Flybrian

Yeah, but they're all like 45.

This really seems like some Ford viral marketing. Check out the discussion on Autoblog as to why.

The really old pre-2000 cell phone handset systems. Also, those were mainly on a few uplevel Cadillac models. 2000 and beyond when it was integrated into nearly every midrange and above GM vehicle is beyond unacceptable.

Don't take your Sky to Otis Ford, Roger. Not only do they SUCK but they'll use used parts. Also, they SUCK.

What are you talking about? The Uplander is damn sexy and that alone sells it.

Rammed into a pole four feet from a deep, thick marsh off a two-lane road through rural Florida in one of the worst tunderstorms of the season, OnStar didn't help my father. Some of you may remember me describing that accident that nearly totalled our Bonneville a few years ago. Well, after airbag deployment, OnStar didn't notify jack. In fact, my father called me on his cell phone to let me know he had spun out and told me where to find him. I got dressed, got three friends together (I was at FIT in Melbourne doing flight training at the time), and we all drove the 46 miles before the Osceola County Sheriff arrived. I even asked the deputy if OnStar notified them; he checked with dispatch and told me 'no.' Our service came up for renewal shortly thereafter and we dropped it. When the operator asked why, my father told her pretty simply that OnStar is junk and doesn't work. He actually spoke to a higher manager and described the incident and OnStar's failure. She told him that it was likely due to the inclement weather and the rural location that OnStar didn't work. Well, isn't that exactly what OnStar is for? The best they offered was to upgrade us to the Concierege Service with 6 months free if we signed up for 12, which was needless to say a retarded offer. We dropped and haven't regreted it. I'm of the same thinking as Walt on this. I don't need Turn-by-Turn; I have GoogleMaps. I don't need handsfree calling; I have speakerphone. I don't need to know what Thai restaurant is open; I have 411. I don't need to have my car remotely unlocked; I have two sets of keys and I'm not stupid. The only thing I'd ever need OnStar for is to notify 911 of my location in an accident; and it didn't do that. I know what you might say, that this is just a one-time failure. Well, all it takes its that one time to have a family member be further injured or possibly die.

Time to break out the S10 again...

I love GM and all, but we let out OnStar lapse years ago. It was too much to pay for something that simply didn't work when it really, really needed to and frankly at the time, the OnStar reps didn't do much to convince my father its worth it.

Mayday! Some Cars Will Lose OnStar Link By KEN BELSON Published: November 19, 2006 Link to Original Article @ NYTimes FOR the last decade, OnStar has promoted itself as a paragon of convenience and peace of mind for car owners. Best known for its ability to bail out customers in a jam — and even make an automatic call for help when an air bag has been deployed in an accident — the service has about four million subscribers. OnStar makes its pitch in a series of alarming radio advertisements that use recordings of actual emergency calls to demonstrate how operators in an OnStar call center are standing by to summon an ambulance, open a car with a child locked inside or track a vehicle that has been stolen. At the push of a button, the operators are available to give directions or to act as concierges, pointing subscribers to the closest gas station or Chinese restaurant. But the operators will soon be signing off for some of OnStar’s longstanding customers. The dropped connection is a result a little-known decision by the Federal Communications Commission in 2002 that allows cellphone companies to shut down their analog networks beginning in February 2008. The decision will affect not only mobile phone users in rural America and other places where digital networks have yet to be built, but also hundreds of thousands of subscribers with older cars whose OnStar systems rely on those analog networks. Some subscribers with 2002 model year or newer cars can have their cars converted to digital equipment, or their cars may already be equipped with the needed hardware. OnStar, which was a $199 option when they bought their vehicles, will become largely obsolete in 15 months in some 2002-4 models, as well as all models before 2002, because the OnStar electronics cannot be upgraded. Some Acura, Audi, Subaru and Volkswagen owners will also be affected. Verizon Wireless, the network of choice for OnStar, has not said how or when it will dismantle its analog network, though it has not ruled out shutting off the service all at once. More likely, industry analysts say, the networks will be turned off in stages. That’s cold comfort for Michael Farris. His wife, Vickie, drives a 2002 GMC Yukon and uses OnStar for routing help in unfamiliar areas and to talk hands-free with her cellphone using OnStar’s connection to the truck’s audio system. The truck has about 40,000 miles on it and runs well, so Mr. Farris wants to keep it beyond 2008. He must now consider whether to sell it, find one of the few aftermarket alternatives, or go without. “This thing we paid for is going to turn into a pumpkin,” Mr. Farris, chancellor of Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., said. OnStar’s decision to use analog-only technology “was like putting an eight-track tape player into a new vehicle.” OnStar’s decision to use analog networks made sense a decade ago when the service was started because they were the most pervasive and reliable. Even as digital networks expanded in recent years — their greater call capacities for a given amount of wireless bandwidth made them attractive to phone companies — analog networks were often the only ones working in rural areas. Analog’s broader coverage was also a good reason for home security companies like ADT to use the networks, and now they are grappling with the ruling as well. They, like OnStar, tried unsuccessfully to persuade the F.C.C. not to sunset the analog network, the industry term for the phaseout. OnStar created a Web site to alert customers to the coming changes. But for drivers with older cars, there is little more the company can do. Critics, Mr. Farris included, say OnStar was negligent in continuing to install analog-only equipment before and after 2002 when it was clear that the phaseout of their supporting networks might be coming. OnStar declined to make an executive available for this article, but in a statement said, “We at OnStar sincerely regret that we will not be able to provide OnStar service to vehicles with analog-only hardware after Dec. 31, 2007.” When asked why it continued to install equipment that could not be upgraded even after the F.C.C. ruling, the company said that “each vehicle has its own development and manufacturing schedule, not all vehicles will receive the same OnStar equipment at the same time.” Dealers will upgrade some 2002-4 vehicles to work on digital networks if customers buy a three-year subscription to the Safe and Sound package at $199 a year. The company would not say how many of its subscribers have analog-only or upgradeable equipment. But as many as half of OnStar’s customers, or two million subscribers, now drive cars that cannot be upgraded, according to Frank Viquez, an industry analyst at ABI Research. Two-thirds of those cars will be sold or traded by their original purchasers by early 2008, leaving 500,000 to 700,000 OnStar buyers out of luck, Mr. Viquez said. G.M. plans to make OnStar standard in all its cars by the end of 2007. That will be too late for Mr. Farris, though, who feels OnStar and G.M. should have done more, switching to upgradeable technology far sooner. “Those were $5 business decisions that are going to come back and haunt them,” he said. “It’s going to disillusion a bunch of G.M.’s best customers.”

