91z4me

I would guess Chicago. NY seems to be Caddies show.

evok, I was going to say it if you didn't. I know more about some of these plants than he does and that is just from reading a few of your posts.

There is some VERY wild speculation and also some crazy ideas being thrown around in here. Here are some things to remember. 1 GMC is GMs second highest selling division. All of its products are rebadges of high volume Chevy trucks. AKA GMC is VERY secure in its place. 2 Buick has the highest customer loyalty of any Carline in production. It is also EXTREMELY highly reguarded in quality. It may have an old man's stigma but Buick isn't going anywhere Buick just got like $3 Billion to invest in new products a year or so ago. 3 SAAB may, for the first time since GM has held the name, make a profit this year. SAAB's development costs are very little right now. They have the 9-5 which is older than dirt, the 9-2x which is a Subaru rebadge, the 9-7 a GMT360 rebadge, and the 9-3 an Epsilon that starts above $30K. Basically they have a REALLY cheap lineup. But I do think that SAAB could and IMO should disappear from the US. SAAB and Saturn will be going after the same buyers in a few years and I feel as though those resources are better served by investing into core brands.

But how is it balanced and can it hook? That is the question.

My 97 Z34 has DRLs. In fact it has totally automatic lights, as does my wife's 98 Malibu.

No he sounds like he wants GM to make a 1970s care exactly the way it came back then but to make it now.

WRONG! GM brought the GMT900s forward at least 6 months if not more. Point being that they were supposed to be further back than they actually are, Production starts in December for crying out loud. BTW since the 800s came out in 00 we have seen the H2 which required quite a bit of engineering. The GMT360s were introduced in 2002. Also the Avalanche debuted in 2002 along with the required engineering for that. Also GM has the GMT360s AND 355s to engineer. Guess what they use a lot of the same people to engineer all the BOF trucks. I know people will say yeah but what else did they do. How about small improvements made each year. Heck I think it was 2004 that GM made revisions to the new 2003 silverado front end, as well as other model front ends, that reduced drag and actually improved fuel mileage a tiny bit. Since you seem to know so much about the engineering time frame on these trucks why don't you give us a play by play of when it should have been completed? So when should 'bubble up' have started and ended? When should the artistic design work have started and ended? When should the first mules with improved frames have been made? What point should GM have decided to retool the plants that with nearly 1,000,000 vehicle capacity? Why couldn't they use the engineers to do other things and save a few million dollars that obviously wasn't needed since GM's 800s are still selling VERY well? Who said fold flat 3rd row seats are 100% needed? I think GM will keep its marketshare, already over 60% in fullsize SUVs, and will likely gain marketshare thanks to features that other companies don't even offer. These features include VVT and DOD which seem to be mutually exclusive. The Durango's Hemi offers MDS but no VVT. The OHC motors offer VVT but no DOD. Lets not forget that Ford is the only one beating GM to the punch on 6 speeds. So what that for the first 1 year only the biggest engines will have them? It isn't like GM's are fuel hungry like the imports are. Also lets remember that in about 18 months GM will offer a 2 mode hybrid system that is LIGHT YEARS ahead of any other hybrid system out there, so much so that DCX and BMW are becoming partners so they can get access to the system.

What if Sigma lite production was started with just the Chevy coupe in 08 that would take up about 70-80 k units, conservative numbers. Put that with A sedan at 100K per year and that plant is full. 25-30K Kappas and 170K Sigma lites.

Guy, Scott hinted that Willmington's fat lady hasn't sung yet. I am just curious what it could be. Scott is probably not in on to many vehicle line meetings.

Do you know who GuionM is? He isn't wrong. VE's unibody is based on the current V-car's structure. Sure it will have a lot of differences but it is based on the V-car. The Sigma structure is newer, stiffer, and has better harmonics. It has been praised by the press quite a bit, go drive a GTO and CTS-V back to back and you will feel the difference. Your right on a lot of things Holden was working on some things for thier current V-car replacement when GM global stepped in and wanted to take the program global. GMNA had a lot of things that they needed the car to do to fit into the US system and a lot of things were added to the Australian Zeta, weight is going up big. The rear suspension of the Aus Zeta is basically a Sigma one with aluminum components replaced by steel. The front suspension may be a more advanced strut design, that is the rumor on what the US Zeta is getting. The US Zeta and Aus Zeta will probably share most if not all suspension components, AWD sysem also. Your right that GM NA did spend some math and time on using Aus Zeta in the US but not to long. The decision to not use Holden's Zeta was made over a year before we heard about it. In that time GM went back to working on what they were working on before: a cheaper Sigma. As far as the current GTO being made in the US, sorry but it doesn't meet new air bag standards. The current GTO, unless GM spends money getting it certified, can't be built after next September. Even IF GM did want to continue the GTO and they wanted the tooling here there are other problems. The V-car tooling is quite extensive it builds a multitude of cars off the same basic chassis. Also the Holden plant builds a number of components, including steering knuckles, in the same factory as the plant. The tooling is also pretty high volume, 250k per year if I remember right. Another thing to consider is China. China has a current Zeta now and it is only 1-2 years old. It is likely that the current V-car tooling could move to Korea and the Chinese and Korean markets could be satsified by that one plant.

