Brougham-Holiday

Since 2000, I've listened to Saturn fans who said GM did the right thing, discontinuing Oldsmobile and moving Saturn into the Oldsmobile price range, even giving Saturn products such as Outlook and Aura that could have fit well in the Oldsmobile show room. I've talked to Saturn dealers, who said they new all along, some since the mid 1990s that GM was getting ready to shut the lights at Olds and give Saturn a shot at Olds' market. I have had my stones busted for driving Oldsmobile products by Saturn owners who thought GM did the right thing. Saturn owners, welcome to the club, please be seated. A GM adviser will be around shortly to try his/her darnedest to convince you that some other GM product is just as good, if not better, and that hanging onto the past is just silly isn't it.

BMW 3 Series?

Hopefully when i pick my car up in an hour from the GM dealer it will again be a good car.

The people who did not cooperate with police and activate the tracking system immediately should be fired on the spot.

There was a review a few years back where the Aurora 3.5, 300M, Catara, and LS did a comparo and the Olds tied Chrysler for 1st place.

They killed Oldsmobile for this P.O.S division, and end up killing it anyway. "Only GM" sucks this much c**k.

Im a member over there as well (85cieraholiday). Very good site with lots of info. I'm hoping that this will fix the car, but who the hell knows.

Since Oldsmobile was the company to bring back front wheel drive in 1966, it was right that their flagship made use of such a popular innovation. Personally I like front wheel drive, it does have better tracking when the roads are full of snow or very wet.

Would have been nice if GM added a little quality to the sporty performance and comfort of mine. Oh well. As a matter of fact it as a 7:30am appointment Monday at the dealership for its highway shake.

This is an important step for Chrysler to rebuild their image with a great engine. Now it just needs more great products to put the engine in.

I agree, but I wonder if this is an attempt to rebuild name recognition for Buick. They have already confused their customers over the last 10 years by changing every model name in the line up, this maybe a way to create some stability. It still should have been called Invicta.

Very good read. The perception issue is the biggest hurdle left for GM. They have some great cars, but more people need to know about them.

It does raise the question, how long can GM keep building this car if they just don't move off the lot?

Maybe this time it will get here before its expiration date.

I wonder if this will involve US workers?

He did a lot for GM, no one can argue that the Malibu/Enclave/CTS/G8/Solsitce/and other great newer GM products would have never seen the light of day at GM without Bob. I hope the new guy keeps Bob's lead going.

I did it.

With the risk of getting shot.... I don't think its that bad, and it is better looking then the new SRX.

I'm a little more optimistic, I'm going to say 50,000 units.

I hope this is a sales success, because GM needs something positive in the headlines.

You are 100% right. I know the hate local GM dealers have had for my Aurora (and others who's Auroras also visit the dealership) because they are different then other GM cars. The Astra shares even less with other GMNA products and would require Buick/Pontiac/etc dealers to be able to service a car they never even sold.

Ford did the right thing with the Taurus though, they realized they made an error, brought the name back and now the name will be one the beautiful new flagship of Ford. Not only did they save the Taurus name (which should help keep customers) but also build the brand image by moving Taurus up market. Would be very nice of GM to re-do the Lucerne asap and bring back the LeSabre name. Make the top level, V8 model....you guessed it Park Avenue. Both names that have customer loyalty and good reliability backgrounds.

Thats both good and bad. I fear that some of the changes at GM are being made because they think they know what we want when they really don't. Look at the Buick LeSabre vs the Buick Lucerne. The LeSabre had higher sales figures, and a loyal customer base. GM told us that we don't like the name LeSabre so they changed it. My point here is that change isn't always good. Almost anyone on the street can tell you what a Cadillac deVille is, but what is a Cadillac DTS. GM doesn't need revolutionary change, what they need is to listen to customers. GM: Why can't I buy an Astra sedan? Why can't I order fog lights on any Lucerne except the Super? Why does the G8 have the most fake looking fake hood scoops known to man? Why doesn't Chevy or Buick or Saturn offer a mid-sized coupe? Why can't I get a more powerful engine in the G5 when the Cobalt has one? To tie this all together: The Astra is a perfect example of GM thinking they know what we want. The 5 door looks awkward, there is no engine to compete with a GTI or Civic Si, and they only come has hatchbacks. As usual GM got it 80% right, good enough so it looks like they are trying, but they still missed the target. More importantly why does GM have 3 compact cars when none sell as well as they should?

Autoline Detroit's daily You tube show Autoline Daily reported today that the Astra was going away and that production of the Vue 2 mode has been cut.

The Astra failed here because it has no sedan/coupe body style, has no performance model (Red Line), and looks too odd for most. With the GTI/Rabbit/Jetta you have a larger model/body choice, more engines, and looks that aren't strange from most angles.