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Opel to cut production of Astra, Vectra - report Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:20pm ET Link to Original Article @ Yahoo!Reuters FRANKFURT, Nov 18 (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to cut production of its Astra and Vectra cars by about 9 percent next year as its new Corsa cannibalises sales of the Astra, its best-selling car in Europe, Germany's Automobilwoche reported. Citing confidential company documents, the magazine said on Saturday that production of the Astra compact and the Zafira vans based on the Astra model would fall to 690,000 from 750,000 in 2007. Production of Vectras would be cut to 127,000 next year from 144,000 this year, the report said, and could fall to 110,000 vehicles in 2007 in the worst case scenario. A spokesman for Opel, under whose brand the cars are sold in Germany, declined to comment directly on the report but said it was normal for demand to start dropping off halfway through a model's lifecycle.

Honda, GM Hybrids Can Get Full Tax Credit Honda, GM Hybrids Are Still Eligible for Full Tax Credit Thursday November 16, 5:55 pm ET Link to Full Article @ Yahoo!Reuters WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that hybrid cars made by Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. are still eligible for a tax credit intended to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient cars, as the credit phases out for Toyota Motor Corp. and its Lexus division. The tax credit for hybrid vehicles begins to phase out after a manufacturer has sold 60,000 hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicles. The IRS said Wednesday that it made the determination on Honda hybrids after reviewing Honda sales for the third quarter 2006. Honda sold 9,912 hybrids in the quarter ending Sept. 30, bringing the company's total sales of 2006 model hybrids to 28,408. As a result, consumers who purchase a 2006 Honda Accord hybrid can still claim a $1,300 tax credit, while purchasers of a 2006 Honda Civic hybrid can receive a $2,100 tax credit, and purchasers of a Honda Insight can receive a $1,450 credit. The credits for each model are based on fuel efficiency. Separately, the IRS said that General Motors hybrid cars also remain eligible for the full tax credit. GM sold 812 hybrids in the quarter ending Sept. 30, the agency said, bringing its total number of hybrids sold to 2,200. Purchasers of the Chevrolet Silverado are eligible for credits of up to $650, while the GMC Sierra hybrid is eligible for credits of up to $650, and the 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line is eligible for a credit of $650, the IRS said. Toyota sold 57,606 hybrids in the third quarter, the IRS said, bringing its total hybrid sales for the first nine months of 2006 to 144,216. The tax credit for Toyota hybrids began to phase out Oct. 1, so purchasers of Toyota hybrids can only claim half the credit until March 31, 2007, and only 25 percent of the credit from April 1, 2007 to Sept. 30. 2007, the IRS said. The credit for the popular Toyota Prius is $1,575 and will drop to $787.50 on April 1. The credit for the 2007 Toyota Camry hybrid is $1,300 and will be cut in half to $650 on April 1. Shares of Honda's American Depositary Receipts dropped 50 cents to close at $35.67 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Toyota, meanwhile, fell $1.27 to close at $122.58 on the NYSE, General Motors added 18 cents at $35.53 on the NYSE.

