Shantanu

Back in 2002, if you guys remember, GM was something of a comeback kid. They were growing their market share, making money, all on account of 0% financing. But even at that time, I think there were only a handful of GM cars that I was really into. Of course products get better with time, but I'm saying that vis a vis the competition the GM products today are really great, perhaps the best ever. So it's unfortunate to see the company not doing well on the business side.

Tonight they had a GM commercial during the oscars. What struck me is that this is the best General Motors ever. Every division has some really great, no apologies necessary, cars. The product is fantastic. If only they can get the business side of things together.

Wow, those were the worst oscars ever. I have a friend who lives in LA and reviews movies for a living. He said that it was a down year all around for Hollywood, and it's got a lot of people worried.

With the exception of Daewoo, all the other companies you've listed are part of GM. There's a big difference between owning something 100% outright, in which case you call all the shots, and having some joint venture with an unreliable foreign partner, who doesn't give two $h!s about what your plans/needs are, and who has their own agenda to compete against your products. One reason the Daewoo thing is going so well is that GM owns the biggest chunk of it, and calls most of the shots. I know people here hate Toyota and Honda, but it's time to acknowledge smart moves that these companies make. When Toyota and Honda make money, they don't go blow it on stupid 25% purchases of foreign automakers, with whom their supposedly collaborating on some products, but competing against with others. They use that money to invest in new cars. That's a smart move, and it looks like GM has come around (finally) to seeing it their way.

Hey buddy, whose to say GM's Korean stake isn't next to go? This is a company that's getting back to its basics, and back to its American roots.

You're making it seem as if this tie up happened two months ago. GM has owned part of Suzuki for a long time, and they've haven't exported jack sh|t to Japan. Suzuki doesn't want GM selling American cars in Japan. The Japanese don't want GM selling American cars in Japan. It's as simple as that. GM's turnaround will take place in America, not in Japan.

Suzuki's motorcycles aren't going to help GM in America. Subaru's only collaboration with GM, the Saab 9-2X was a huge flop. It's butt ugly AWD cars sell well in upstate NY and Colorado, but don't make much of an impact in this country beyond that. Isuzu? Let's not even go there. If GM owned a 20% stake in say Toyota, or Honda, or even BMW, now that would be something. But it bought up small chunks in all these companies that at the end of the day have been pretty much useless in terms of helping GM either in America or globally. And it's time to dump them, and put that money towards building cars that people actually want to buy.

Do you see Toyota or Honda buying stakes in foreign automakers? Of course not. GM needs to dump its stakes in foreign car makers, and use that money to invest in its own products. That's how Toyota and Honda are successful. That's how the old GM was successful back when they had 50% of the U.S. market. Fiat, Isuzu, Subaru, Suzuki... All a global coalition of losers. GM doesn't need them.

Oh Shiite! http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/bush_administration Cheney's victim has a heart attack, because one of the pellets punctured his heart. This definitely goes against the initial White House spin that "shooting someone in the face with a shotgun is no big deal, it barely cracks the skin!" Listen to this: http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/medi...ml?itemId=59065 Dumb bitch who owns the place talks about Cheney's victim "getting peppered pretty well", then adds a chuckle afterwards. I guess that's the sort of thing that passes for comedy South of the Mason Dixon line. Poor bugger is fighting for his life now, and probably regrets ever meeting Dick Cheney. Looks like the White House made the wrong call on this one: http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/0.../ap2525155.html "The White House has decided that the best way to deal with Vice President Dick Cheney's shooting accident is to joke about it." I'm sure this guy's family is laughing hysterically. Maybe GWB can tell a lawyer joke or two.

Some people have speculated that Dick Cheney might have suffered some brain damage after his cardiovascular incidents. This is probably the strongest evidence of it yet. What's amusing is that the guy Cheney shot seems to have a real happy go lucky attitude about the whole thing. He was probably paid off to keep his mouth shut and not take Cheney to court.

The old Navigator was no match for the Escalade, when it came to popularity. And the old Navigator had a lot on the Escalade, including a much nicer interior and less gaudy outside appearance. But the new Escalade just blows the Navigator away on all fronts. It stands *no* chance.

I think it will be competetive but not class leading. It will probably eat the Nissan Titan alive. I just don't know if there is room on the market for two Japanese full size trucks.

They're not flooding the market with anything. Their presence is so small it's hardly noticed. I don't think they have double digit market share. They may outsell the Toyota and that's about it. For Nissan this truck is a huge dissapointment, any way you cut it. And things aren't going to get better with the new GM trucks on the horizon, and the new Toyota (probably it's biggest competitor).

Nissan's employees will effectively be getting a raise, when they see the cost of living in Tennessee.

You're always dropping hints about how much money you've got.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../601300407/1148 Ouch. That's gotta be painful. Earlier this year GM paid Fiat $3 billion so that they would not have to buy them, thinking that the company would just be a big money pit. But now they are making money.

No you must be thinking of Lexus, or maybe Acura. I agree that Cadillac can't command "German" money. And perhaps it never will. But I think the way their cars are priced right now makes sense. Remember Bob lutz has said that Cadillac is no longer chasing volume, so they don't need price the XLR like Lexus does with their sports car to earn back their investment.

But why? The XLR sells fine at the price GM is charging, despite the cries of people here complaining about it who don't have that kind of money anyway. LOL. Why should GM charge less than what they can actually command? That's not the way to build Cadillac up again. The BMW 6-series looks like ass. It's for people who have money, but poor vision and/or taste. I think I have seen one of them on the roads, and that was right after it came out a few years back, probably bought up by some die hard BMW fan.

I think it will sell. It doesn't have the prestige of the Mercedes, so it can't command the same price. It undercuts it by $25,000 which is a fair amount. I think somebody is more likely to cross shop one of these with a fully loaded SL 500, and in that case the XLR-V may win based on personal preferences and performance.

I wonder how much of that South-western growth is being fueled by illegal immigrants from Mexico. Maybe you won't be so optimistic about the wonders of growth when you're outnumbered by Spanish speakers in your own city, gringo. :lol:

Japan is a captive market for Boeing products. Do you have any idea how many U.S. dollars the Japanese hold from their massive trade surpluses going back several decades? Plus it helps ease some of the political trade friction when they buy Boeings.

If Seattle is so great why did Boeing leave? It is now headquartered in the "rust-belt" city of Chicago. ^_^

I stopped reading when they went into politics in about the third or fourth line. Waste of my time. Maybe people in California think like that, but having lived in other blue states like famously Democratic leaning New York, only a handful of whackos actually think things like that. Plus it's such an ignorant comment, it leads one to wonder about how little the author actually knows about cars and the auto industry. The Tahoe line was due for a replacement and does the author think that GM should simply walk away from hundreds of thousands of unit sales, costing many people's jobs? And the man on the Arab street does not hate America because of the Chevy Tahoe (in fact big American SUVs are quite popular in the Middle East). Nor does the arrogant European despise America because of the Chevrolet Tahoe. I sometimes wonder what kinds of morons they hire for these writing jobs these days. Or maybe something is wrong with the public school system.

This is what I've been saying GM should do for about 2 years now: an across the board price cut.

It's a horrible, horrible story.