Content provided in partnership with

Automotive Industry

The Epsilon solution: GM's fresh interpretation of the global-car gambit aimed at winning back lost mid-size customers

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2003 by Don Sherman

General Motors has had quite enough of the punishment Honda. Toyota and others have been doing out for years. Throughout most of the 1990s, GM's mid-size car market share bombed-from nearly half of that critical segment's volume to less than a third. Since 1988, GM has squandered some four million sales to competitors. Something had to be done to keep the world's largest vehicle manufacturer from devolving into a pickup truck and SUV specialist.

Most Popular Articles in Autos: Service Slants; 2007 utility vehicle buyer's guide: Side-By-Sides are popular; here's who ...; Transmission considerations: beyond the manual gearbox; Buell Motorcycle engineering, innovation, & dedication: in an industry ...; 100 + 10: America's oldest automotive magazine celebrates its 110th year ...; More »

The something is Epsilon, a massive initiative that will eventually involve 1/6th of the cars GM builds around the world or 1.4-million units annually. Eight brands will sell Epsilon products. The program will eventually encompass over a dozen distinct body styles, up to eight manufacturing plants on three continents, stickers ranging from below $20,000 to over $40,000, and approximately 10,000 employees. European plants are already working overtime to fulfill demand for the first models out of the chute, Vectras sold by Opel and Vauxhall and Saab's 9-3.

Epsilon is certainly the grandest world-car umbrella in GM's history but it's hardly the first trip down global lane. In 1976, Chevrolet tried to stave off the Japanese with its Chevette, a subcompact spun off an Opel-engineered T-car platform. Two decades later, Cadillac took its turn with the Catera, a mid-size sport sedan riding on Opel Omega underpinnings. Both of those projects were miserable failures. Nevertheless, GM is betting on the global approach again, though this time with an obvious difference. Since Epsilon is a hundred times grander than any previous international project, the risks involved are staggering, even to GM.

To find out how Epsilon can succeed in the wake of global car designs that failed, we tapped two experts on the subject. One of them, GM vehicle line executive Gene Stefanyshyn, was not only present at Epsilon's 1997 creation, he's also the architect of several of GM's key global strategies.

Formulating the Epsilon solution began six years ago. Stefanyshyn notes, "The planning began in 1997 among German, Swedish and American engineers at the (Warren) Tech Center. The first step was acknowledging the Catera was not the way to do a global car design. We realized that bringing all parties to the table early was essential to success. We found that everybody's got to be in the mood to make love. It's hard to gain someone's attention when their next model change is five years out; they've got too many other things to worry about that are more urgent. So cadence is critically important."

The timing plan for every Epsilon-based product was laid out at the very beginning of the project. Knowing exactly when each of the vehicles would roll-out globally was a major enabler for a smooth transition from product to product.

"Opel was first in line," Stefanyshyn says. "So the Epsilon task force relocated to GM's International Product Development Center in Russeisheim, Germany, but not before we had debated key elements such as basic dimensions, safety targets and suspension layouts. Opel started filling in the details with our guys in attendance. When the timing was right, Saab engineers moved to Germany to participate in the learning and to tailor Epsilon to their specific needs."

Somewhat later, additional U.S. engineers relocated to Europe. Lyndon Schneider, program engineering manager for Malibu and 20 or so others were in Germany for nearly three years.

Another early but critical task was defining exactly what is meant by a global car. Some makers use that term to mean a global brand selling the same products in far flung markets. But for GM, global does not constitute what Stefanyshyn likes to call a "Coca-Cola car." Instead, Epsilon is a common architecture capable of yielding regional products. That's because GM's past attempts at the Coca-Cola approach have not worked.

"Living and working in various markets are essential to identyfy the major differences from one locale to another," Stefanyshyn stresses. 'Taxation, government regulations and customer tastes change when you cross borders and continents. So the GM plan is leveraging one very good global architecture and allowing various regions to tailor the design to suit their particular markets. The goal is achieving a high degree of technical competence rather than selling exactly the same car worldwide."

The Epsilon body structure consists of a common center floor panel that mates to two different front sections and four distinct rear sections. That yields a total of four different wheelbases. Saab uses the 2675 mm dimension, the Chevy Malibu and Opel Vectra are at 2700 mm, the extended wheelbase Opel is 2840 mm, and the longer Malibu (five-door Maxx) is 2852 mm. GM says the wheelbase could be stretched a bit more if necessary and it can increase the wheel track dimensions if it needs to in the future. Rocker panels change to accommodate a wider track and bumper systems differ to suit market requirements. (Though Stefanyshyn barely acknowledges it, the Epsilon tree will also sprout all-wheel-drive branches for inevitable crossover products.)

Automotive Industry

The Epsilon solution: GM's fresh interpretation of the global-car gambit aimed at winning back lost mid-size customers

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2003 by Don Sherman

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Health

Most Popular Articles in Autos

Most Popular Publications in Autos