Oracle of Delphi

Resistance is Futile! http://scifi.dragonfly.com/renegade/stogamst448/

Interesting, maintenance free? What about the tires?

I disagree, the 2004 - 2006 GTO was a complete failure, even Lutz said so, and that was his baby.

You underestimate my loyalty Sir, I am fiercely loyal to GME and Opel. I don't think I'm considered an outcast by anyone within GM, especially not by CPF or the GME staff.

I would like to apply for the job of Male Vestal Virgin of C&G! Because I am not a Whoo ore. If you don't know what a Vestal Virgin is, Google it.

Just remember, my wife is 100% Irish, they have a thing for bombs. :AH-HA_wink:

Shhhhhhh, you weren't supposed to tell.

Italian on the outside, German on the inside! :AH-HA_wink:

Camino, your G3 awaits!

More than likely, when I ordered the 05 Chevy Nox for my wife, I had to wait and extra 4 weeks because of some suppler issue on side curtain airbags, even though the Vue, has no such issues.

Happy belated birthday gents, sorry I'm late DeltaForce79, been kind of playing catchup a lot this week.

That's funny she kissed me on the 1st date! :AH-HA_wink:

I read it.

I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover. Besides I already do own GM, it's called being a stockholder.

And we should care why? I look forward to the day the British people wake up and kick the Royal Family out on their arses. I would love to see them have to get real jobs, however Prince Charles may only be qualified to ask, do you want fries with that?

Damn, and here I was saving myself for you!

Damn, I thought Bill Clinton was a father again!

Also we can't add personal pics, even thought they are smaller than 150 x 150, and below the 100kb limit, just so you know.

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed. Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check. I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers. First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers. That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable. Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations. The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.” You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture. The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat. Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn. Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet. It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers. But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost. The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk. In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was a candidate for this year’s Republican presidential nomination. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

Here is the video, you be the judge!

Minister says that Holden is secure as parent GM seeks an urgent bail-out in the US By DAVID HASSALL 17 November 2008 SOUTH Australian treasurer Kevin Foley has failed to get an audience with General Motors executives in Detroit to discuss Holden’s future, but federal industry minister Kim Carr said he has been given assurances that the troubled US car giant will retain its Australian production operation. GM is strapped for cash as it fights to stave off bankruptcy but says it has no plans to sell off any of its overseas subsidiaries or brands such as Holden and Saab. Mr Foley told the South Australian parliament last Wednesday that he had sought talks with GM chief executive Rick Wagoner while in the US the previous week but had not been successful because senior management “have been somewhat preoccupied with matters of survival”. “I will be back in the United States in January and the intention is to meet with senior management at that time,” Mr Foley said. But Mr Carr, in Adelaide selling the benefits of his new $6.2 billion car plan, said that Mr Wagoner had told him that GM remains positive about the future of its plant in Elizabeth. “He has made the point very, very clear to me how important it is that we not only keep plants of this quality within the GM family but also that we have a very strong supply base to ensure the ongoing prosperity of the company here in Australia,” Mr Carr told reporters on Thursday. Speaking to Automotive News in the US, the GM chief said that Hummer was the only brand GM was looking to sell and that there has been some interest. “We’ve got some other assets we’re looking at selling as well – but not brands,” said Mr Wagoner. He also said there was no thought of selling GM China or Opel in Europe because those operations were too important for the future health and development of the company globally. Mr Wagoner defended the US car-makers, saying that the industry is on its knees because the market has fallen to 11 million units due to the credit system failing, not because the manufacturers were suddenly building poor products. “Under these extraordinary circumstances, we do need funding support and we need to move now,” he said, again calling on the government to take immediate action. “I just don’t see what’s gained by waiting to address that. It seems like we ought to be addressing that right away to minimise the damage that we would sustain that might be longer-term in nature.” Asked if he would like the current ‘lame duck’ congress to act before President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated on January 20, Mr Wagoner said “that would be terrific”. “Action this year is critical and, given the change-over, the (Bush) administration’s lame duck session would seem like the right time and the important time to address this.” GM expects to reduce its $2 billion-a-month “burn rate” by slashing costs and selling assets, but will still run out of cash by the middle of next year unless the government provides funding. The company has also delayed a number of model programs, including the much-needed new Saab 9-5 (which is now scheduled for 2010) and the Cadillac CTS Coupe (which was to have been launched at the Los Angeles auto show later this week). In an interesting twist, the European Union has threatened to complain to the World Trade Organisation over unfair trade support if the government backs a rescue plan for any of the US car-makers. Back in Australia, Mr Foley told the SA parliament that, despite being stonewalled in Detroit, he remains confident that Holden’s Elizabeth plant will survive. “It is clear that the Bush administration, the Congress and the Obama administration will not see the American car industry fail, just as the Rudd Government here will not see the car industry fail – and for South Australia that is good news,” he said. Link: http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf...A257504001EEEEB

GM as a company does have a heart, when GM built its Ramos Arizpe plant around 1981 or so, GM made the decision to build all of it's Mexican workforce housing on land around the plant. GM was concerned about how if it didn't build the housing a Tin and Tent city would spring up around the plant.

GM can't be saved but Opel can Guido Reinking Automotive News Europe November 18, 2008 15:27 CET RUESSELSHEIM -- However many billions the U.S. government spends on the rescue of General Motors, everyone should understand in the meantime that this only postpones the demise of the American auto giant. The Detroit colossus has been heading toward the precipice for years. All efforts to halt its decline have failed. The financial crisis has now turned an upstream battle into a freefall. The crash is waiting at its end. The German federal government should be clear about this before it promises Opel, GM's German subsidiary, guarantees or loans. The issue now has to be saving Opel. GM has been doomed for a long time. So what is to be done? Government guarantees or loans should only be granted in exchange for potential capital participation in Opel. If the money isn't paid back, Opel has to go to the federal government or the German state-owned development bank KfW. That could be the first step to disassociate Opel from GM and to find a new investor for the venerable German brand. GM hasn't known what to do with Opel for a long time. Under the GM corporate umbrella, the brand has risked being ground up between the low-cost Chevrolet brand and pointless luxury fantasies at Saab and Cadillac. This doesn't just involve the 27,000 Opel employees. It also involves at least twice as many jobs at suppliers and many thousands more at dealerships. Opel has a good reputation Opel continues to have a good reputation internationally. Its cars have long had premium quality. The technical know-how at Opel's Ruesselsheim headquarters is a jewel of the industry. Any company that can design a car like the Opel Insignia and build it at competitive costs does not deserve to be pushed over the precipice along with a dilapidated U.S. company. Potential investors know this, too. And who is to blame for this disaster? It is not the wrong policy model or too many rebates on new cars. It is, above all, the U.S. social system, which is at Third World levels. GM has had to guarantee the retirement and health costs of hundreds of thousands of retirees and employees for decades in the U.S. because there is inadequate governmental health and retirement insurance. The company had to earn thousands of dollars per car to pay this. That is money that Toyota, Honda and Hyundai could put in their products. It has been clear for years that GM cannot shoulder this burden over the long haul. But when the government in Washington still had time, it didn't want to hear about the problem. Now it's too late. GM can no longer be saved. But Opel absolutely can. Link: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...paign_id=alerts

You inviting me over for breakfast?

Now I'm craving Cracker Barrel blueberry pancakes and there aren't any Cracker Barrels in Germany. Cracker Barrel needs to go global!