[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by DocWeatherington

I agree fully that the SS is a better drive then a Charger, and probably is vs a few versions of the 5.

My point being is the issue with the SS is the cost, one of the reasons it didn't sell in the U.S., look at all the options in that price bracket. Some of that has to due with how it was imported/manufactured, again if GM made a RWD sedan following the pricing trend of the Charger, the SS would of been a seller as it would of had lower transaction prices in V4 or V6, thus the niche top teir SS could still be produced. If Dodge only had the hellcat model of the charger it would die off as well. The same would apply to an M5.

The issue with a RWD platform large sedan for GM is that it has too many sedans that overlap.

That platform along with the one used for the GC is the best thing to come out of the relationship and if it wasn't for Z Germans it would be only the big 2 as the FCA group wouldn't exist.

I think that was GM's point, it made the SS as a niche car. Not that I'll go research it but I'd bet the M5 doesn't sell in stellar numbers as a standalone model. GM is an entirely different and far larger company than BMW, so it has a completely different production cost model than BMW. GM can produce an SS and make a profit on it because the production costs are amortized over a world-wide production base over a large volume of different chassis that share common parts. BMW doesn't have this. The M5 has to sit inside the 5-Series production volume, which makes it much more costly to produce as a niche vehicle. One only has to look at the Corvette. It is a standalone chassis within the GM product line, yet it makes profit on the Corvette and sells the car at a far less price than competitors could sell (develop and produce) a similarly performing vehicle. GM can do this because there are some many common parts in the 'Vette that cross platforms; the engine being one.

I agree with you, GM does have too many sedans that overlap in the market, but it has always had that problem for decades. The only difference was in the past, GM had close 50% market share so it could support the product differentiation; it can't now. And the car buying populace is far less educated and interested in automobiles as people were in the 1940's - 1960's (GM's heyday).