Shhhhh... They Haven't Noticed

The one thing I've come to learn about President Obama is that if he personally doesn't like something, he'll do whatever he must to make it go away. Cases in point: GM and Chrysler. Under the guise of keeping them both out of bankruptcy (Remember him saying, "GM is to big to go bankrupt"?) he walked them right up the steps to the courtroom.

Even Ralph Nader has stated that this didn't need to be. In a statement yesterday, Nader said, "The proximate cause of the bankruptcy was supposed to be the inability of GM and the government's auto task force to reach an accommodation with GM's bondholders. But late last week, the bondholder problem was moving toward rapid resolution, and was clearly resolvable. Why then are GM and its multibillion government financier proceeding with bankruptcy?" He then answers his own question by saying, "The bankruptcy and the GM restructuring plan are the product of a secretive, unaccountable, Wall Street-minded government task force that assumed power because of a Congressional abdication of historic magnitude. By all rights, the restructuring plan should have been submitted to Congress for deliberative review and decision."

So, if this didn't need to be, then why is it so? Could it have been that former GM CEO Rick Wagoner got the boot because he wasn't willing to play by Obama's rules? Once again, this is all about the administrations perceived need to dictate what will drive and they want us driving small, efficient cars that get great gas mileage. And, do you know why? Don't kid yourself—of course you do. It's all just to get us ready for $7.00 a gallon gasoline, $2-$3 of which will be taxes to pay for Obama's new socialism.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw the list of GM assembly line closings. Bowling Green, KY is not (for the moment, at least) on the list. In case you just tuned in, Bowling Green is where they quietly make Corvettes. But keep it to yourself as apparently Obama either doesn't know this, or he doesn't know that the Corvette is made by GM.

Now, I'm not a huge Corvette fan—but I am a fan of what it stands for. At a time when the great American Auto Race, the Indy 500, features 33 identical cars made in Italy, powered by Japanese engines and sporting Japanese tires, the Corvette is one of the two remaining rolling statements that Americans can build world class cars (2nd place would have to go to the Ford Mustang). It represents the ultimate top down joy ride that is both nostalgic and an escape from the stress and pressure of the day. It's sleek, fast and powerful, with an ego all its own.

True, the Corvette has had it's good years as well as years when it was little more than a joke on fancy chrome wheels. At the moment, however, the Corvette is doing quite well. In virtually all major comparisons with the likes of Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, the Corvette has done more that hold its own, it has, frequently, whipped the perceived best from Europe and Japan. Nothing comes close to offering such a high level of performance at such a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, the market for Corvettes (and all sorts cars) is shrinking, and while Corvettes actually get exceptional gas mileage (28 highway) considering their size and power, the opposite is perceived to be the truth among the masses. There was chatter around GM awhile ago that the next generation 'Vette would either be a mid-engine design, or be built on the Pontiac Solstice / Saturn Sky chassis. With the discontinuation of Pontiac and the forth coming sale of Saturn, that option is off the table.

So what will happen to the Corvette? I doubt that any of the money that the administration is feeding GM is actually going toward developing products with more than 4 cylinders, so I would have to think that the next generation Corvette (if there is a next generation Corvette) will be powered by either 4 or 6 cylinder turbo, and will probably be much lighter. Yeah, I'll miss those big V-8s too, but if there's to be a Corvette, it will probably be quite different that the current one. Let's just hope that the administration never finds out that there still is a Great AMERICAN sportscar—if they do, it'll be gone faster than you can say Oldsmobile.