regfootball

i have a sneaking suspicion that the taking of the impala badge off the impala and the g8 demise means the g8 becomes impala and the current impala gets renamed 'classic' and gets heavy fleet duty starting in about late 2010. no facts, just a guess on my part.

cobalt is a good name. the car was not quite as good as the name. i would have kept cobalt name and sold the cruze with the cobalt name.

yes, that's a megan sedan, although the renault is better looking. penske is covering his ass quite well to some degree if he does sell this because the megane range includes it all, hatches 3 and 5 door, sedan apparently, and wagon. thus partially getting back to the spirit of saturn, a line of cars all sort of based off the same deal. if the intelligentsia is going to tell me i have to drive sushi then i might as well drive a penske brand sushi. at least i would still be telling toyota 'fu' in the process.

lets first state the obvious.....cupholders, armrest, aux input, military time. bluetooth and nav. ok, now take out those things (which yes are a big deal to some shoppers). no sedan was prob the biggest fault. marketing wise the car was not promoted with a bang. GM had no money. at a minimum the car should have had the equal engine to the cobalt with a chain drive. and the optional cobalt SS motor. a 5 speed auto and 6 speed manual would have helped. sunroof on the coupe would help. a choice of a light interior would help. pricing was an issue since some of the niceties were left off. if you look, you can equip a focus at 22 grand but it does have sync. the hyundai elantra touring i checked out a couple weeks ago was near 22k and didn't even have leather. that's overpriced too. all compacts are overpriced. there is not one compact that is worth paying more than 17k or so new out the door (unless its like a wrx or mazdaspeed3). stabilitrak should have never been an option on this car when it offers things like rainsense and twin panel sunroof. i am still waiting for a dealer to cave on an astra and sell it to me for the price i want because the car handles on rails and the seating comfort and amenities are good. and the twin panel roof is way cool. GM made many mistakes for the astra which could have been masked by incentives and marketing. the exchange rate didn't allow them to. the issue is whether a buick astra built in mexico would have the same handicaps. the current astra was intended as a cheaply made over stopgap to plug the saturn compact hole for three years until the new one could be built in mexico. GM made the wrong choices on how cheap to go with bringing it to the US.

i bet toyopet, scion and lexie has almost as many models as chevy + buick + caddy (excepting pickups)

I know EXACTLY which one you are talking about. I've tried to find that thing 3 or 4 times now on the internet and can't.

'ssangyong' looks like 'saturn' if you squint your eyes enough.

i must say, that is cool. especially since its massachutsetts too....LOL

one rumor at one time was kappas went to the same plant as corvette. and chevy became the kappa. and the chevy kappa might be a 'sting ray'

if it meant pontiac continued on, then sure. maybe they would be better without GM.

i only see blue hairs driving enclaves. i do see the younger set driving outlooks, acadias, and traverses. i don't see the lacrosse bringing the age down much, the design is not something anyone under 30 will touch because of price and size...... but the regal has a chance to, ONLY if the car is basically an untouched Insignia and is as cheap as say, a mazda6. the problem with chevy now is at least on the cheaper products, they styling is not very sporty. the cruze is no mazda3, the malibu is no altima or mazda6. pontiac at least was an outlet for those who didn't want a toyota. there really is no reason why pontiac could not have continued. even with 2 models. but it would have required a new g6 which GM simply had no intention of paying for. chevy cannot ride 'sporty' on camaro alone. especially with no cruze SS. its criminal for GM not to stuff the ecotec turbo in the cruze. i still think the g8 will morph into impala or an all new camaroesque rwd impala is on the horizon for oshawa. the cops want it, and for that reason alone i think will bring enough business case to get it built in NA and help amortize the money michigan spent hosing the zeta.

buick does not make sense then either, only because they chose to keep it around to try. the only saving grace buick had was higher transaction prices than pontiac, but they certainly did not have higher volume or an actual living demographic.

LMAO.....

i am still skeptical on the buick astra. it makes me shiver, but my money is on a reskinned cruze. time will tell.

the more and more i think about this, the whole killing of pontiac really has to do with strengthening chevy more than anything, if looked at this way. the g8 could become the Impala. camaro will thrive unchallenged in GM land. and, chevy can cheapen their volume models (cruze, malibu) to compete with hyundai kia etc. it leaves a void that can be better filled by buick. a- buick can sell for higher prices than pontiac and further spaced from chevy. b- this middle segment is larger when served by cushy floaters than 'sporty' cars. still, i find it hard that they couldn't even support a g8 and solstice for a couple years and just wait out the market to rebound. the niche brand thing could have worked if 2 of the models sold 40k a year or so. honestly i think what killed pontiac was that GM put all their eggs for epsilon into the malibu and could not find the dough for a suitable g6 repalcement. inability to justify the program (i.e. their volume car) is what killed the brand. an alpha g6 and a zeta g8 with a first class compact (g4) and the solstice and maybe a coupe could have had legs in a better economy and product dollars to boot. lets also not forget. cheap rwd performance threatens sales from cadillac. and people seem obsessed with cadillac being rwd. so in the end, pontiac really maybe was a threat to both chevy and cadillac and considering the bleeding, they probably did what they felt was needed. It will take a few years to show the fatality of it though. I just can't see chevy flourishing with such an imcomplete portfolio against all the asian cars flooding the market now. oddly enough, i think the equinox will be a telling product release as to whether people embrace new chevys. 5 mpg more and more value and function and performance that the crappy crv but i am quite sure even the most open minded soccer moms will still blacklist it enmasse.

in which at that point penske will sell the chain to the chinese companies in waiting that have used the 3-5 years of holdership to further hone their carmaking skills. i have a feeling whether saturn the brand tanks or not, his investment will make out ok.

yuk. the easiest way for penske to make money on his purchase is called 'insignia' and 'astra', made in canada. i'll assume roger will actually drive these cars himself before oking them for production.

ah, but what will they sell to the fleets?

unless they bring in the astra from magna now, or the megane from renault, saturn will not have what they most need, a small car. i would also suggest roger look at returning saturn to better pricing structures. i wonder how saturn plans to achieve styling and performance consistency with its models being sourced from all over the place.

talk to any salesman at a BPG dealer right now and he will say yes too. and you can get the answer right away.

i had three new camaro spottings yesterday. including one coming at me head on. the low roof is even more dramatic and stylish when the car is coming right at you. the look is to die for and very menacing. the styling is amazing on that car. even after decades of all the stylish GM metal, i think even GM outdid itself this time on the new camaro. i love the 04 GTO quite a bit from styling, but it just isn't even in the same class as the new camaro as far as jaw dropping looks. i would love to see a new rwd impala as bold as this camaro. unfortunately the board will be forced to give us some plug in appliance like version of it.

i've always liked that version of impala interior. simple, sporty.

picked up a 2010 lacrosse brochure yesterday. i think the lax will help buick immensely as will the srx cadillac. still, it really hurts it all when the g8 is going away. that car alone with the vibe is sustaining pontiac right now. and the vibe is barf.

needs a riviera. if recent rumors are true that caddy is going to cut the number of dealers big time, then buick indeed will need a big lineup like this. don't forget the skylark whether it be an astra or cruze.

a very sincere HB to you. have a great one. you 40 now, like myself? 40 is the new 30 and the 20 something ladies don't mind actually.