Mr.Krinkle

I believe so, and that was the point of the 60 mins teasers. The hey, dont forget about us yet...there will be more to come. It stirs interest and suggests to me that the team in place now gets it a little better. It all suggests that Oldsmobile may not have been killed in vain. The way they let that entire division disintegrate i would as soon believe someone driving an Oldsmobileran over a board members dog.

Oh, great these 2 like it. Do they have juice or is this going to be the kiss of death? Throw em in the f*cking bathroom! How come the rating is absent from the website?

Olds would have done better had they changed the name of the division to Aurora.They were a victim of the times-because of the name-- as much as bad marketing, poor manegemnt, a stale imagination and failure to recognize change. Nothing was going to save them at that point. Olds never really got the chance, I dont believe, that cadillac (for instance) is getting now. The return to racing is just one component...to be recognized as world player and more so acontender you really should. -- knowing Japans m.o. they probably have more stuff in the chamber locked and loaded ready to go...but even so im fairly sure good design and the contemporary powertrains if they prove reliable, along with the new warranty's, will help get some back into the showrooms. --i dont think its over yet. ..and typically im not mr.optimism. I believe most Americans wish they could buy American. and any Americans that have said that will soon get some chances to put their money where their mouth is. --and i believe much of that stems from a design driven component. cts',300's, solstii--people love them for the most part. The tricky part would be keeping them fresh so they dont stagnate. like the 300's are and like thects will if they dont get their asses in gear.

Because I think its important the follow up joint statement: Today, 04:20 PM WASHINGTON, DC - We appreciate the President meeting with us today on issues that we believe are not only critical to the domestic auto industry, but also affect overall American manufacturing competitiveness. We had a candid and productive discussion on such specific issues as energy security, the affordability and quality of health care, the trade imbalance caused by an artificially weak yen, and the rising costs of vehicle production materials. http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet...=74&docid=30349 ....Overall, we were pleased with the exchange we had with the President and came away with a clear impression that he understands how vital these issues are to the American economy and our ability to compete successfully in the global marketplace. We welcome the opportunity to work with him, his Administration, and the Congress in a bipartisan manner and to move forward on solutions to these issues while continuing to do our part to ensure America's long-standing leadership in manufacturing and innovation.

HAH! Now, youre talkin. thats quite a lis you got there. I would like to see any one part of it. Particularly 1, 3 5, 6, 4, and two.

it should be going off now.

$$

Not to sound like an import loving ball licker, but i usually feel like getting the ol' Philips Head out in some of my favorite domestic cars. I think much of that has changed...i dont have that urge in the newer ones... but there is a solidity of the German cars in particular that warrants that generic tank like assessment of them. And for good reasons... Its not something i can spit back at you, its almost an intangible x-factor so to say. thats whats been missing for a long while... then you add in the poor motor choices (4100 eg) and its easy to see why some of the faithful have turned. Some very close friends of mine were always the buy American type until one day they just gave up and really havent looked back since. Its sad when you put yourself in a hoe with the intention to have to dig yourself out one day. I dont know if it was resources or just the genereal know how that prevented the necessary changes. probably a little of both, but i do have faith again that the proper adjustments are being made and that it is not too late. and i really do believe that, and i have no problem with these commercials or cadillac or GM because i do not sense the indiference that once dogged them. Whether thats Wagoner or the PR, or the advertising firms, or the actual improvements I se happening i couldnt tell you. Just look at all the road racing GM and Cadillac have been involved with. SCCA, LeMans, Rolex....it all translates to better cars for us, the people. Right before Cadillac's renaissance they were players in the ALMS. Coincidence?

If everything gets outsourced you become completely reliant upon outside help. In a way we as a country are willingly accepting this because no effort is being made to prevent it from happening. In fact we practically promote it. If you can go to a Walmart for instance and spend half of what you normally do on something -- why shouldnt you? Its more money in your own pocket. Policies that enable lower prices from outside countries leaves a domestic company with with no real motivation or even opportunity to remain competetive and profitable. Theres too much incentive not too. Its not UNICEF. The atmosphere now is such that its o.k. to support this. The problem is it will one day bite us on the ass. What if t.v. manufacturers decided to jack up the price 10 fold, they could because wheres the competetion? Sure someone would pick up the slack... but when. and dont tell me people would stop buying t.v.'s. for example. jobs are heedlessly sent away from this country not because no one will do them but because they will do them cheaper from somewhere else. Same goes for cars. Its a technology and a neccessity and it serves the best interests of everyone involved. Why the indifference or disinterestdness exists is beyond me. Carbiz brings up a lot of good points and reasons why as a country we have to be self sustaining in many regards. $h!, we have enough food to feed the world--and we practically do. Why it stops there again is beyond me.

