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And now, some shots of the beautiful Buicks on display:

The first media event for the New York Auto Show was a luncheon with folks from Buick’s design team. Located at Cipriani restaurant on 42nd street, the event was a celebration of Buick’s past, present, and future design. Upon walking into the restaurant and handing off my belongings to the coat-check people, I was greeted by the legendary Buick Y-Job concept. What a sight this vehicle is in person! It's everything Buick has stood for in the past and willl once again. You can never go wrong with graceful, flowing lines and the highest attention to detail. Situated towards the rear of the presentation area was a giant screen (for the presentation) flanked by the Velite and Riviera concepts. Though the Velite is a few years old, it still exudes a timeess quality to its design, and it would look right at home in Buick's showroom right now. The Velite influence on the Enclave is very easy to spot. Lastly, I got my first peek at the Riviera. Pictures don't do this car justice. The car is all Buick from front to back - I'm not just saying that because it has a waterfall grille and portholes. The Riviera is a car that commands respect in person, with a graceful, romantic and no-nonsense proportions. Inside, though it's full of concept car glitz, you can see where Buick is going with their interior design direction: gently flowing surfaces that caress the passengers' senses rather than jolt them, and ample sophistication that compliments rather than dominates the overall ambience. The show started with a sneak peek at the new Buick commercial. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say, it involves Tiger Woods, golf, some paint, and a Buick. The highlight of the event was a presentation given by Ed Welburn on Buick's design direction while the screen behind him displayed a live sketch of the next Buick concept, called Invicta, that will debut in the Beijing show next month. While Mr. Welburn spoke about the collaboration between American and Chinese Buick designers for future Buicks intended for both American and Chinese consumption, Buick designer Justin Thompson constructed the Invicta sketch line by line. The end result - see for yourself: You can clearly see the Riviera formula being taken to the next level. A simple overall shape with complex surfaces that just oozes elegance. So what do you think it is? The proportions look to be more FWD than RWD to me, but I'll leave the guessing to all of you. There will be a live chat on Thursday from 3-4PM Eastern with Justin Thompson over on GMNext, a site comemorating GM's 100 year anniversary by looking toward its future. To participate in the chat, visit the site, click on events, and the chat should be listed. Registration is required. I was privileged to be seated at a table with Dave McIntyre of Buick Design (and a huge C&G fan). He's a very personable guy and easy to strike up a conversation with. While I couldn't get him to spill much about Buick's future plans, he did have this to say: A Velite-like vehicle is still not completely dead, and if one were to come out, it would be surprising as to how "accessible" it would be. He does forsee an "adjustment period" for GM and the rest of the industry to adjust their lineups to meet CAFE, but it likely won't last quite as long as the "detune and downsize" approach that GM took in the 70s. With all the tools that GM has in its toolbox, he does not see a reason why GM can't make efficient, green vehicles that still cater to customers' needs with regard to space and performance. The cooperation between Buick of China and Buick of North America is a huge boon to the brand. He referenced Lutz' "damaged brand" comment from a few years back as a segue into how the success of Buick in China significantly strengthens Buick's case in the US. All Buicks from this point forward will be designed to be sold both in the US and in China. This means a little more than meets the eye. Not only will both markets collaborate on design, but powertrains as well. Buick of China does have experience developing efficient engines that get great fuel economy, which will definitely be useful for Buick to adapt to the new fuel economy regulations. When trying to figure out Buick's future productm "don't limit yourself" to thinking about what's out there now or known to be in the pipeline. All in all it was a wonderful, exciting event. I became just a bit more of a Buick fan, and I got a glimpse of the culture inside GM. I don't see a "reactionary" attitude towards the changing times. GM seems willing and able to answer the challenges with innovation, rather than shrink back and take the quick and easy way out. If what I saw today is any indication of what goes on at the rest of GM, I think they're going to be all right.

OK, just finished the Buick luncheon, and I'm in the New York Public Library giving a quick update. RE: the SD card issue, my camera is an older model that doesn't support the higher capacity cards. No matter, as I have my laptop in tow complete with SD card reader, I'm dumping the images to my hard drive as I write this and will have something up on the front page shortly. One of the first things on my agenda after media days are over will be to procure a Canon Powershot S5. Next is the dinner with Buick and Pontiac execs, followed by the Saab party. I'm not sure when the next update will be, since I'm looking at about 3 hours of sleep tonight.

I am pleased to announced that I have been invited by none other than GM's PR firm to attend the press days for the 2008 New York International Auto Show. This year promises to be a fantastic show, and C&G will be there to witness it all. What can you expect to see? I don't want to reveal my full hand just yet, but here is some of it: World debuts of production and/or concept cars from Pontiac and Saab A fashion show highlighting the unveiling of the new Saab "BioPower" clothing line A luncheon with Buick designers, featuring a live sketch of its latest concept Interviews with various GM designers, engineers, and executives, including none other than Bob Lutz Interview with the entire Volt production team I've got tons of batteries, a 1GB SD card, a tripod, a digital camera, and a laptop to bring with me. I'm probably going to buy a digital voice recorder tonight also. I promise to give you all the most comprehensive coverage I possibly can. Be sure to keep tabs on the front page and the 2008 NYIAS forum for updates.

Bringing this thread back from the dead while we're drooling in anticipation of the G8 GXP, G8 ST, and Solstice Targa is wrong. Very wrong.

