G. David Felt

Building brand equity is a concern with GM, I agree. The Cobalt name only lasted a year before they went with Cruze (but to be fair, Cavalier did last several generations). I'm hoping that when the new Caddy flagship comes, they revive STS. People who are at least somewhat familiar with Cadillac know that STS is the car slotted above CTS. A new name would likely leave them wondering (see Lincoln). Valid points but then we need to ask is this a bigger issue of GM marketing over all as in SMK's comment, I never see advertising for the S series just the 3 series and corolla. In fact, the whole BMW line and MB line really pales in comparison as they built up the marketing as the name plate equals Luxury and as such your entry is the 3 series to BMW and C series to MB. I do not see television or print advertising for any other market segment auto except these companies SUV's. The only time I see a print / some other form of advertising for the other segment auto's is either in the luxury magazines or at specific places that only cater to the upper 1%. I would say GM needs to have a balanced Marketing approach for all models in Chevy/Buick/GMC and then with Cadillac, they market the hell out of ATS and entry CTS/Escalade and then focus the high end products to the proper 1%. This does not mean you do not occasional mix in a V edition in the background of the CTS or ATS marketing images, but I do agree that GM has run through a number of name plates recently rather than realizing how much loyalty they build up by building up a name plate that inspires confidence, quality and Reliability.

Yea, I can go for a 1 or 2 year old lease or demo unit and not take the hit in the wallet. I think I have bought my last new auto since the hit is not worth the single or two digit mileage and new fresh smell.

Nice ride, Interesting to see the Double Pedal break.

Crumple

This would be a sweet ride for you Drew. Interesting is I built both a 2013 and 2012 model on Chevy's web site and the 2012 came out $185 higher than the 2013 and this included their 4000 or 5000 discount. Then with the fed tax credit, you still end up at about 32,500 for a fully loaded VOLT. Not bad, but still need to do more I think. Hopefully it will help move auto's.

G. David Felt - Editorial Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com What will it take? Oil started the year at over $100 a barrel and now hovers around $94 a barrel. Oil may fluctuate but continues to stay close to $100 a barrel. Refined Gas production being sold overseas keeps the average consumer paying $4 plus a gallon and people continue to complain about Green House gas emissions and the lack of being able to afford the gas cost. Natural Gas on the other hand continues to increase in production keeping prices right at $4 per thousand cubic feet or about 30 cents per gallon before government tax's giving one a range from a low of $.60 a gallon to $1.85 per gallon. As one who fuels at his own house and pays 85 cents per gallon this does make one wonder "What will it take?" What will it take to get people to switch to CNG or Compressed Natural Gas? What will it take to get someone to consider buying a CNG auto? What will it take to make a dynamic shift in the type of fuel people use in the US? In today’s news there has been states making huge moves to incent residents to change their autos. Perfect example is Colorado that just renewed their credits of $6000 to go on top of the federal government’s $7500 credit. This give a resident of the state of Colorado a $13,500 rebate off the price of a all-electric, plug-in hybrid or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. Dealerships in Colorado are heavily advertising this with clear signs of let our finance department get you your rebate on your new car. According to the State of Colorado: “With the tax credits available (through 2015 currently), Coloradans would pay an additional $275-$2,400 for a PEV instead of a comparable internal combustion vehicle (ICE). By 2017, the price difference without taxes is expected to be $3,600-$11,000. The tax credit defined in this bill helps consumers to purchase cars they otherwise might not. As a consequence, they can recoup the savings on gasoline by approximately $1,319 per year, and a savings of $244 per year on maintenance costs. According to one survey, if the PEV purchase price were the same as a comparable ICE vehicle, 60 percent of consumers would consider purchasing the PEV. When that purchase price is higher, only 26 percent would consider purchasing the PEV. The financial impact for the new Colorado incentives from the tax credit extension is estimated by the state at $2.4 million in fiscal year 2012-13, $5.2 million in FY 2013-14, and $5.9 million in FY 2014-15.” Is this a wise use of state tax dollars? With 27 states and Washington D.C. offering some form of incentive, should the local governments be doing this to push consumers towards the Green revolution of autos? With North America having the largest natural gas reserves in the world, should we shun the rest of the world and make the full switch to CNG as a stepping stone to a greener country and towards pure electric auto’s some day? Currently Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington State provide some form of rebates, credits or exemptions. Nine other states offer non-financial incentives for hybrids or alternative energy auto’s. As a person who sells Fuelmaker Home (CNG) compressed natural gas fuel systems, I do have a financial interest in seeing things move to natural gas. Not only is CNG 50-75% less greenhouse gas producing. It allows auto’s to still cover long distances something a pure electric auto is incapable of. They burn so clean that the engine itself has a much longer life give one to have to change oil less often, the maintenance is much lower on a CNG auto. I do admit the upfront cost tends to scare some with the basic home fueling system running about $5000 installed. Yet with 257 million auto’s on the road with average age of 11 years, one looks at close to $30,000 in fuel cost over 11 years versus $4000 for natural gas based on an average 15,000 miles driven. So is the estimated $21,000 dollars savings not a good enough reason to move to natural gas on top of the up to two thirds less greenhouse gas production? So this comes back to my original question, what will it take to change America? Sound off on your thoughts about this area of the auto industry? View full article

SWEET, Pics Please once you get the new baby!

I agree with ZL-1, they seem to have forgotten that Chevy is a value brand get your foot in the door not a luxury brand. Personally I think this vehicle as packaged right now is about $5000 too much. Yes I know some would say everyone else is in this price point, but still I think these mid size sedans are over priced for what you get.

