Oracle of Delphi

Exactly, since they control Daewoo.

Ja, Ja, Carl-Peter told the workers at Rüsselsheim that news earlier today. Good news all round for GM Europe. CPF said that Astra won't be coming off the production line there until 2010. Some thought it would be earlier, must be a retooling issue. Plus it's assembled at 3 other plants, it's a popular car in Europe.

Maybe you would have less accidents if it did! :AH-HA_wink:

Not me, I will be in Hershey Park for a 4 day weekend.

Let's hope the interior of the next Astra doesn't like the Brera!

A human foot was discovered partially submerged in the water near Westham Island in Ladner, B.C., Delta police said Monday. It's the fifth human foot police have found in the province in less than a year. "As far as it being linked to other partial remains found, we haven't dismissed that. We're considering all possibilities," Const. Sharlene Brooks told CBC News. A couple out for a walk in the 2800 block of Savage Road spotted a shoe floating in the water around 10:30 a.m. and called police, she said. Investigators said it's a left foot. "Right now we're working very closely with the B.C. coroners service to identity the person whose remains we have recovered," Brooks said. Four right feet, each wearing a sock and sneaker, have been discovered in the province since August. A woman's right foot was found on the uninhabited Kirkland Island in the Fraser River in May, just a few kilometres from Westham Island where Delta police found the fifth foot Monday. Three other men's right feet washed up in the Gulf Islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. In August, feet were discovered on Gabriola and Jedediah islands and, in February, another foot was found on Valdes Island. B.C.'s chief coroner told CBC News Monday night that investigators have been unable to determine who the four right feet belonged to. Terry Smith said DNA profiles have been completed on the feet but no matches have been made. "We'll continue to try and identify known profiles that we can compare them to until we have a match," he said.

Just make me CEO of General Motors.

If your talking about what I posted about saving GMNA the other day, that is just something that has been floating around in my mind for the last 3 months or so, I think I may have posted that HSV thought in one other post Camino had a while back. As to telling anyone else officially of my HSV idea, it will have to wait until I know more about what's going on brand wise. I just had surgery yesterday, and won't return to Europe until Tuesday of next week.

Why do you say that?

Here is something to think about also, if Pontiac is killed, it gives Holden more capacity to build some small cars (I am not talking about Alpha) it is interested in doing. Remember they only have one assembly plant there.

The public views it as a truck, same reason the Torrent was going to go to GMC, also another Unibody FWD/AWD platform.

I think no haggle is killing Saturn, why would I want to pay the full price of an Outlook when I can go next door and haggle with my GMC dealer for an Acadia. Speaking of which, my concern is what happens to the Acadia if GMC goes away. Does it go to Chevy, if so what happens to the Traverse? Or does Pontiac get the Acadia, but remember Pontiac is car! I mentioned this in a meeting today.

Short and to the point, I like that about you DF!

Current stand alone stores would stay, unless they wanted to be combined with the other 2 brands to reduce their cost. Where Saturn would be merged with the other two would be where there is no Saturn outlet say more than two hours away. Some customers that want to buy a Saturn can't because the nearest dealership is 12 hours away, this happens a lot out in the Western USA.

Very nice pics fightingbee and welcome to c&g.

I will only repeat what Rick Wagoner said, all options are on the table.

Not really BP, it would be cheaper to shut down GMC or Pontiac, because GM would not have to shut down the dealerships because 2 out of the 3 brands would still be sold there. Talk is Saturn would be moved into that outlet to increase it's dealership reach.

Well my wife wants a new vehicle when we return to the USA to replace her Nox, she has it narrowed down between the Pontiac Torrent, Vibe and G5, I asked her to wait before deciding until the new Astra comes out.

I'm told the new one will have it.

Kevin Huang GUANGZHOU -- Another lookalike car has appeared in China: the Lifan 320 which looks very like the Mini Cooper. Chongqing Lifan Holdings Co. says it plans to start mass production of the small car around September. The car will carry a 1.3-liter gasoline engine produced by Lifan. The company will also mount a 1.1-liter engine in the car from the beginning of next year. Lifan is currently testing the newly developed 1.1-liter engine. The car will carry a five-speed manual transmission. The company declines to disclose the price of the car, but says it will be "less than 50,000 yuan" ($7,243). The five-seat car, which debuted in late April at the Beijing auto show, is 3,745 mm long, 1,620 mm wide and 1,430 mm high. The company says it fully considered intellectual property rights issues when designing the car, so it has no worries about being sued for violating the intellectual property of other companies. The company also says it may export the lookalike car from China in the future. Lifan is still a tiny player in China's auto industry. The company's major products are motorcycles and general-purpose engines. It started producing cars in late 2005 and has to date only launched the 520 sedan and its hatchback version. It sold about 30,000 units of the 520 in 2007. Link: http://www.autonewschina.com/en/article.asp?id=1582

