Jalopnik Monte Carlo Article
everyone is entitled to an opinion
#3
01-19-2018, 11:24 AM
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Posts: 4,779
How is the Monte Carlo any different than any other car in today's world? You make the car a rear wheel drive gas guzzler and nobody would buy it. Period. Same concept with the Impala, etc. Yeah it'd be cool but demand would have been low (think 2014-17 SS). As it was, the car was highly competitive in its class. Hell, from my personal experience, dealerships couldn't keep the things on the lot. People bought them up. People still buy them up used off dealership lots. I occasionally have the dealership that asks if I'll trade mine in. They know the Monte Carlo sells which means people love them. You can't argue with that fact.
Last edited by 06mistreSS; 01-19-2018 at 11:37 AM.
#4
01-19-2018, 11:25 AM
Fortunately, I didn't buy my car hoping HE'D like it.... I absolutely love my car. I am somehow able to drive it every day not giving two sh*ts what others think of it.... Amazing, I know...
#5
01-19-2018, 07:28 PM
I think it's a stupid click bait article myself. I cant imagine anyone is really that narrow minded as to how the auto industry works. It sounds like the author is just trying to drum up arguments to drive traffic.
The NASCAR argument in general is dumb and has nothing to do with the Monte. No NASCAR has been anything close to a real stock car in a very long time. Who cares what name is on the sticker, it would be exactly the same underneath. Even if the monte was rwd, it still wouldn't be even remotely close to a modern NASCAR.
It also bugs me in general when people like that glorify some of the old RWD cars, especially when talking about performance. I get a 200 hp FWD monte is no rocket ship (especially by todays standards), but the old RWD montes weren't drastically better. IIRC, the majority of the v8 models were only 15 or 16 second cars, not exactly fast either... I thought the monte 454s only do mid 200s to the wheels, and obviously the later models are way lower than even that.
I get the enthusiasts desire for GM to make everything RWD and drop the LS7 into every model - the Spark, the Sonic, the Cruze, etc. But at the end of the day, they're trying to sell cars and that's not what sells cars. The FWD montes may not have been a top worldwide seller, but IIRC the 6th gens were still in the ballpark of 50k cars a year (at $20k each, that's a $1B / yr business)- not exactly a poor performer.
The tough spot for GM is would a RWD monte have sold more units or be more profitable? The real hardcore muscle car people still would've whined if it was RWD but only a v6, so it would need a v8 also to really capture guys like this.. That leads to a notable price increase with all of those changes. So you pick up more enthusiast sales, but you lose some of the general public due to price. Plus some of the enthusiasts you pick up may have been considering your other RWD sporty car options (Camaro), so those aren't added sales, they're just stolen sales from your other model.
The NASCAR argument in general is dumb and has nothing to do with the Monte. No NASCAR has been anything close to a real stock car in a very long time. Who cares what name is on the sticker, it would be exactly the same underneath. Even if the monte was rwd, it still wouldn't be even remotely close to a modern NASCAR.
It also bugs me in general when people like that glorify some of the old RWD cars, especially when talking about performance. I get a 200 hp FWD monte is no rocket ship (especially by todays standards), but the old RWD montes weren't drastically better. IIRC, the majority of the v8 models were only 15 or 16 second cars, not exactly fast either... I thought the monte 454s only do mid 200s to the wheels, and obviously the later models are way lower than even that.
I get the enthusiasts desire for GM to make everything RWD and drop the LS7 into every model - the Spark, the Sonic, the Cruze, etc. But at the end of the day, they're trying to sell cars and that's not what sells cars. The FWD montes may not have been a top worldwide seller, but IIRC the 6th gens were still in the ballpark of 50k cars a year (at $20k each, that's a $1B / yr business)- not exactly a poor performer.
The tough spot for GM is would a RWD monte have sold more units or be more profitable? The real hardcore muscle car people still would've whined if it was RWD but only a v6, so it would need a v8 also to really capture guys like this.. That leads to a notable price increase with all of those changes. So you pick up more enthusiast sales, but you lose some of the general public due to price. Plus some of the enthusiasts you pick up may have been considering your other RWD sporty car options (Camaro), so those aren't added sales, they're just stolen sales from your other model.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; 01-19-2018 at 08:31 PM.
#6
01-19-2018, 10:46 PM
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Mountains of Utah
Posts: 4,903
Yeah this is nothing new, someone has a mouth and needs a paycheck. Our 5th, 6th and 7th gens simply dismiss their diatribe without missing a "Heartbeat", we are to busy looking cool. I for one don't want to be a 40 year old Monte owner. I love the sleek aerodynamic Wide body look with it fresh futuristic body lines. Our Montes look like nothing else on the road, I believe they convey the NASCAR look quite well. So off with their heads, there must be more to do while searching for "filler" articles... Go get a real life...
#7
01-20-2018, 01:42 PM
I think it's a stupid click bait article myself. I cant imagine anyone is really that narrow minded as to how the auto industry works. It sounds like the author is just trying to drum up arguments to drive traffic.
The NASCAR argument in general is dumb and has nothing to do with the Monte. No NASCAR has been anything close to a real stock car in a very long time. Who cares what name is on the sticker, it would be exactly the same underneath. Even if the monte was rwd, it still wouldn't be even remotely close to a modern NASCAR.
