VenSeattle

3) Your comments appear to be already damning to GM instead of being undetermined. 4) I don't see how you consider a 2-seater Insight to be a direct competitor to a 4-door sedan with a trunk/hatch. The Accord and Civic hybrids can hardly be considered successful. While the Prius alone hit record sales in Feb with 12,227, the Civic & Accord Hybrids sold a paltry 2,236 combined. While the Honda Hybrids aren't brand-spanking new models, neither is the Prius. The current Prius debuted for 2004. 5) I don't see it that way. You've covered this topic repeatedly as well, yet you're silent as the Tundra story continues to develop... but attacking GM full force over a concept. Finally??? Yes... unless you can give me a reason why I shouldn't buy a Buick made in China/Asia and imported? I'm not a GM & Buick fan because of Domestic loyalty. If importing Buicks would help improve GM's profits and allow Buick to better compete in the luxury market, I'm all for it. Besides, what's my alternative - Leave Buick over that and buy a Lexus or Infiniti also manufactured in Asia? Wow, how logical. That settles it for me... (you only wish.)

Once again... your point was: "The Prius is a success and soon to be on its third generation and yet still GM does not have anything to directly counter it." The Accord Hybrid isn't really a Prius competitor... and all those other profitable manufacturers don't have any type of competitor either. So how is GM so clueless while other profitable manufacturers out there don't have a direct competitor to the Prius either? My points... 1) You penalize GM because its the largest manufacturer, yet you ignore the profitable manufacturers who have little to no excuse to not having a competitor. 2) We're talking about reading the market and producing what people want, yet you simultaneously dismiss GM for being the largest manufacturer in the world. Even if GM is #2, they're still doing something right. 3) You've harped for years that GM depends too much on fleet sales. Now that GM's retail sales are increasing in certain markets while they reduce Fleet sales dramatically, you Harp on market share and gross sales. Make up your mind. If profitability is really your focus (I doubt it), you should be happy. But no, you use it to spin a negative perspective. 3) Honda, with all of its money, should have been able to successfully develop and launch a line-up of hybrids. That didn't happen. 4) Why are you incessantly replying to this topic attempting to make GM look as bad as possible (over a concept no less), yet your voice falls silent in topics like this. Toyota's third attempt at something and it's not going as planned? Golden child doesn't get everything right, no matter how much of their profits they throw at it - New plant - Huge marketing campaign - now discounts. Where's your analysis? Why is it absent? or is that not news to you? Is it possible with articles like this (being discussed here) floating around, you choose to ignore it?

Yes... The Super(s) debut at NYIAS.

Most manufacturers don't, so why single GM out? Anyway, GM is further involved in the Hybrid market than most other manufacturers (except Honda.) Go pick on DCX, Subaru, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Nissan (yeah, they're just now entering this market... but they're still LATE), BMW, etc... I think you're also overlooking that Honda has so far been unsuccessful competing against Toyota with Hybrids as well (Accord & Civic hybrids). So what's your point???

Eh... world's worst kept secret. I'm #5. :mellow: I know... rather undramatic... :confused0071: :smilewide:

Thanks GM1 Good grief... where to begin? It makes me think that another future classic has been lost. On a different, but some-what similar, note: I saw the remains of an accident the other evening: last-gen Park Avenue & current Nissan Maxima both in a head-on collision. The Park Avenue looked fixable... suffering damage only from the front wheels forward. The Maxima was totaled... from the front to the cabin... gone. The Park Avenue will probably be totaled because its resale value won't justify the repairs. It's disgusting since no amount of perceived market value would justify fixing that Maxima.

Lucerne Super at NYIAS also?

I'd agree... Buick and Pontiac need to gain respect in the premium classes. Pontiac going all-RWD w/AWD available will do that because that's what the premium-performance market demands. Buick can have a mix of RWD, AWD, & FWD because that's what the premium-luxury market market demands. Both can do this. GM should have the platforms available to pull this off pretty soon.

