Oracle of Delphi

What about a nice Opel Corsa based truck, that's coming very soon, via Brazil.

Yes, someone in MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) has a great sense of humor.

I love that woman! :AH-HA_wink:

I think the Buick dealerships will be grateful that they are still in operation with Saab and Saturn as their new partners. As for some closures, well I think the weaker dealerships should go away anyway. In nature only the strong survive. Chevy and Cadillac are world brands and inside GM, they are untouchable, they are the crown jewels and will never be touched. Saab and Saturn, cough, cough, Opel are the technological darlings of GM, GM is not going to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but lets see what the GM Board decides to do next month, shall we?

Here's what I see happening brandwise, should not be nothing new to y'all, only been saying it for over a year now. Here is how I think the sales channels will align in North America Chevrolet (Stand alone Value Worldwide Brand) Buick/Saab/Saturn (Mid-Lux North American Brands) Sold in the same dealerships that use to house BPG, that way no dealerships close. Cadillac (Stand alone Luxury Worldwide Brand) So in simple terms you would have GOOD, BETTER, BEST! Hummer will be sold off, Pontiac and GMC will be shown the Oldsmobile door. If things get really tight with money, I see the Saturn name going away in favor of Opel, the Holden name could go away and its factory in Australia converted to produce GMDAT vehicles including AVEO, BEAT, etc. That would give GM extra capacity to ship those cars to India and China. I also see a plant in North America converted to produce the same cars here. I see nothing happening to GME in Europe, South America, or in Africa, as it makes money there, so GM won't screw with it. But let's see what the GM Board decides next month, it should be very, very interesting. I told you, you would need lots of popcorn this year.

Muhahahahahaha! Hide your daughters, wives and yes even your grandmothers! Der Börger is back in the US of A!

Robot

Jason Stein July 7, 2008 06:01 CET Should Rick Wagoner have spent a little more time in Europe? Four years ago, in a sun-drenched stretch of the French countryside, General Motors chose a gorgeous setting near Fayence to unveil its future strategy to the world's journalists. GM's PR folks called it a Global Product Seminar, but Europe was clearly on everyone's mind. There were new Corsas, new Astras, new diesels and new plans for GM to stake its claim as an international powerhouse. A barrel of oil was under $40. Gasoline was about $2.00 a gallon. Full-size trucks and SUVs were delivering barrels of cash. Would North America need the small stuff? Nah. Not invented in America. Not necessary in America, Wagoner's team seemed to say. Whoops! Hindsight is better at $4.00 a gallon. Last week, sales of new cars and trucks in America plunged to their lowest level in more than a decade. Car companies (read: GM) cannot meet the surging demand for those pint-sized European cars that are small and fuel-efficient. The downturn is drastic: GM is burning cash at an alarming rate; its shares are at a level not seen since the 1950s; and its market capitalization has dropped to $6 billion -- or less than Starbucks. As the French say: Mauvais. Four years later, it's obvious GM didn't spend enough time driving around the French countryside. "What if ..." was never part of the equation. European fuel prices have always been the stuff of legend in America. But long ago European carmakers looked at their product portfolio and asked a simple question: Is the car too big? In America it was never big enough. GM Europe has figured out a formula to make small cars and make money. But something got lost in the overseas connection. It's simple: GM is not offering what Americans want because it misread its domestic market and didn't listen to its brethren which had the answer in the house. Yes, the Astra and Corsa are coming -- but two years after Toyota's Yaris and Honda's Jazz. Maybe it would have made sense to follow the world's most profitable carmaker by preparing for doomsday a little earlier. You know, just in case. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080707/A...paign_id=alerts

July 7, 2008 07:15 CET UPDATED: 0/07/08 11:33 CET LONDON (Thomson Financial) -- General Motors could shed thousands of white-collar jobs and sell or cease producing certain brands as part of a strategy reevaluation, said the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The job cuts are expected to be approved at a meeting of the GM board in early August. The management may also suggest options for raising additional cash to help GM make it through the downturn, and may discuss cutting certain brands, the sources said. A company spokesman declined to comment on either the job or brand cuts, said the report. GM sells under eight different brands, but most, including Buick, Saturn and Saab, struggle to attract buyers. The company has already decided to put its Hummer division up for sale and prospective buyers are thought to include Mahindra & Mahindra. On the job cuts, GM employs 76,000 white-collar workers globally, with the bulk of the force based in North America, said the report. In the past few years, as GM has run up massive losses, some board members and some executives have on occasion raised questions about its plethora of brands, only to be rebuffed by CEO Rick Wagoner, the paper said. The company, hit by rising oil and raw material prices, the credit crunch and the housing downturn, will need to raise as much as $15 billion (9.6 billion euros) in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is "not impossible" if the U.S. auto market continues to slump, Merrill Lynch said last week. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080707/A...238376/1128/ANE I doubt it will be any of the brands mentioned other than HUMMER, conventional wisdom inside GM says it will be Pontiac and GMC, but August is only a month away, hopefully we'll all know by then.

Thanks!