It also bugs me in general when people like that glorify some of the old RWD cars, especially when talking about performance. I get a 200 hp FWD monte is no rocket ship (especially by todays standards), but the old RWD montes weren't drastically better. IIRC, the majority of the v8 models were only 15 or 16 second cars, not exactly fast either... I thought the monte 454s only do mid 200s to the wheels, and obviously the later models are way lower than even that.
I get the enthusiasts desire for GM to make everything RWD and drop the LS7 into every model - the Spark, the Sonic, the Cruze, etc. But at the end of the day, they're trying to sell cars and that's not what sells cars. The FWD montes may not have been a top worldwide seller, but IIRC the 6th gens were still in the ballpark of 50k cars a year (at $20k each, that's a $1B / yr business)- not exactly a poor performer.
The tough spot for GM is would a RWD monte have sold more units or be more profitable? The real hardcore muscle car people still would've whined if it was RWD but only a v6, so it would need a v8 also to really capture guys like this.. That leads to a notable price increase with all of those changes. So you pick up more enthusiast sales, but you lose some of the general public due to price. Plus some of the enthusiasts you pick up may have been considering your other RWD sporty car options (Camaro), so those aren't added sales, they're just stolen sales from your other model.
The NASCAR argument in general is dumb and has nothing to do with the Monte. No NASCAR has been anything close to a real stock car in a very long time. Who cares what name is on the sticker, it would be exactly the same underneath. Even if the monte was rwd, it still wouldn't be even remotely close to a modern NASCAR.
It also bugs me in general when people like that glorify some of the old RWD cars, especially when talking about performance. I get a 200 hp FWD monte is no rocket ship (especially by todays standards), but the old RWD montes weren't drastically better. IIRC, the majority of the v8 models were only 15 or 16 second cars, not exactly fast either... I thought the monte 454s only do mid 200s to the wheels, and obviously the later models are way lower than even that.
I get the enthusiasts desire for GM to make everything RWD and drop the LS7 into every model - the Spark, the Sonic, the Cruze, etc. But at the end of the day, they're trying to sell cars and that's not what sells cars. The FWD montes may not have been a top worldwide seller, but IIRC the 6th gens were still in the ballpark of 50k cars a year (at $20k each, that's a $1B / yr business)- not exactly a poor performer.
The tough spot for GM is would a RWD monte have sold more units or be more profitable? The real hardcore muscle car people still would've whined if it was RWD but only a v6, so it would need a v8 also to really capture guys like this.. That leads to a notable price increase with all of those changes. So you pick up more enthusiast sales, but you lose some of the general public due to price. Plus some of the enthusiasts you pick up may have been considering your other RWD sporty car options (Camaro), so those aren't added sales, they're just stolen sales from your other model.
#8
01-20-2018, 05:08 PM
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Papillion, NE
Posts: 322
No, I don't believe that. The new-car buying market as a whole was simply moving away from affordable personal coupes. To its credit, the Monte Carlo held on in good form to the end, esp. with the '06-'07 SS.
Nowadays the only new coupes you can find are the Civic, the three pony cars, sports cars like the Miata, Corvette, Jaguar F-type, etc., the executive-level ones from BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes, Infiniti, etc. and the mega-buck exotic cars. Sheesh, it's hard enough to even find a truck with only two doors!
But as for the Jalopnik writer:
Well, that's his problem right there! 
Nowadays the only new coupes you can find are the Civic, the three pony cars, sports cars like the Miata, Corvette, Jaguar F-type, etc., the executive-level ones from BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes, Infiniti, etc. and the mega-buck exotic cars. Sheesh, it's hard enough to even find a truck with only two doors!
But as for the Jalopnik writer:
...and it still makes me mad and I can’t get over it.
#9
01-20-2018, 05:53 PM
I have no idea if sales volume is what killed the monte, but I'm sure it was a component. Sales had been sliding since like 04. IIRC the last years of the 6th gen were only like 30k units a year and the face lift / update didn't boost sales at all. I think they were running out of options - they woudnt want to see sales continue to slide to nothing, another face lift could be another flop, and a they weren't in a position to redesign it financially. It made more sense to focus efforts on cars like the Impala that were selling 3x+ the volume.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; 01-20-2018 at 07:22 PM.
#10
01-21-2018, 05:29 PM
Do you have any evidence to support that or is it just your opinion? It just doesn't seem logical to me at all that they would kill the monte in 07 to make sure they didn't hurt sales of a model that didn't go on sale for 3 whole model years.
I have no idea if sales volume is what killed the monte, but I'm sure it was a component. Sales had been sliding since like 04. IIRC the last years of the 6th gen were only like 30k units a year and the face lift / update didn't boost sales at all. I think they were running out of options - they woudnt want to see sales continue to slide to nothing, another face lift could be another flop, and a they weren't in a position to redesign it financially. It made more sense to focus efforts on cars like the Impala that were selling 3x+ the volume.
I have no idea if sales volume is what killed the monte, but I'm sure it was a component. Sales had been sliding since like 04. IIRC the last years of the 6th gen were only like 30k units a year and the face lift / update didn't boost sales at all. I think they were running out of options - they woudnt want to see sales continue to slide to nothing, another face lift could be another flop, and a they weren't in a position to redesign it financially. It made more sense to focus efforts on cars like the Impala that were selling 3x+ the volume.
The word of a GM VP good enough for you?