Quote:
Originally Posted by Syndrome
Brand new Alloytech engine with nothing carried over from he old Ecotech engine and a brand new factory to build it in. Yet the engine was so underwhelming. The Barra gave it more than a run for it's money!
|
At the time, everyone had high expectations for what was originally called the HFV6 (High Feature V6). As you say, all new from the ground up, and in Australia, built in a new facility. The media were frothing at the mouth over it.
All that GM bravado about benchmarking V6 engines from Honda, Nissan and Toyota, all that money they spent and..................... the Alloytec still lagged behind all of its key rivals in Australia. I remember reading the Wheels article that put the new SV6 up against the XR6 and Magna VRX, even pro-Holden Wheels was questioning the lack of advancement the new engine brought to the table.
Just think of that, a brand-new engine with a global budget being shadowed by an engine that could trace roots back to 1959, and one that two years earlier was updated on a shoestring budget via a new cylinder head and little else. Then consider the two Japanese V6's from Mitsubishi and Toyota smashing the Alloytec out of the park, both engines from the early 90's.
I can just image the GM development team pulling apart other companies' engines, liking what they saw, they then started designing their own version. Then the finance department comes in and demanded they build it cheaper. And when they made it cheaper, they were asked to make it even cheaper. All the while not understanding how the Japanese don't compromise on material quality for their products, rather they kept the cost down via manufacturing efficiency. The result was a wheezy, unreliable boat anchor. Typical GM.