I dont think so because its pretty clear younger people are buying these things, even if only some of them are rappers. As far as the German cars go they were always designed an engineered to go fast. The autobahn pretty much sured that up. And of course racing and the fact the German country was very interested in providing super stout and fast automobiles. They had to. Lots of good money spent for a good reason. Over here in America it was more about plush and fanciful as far as luxo was concerned. When you got there you were there in style. Besides Lincoln's were always known as waterbeds.

If trade policies or unfair business practices create an unfair business playing ground, and an administration makes no attempt to even out the competetive disadvantage thats been handed to you from the git go then youre gonna be screwed. The Japanese make more money selling less cars because they are not experiencing the same economic conditions. They get the extra chang from the lucrative currency and trade rates and in turn invest and prepare the nest egg. All the while Detroits busy checking the cushions in the corporate lounges couch. If it continues and the lost profit (profit irregularitues/discrepanciesbecause less is being spent to gain more) will continue to inhibit and jeopardize the future cycles of product. Its not only produt, greed and incompetency thats at fault. so basically what this means is that if nothing is done to help solve any of the 2 or 3 real remaining fundamental issues is that the only chevy youll see in the future will be spelled with an "r." An horribly bleak forecast. But sadly hard to argue at this point.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=con...id=ayYtn3cAgl64 I caught the interview after the meeting and it seemed to me from the way they LaSorda, Wagoner, Mullaly, were answering that Bush didnt care all that much. They seemed to be most concerned with the issue of the yen and i think that was the impasse. of the meeting. They stressed it was an open dialaogue and Wagoner made sure to let everyone know that Bush was "well briefed" on the issues (but that he has no clue what it means or even a remotely personal interest.--no, he didnt say that exactly)

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...0360/1020/rss09 wagoner actually mentioned some proof of it--first face but anyway. mullaly sees it too.

Buick opts for viral marketing DETROIT, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A division of General Motors Corp. admits to posting on YouTube a faux-bootleg ad featuring a 2008 model that has yet to be revealed. The episode posted by Buick apparently marks the carmaker's first venture into what is known as viral marketing, the Detroit News said Monday. The 60-second clip had all the marks of a classic bootleg video, wobbly camera shots, grainy images and poor quality sound. But it also offered a view of the never-before-seen 2008 Buick Enclave crossover utility vehicle. It was an instant hit, showing up on popular automotive sites such as Jalopnik and Autoblog that posted links to the video, with readers posting comments. A Buick spokesman said Sunday evening that the video was shot two weeks ago in Los Angeles to build excitement for the Enclave's world introduction at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month. "We wanted to do something different," Darovitz said. "The idea was to make it look like a video stolen from an advertising shoot. We knew we weren't going to fool anybody. We just wanted to do something different that would create buzz."