Spring Hill is getting epsilon crossovers. Sigma lite/US Zeta is most likely headed for Oshwa.

Mercedes houses its spark plugs and fuel injectors in the same unit on their DI units. Why would it be different with Pushrod engines vs OHC?

I think the SOHC would be 3 valve like Ford has done with the new 4.6 VVT.

Are we typing in code or did you use symbols to signify that no GMX code has been given? I thougth GMX 284 was the number assigned to it.

GM isn't really behind in V8 hp or torque power numbers or fuel economy so they don't need 3 valve heads yet. The 60° V6s could use 3 valve heads in performance models, like the 3.9, but the 3.5 VVT puts out good numbers in terms of value to dollar comparisons. For example the 3.5 in the Malibu gets fuel economy numbers almost as good as the 4 cylinder Camry and kills it in performance. The 3.9 in the SS slaughters the V6 Camry in power and probably is close to it in fuel mileage. The only thing that would make sense to me right now is 3 valve heads on the G6 GXP, Saturn Aura, and a mid model Lacrosse with the 3.9 2 valve being standard since it is a luxury car.

The 4.3 was designed in the 70s and certainly paid for itself time and time again. A tall deck version of the 60° HV V6 would probably be cheaper and have better characteristics than a 90° V6 based of the LS motors. It could also be used in other products like a base Camaro. The upcoming 3 valve OHV motors are actually still 1 cam. The design uses a split rocker arm to control 2 valves with 1 pushrod.

They most likely mean the 4.8 L V8. Ford uses 4.6 motors but GM's smallest pushrod V8 is 4.8 L. There is NO way that GM would use the 4.6 Northstar in the GMT900s.

The same thing has been posted on GMI. I say we don't feed the trolls and maybe they will just go away.

It is my speculation that there will be 2 different Ultras. I can't see Caddy going to SOHC so I speculate that Buick and Saturn will use the SOHC engine and the DOHC will go to Caddy. It could also be that DOHC will be for RWD and SOHC for FWD, SOHC takes up less space.

The XV12 concept engine from a few years ago was DOHC and it had a working DOD system on it. The engine was designed by GM and built by Cosworth. I imagine the Ultra V8s will employ the same system. I don't think the Atlas series will see DOD simply because it would be out of balance because it doesn't have an opposing bank to counter the combustion. If it were done I would imagine that different cylinders in the row would be shut off at different times instead of the same ones at each time.

Well since this is about the concept I will keep away from the V6 debate. I think we will see a split front grill, like the 06 Impala, but with chome being definate. I think we will see LED headlights and Taillights. I expect the concept chassis to be C6 based. Also I expect the roof to be so low that you can tell it is just a concept. The rear headroom will be non existant and rear leg room will be tiny. I think the engine will be the LS2 OR it could be a supercharged v8, the one rumored to go into the GMT900 Silverado SS. I also expect a 6 speed auto with paddle shifters and not a 6 speed manual. I expect the roofline to be very 2nd gen influenced with a rear 1/4 window. A hood scoop is also expected. Finally I expect wheel well flares like 69 had. I suggested Blue to differentiate it from the SS concept but I think that stripes are a VERY possible addition.

I bet a good one will be hard to get because of traction limitations.

evok please keep your finger on that pulse. It means a lot to a lot of us. -Thanks.

Talk to Scott and see if you can take a good video camera in with you. I would love to see really high quality video of the concept inside and out. Heck I wanna hear Scott talk about it. Might be worth it to sell them, if it is OK with Scott. He could include it with his book when it comes out.

NOS peice of advise fill out all your applications, like FASFA as early as you can. It will pay off for you if you are sure it is all done early. I learned that from experience.