riviera74

While I agree with you smk4565, I wonder how GM will actually differentiate the ATS from competitors so that the ATS will sell. This is 3 series territory more than anything else, so the ATS had better be spectacular.

That is a nice photochop if a Quattroporte onto an X6 body. I highly doubt Maserati would need to do this, much less actually sell it.

+1 AGREE. In the era of compact and midsize crossovers, who would buy a wagon in large enough quantities for it to be worthwhile in North America? Uh, nobody and not in large enough numbers for it to matter. The upcoming Encore (think baby Enclave) should take that role since it is a crossover.

Take the LaCrosse, just for the space and better feature set.

Not with that much rust and debris and problems. Pass. Avoid this EPIC money pit.

I hate to say this, but the creditors should take over SAAB and make it profitable. If they refuse, they can sell it off piece by piece. I do not miss Saab at all. My mom had an OK 1994 Saab 9000 CSE and then it had a weird engine problem in 1997. The car was sent back to Sweden never to return. Good riddance to that pile.

That Chief Marketer should worry about the PERCEPTION that Ford created with that ECOboost V6 and the sales it generates. Ford charges $1000 MORE than the standard V8 in the F150. GM looks behind the curve, even if that is not really accurate from a CAFE/MPG perspective. Quite frankly, GM needs to upgrade/replace that Vortec 4300 with a toubocharged V6 option and charge more for it right now, not in 2013. To most people, perception is reality. GM must combat this with creating a different perception based on product only.

I could not agree more on the Buick 231 (now 3800 series II and III). Most normal people, when they think pushrods, they think truck engines from the '70s, not the surprisingly refined 3800 series III. Now, the new 3.6 v6 can at least compete with (and at times top) anything from the competition. While putting in a six-speed Hydramatic with the 3800 would be great for us, that transmission could not fit most GM platforms since they were designed for 4-speeds from 1985. The hope is is that the 3.6 can become just as good if not better than the 3800. The 3.6 needs more torque though. As for Omega, make it a Cadillac-exclusive platform and that will be just peachy. Leave Sigma and the other global RWD to Chevy and Buick and Holden.

Lutz is no putz. Without him, better product would have been inconceivable before, during and after BK. Most of the fault of why GM needed BK belongs to Waggoner and his Board of Bystanders who should have been fired in 2002. All of them. At least GM has real leaders who actually allow better products to be released, rather than extreme mediocrity over the last 25 years or so.

The current SRX is a Theta-Epsilon while the Equinox/Terrain are strictly Theta. The current Escalade has come a VERY long way from the rebadged 1999 Chevy Tahoe: exclusive engine, exclusive feature set etc. The idea that these are rebadges like back in the '80s or 90's is a massive insult to the engineers behind both vehicles. Whether there should be an SRX or an Escalade is a separate question. Just because Cadillac no longer has a Caddy-exclusive powerplant (formerly Northstar, replaced by the stillborn Ultra V8) does not mean that Cadillac is dead. The new ATS and especially the building/development of the Converj and the Cien concepts for production attest to that!

A U.S. spec model will start production in Wentzville, MO in late 2013/early 2014. Two years from now? How about six months from now instead? Why is GM sitting on this for it to be sold here?

No. The current LaCrosse is the car to have, especially since Buick lacks a RWD flagship. Nothing wrong with the current Regal or upcoming Verano, but I would take a LaCrosse CXL or CXS over almost anything GM currently has. Cadillac does need the upcoming ATS, but it also needs a real RWD flagship too.

Are you sure? The Verano and Astra appear to share the exact same interior (minus the Buick's plood/color schemes), the same greenhouse from the B-pillar forward, identical doors, hood, all hard points between the headlamps and taillamps, mirrors, etc. Plood, huh? Which carmaker puts in better wood inserts and why? A lot of plood goes on everywhere these days.

Not necessarily. The original Mustang was released as a 1964 and 1/2.

Maybe thanks to better cars, the need for compact pickups can finally shrink after 20 years. Of course $4 or so for gas does its part too.

This is strange. I was at Best Buy on Thursday and I was talking to a guy (in a blue shirt) about this very HP TouchPad and why it was not selling. Three hours later, I see the news that HP is ditching the Touchpad and cutting prices. Go Figure. I thought that BB would need to heavily discount in order to get sales going anywhere.

Four years ago, my Florida car registration was about $36. Now it is about $72 for 2010 and probably 2011 too. Normally, this is an anti-tax state, but when did Tallahassee decide to raise fees like this..... especially when Republicans have run the state legislature for at least a decade straight?

I suspect that the GMT truck platform is just one platform, except for maybe the huge trucks, such as construction equipment. The winnowing of platforms can only be a good thing.

Roger Smith

Pilot sales are up for July and YTD. I suspect it may well be stale product. I find it hilarious that Acura is not able to sell anything, especially the RL. Why does Acura exist again?

I am concerned about Buick and Cadillac. Buick released the new Lacrosse for 2010 and sales are down this year? While it is a good thing that the Regal is making up the slack, falling LaCrosse sales cannot be good. (Lucerne sales, on the other hand, are down because the car is DOA.) As for Cadillac, I am really concerned since the STS and DTS are disappearing, the CTS and SRX are NOT making up for the loss in sales. The ATS cannot arrive soon enough! Escalade shrinking is an issue, not a disaster.

The Veracruz may well be a missed opportunity. The real news (to me at least) is that the Genesis is outselling the Chrysler 300 this year and in July 2011, even though Dodge Charger sales combined with 300 sales beat the Genesis by 2 to 1.

Downmarket? You mean cheap specials, right? That is what used cars are for.

I think I can explain why Explorer sales are so high: people are impressed that a once BOF SUV is now a large crossover..... and then they buy it in droves.

GM as #1 in sales is OK I guess. I would rather see GM as #1 in profits and positive cash flow, which are actually beneficial. #1 in sales is no longer the big deal it once was, especially if you needed a lot of rebates and cash back to move the metal...... like four or five years ago.