I dont understand the bickering and side taking. This is what i see. First off --your argument about Average Buyer Age is useless. Who cares what the average age is or how its divided. Its like saying pay me in 10's not 20's. Really what do you care? Secondly, theres not enough NBA ballers to effect an average on this scale. So, get over it already. Landrovers, Sl's C's, would all see the same benefits of decreaesed aba if the NBA and pro sports was such a force...From my own meager observations of the $h!loads of Escalades i see--most by 30/40 year old younger families.obviously successful younger families. of the CTS, younger. As mentioned there is no entry level Caddy to be had in the same figures as the entry Benz-- the cheapest Caddy is still gonna set you back more than the cheapest Benz; and so if anything its just as easy (maybe easier) to scream bias from the other direction. The CTS more than anything represents a style. Its a statement about an accepted and welcome change. IT doesnt have your typical snob factor associated with it, least not yet. I personally know people who have gone the CTS route instead of their typical import purchase. I also know GM families to continue to buy GM's and now the cts ...And if you think its only Buick and Bonneville buyers moving up then the original plan for GM as envisioned --what 50? 60? years ago still works and has been validated once again by your. Its hard to discount cadillacs success lately. you can act all bitter and piss all over it as much as you want or focus on the drawbacks and the incompleteness of it and thats fine, theres plenty of excuses out there. But after saying all this, I still dont think that Cadillacs are on the majority of most import buyers minds as a serious replacement for their 5's and E's. and not the 3 and G35 as you say. in general but mostly the higher end models because the product simply isnt there at this time. And you could have just left it that. And i know its true because no one holds any reservations after seeing the 60 mins or more recent SLS pictures. And i hear things such as, "Wow. thats nice." "Now thats a Cadillac" "Id definately check that out." The NG's will get import buyers to take note of Cadillac. Change does not happen over night, and pure speculation on my part--the interiors would have gone to waste if they were the ones out of the gate. (if Cadillac could even have afforded them) Now it is more of a resestablished brand so while it may not have been on the radar prior to 2002 it certainly is now. Theres always going to be room for improvement. And thats a fact jack. edit: Your position for Cadillac's success is nothing more than they have a popular truck and a popular car in their lineup. so whats your problem with that. thats the idea.

'Remember'?? With a few million on the road, I doubt remembrances are neccessary.I didn't care for the look initially, but it's not haphazard, convoluted & bloated like toyota's body undulations & tacked on bling-supreme grille. 215397[/snapback] convoluted. thats the word i was searching for... the tacked on grill serves a purpose, however. if it wasnt there it would just look like a ram-150.

i dont know how dford got his tit caught in the wringer over this ad? i assure you it wasnt a personal affront designed to provoke you. i would have found it more instigating if they showed a broken down 4-6-8. or if it was a showcase for gms early diesel technology. there have been so many crappy looking benz', bimmers, and arguably anything that isnt a current lexus or infiniti. and of course cadillac's. all have the option of showing you where they were and how they got there . the only difference to me is that none are anywhere near as spectacular or diverse or rich as the heritage of cadillac's. and few--if any can match the amount of timeless designs introduced by them. gotta take the good with the bad. they cant all be gems.

fair enough. it was kind of tongue in cheek anyway. remember though, this is probably what they want us to see and lets hope "b" doesnt get initiated. besides a rapidly expanding toyota could have (and will have) adverse effects, too. all of which are probably calculated... one part that stuck out to me was hiring 8,000 new engineers. ???

only the successful ones. im sure this was a well planted story. dates and amounts were projected, not really so secret.

