Feb 6, 2006 2:53:13 AM
- Jim_in_Iowa
- Pilot
-
- Loc: US
- Posts: 336, Gallery
- Registered on: May 18, 2005
Reverse engineering the competition
I wonder how many 911s Aston Martin took apart?
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First, buy the hottestnew car on the lot. Then rip it to pieces. Inside GM's chop shop, they take (apart) the competition very seriously.
By Carl Hoffman
A silver Lexus RX 400h hybrid SUV is suspended on a lift in a room the size of a soccer field at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. It was purchased off the lot just a few days ago for $49,000, loaded, which seems a waste, since it's already a carcass. Mechanic John Klucka has removed its tires and engine and doors and seats and dashboard and, well, just about everything but a few wires and the windshield. "This is a complicated vehicle," he says, unbolting the engine from its frame, "and I've got no manual, so I'm taking it apart blind."
Within a few weeks, GM engineers will unravel the Lexus' every secret - down to the weight and production cost of each nut and bolt - just as they've done with every other Toyota hybrid model. The latest Prius lies in on a table in the corner, gutted, tagged, and spread out like a frog in a high school biology lab.
Rest at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/teardown_pr.html
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First, buy the hottestnew car on the lot. Then rip it to pieces. Inside GM's chop shop, they take (apart) the competition very seriously.
By Carl Hoffman
A silver Lexus RX 400h hybrid SUV is suspended on a lift in a room the size of a soccer field at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. It was purchased off the lot just a few days ago for $49,000, loaded, which seems a waste, since it's already a carcass. Mechanic John Klucka has removed its tires and engine and doors and seats and dashboard and, well, just about everything but a few wires and the windshield. "This is a complicated vehicle," he says, unbolting the engine from its frame, "and I've got no manual, so I'm taking it apart blind."
Within a few weeks, GM engineers will unravel the Lexus' every secret - down to the weight and production cost of each nut and bolt - just as they've done with every other Toyota hybrid model. The latest Prius lies in on a table in the corner, gutted, tagged, and spread out like a frog in a high school biology lab.
Rest at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/teardown_pr.html
