"State of Independence" redux..

[Lodro]

Interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal, about GM trying to centralize operations. They want to make all of their cars "plug-and-play" which I have to assume is something like "lowest-common-denominator". So now we'll have GM brand-engineering, but on a global scale. Oh, boy... Best quote:

"Now Saab no longer has an independent engineering organization: most of its engineers were absorbed into GM Europe's technical development center. GM is working on changes to the car that will make it easier to build the car alongside other Epsilon models ... Analysts say that could lead it to close an underutilized factory in Trollhatten, Sweden that builds the 9-3."

Lets see.. no Saab engineers, no Saab office in the US, no Saab factory. What then is left of Saab except for a lovely griffen badge to paste onto the platform flavor of the month?

[squishmann]

i don't car anymore. i just want a well built car that looks different from the rest.