Toyota says it's targeting Russia, India, China and Brazil to grab market share HANS GREIMEL http://www.canadaeast.com/cp/business/arti...articleID=66939 TOKYO (AP) - A leaked copy of Toyota Motor Corp.'s (NYSE:TM) "global master plan" calls for grabbing 15 per cent of the world car market by 2010 in the company's quest to unseat rival General Motors (NYSE:GM), a newspaper said Monday. Toyota declined to comment on the report in The Wall Street Journal, but confirmed that the world's No. 2 automaker is betting on surging demand in Russia, India China and Brazil to fuel rapid expansion. Toyota, on pace to end GM's half-century reign as the world's biggest carmaker, has mapped out plans to capture 15 per cent of the global market in the next three years, up from 11 per cent in 2005, the newspaper reported, citing a confidential document it said was circulated to top Toyota executives earlier this year. The 15 per cent projection includes affiliates Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. Excluding those affiliates, Toyota is aiming for a 14 per cent market share, according to the Journal. The plan predicts global auto sales by all carmakers to jump to 73 million vehicles in 2010 from 65 million in 2005, the newspaper said, adding that Toyota will likely boost production in India and China to meet demand. The company is already working on a new compact specially geared toward developing countries, where car ownership is on the rise but family budgets are still small, the report said. In Tokyo, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said he could not comment on the report and said the company has no concrete plans to sell a new minicar model. But Toyota is definitely eyeing the developing markets, he said. "Russia, India, China and Brazil, no doubt about it. Those four are absolutely where we think a lot of action will be coming," Nolasco said. "Look at the population and the rate of motorization. There's a lot of potential for growth." Toyota already surpassed Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) as the world's No. 2 automaker in annual global vehicle sales in 2003, and analysts say it is on track to surpass GM in the coming years. Just last month, Toyota announced plans to boost global sales to 9.8 million vehicles in 2008. GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, the second-largest volume it that company's history. Toyota has been expanding output, reaping bumper profits and raising its earnings forecast at a time when American rivals Ford and GM are logging big losses, shuttering plants and slashing jobs. The Japanese company was quick to cash in on hot demand for reliable, fuel-efficient vehicles amid surging gas prices, while U.S. makers were slower to react. As sales growth plateaus in mature markets like North America and Western Europe, Toyota and other automakers are increasingly focused on developing countries like China, Russia, India and Brazil. GM and DaimlerChrysler have both been investing in China, while Japan's Honda is eyeing expansion in India. Toyota already has one plant in India, with production of 44,500 units, one plant in Brazil, without output of 57,800, and five plants in China, with combined output of 443,000. It plans to open another plant in China in mid-2007 and boost production at other facilities to raise China output to 693,000. Its first Russia plant, with capacity of 50,000 units, is scheduled to open in late 2007. Nolasco said there are no additional plans at the moment to build new facilities, but noted that Toyota has a policy of trying to build its cars close to the markets where they are sold. To better tap those markets, Toyota is developing a low-cost "family compact" and is planning to open a new factory in India as early as 2009, with capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Japanese media have reported Toyota plans to raise overseas output by 40 per cent of its 2005 level to five million units by 2008. To keep its ambitions for growth going, Toyota is increasing production in various regions, including a plant in Texas that begins production this year. It has also outlined plans to boost production at existing plants in Canada, Thailand and Mexico. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said last month his company plans to add 8,000 engineers by 2010, and the company said last week it plans to boost capital expenditures in North American by 60 per cent to 330 billion yen ($2.82 billion) in the current fiscal year through March. had to put this here as soon as i read the line "Global Master Plan" they actually cahad to put this here as soon as i read the line "Global Master Plan" they actually call it the global master plan (for world domination) somewhere someone in japan is smoking a big fat cigar and stroking a cat. very evil indeed.

BY JUSTIN HYDE, DET. FREE PRESS WASHINGTON BUREAU Link- On table: Health care, trade Sought: Help, not a bailout WASHINGTON - The meeting should "enhance the president's understanding of the importance of the domestic auto industry to the economic health of the United States," General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said in a recent interview, emphasizing the word "domestic." Foreign automakers that build cars in the United States help the economy, "but it's not the same as a fully integrated American auto company that retains the intellectual property in the United States, has primarily American shareholders," he said, so "the wealth gets reinvested in the U.S." Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said Friday of the meeting with Bush: "What I'm looking forward to is just sharing with him the state of our industry and also talking about competitiveness going forward." All sides expect no firm commitments from the scheduled 45-minute session in the Roosevelt Room, which will include Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council. .com.

in the same way no one wants to see another pinto or chevette. i get the whole pbg merger and more specific vehicle lines, this has been hinted at for long long time may 2005 if we're talking 3 or 4 models then fine, thats wonderful. they just need to be specialized. the names should fall into place after that. it would be great to see bonneville back but im gathering we wont be seeing a buick sized pontiac. grand prix could probably fit the bill. after that though they better match up if youre going to give it a name like the tempest. or even lemans names. although i could see those fitting in somehow. even the next g8 lemans wouldnt be too terrible to deal with, in my opinion

the engine choice was a major drawback for this trucklet. i cant argue the fact is plenty powerful but for comparison shoppers and the edmunds and cr reading crowd it sticks out like a sore thumb. when someone test drives these models back to back if they dont notice any major problems with it, rest assured the friendly sales people have no problem pointing them out. its only recently GM is realizing how to pool its global resources more effectively and can now begin to offer NA better equipped cars. look at the chinese sls. you think if GM wasnt so successful in china wed ever see products like that? cheap chinese labor+huge sales and profits= more money to play around with over here. as far as the torrent goes it should stack up better now and perhaps draw in some potential customers after reading about the improvements in their new copy of motor trend.

youre lucky because of where the damage is. pictures dont lie and the insurance should and will see that this was in fact her fault. she should have been paying more attention. edit: good luck but it all looks cosmetic. new door, new quarter panel...get the estimates and it should be paid for...

thats pretty cool...this is the only bull ive seen around here. and of course the other side... makes for some fun things to say when your passing by the touristy folk.