G. David Felt

Styling cost no more or little more to make a good looking car vs bad looking. . The fact is they put on what the majority wants and that is what you get if you like it or not. Number of choices now that is what cost money. That is why power windows and other options were made standard. Settlmire pointed out the F body got power windows standard as it was cheaper to build them all that way. Wrong. The beancounters decide, not the majority. They are the source of the bland, as beancounters are not creative. In a world with too many manufacturers, this is a losing approach. It is a slow death instead of a quick one, but a death just the same. Fewer platforms and more bodystyles is the way to go. Only the manufacturers who stand out by offering more variety will advance. I have to agree with what you have stated here. The manufactures who can standardize on 2-3 platforms at most and create style that meets global government regulations and yet still give a style for the local market will be the one to win. The storm is brewing on the horizon and not all car makers will survive. There is still way to much production capacity, way to many makers trying to survive by making millions of lemmings (auto's) and not enough consumption that can support this over building. The world economy is going to be painful especially in the socialist counteries that have thrown out their current gov for new ones that promise to keep spending. Implosion is coming to the European Union. Those that can change with the times will survive. My crystal ball tell's me we need to move to CNG as a logical step towards all electric auto's. With CNG you can still have long cruising distances, reliant on our own gas as the 2nd largest Natural gas supplies in the world and this will give them time to figure out how to get the battery packs to go 300-400 miles on a charge and how to quick charge the battery pack so people can take long road trips. The VOLT is great, but again that is still a baby step with us needing oil from over seas.

Ok so we found one person that cared? Sorry LOL! The 2006 Malibu SS. You telling me that poser was an SS????? :rage: JK I see the sarcasm in your eyes!

Seattle has lots of wagons. they seem popular with the suburban moms.

Large cars are perfect for CNG, room for the tanks and the ability to give the customer what they want. Just hope that the US does not adopt the stupid pedestrin laws of how cars have to be people friendly for when you run them over otherwise we all end up with egg shapped auto's. The problem is the US regs mean little anymore as cars now will need to meet global needs since they will be selling most of these cars world wide with only a few changes. I can see that most of the car can be designed to meet the world market, just have the bland ped safety nose on Euro models and give us sculpted beauties for the US!

Wow, that is a big black eye for them.

OUCH Purist does not rate $80,000

Yes it was radical at first, but then it just became that boring jellybean of a car and no one really wanted to be caught in one. The only thing that kept the Taurus going was the SHO. That was a freakin awesome car.

Large cars are perfect for CNG, room for the tanks and the ability to give the customer what they want. Just hope that the US does not adopt the stupid pedestrin laws of how cars have to be people friendly for when you run them over otherwise we all end up with egg shapped auto's.

True, but this does not seem to go with what their press release says. I still think they are going to pull something out of the bag from a dead brand.

Great, now who do I sue when it hits me? Not a fan of self drivin cars.

Nice write up. I love the look both internal and external and you can never go wrong with the Duramax/Allison combo. Once you go Max you never lacks!

Sounds like they want to be the luxury versin of the Miata. Be interesting to see as I always found this car a bit dull.

CHEERS, After all it was over due that someone ricer'd these little wonders

Come on peeps, when did you see any european build a quality sedan like this???? Why is it only in America do you find amazing rides, the rest of the world seems to be like freakin lemmings and just accept what companies build and supply for them to drive.

Jeeps

Interesting, but would the gas mileage of these reall allow them to sell well? Susuki is almost dead, their little awd auto's sure are not selling. We all know that AWD does not get the best gas mileage so I wonder just how many people would want this size. I know there are select locations that people would love to have this type of auto, but I see this as a niche vehicle. Then again other companies do have these models. So would we see their sales drop off. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder,,,,

CHEERS, The ultimate get out of my freakin way RIcers or I run you over! American Metal riding high and running over the E-Class. This ain't your daddies ride!!!

We'll lets call it, way over priced, not a daily driver an seriously it needs the Duramax Diesel. Only way I would spend the money.

I am in LOVE!!!! That is a freaking hot little car for the 70's Disco era! Cheers

For $1000 it would be worth it to buy it and drive it, but not at this outlandish price. This is NOT an investment vehicle. What a joke.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/07/11578563-chrysler-recalls-127350-chargers-chrysler-300s?lite WOW, Fuse that over heats an causes loss of control.

Rain

Yup that sure is the traditional diesel back makeup it leaves. Smart job on hiding this one. I hope GM has a projectlike this going on. It would so be radical for them to have a 4.8l duramax being tested.

This so totally makes sense. Especially with alternative energy, they need to spread the cost around and make sure they are ready for changes to what fuel powers these engines.

This is a smart pricing strategy, it will serve them well as they rebuild to eventually claim the standard of the world. I am very happy to see this and love the turbo with AWD option. The whole engine line up is awesome.