Lori Queen was appointed vehicle line executive for General Motors small cars in September, 2001. She has lead management-responsibility for the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire and Saturn Ion, as well as the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac Pursuit (Canada only) and the 2006 Pontiac Solstice.

Queen earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) in 1979. She has three children -- 14, 16 and 18 -- and is married to Jim Queen, vice-president of GM North America engineering.

Vaughan: The Cobalt has to be as good as a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla or a Mazda3.

Queen: I love it. I love it.

Vaughan: These are the cars you have to go after.

Queen: I'm going at 'em. Bring 'em on.

Vaughan: These are high-quality competitors and the knock against GM has been quality in the small cars.

Queen: Absolutely. We've looked at every aspect of the vehicle from a customer perspective, from a practical perspective and in what would you want in a small car. We've benchmarked all our competition. Everyone has different strengths and we said we have to nail this one. So we are just relentless on the quality and the execution, fit and finish, types of materials, appearance and performance, quiet ride and handling.

Vaughan: Compare under the skin, the architecture of the Cobalt compared to the Cavalier, the car it replaces.

Queen: Well, the Cavalier was an evolution from many, many years ago. As all the safety standards and the new requirements come along, it would be really difficult to continue to bring that architecture forward and be competitive when you look at where everybody else is going. So we worked with GM Europe, the Opel side of the business, because their cars really have been known for their ride and handling characteristics. We worked on developing an architecture that would build in the new General Motors bill of process that we've pretty much converted all our assembly plants to. We developed an architecture that we call lower dominant and that gives us a really good fundamental structure for the vehicle and that also gives us tons of flexibility to do skins on the upper so that we can do two doors, four doors for different vehicles and still have ride and handling and structure.

Vaughan: So you're telling me you have to have Cobalt derivatives. Coupes, convertibles, station wagons?

Queen: We're introducing the Cobalt with a full family already. We have a coupe and a sedan and they're very differentiated. Today, if you look at a Cavalier, it's a two door and a four door and they both look a lot alike. The coupe and sedan for the Cobalt are completely different in the rear, they have completely different personalities, different ride and handling, different H points in terms of how you sit in the vehicle, the roof line is higher in one than in the other. So we think we've really given you a different feel. Plus, we have some awesome engine combinations.

Vaughan: There are people who argue that the Big Three just can't cut it in small cars and say, 'Leave the low end to the imports and make the money on the monster SUVs and stay out of the small cars.'

Queen: If you're going to be a full-line manufacturer, which General Motors clearly is, you have to have everything and you can't just walk away from a huge segment like small cars. It's just too big a piece of the market and it's too important for bringing customers in and developing brand loyalty.

Vaughan: This, I think, is the toughest thing that anyone in General Motors has to do . . . to take on the Civics and the Corollas. I wouldn't sleep at nights.

Queen: I haven't slept for a lot of nights.

Michael Vaughan is the co-host with Jeremy Cato of Car/Business, Monday nights at 8:30 p.m. on Report on Business Television. Michael Vaughan Live is on at 8 p.m. Monday to Friday.