In contrast to the
$5 million spent by American Motors in developing the Gremlin, General Motors
spent upwards of $ 200 million to bring the Chevrolet Vega to production.
General Motors Chief Engineer Ed Cole, who had previously led efforts to design
the 1955 Chevrolet V-8 and the 1960 Corvair, took the lead in a two year
program to bring this small, aesthetically pleasing subcompact that featured a
host of engineering and manufacturing innovations. Initially, the car earned
positive reviews, including being named the 1971 Motor Trend Car of the year. But in the rush to get the car into
the hands of consumers serious quality and safety issues surfaced, and the
Chevrolet brand was irreparably tarnished.
The stakes on the Vega were high. One journalist put it this way: “ The
Vega had to sell, both now and in the future. And to sell in its market
segment, against low-priced, well-built imports, it has to be good. Not just
sporty and economical, but genuinely good. If Vega didn’t make it in the
marketplace, then the consequences for General Motors could be severe, indeed.”[endnote]
Over two million
Vegas were sold between 1971 and 1977. While problems with oil consumption due
to difficulties with the aluminum cylinder block die casting were eventually
rectified, the rusty bodies and initial poor paint application turned a younger
generation of owners to GM products when making subsequent purchases. Certainly the rush to get the car to market
shifted quality matters to customers and dealers, perhaps even more serious was
the emergence of a adversarial shop culture at the Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant
where the Vega was made.
To this day
Lordstown is an industrial marvel. With its won exist off of Interstate 80, it
was the place of a disastrous human relations experiment led by a new division
of General Motors called GMAD [GEE-MAD]. The fastest line in the world could be
found at Lordstown, producing over 100 Vegas an hour. Workers were subject to tough discipline as
they were forced to do their tasks in 36 seconds, almost half as fast as what
was previously expected. The discipline often led to dismissals in a work atmosphere
not taken to kindly by a younger generation of workers, many of whom had just
come back from Vietnam. Workers were to perform as robots, it seemed, particularly
appropriate since 95% of the Vega’s welds were made by Unimates, long armed
robots that foreshadowed a new age in automobile manufacturing.
And so it was no
surprise that sabotage took place on the line at Lordstown, that supervisors,
like military officers in Vietnam, were fragged, and Wildcat strikes took place,
like the one in March of 1972 lasted for one month. And so the stillborn Vega became synonymous
with poor quality, even though a 1976 Durabilt engine redesign ultimately resulted
in the making of a solid, reliable, and economical vehicle. Too little, too late.
you should have mentioned the story itself was taken from my Chevy Vega Wiki
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