Dink

Which begs the question... do you believe that GM will be able to render a better Turbo 6 than BMW is putting in the new M3? FYI, by starting with a conventional V6 the GM engine already has some disadvantages -- not being able to use one larger turbo instead of two smaller ones for greater efficiency and responsiveness, not being able to use a sequential twin-turbo setup efficiently because the exhaust exits from both sides, etc. On the other hand, GM already has a V8 engine that is better than BMW's Turbo 6 or Turbo V8s. Better as in -- lighter, smaller, similarly powerful, no turbo lag, no less efficient and cheaper to build. To not use it in the ATS-V will be like folding a pair of aces in a poker game when the flop has no pairs and is not a flush magnet. But then, people have been known to do that... LOL I agree Dwight that I would rather have a naturally aspiration V8 over Turbo anything as I have not seen solid long term reliability in the Turbo it to the moon world of 4 & 6 bangers. I think the ATS V can do better with a V8 than a bi-turbo V6. Yet Europe's Cast control system of taxing on Size makes that hard to do for a global car. BMW has sold the world on their Turbo system and as such the Lemmings Marketing people are just following along and have sold GM executives that this is how they have to go. Yet GM could have broke new ground by using a proper V8 with 8 spd tranny and done a creative job of marketing to show that this is the better way to go. At this point, the direction is set so it will be interesting to see how it falls out. If the Bi-Turbo V6 shows itself to be reliable and hold up to abuse, then Caddy will have another winner on it's hands. I personally want the V8, but then the ATS is not built for me, but the average 5'8" tall person as it fails the interior test. I cannot sit up straight in the car and no one can sit behind me so it is not useful as a 4 door sedan.

Good to see holden has a future.

OUCH, that hurts, no wonder I did not get flamed. Glad to hear it was only 30hrs of posts lost.

Bondage

No Surprise here, the 2013 Nissan Leaf also has less features to lower the price and lengthen the battery life. These models will reduce the over all resell price especially the low mileage ones. Electric is way over blown still in my book.

Keep us updated on battery life and usability. This is on my short list of phones when my Verizon comes up in September.

I would still take a V8 over V 6 any day. Small engines especially turbo charged other than Subaru, just do not seem to have had a long life in the US that I have seen.

The Avalanche wouldn't make a good NASCAR racer I disagree, the Avalanche would have been a Great NASCAR racer. Use the Supercharged LS9 and just push everyone out of your way to Victory! Or at least a decent Pace car.

G. David Felt - Editorial Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com 2012 Insurance Industry Top 25 Vehicles stolen This week the insurance industry released their top 25 stolen vehicles list for 2012. Interesting is only one consistent truck made the list, but two motorcycles made the list this year in addition to one very popular V6 / V8 4 door sedan. What I found interesting is the sheer amount of what I call boring cars that people seem to steal over and over. Question to you all: Are these auto's just the easiest to steal or is there another reason that you can think of as to why these mass produced yawners keep getting stolen? 2009 Nissan Altima - # stolen 427 2009 Honda Accord - # stolen 401 2009 Honda Civic - # stolen 228 2009 Dodge Charger- # stolen 326 2009 Yamaha YZF-R6- # stolen 320 2009 Honda CBR600 - # stolen 291 2009 Chevy Cobalt - # stolen 273 2010 Toyota Camry - # stolen 818 2010 Toyota Corolla - # stolen 747 2010 Dodge Charger - # stolen 744 2010 Chevy Impala - # stolen 604 2010 Ford Fusion - # stolen 511 2010 Chevy Malibu - # stolen 488 2010 Nissan Altima - # stolen 419 2010 Ford F-150 - # stolen 370 2010 Ford Focus - # stolen 361 2011 Toyota Camry - # stolen 949 2011 Chevy Impala - # stolen 745 2011 Chevy Malibu - # stolen 554 2011 Ford F-series - # stolen 485 2011 Hyundai Sonata - # stolen 440 2011 Nissan Altima - # stolen 431 2011 Ford Fusion - # stolen 394 2011 Chevy Silverado - # stolen 312 2011 Toyota Corolla - # stolen 296

I wish they would get the drive train right. Porsche has never had a 4x4 system, they have experimented with an awd system. Is it really a 4x4 system or awd? AWD makes more sense for the urban market.

rap

Mucho Agree Oh. Bland but considerably better than either of the two you mention.

Surprised by Buick's numbers falling. I agree Drew, Infiniti has laid an egg. I wonder how long before we hear an reverse course on the names again. By the end of the year? Maybe?

My Terrain has enough rear room to seat Shaq comfortably with room to spare. i said sedans nox / terrain lack trunk space between the wheelwells for their size and weight Lack Trunk Space?????? For their size as a 5 passenger CUV/Car, they have considerable space to hold many suit cases, multiple sets of golf clubs, shopping bags and groceries. Yes it is not a traditional truck, but then what a truck lacks in ease of getting in various size products, these little CUV's make up in alternative space capacities.

Good for the dealers as they will see higher prices, higher profits. Hope they do not gouge to much on them. Course since it is not American, I would never consider it even if it was something I liked. This car surprises me as I really do not get the SUV at all as the Forrester has always been a station wagon on steroids to me. Reminds me of the Eagle auto's. GM needs a hit like this in each division that can run less than a month of on hand production. Would be good for job security and solid profits.