GM could move SUVs to smaller platforms Jamie LaReau and Craig Trudell Automotive News June 19, 2008 DETROIT -- General Motors is evaluating future platforms and life cycles for its full-sized trucks and SUVs, sources have told Automotive News. The full-sized SUVs are currently built on the GMT900 architecture. But those familiar with GM's plans say it's likely that at some point those vehicles will be shifted to smaller and lighter architectures, most likely a form of the Lambda platform. In its June 9 issue, Automotive News reported that GM would move its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs to a more fuel-efficient platform. The vehicles will eventually "fade away" in their current form, a GM source told the publication. GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said today that the carmaker was looking at the GMT900 portfolio and how if fit within efforts to supply the U.S. market with more fuel-efficient cars. GM plans to extend the life cycle of its entire lineup of pickup trucks and SUVs. The lineup includes the Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban and Avalanche; the GMC Sierra; and the Cadillac Escalade. New designs of GM trucks and SUVs had not been expected to be released until at least 2012. That program has been postponed indefinitely until GM better understands the future of the market for full-sized trucks. Wilkinson said he suspects that process should be complete within the next six months. By then, GM will have decided how long the program will be postponed. The delay does not mean GM is abandoning the market segment, Wilkinson said. "We're not giving up on the full-size truck market," he said. "We have every intention of leading it in the future, even if it's a smaller-sized market than it is today." The redesigned Ford F series and Dodge Ram pickup trucks launch later this year. GM can remain competitive without a complete redesign in the near future, Wilkinson said. That doesn't mean GM won't make "major changes" to improve fuel efficiency on its full-sized trucks and SUVs. "We've got the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the segment, and we don't intend on giving that up to anybody," Wilkinson said. GM also has considered canceling one future Hummer SUV product and shutting down another brand, The Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people briefed on the automaker's strategy. Wilkinson said GM would not confirm the report, saying only that the automaker is "continuing to look at all options for the Hummer brand." GM hit a historic low of $14.51 per share today before rallying slightly. At 1:47 p.m. EDT, GM shares were trading at $14.53, down 2.42 percent or 36 cents per share. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080619/A...439221/1176/OEM

John Revill Automotive News Europe June 19, 2008 15:11 CET Production of the Saab 9-3 will remain in Sweden, a General Motors Europe spokesman said today. Media reports had suggested that production of the next-generation 9-3 would move to GM Europe's Opel plant in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, from Saab's Trollhattan, Sweden, factory. To compensate for not getting the 9-3, GM Europe will add production of the Saab 9-5 and a compact car at Ruesselsheim. "It is good news that Ruesselsheim will get an extra model, a third shift and that the 9-3 production will remain in Saab's home country," said GM Europe spokesman Joerg Schrott. GM Europe has not named the compact car that will be built in Ruesselsheim, but company sources say it will be the Opel Astra lower-medium car. Currently, Ruesselsheim builds the Opel Vectra and Signum. It will build the Insignia, the Vectra successor, later this year. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080619/A...paign_id=alerts

Looks fantastic!

Hummer is already gone, you just don't know that yet. My understanding is that another brand is on the chopping block. There are four possibilities, two of which I am told have Saviors, so they won't be cut. 1. GMC 2. Pontiac 3. Saab (Savior) 4. Buick (Savior) I would argue in defense of GMC being kept instead of Chevy Trucks since a GMC truck could be sold at any GM dealership, but Chevy is the world brand so it will not be cut. I also hear GMC would be the easiest to replace, since it's only a badge replacement, however Pontiac has already lost it's Performance designation within GM and is running a close second to be given the axe. Meetings took place about this yesterday and will continue. Whichever one leaves BPC, there would now be room to merge Saturn in with that group, since all three report to the same person in the higher scheme of things at GM. Just remember things are changing daily at GM so any of this could change at a moments notice. It's crazy at times!

Tony Lewin Automotive News Europe June 19, 2008 15:39 CET GM's new Insignia will be the first production car to feature a dual-function frontal camera with traffic sign recognition, says Opel Vauxhall. The system, supplied by Hella, uses a single screen-mounted camera to feed separate processors for both road-sign recognition and lane-departure warning. However, premium automaker BMW may just beat GM to the honor of being first to market with a system that can identify signs. BMW will debut its system "later this year," said technology spokeswoman Katharina Bölsterl. She declined to specify which model the system would first appear on, and would not confirm that, as industry sources say, the supplier will also be Hella. GM's camera system will be available on Insignias from spring 2009, said spokesman Simon Hucknall. The upper-medium Insignia, which replaces the Vectra, will be unveiled at the London auto show next month and will go on sale in the final quarter of the year. Premium models including the Mercedes S class and Lexus LS460 already offer frontal camera and night vision systems, but none has traffic-sign recognition capability. Many models ? from the lower-medium Citroen C4 and Honda CRV upwards ? already feature lane-departure warning. GM's front camera system was jointly developed by Vauxhall-Opel and Hella. The camera detects both lane markings and signs alongside the road, taking 30 pictures a second. Traffic sign recognition software identifies circular patterns and then looks for the numbers or symbols within them. If these match the stored images, the appropriate speed limit figure appears in the instrument display. "It will even prioritize a no-overtaking sign over speed-limit warning signs," says GM. BMW's system also displays road signs, either in the instrument panel or on the head-up display, said Bölsterl. "Our system can also recognize the variable speed limit signs on motorway bridges, but it is not our policy to reduce the car's speed automatically," she told Automotive News Europe. BMW already has-lane departure warning and will soon add blindspot recognition, said Bölsterl. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20080619/A...paign_id=alerts