G. David Felt

This is good, they should move faster towards these global clean diesel auto's. GM would strike GOLD if they built a true Mini Pickup truck for the US market with the 2.9 L Duramax Diesel. That would rock here.

What a joke, they already have diluted their product line and now they want to do it more.

GM like everyone else is missing a major sales boat by not having a mini pickup. Sorry but the Mid Size is a waste when you can get a full size for not much difference in coin.

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com IIHS Small Auto, Electric & Hybrid Crash Testing all over the Board! http://www.iihs.org/iihs/sr/statusreport/article/49/6/1 The recent IIHS testing of Electric and Hybrid auto's show just how far we have to still go to have safe small auto's. The video shows just how wide a difference there is in surviving a crash. The Chevy volt and Ford C-max were the only ones to receive an acceptable rating. Compare this to the Ultimate Nissan Leaf that received a poor rating in the latest crash tests. This also goes for a widely popular Mazda, Mazda 5 which received a poor rating. To quote the IIHS report; "Five small cars, all 2014 models, earn an acceptable rating, two earn marginal and four earn poor ratings for occupant protection in a small overlap crash in the Institute's latest round of evaluations. The Institute now has evaluated 32 small cars for small overlap front crash protection. Of them, 19 earn a good or acceptable rating and 13 earn marginal or poor." This latest round shows that auto companies are paying attention to building safe vehicles but also still has room to continue to improve. The biggest problem is when you have occupant compartment intrusion. This is where safety airbags and other devices are knocked out of position due to intrusion allowing greater damage than expected. To quote the IIHS report; "Collapse of the occupant compartment is the downfall for four small cars in this group, including the Fiat 500L, Mazda 5, Nissan Juke and Nissan Leaf," Nolan explains. "A sturdy occupant compartment allows the restraint systems to do their job, absorbing energy and controlling occupant motion." For full details of the report go to the link supplied above. Quoting the IIHS Award Winners Award winnersThe Volt, which has a basic-rated optional forward collision warning system, is the only car in this test group to earn a 2014 Top Safety Pick+ award. The C-Max Hybrid, Countryman, Mitsubishi Lancer, and the Scion FR-S and its twin the Subaru BRZ qualify for Top Safety Pick, the Institute's second-highest award. These models miss the "plus" award because they don't have an available front crash prevention system. To qualify for Top Safety Pick+, a vehicle must earn a good or acceptable rating for small overlap protection, a good rating in the Institute's other four tests, and a basic, advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention. To qualify for Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must earn a good or acceptable rating for small overlap protection and a good rating in the other four tests. "Consumers in the market for a small car now have six models to consider on our list of 2014 Top Safety Pick+ award winners, and an additional 13 that earn Top Safety Pick," Nolan says. "Consumers trading the inherent safety of a larger vehicle for the convenience or fuel economy of a small car should focus their search on these vehicles with state-of-the-art safety designs."

I really like the GMC far better over the Chevy. I agree I wish they had the final details up and going. Not sure what is taking so long. Get that truck here now.

If all she needs is a small car to get to and from the Grocery store, have her do the IQ, Their $99 month Lease is the lowest I could find.

Mazda made money on their Micro-Minivans, So a version that is also part CUV AWD tends to make sense and I could see those wanting a small or mid size CUV with minivan space buying into this. CUV/Minivan crossovers are the 21st century version of Station wagons.

Reservation down payment changes Sept. 2nd. If you do the basic $100 down, you get a $150 credit towards your auto when produced. Starting Sept 2nd they are requiring 25% down payment of the purchase price.

Why not just get her an 84mpg Elio Motors Trike? http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/83433-84mpg-elio-motors-for-6800/ She could surely afford to buy it and fuel it and still get around just fine.

I think it would be better as a VOLT style Hybrid. Massive fast, high top speed and long distance driving.

Even with High gas prices, you still need trucks for construction. I do not see trucks not being a part of American business. Plan B really needs to be the focus on Volt style hybrids for SUV's and Trucks and have the generator run on CNG. Plan B needs to be what do we do with our own natural resources and how do we reduce costs so that Americans can grow their own personal wealth.

Kill the line off and dedicate the money to improving the design language and passion of Toyota auto's. Rename these auto's under the Toyota lineup and enjoy.

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com 40Ft RV Gold Plated Most Expensive RV in the World! In Dubia, you go big or go home. This is a country that buys exotic auto's and once they break they leave them all over the place and go buy a new one. So I found it interesting when it made headlines that in Dubia someone paid $3 Million dollars for a Gold Plated RV with some interesting design Language. They say with pop out sections, fire place and marble kitchen plus plated everything this is the true 1/10th of 1% mans Camper. Take a Look and sound off on what your thoughts are on this RV. I have to say the company gets big Kudo's for going their own design language of not using the same look as every other RV or Bus RV out there.

My respect for you went up dramatically with this post. I love oddballs! Quoted for truth. On the contrary, we have too few unique car makers here. If we could get the Gov and EPA to get out of trying to dictate the auto industry, we could have some amazing auto's.

Both MB and BMW are so overrated. Yes and no. In your world, everyone would drive a CNG powered escalade. Lots of people want a luxury car and for whatever reason do not want a Cadillac. BMW and MB are orders of magnitude more compelling than the glorified Accords, Maxima's, and Avalon's sold as Acuras, Infinity's and lexuses. True in my perfect world every auto from every company would be CNG. I totally agree with you that I would take a German auto over asian auto every time.

As the proud owner of not one but two cats, I am offended at the libel directed towards the business end of a cat. Since Drew owns the site and also has a cat, can we please have some sort of disciplinary action due to the feline slander in the above post? All joking aside, they are doing there best to build the dullest car on the planet. Except that I still find their products preferable to Nissan, Toyota, some models of Hyundai, and cars like the previous gen 200, Avenger, etc. But when the Accord Sport is only available in an ugly grey and a drab shade of silver...you kind of wonder how the designers parents had the libedo to procreate. You crack me up! You then have to also go after all those Crotch Rocket Bike owners with the exhaust in the middle under the seat giving the bike a cat butt look. Joking aside, I totally agree with your last sentence! +1 to you for being well said.

Both MB and BMW are so overrated.

Dead that is what it would look like without the TDI.

This is a company that needs to fire the complete mgmt level of executives from the CEO on down to retail mgmt. They have terrible design language and terrible marketing and continue to make a product that has all the appeal of a cat butt. They truly need to reboot the design language and the over all marketing image. They are out of touch with today's core market.

This is a product line that is over rated and over marketed and still no better than an entry level GM or Ford product. Just kill the stupid product line.

I am surprised that the numbers are this good for such a blah product lineup.

Odd, I thought it would come with the vehicle chart. Give me a moment or two to pull that up. Update: Vehicle chart has been posted. Thanks Bill, Good info. Love the Escalade sales bounce with the new model. Surprised by the drop of CTS / ATS. Head scratch-er as to why. Over all very solid sales numbers for everyone. Just surprised by the Cadillac #'s. I still think GM was WRONG to kill the EXT / Avalanche Product.

UP

Bad mgmt. move here.

I am still Faithful!