Corvette's chief engineer begins balancing act; performance, quality, value top agend
By AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
Dave Hill, vehicle line executive for GM Performance Cars and chief engineer of the Chevrolet Corvette since 1995, is facing two of the toughest tasks of his 37-year career at General Motors.
He must ensure that the new Corvette-derived Cadillac XLR is built tight and free of mechanical glitches when it goes into production this spring. At the same time, he's overseeing the development of the next-generation Corvette, due in 2004.
Hill, who turns 60 on Jan. 15, spoke this month with Automotive News Staff Reporter Richard Truett in Detroit.
How has the Cadillac XLR made the next Corvette a better car?
We have quite an infusion of talent now that we have two programs. We might not have been able to call on that amount of talent had we only had one. One example of where we are really going to get a payout is getting to the next level of surface perfection with SMC (fiberglass) panels. Really, the Corvette measures up very well today, but we want to get to the next level. (Because of) the tooling strategies and other manufacturing techniques that we've worked on with our suppliers, we've got the Cadillac XLR up to the highest level of SMC surface perfection that has ever been seen. That's going to have a trickle-down effect on the Corvette.
Anything else?
Quietness. To make our architecture suitable for that Cadillac-Lexus-Jaguar-Mercedes set, we had to work a lot on quietness and isolation without losing the lightness value. We have made a fantastic change in the personality of the Cadillac, and that is going to have a benefit in the Corvette, too.
Is there pressure on the workers at the Bowling Green, Ky., Corvette plant to deliver the quality that Cadillac buyers expect?
The plant manager at Bowling Green has really changed the culture there. One of the things that's unique about the plant is that it is open for tours. Every day, you've got the public going through there. A lot of them are Corvette owners and fans. Our work force has really gotten connected to the customer. I think they have an enhanced sense of importance about every operation on every car that they build. The quality ethic is just fantastic. We've had the Lexus (SC 430), Mercedes (SL500) and Jaguar (XK8) down there, so that the workers can understand that the standards are different, the values are different and that the cars do different things well. They are definitely rising to the occasion. They are going to compete. They are really fired up.
Do Corvette buyers cross-shop the Dodge Viper?
You see a little bit of that. And certainly the Z06 is a definite contender for that extreme performance enthusiast. But I wouldn't say we consider them in our main set of competitors. But they are doing a good job. They are improving, and we are glad to have them in our segment. The more competition there is, the more interest there is.
Has the new Dodge Viper - with its 500-hp engine and 4.1-second 0-to-60 mph performance - influenced the next Corvette? Do you have to have the bragging rights to the fastest, the highest, the lowest or whatever to get the attention of that kind of buyer?
Not just quantitatively. You can sometimes overconcentrate on making the numbers at the expense of the total car. Certainly, the Viper puts stimulation into the segment. But we don't literally feel that we should stop being who we are and try being their competitor. For every car they sell, we sell 35 cars. We are still going to play our song - and that's balance, doing many things well and offering tremendous value. Obviously, our customers would like to have more performance, and we are going to get it for them.
Has the Z06 lived up to your sales expectations?
The nice thing about the Z06 is that the person we made it for - the extreme performance enthusiast - is the person who is buying it. The Z06 has really done us proud. We came out with the car stretching as far as we could in 2001 with 385 hp. Fifteen percent of sales were Z06s. We were somewhat constrained on the number we could make. We solved the constraints. We got up to 405 hp. We improved the brakes. We improved the engine and clutch, and we've been selling 25 percent Z06s in 2002.
Will there be a Z06 in the next-generation Corvette?
We will have a great Z06 in the next generation but not at the outset.
Over the years, the Corvette has been stuffed with more and more luxury features. How much luxury is too much for a Corvette?
That's a delicate balance, and we try to make sure we stay on the right side of it. We want to use our engineering skill to keep expanding the area in which the car is really good and exceeds the people's expectations. If we can make it more comfortable and just as fast, then that's the right thing to do. If we start making it more comfortable at the expense of performance, that's the wrong thing to do.
What other sports cars attract your attention these days?
Nissan is now offering an attractive car (350Z) at a nice low price, and they are being rewarded with a lot of customers at the moment. I think it's probably a pretty good car. I think Nissan has done a marvelous job of turning themselves around. That might task our price-value relationship. But there is always going to be lots of competition in the marketplace.
Mazda is also coming back (with the RX-8). We competed with them in the past. They are great competitors, and we'll compete with them again, on performance and value.
Is the next Corvette on target and on budget?
Yes. It will be in the 2004 North American International Auto Show.
David Hill is as informative as anyone's allowed to be on new products coming from a major Mfg'r. Very straight info with the Cadillac influence already being anticipated to improve Corvette Quality.
Sounds like the new C-6 Z06 won't arrive before 2005, ah well I'm sure looking forward to it's arrival.
Hill and his team in Warren are doing a fantastic job. Another reason why Mr. Hill is not only "Chief Engineer" but also Vehicle Line Executive for GM Performance Cars. Kudos!
perfect timing for the next z06....my 02 will be paid for by then. Think GM will be offering 0% then....not a chance. Sounds like the new Corvettes will be not only segment leaders but true global automitive benchmarks. My bet is that the next Vette will finally be able to appeal to the traditional Vette buyers as well as the traditional Euro/ Jap car buyers.....I just hope the new Vette doesnt make our cars look too 'dated'.
Thanks for the great article. Dave Hill obviously knows his stuff.
I think he knows to take a great thing (C5, Z06) and make it even better. He'll improve what he can without sacrificing performance or the car's soul. He realizes a sports car can be comfortable, too, so long as it stays a sports car at heart! I am very anxious to see the C6 Z06's.
I liked the little jab that "We sell 35 Corvettes for every Viper..."
Originally posted by BigT I just hope the new Vette doesnt make our cars look too 'dated'.
Then we will be able to feel like those '96 C4 buyers felt... as the C5 arrived.
It is inevitable to be outdone by the next model - and this is one (of many) of the reasons I chose the Z06 over the Coupe - the FRC is a timeless design - and will hold it's own visually forever - while the coupes will be dated.
I agree the Z06/FRC is timeless in its design. Honda, in model year '02, tried to 'update' the NSX exterior design with fixed HID head lights and a new front clip et al. An excercise in very poor 'improvements' in a timeless and classic design. I hope, and fully anticipate, Mr. Hill does not do same for the C6 Z06. He and the General are learning much from their competition and will see the light of such ' incremental updating' to keep up with the marketing madness of change for time's sake only.
Disagree, the '03 Z06 will reign supreme for awhile. The C6 may be at 405 with a Z06 at or above 450 hp. But, 04, 05, followed by an 06 Z06 (read the 06 Z06 in an article somewhere). That means 2-years of working it out.
So, we have an '08 Z06 as the car to buy before the C7 comes out. But, you never know things can change on a dime (sometimes for the worse) and we will have the last Z's consumers will see for another 40-years
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David Hill is as informative as anyone's allowed to be on new products coming from a major Mfg'r. Very straight info with the Cadillac influence already being anticipated to improve Corvette Quality.
Sounds like the new C-6 Z06 won't arrive before 2005, ah well I'm sure looking forward to it's arrival.
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