To add to what you say, the Colorado is, for all intents and purposes, a rolling joke compared to its competition and to the subject of this thread. Now, AFAIK, the ST (or whatever they end up calling it) will only come with the V8, and despite that it should have no problem trumping the 18/24 fuel economy rating of a 4cyl, 2wd Colorado. The return of an El Camino-like vehicle is an idea whose time has come. Need a vehicle that has all the advantages of a car (better performance, handling, fuel economy), yet can handle the occasional trip to Home Depot? This is it. Every one of these are going to sell. Should GM decide to fully implement the Ute here once NA Zeta production starts and offer a full range of content levels, engines, and bodystyles - and the Denali XT shows that they just might be thinking along those lines - it could definitely replace the midzised trucks.

Actually, I believe it was "Rutt Rohh Rorge". If you're going to inference a cartoon character, do it right. Mr Burns should probably think twice before killing something that's long been part of Australian culture, unless he wants GM to accelerate its own demise in that continent and, eventually, GMNA.

Agreed on the high-speed train service. Other countries are embarrassing us with their advances in rail transportation. There are instances where I'd rather take a train than fly.

That's the hairy part, right?

Don't worry, I'll tell you everything you need to know :AH-HA_wink: Details to follow.

If killing the H2 gives them a better shot at keeping cars like the G8 and Camaro around, I'm all for it. The H2 is part of a dying fad anyway. Manufacturers of 24" spinner wheels will probably be the hardest hit by this news. Who knows - 2014 is a long way off and I expect advances in V8 technology that will help make a big Hummer less of a CAFE liability.

An occasional glance while sitting in a stoplight is all that's necessary for that info. I would just be glad to have it available. On most cars you have to either cycle through the DIC for that info or wait for a light on your instrument cluster.

I smell waffles.

We should probably can the California vs. the rest of the USA argument since it's an unwanted tangent to the thread topic. It doesn't take a genius to take the hint that moving GM HQ is a topic of discussion among the suits at GM. Arguing about a tangential topic only weakens our position as a relevant sample of the population. For the record, I think somewhere in SoCal wouldn't be a bad place for GM HQ. Like SoCal culture or hate it, it obviously has a halo effect on the rest of the country, and if GM HQ inserted itself there and started benefitting the local economy while producing decent cars and trucks, GM could gain an in with that market which would probably take less than a year to spread across the rest of the country.

GM can't say it's a global company if its headquarters is in America? They're already doing that through its product - withness the Australian designed, Canadian built Camaro with an American engine and transmission designed for export to countries on the other side of both the Atlantic and the Pacific. That's pretty global to me. As others have said, I can consent to a move out of Detroit. But there are several cities right here in the US that can make the same statement. New York, Boston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago, LA, Seattle, Portland, Charlotte, and one of either Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas. Moving GM's HQ outside the US represents a final FU to the country that embraced it as part of its culture, unlike any other country where it sells cars (except for Australia, perhaps)

Absolutely, positively not. Taking GM's HQ out of the US takes away my reason for supporting the company. In my view, having HHRs built in Mexico or G8s sourced from Australia has always meant little as the profit from the sale goes back to a company with an American home. If Asia's their new home, I'll view GM as no better than Toyota, or Hyundai. If they want to move to Europe, they're no more apealing than any other European brand. When possible I will choose not to send my money into the hands of our debtors. So if moving GM HQ somewhere outside of the US is a decision on the table, the suits had better think twice.

M$ is well known for randomly breaking things with their patches and bugfixes, and mysteriously fixing them with subsequent updates. For a week or so the IE icon on my Start menu disappeared and was replaced by a generic Windows icon. It's fine now. I'm seriously pondering a wholesale move away from M$ sometime soon. I'm running Ubuntu Linux on a laptop and it works great right out of the box, and I've been impressed by the seat time I've had with Mac OS X.

Upon closer inspection of those Lumina SS photos, I take back my "I'll take the blonde" comment from last week.

A picture's worth at least a sentence or two: Frank, take a bow, your time has come. That Corvette with Nomad taillights seems like a faint memory of a bad dream now. C&G is proud to welcome longtime member NOS2006 to the staff as moderator of the design forms. He'll be in charge of setting up both the sketch and chopping competitions that you guys all know and love. Let's give our newest staff member a round of applause.

1. Eclipse (Spyder or coupe) - Not sure about anything Mitsu, and of course there's the issue of the company pulling out of the US before her warranty is up 2. Mustang (Convertible or coupe) - V6 vert = quintessential chick car. She'll be compelled to stock up on hot pink lipstick and nail polish. However, it doesn't go, stop, or handle all that well compared to the other cars listed here. 3. G6 (Hardtop convertible only, doesn't like the coupe) - interior is cheap and ugly, the only hardtop 'vert presented here, giving her the best of both worlds. Consider going CPO for a nice deal 4. Altima coupe - looks like an rejected design proposal for the G35. No thanks 5. Accord coupe - Accord coupe > Accord sedan. Looks awkward from some angles, but otherwise an OK choice. 6. BMW 128 coupe / cabrio - It's a BMW. Probably more than what she's looking for. I could take it or leave it. 7. Mazda RX-8 - Not great on gas, not all that torquey, burns oil

I'll take the Elky, the green VRSC, and the blonde, in no particular order.

I'll listen to both, so there I'd actually argue that the G8's strength is having elements of both of those (kind of like the S&M album), as it's refined and polished yet brash at the same time. No matter - good press for the G8 is good news, as Pontiac's livelihood depends on how well it does.

My nomination for Quote of the Year.

Beagles are awesome. That first pic looks like she's not too far removed from the womb.