-screen, full-size vehicle imaging area.
?This is where we integrate the cerebral with the metal. We get away from design staff here, and we get away from engineering. This is a neutral area without hidden agendas,? said Spina, whose department works under GM Group Vice President Mark Hogan.
GM monitors consumer trends here, too, looking as far 20 years down the road. Portfolio analysis is also done here. It?s really a decision-making area, though, and the place where Lutz?s famous ?9 to 3 to 1? design process is executed. Future products can also be held up here until they meet certain requirements, such as regulatory or financial concerns.
Effectiveness
But is it really working?
?GM has talked the talk but we?ve yet to see them walk the walk,? said Erich Merkle, an auto analyst at the Detroit-based consulting firm IRN Inc.
?I haven?t seen the product coming out of GM that I see at the new domestics like Toyota and Nissan, which are eating at the truck market now. We have to see the product coming before we can really say whether it?s working. Right now, they don?t have that ?gotta-have? product they talk so much about,? he said.
Merkle thinks the SSR is a good start and that GM product development has indeed eliminated a lot of red tape, but ?so has Toyota, which has its development times down to two years,? he said.
Perhaps only time will tell. But what won?t be coming out of the new GM product development are flops like the Pontiac Aztek, which has involved more people and resources than Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In fact, arguably the hottest product to come out of GM?s new process might never see the light of day because of the system?s strict requirements and accountability measures.
?There?s a concept stalled here right now,? Spina said in loosely veiled reference to the popular Pontiac Solstice roadster. ?The dog just doesn?t hunt, but we love it so much that it?s just stuck here.?