From a marketing point of view this strategy this is considered cannibalization. The Mazda Miata is only currently selling around 10k units in the US market, there was no reason to build two competitors. A better strategy would have been to build one convertible and one coupe. The market for coupes is much bigger than the convertible market. With a rear mounted tranny already in place, a mid-engine could be done. A mid-engine would make the Solstice demand look like small potato's.

Next if you look at the two cars, the aggressive design of the Sky fits more with the image of Pontiac, while the Solstice looks like it would be more at home at a Saturn dealership.

As far as the Solstice, after sitting in one, I feel it could have been designed
much better. The center console is rounded up near the front where it meets the dash. This takes away considerable legroom away. Anyone over 6 feet tall will not fit. A spaceframe with rear mounted tranny should have plenty of legroom, look at Corvette and Fiero as examples of this. The new Miata has more legroom than the Solstice. GM missed the boat here since many of the 2 seaters on the lower end of the price range do not have enough legroom for a very tall driver. Now their offerings are no different.

The gas tank takes up way too much of the trunk space. The rear opening
trunk wasnt well thought out. Who wants to have to go around to the side of the trunk to put groceries in it? I should mention though that the design of the Sky is very appealing.

 

I don't really consider it Cannibalisation because they look so different. Men seem to like the Sky and more women seem to like the Solstice so why not try to gain market share in that segment, fully utilize the capacity of the plant and keep everybody happy.

I think they will ALL sell as anticipated.

 

I agree with that statement, on exterior styling the Sky has Pontiac written all over it to me, it just needs a modified Ponitac grill. On the interiors the Solstice is to bland for Pontiac with only gray or tan color options that seem to fit Saturn better, while the Sky with its racey bright colored interior suggests Pontiac to me.

 

The solstice looks weird to me, especially how they handled the front end with the grill placement/design. The sky on the other hand was one of the most beautiful cars I saw at the international auto show here a month back. Actually, the sky along with saturn's new sedan ( I forgot the name, maybe it was a concept) which looked really upscale, were the best new cars I saw there, besides the Z06 of course.

 

Coupe & convertible? Good idea. I can't think of any low cost 2 passenger coupe on the market (meaning under 23K).

You aren't the only one who feels that way.

Haven't seen the trunk yet though I've sat in one a few times, ironically.

 

Just a side note:

Solstice has 3 cupholders....or so the rep at GMASIM told me. I asked her, why three cupholders if there are only 2 seats? She said, you use one for yesterday's coffee cup.

 

or prehaps two are useless, cheap and will break the first time they are used.

 

Why were you sitting in the trunk? And if you've sat in it, why haven't you seen it? Were you kidnapped by the guys in the black suburbans?

 

i have to disagree with this, i've sat in and driven a Sostice at the Autoshow in Motion.. and i'm 6'2" 300lbs.. it was no more cramped than the C6 i drove at the same autoshow..

 

I wish someone would build a cheap RWD car with decent HP. Just think how many import fans GM would win over if they had a ~$16,900 coupe (or hatchback) that was RWD with at least 150 HP and ~$21,000 or so to upgrade to like 200 HP.

The volumes wouldn't be huge, but I bet they'd be higher than the Solstice and GM would be pulling people from everywhere because no one else offers a car like that.

 

Now that's a great idea! I would imagine that a $16,900 RWD car would need to be relatively austere, mechanically. Maybe based off a light truck platform. I've been kinda stuck on the idea of a GMT355 based Nomad lately.

 

Perhaps the Chevette tooling is lying in a corner of a warehouse somewhere

 

i'd rather them cheapen out the kappa (struts, steel control arms etc)

 

I was actually thinking Kappa. Remove the convertible top and all the mechanisms, change the seats to cloth manual seats on the base model and maybe change to some 16" wheels and there ya go. Make up the rest of the cost difference on volume. I'd actually prefer it as a hatchback, since it'd be practical and fun that way. If they could stuff two jump seats in the back it'd be even better.

 

if GM built a 2+2 kappa car i'b be all over that like a cheap suit.