Why the Corvette Z1’s Nurburgring Time Shouldn't be Compared with the Nissan GT-R

We’ll give GM plenty of kudos for creating a sports car that officially lapped the famous Nurburgring in a mere 7 minutes and 26.4 seconds as it puts plenty of supercars costing double its price to shame, but ultimately, its somewhat unfair to compare the Corvette ZR1 with the Nissan GT-R. True, in our article on the ZR1’s Nurburgring time we mentioned that GM’s sports car beat the Nissan GT-R (7 minutes and 29.03 seconds), but we only did it to give you a comparable example of how good the Corvette is.

However, we must put things into perspective. The 640Hp Corvette ZR1 is priced from $103,300, the 480Hp Nissan GT-R from $69,850. That’s a huge price difference -$33,450 or nearly 50% more. Practically, the GT-R should be compared with the 505Hp Corvette Z06 that starts from $72,125. Although this is not an official time, various sites (including Motortrend) have stated that the Z06 lapped the Nurburgring in 7 minutes and 42 seconds or 13 seconds more than the GT-R. -Continued

But to be totally honest, a sportscar’s Nurburgring time would be the last thing that would matter if we were in the market to buy one. Well before that we’d take into consideration a variety of factors including the emotional impact that the car has on us, the way it communicates with us on the road -maybe even on the track, and of course, the price tag. (Pic: Carscoop)

GM to Merger with Ford? The Idea was actually thrown on the Table!

Some could see it as a “MegaMerger”, others as a “MegaDisaster”. Either way, BusinessWeek magazine learned from an unnamed source that at a few recent meetings, unammed General Motors executives shared their thoughts about the possibility of a merger with arch American rival, Ford Motor Company.

However, some narrow minded fellow execs (before you start commenting, we’re being sarcastic now…) dismissed the idea as they believed a merger with a company that has even worse problems than GM would be a huge distraction at a time when management needs to focus on a turnaround.

Commenting on the report, David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research said, "I don't think a merger is likely. But you'll see a lot of options considered if they think bigger problems will come by." -Continued

What do you think about the idea of a “MegaMerger” between Ford and GM? Would GMF (that stands for General Motors Ford and not for Genetically Modified Fords…) be something worth looking into or would it be the end of both automakers?

Via: BusinessWeek