John Revill July 7, 2008 06:01 CET General Motors Europe's decision to build its new Astra in Rüsselsheim, Germany, will not affect other plants scheduled to produce the key model starting in 2010, a top union official says. Currently, GM's Rüsselsheim plant only builds upper-medium cars for its Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries. But weak sales in the segment have forced GM to scale back its production schedule. The factory is currently running at a little more than half its 218,000 annual capacity. GM's June 20 announcement that the Astra will be built in Rüsselsheim came as a bit of a surprise. Industry observers expected GM to move production of the Saab 9-3 to Rüsselsheim from Trollhättan, Sweden, to boost capacity at Rüsselsheim. Klaus Franz, head of the Opel works council, said the change was a straight swap between the German and Swedish plants. "The Saab 9-3 will be produced at Trollhättan and the Astra at Rüsselsheim," Franz said. "It will have no impact on existing agreements." Franz said adding Astra production in Rüsselsheim is good news for the factory. "Now the plant is not so dependent on the ups and downs and life cycles of particular cars," he said. The Astra is GM Europe's biggest seller with 443,382 unit sales in Europe and Turkey last year, according to JATO Dynamics. In April 2007, GM Europe chose the current Astra plants of Bochum, Germany; Gliwice, Poland and Ellesmere Port, England, as well Saab's Trollhättan plant to build the next-generation Astra. GM Europe's factory in Antwerp, Belgium, which also builds the current Astra, lost the car and is reducing its workforce by 1,400. In the future, Rüsselsheim will build cars on GM's Delta and Epsilon architectures. The new Astra will be based on GM's Delta platform and the Insignia will be on the Epsilon. The Insignia will replace the Vectra sedan and Signum station wagon after its debut at the London auto show on July 22. In 2007, Rüsselsheim built 125,936 cars and operated at 57.7 percent of its capacity, according to consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, head of the German automotive forecasting group B&D Forecast, said Insignia production will account for 100,000 to 150,000 units of Rüsselsheim's capacity when a third shift was added in 2010. The remainder would be made up by Astra and Saab 9-5 production. "If a plant operates below 85 percent to 90 percent of its capacity, it is losing money so adding the Astra will prevent that," Dudenhöffer said. Rüsselsheim has a capacity of 218,000, but Franz said that adding the third shift will boost capacity to 270,000. Production plants Where GM will make next Opel/Vauxhall Astra starting in 2010 -- Rüsselsheim, Germany -- Bochum, Germany -- Gliwice, Poland -- Ellesmere Port, UK Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080707/A...paign_id=alerts

John Revill July 7, 2008 06:01 CET WROCLAW, Poland -- Chevrolet expects to increase its European sales by 10 percent to nearly a half million cars this year. "I think we can grow from 450,000 to close to 500,000 this year," Steve Flamand, Chevrolet Europe product marketing manager, said. Flamand said Chevrolet mainly expects to increase sales in growth markets such as Russia, Turkey and eastern Europe. But the brand also believes it can boost sales slightly in western Europe despite the region's economic downturn and forecasts for a flat new-car market in 2008. "For other volume brands, thinking about growth is quite a challenge," Flamand told Automotive News Europe at an event here. There are a couple reasons why Chevrolet is optimistic. 1. It thinks the Aveo small car will appeal to budget-conscious buyers in western and eastern Europe. Chevrolet started building four-door notchback versions of the Aveo in the FSO factory in Warsaw in January. Production of the five-door Aveo will start later this month and production of the three-door begins in October. The starting price for the three-door Aveo will be €9,990 in Germany. 2. Chevrolet increased its dealer network in central and eastern Europe to 506 sales outlets last year from 426 in 2006. "Building cars in Poland will help and selling the Aveo in three-, five- and four-door versions will meet the needs of many people right now," Flamand said. Chevrolet expects the Aveo to account for most of the expected sales increase. European sales of the model are expected to rise to 150,000 this year from 110,00 in 2007. Also contributing to the sales growth will be the Epica upper-medium car. Chevrolet expects Epica sales in Europe to grow to 20,000 this year from 14,000 last year. Executives believe the brand is well positioned for growth with its future product plan. In October, the carmaker's replacement for the lower-medium Lacetti will be unveiled. The successor to the Matiz minicar is due in 2010. Chevrolet's Flamand says the new Aveo will boost brand. European sales of the Chevrolet Aveo are expected to rise to 150,000 this year. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080707/A...006417/1193/ANE

Sorry bud, would you rather I lie to ya?

Check the link, post number 8. http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...mp;#entry409979

G8 Sportwagon? Better checkout www.nosuchpontiac.com

I see history is repeating itself. I guess the dealers haven't learned their lesson from when they marked up the GTO sky high. No one with two brain cells to rub together is going to pay that for a Pontiac.

Yes, I saw it, I'm going to call tomorrow when I get back to Delaware.

Thanks, I return to the USA tomorrow.

Would that make the sheep nervous that reside in the barn?

Used? What's that?

Thank you BP, but red is not my color, clashes with my blue eyes! :AH-HA_wink: I'm looking for one betweem 5K - 10K, in a dark color, blue, Black, or dark green. I am still looking for one. I almost bought a 1973 Grand Ville Convertible a month ago, it was in Maryland, but my heart is set on a 1968 Grand Prix.

I see them, but only two of them, neither in great shape.

Don't be PC, be PCS! :AH-HA_wink:

For the love of God, just don't bend over to pick it up!

Did you notice that the engineers are Chinese? Hmmmmmm? Hey is that Exit 69 onto Big Beaver Road in Troy?