The G-Platform isn't much older than what the Avalon currently rides on. But consider the G-Platform's engineering was to compete with mid-level Luxury cars, while the Avalon's was to compete with mainstream/entry-lux vehicles. The standards set for the G-platform were much higher. The Lucerne also carries telematics that Avalon does not. They both have navigation available, but the Lucerne also has turn-by-turn, emergency response, theft tracking, remote diagnostics, remote unlocking, hands-free calling, etc all provided by OnStar standard that NO Toyota-brand vehicle offers. I'll take all that over a push-button ignition any day.

I've been there before... It's a nice little country... but don't blink, you'll miss it. Here are a few of my pics from back in 2003: Of course, we had to stop by the local Opel dealership and check this out: Oh, and to answer your question aaaantoine: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relation...intro/index.htm

Do you believe in life after love? Hang in there guy.

Oshawa won't be ready for a few years. So it appears the only way GM can rush a RWD vehicle for the Buick brand is by importing it from Down-Under. Unfortunately, GM can't import enough to completely replace the Lucerne, so they must be sold side-by-side. Otherwise, Buick's sales volume would plummet. I think the dealers are being shortsighted because the LaCrosse replacement would be near production by the time this RWD Buick makes it to US dealerships. The Next-Gen LaCrosse will more than compete against the Lucerne for FWD sales. It will have a completely modern powertrain and more features available. I'm sure the interior dimensions will increase as well. The dealers would be wise to allow GM to bring this car to market. The 4-sp Lucerne isn't going to cut it in 2009 or 2010. The competition is always improving and Buick needs to keep up and exceed expectations if it is going to be taken serious by luxury car shoppers. The Enclave can't be the only competitive product in Buick's portfolio for the next 3 years.

Funny... skip back a few years ago, and there was a law suit requesting this to be done. Now, they're having problems giving Chrysler Group away.

Why would a GMC dealer use the Silverado in a comparison brochure? I'm sure Chevrolet dealers have a similar type of brochure using the Silverado. I'm surprised these types of advertisements haven't been mentioned by some of our prominent dealership buddies on this site. GM seems to be hitting some home-runs lately in advertising.

Buick...

Last time I checked, Opel Insignia will be on Epsilon II. Considering we haven't seen a concept based on EPSII, the fender flares may be misleading.

That's good to hear. I could never find confirmation of that. Now, if the Zeta Lucerne is sold in both countries, the consolidation would be complete. Perhaps a premium compact could be developed by mid-next decade that could be sold in both markets (replacing Excelle.)

I stumbled across the website earlier today. I found it encouraging that the Enclave was on display at the autoshow. It's one step closer to Buick-China & Buick-US consolidating line-ups. http://autoshow.shanghaigm.com/ Click on one of the three pics (center-left) to activate the interactive autoshow floor and browse through the cars that were on display. I'm looking forward to 2007's show. I hope to see Holden and possibly the spy-pic'd Buick Royaum replacement return to China.

if this is CXL trim, I can't see how it wouldn't be painted.

It doesn't look like un-painted plastic to me. It looks like a dark-gray/ash color.

Oooohhh! I like that two-tone exterior.

Try this: New Corporate name: GMC Group(GM+Chrysler Group) Chevrolet Podge (using the word Dodge for a brand name is just asking to be avoided) Brickler (They adopt the LX exterior styling across the board) Jumper Cadillac All-in-all, it's just idiotic no matter how you approach the subject.

There's the flaw in your logic. Pontiac-GMC is one GM division and their line-up matches Dodge's line-up as a whole. Sales volume is similar too. As for the rest, regardless of sales volume, Buick is profitable on a global scale and currently has more international potential (and appeal) than the Chrysler brand. On top of both of those points, as-is GM is expected to declare a 4Q profit. That makes the revitalization plan for B-P-G far more appealing since the Chrysler brands aren't even close to being profitable at the moment. By the time GM fast-tracked anything under the Chrysler-Group, Buick & Pontiac's revitalized line-up will be out (both should be completely redone by 2010/2011.)

I placed it in bold, but deleted the rest of your post from the quote. It was in your post at the time of my reply. I'll have to look again to see who removed it.

It's official boys, The O.C. is a two-ride pony.