GM Press Release FOR RELEASE: 2006-11-17 Sir Richard Branson Gives Green Light to Saab BioPower DETROIT — Move over fossil fuel – that’s just so passé – or that’s the message as the UK ’s most high-profile and best-known businessman Sir Richard Branson takes delivery of a Saab 9-5 BioPower. Sir Richard’s switch to his Saab flex-fuel car, which runs on the eco-friendly and renewable fuel source bioethanol E85 (made from plant products such as wheat and grain), reinforces the Virgin boss’ unwavering commitment to fighting one of the biggest challenges of our times – that of global warming. Speaking today as he took the keys of his new Saab, Sir Richard said: “I am convinced that biofuels are the way forward, both for the car and aviation industries, which is a vision we share with Saab. Now we need to extend that vision to others. It’s high-time that flex-fuel cars, such as the Saab 9-5 BioPower, are given the same concessions in the UK as other green cars, like for example, exemption from London’s Congestion Charge.” He continued: “At the moment, bioethanol is made from a variety of agricultural sources, whilst in the future, we will see it made from cellulosic waste matter, such as wood chippings, which really will make it the ultimate green fuel” Earlier this year, the Virgin Group announced that all profits and equity realizations over the next 10 years from the group’s worldwide transport companies, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains in the UK , would be invested in the renewable energy sector. The amount to be invested is expected to be some £1.6bn (about US$3.0 bn). Virgin Fuels is expected to be one of the beneficiaries and has already invested in bioethanol production and will conduct research and development into alternative transport fuels, including bioethanol and an alternative biofuel for aviation. Sir Richard’s new car will carry both the Virgin Fuels and Saab BioPower logos.

Growing Segment Pickups seen in China's future By JAMES B. TREECE | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS AutoWeek | Published 11/16/06, 3:59 pm et Link to Original Article @ Autoweek BEIJING -- Pickups are in China's future. But not large, U.S.-made ones, said experts here at the Automotive News China Congress. "Not the huge Tundra we are just about to roll out from Texas," said Yoshimi Inaba, Toyota Motor Corp.'s executive vice president for China. China's huge rural population now relies on bare-bones minicars and minitrucks priced between $3,000 and $5,000. Sales of those vehicles amount to about 800,000 a year. Foreign carmakers have not tried to compete in that segment. They have concentrated instead on the booming urban market for larger cars. "The urban elite has pushed cars in front. But as rural areas develop, there is no doubt that a market for pickups will develop," said Michael Dunne, president of Automotive Resources Asia Ltd., a Beijing consulting company. Pickups from Thailand "will be the next step up" for rural Chinese buyers, Dunne predicted. Thailand is the world's second-largest producer of pickups as well as the second-largest market for them. The United States is first. In Thailand, pickups are used by farmers and small businesses to bring products to and from farms and cities. Toyota's Inaba generally agreed with Dunne. He said there is still some debate whether those buyers would trade up to a bigger car or stick with a more rural-use vehicle such as a pickup. But, he said, "When the income goes up a little bit, I think there will be a very good market for pickups."

GM to launch Red Tag year-end sale Saturday By JAMIE LAREAU | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS AutoWeek | Published 11/16/06, 3:57 pm et Link to Original Article @ Autoweek DETROIT -- General Motors will start its year-end clearance sale, called the Red Tag Event, on Saturday, Nov. 18. The sale will run through Jan. 2 and include all brands except Cadillac, Hummer and Saab. The Chevrolet Corvette and Pontiac Solstice also are not included, GM says. The sale is similar to the promotion GM ran last year at this time, spokesman John McDonald said today. "What a consumer will see is a Red Tag hanging from the mirrors," McDonald said. "It will list the MSRP and then the price the consumer will pay after the incentives. The dealer decides how much the discount will be." The discount could range from nothing to $2,000 per vehicle. The program covers 2006 and 2007 models, McDonald said. It also includes most existing incentives on vehicles, so a vehicle could end up with more than $2,000 of incentives on it. GM employees get a maximum discount of $500, said John Rogin, owner of John Rogin Buick in Livonia, Mich. "We asked them to start it early this year," Rogin said today. "Why have a customer stand around in the middle of November and not buy a car because they're waiting for the end-of-year sale?" GM sent notices to dealers about the sale today, McDonald said. He would not discuss specifics on how the program works, but dealers say each dealer will get a certificate worth $250 for each vehicle in inventory. The dealer can apply up to eight certificates, or $2,000, on any one vehicle. "If the Buick Lucerne is turning quickly and doesn't need any incentive money, then a dealer could take that certificate money and put it on a 2006 model or some other vehicle," Rogin said. Dealers have until Friday, Nov. 17, to tell GM the vehicles on which they plan to add the incentive money, Rogin said. He said he has 10 2006-model vehicles left in stock and likely will use many of his certificates on those vehicles. GM has just over 1 million 2006- and 2007-model vehicles in inventory, McDonald said. He said 80 percent of those are 2007s. GM likely won't spend all its incentive money -- about $250 million -- because dealers won't sell every vehicle they put the money on, said Gordon Stewart, president of Stewart Management Group in Harper Woods, Mich. "(This sale) is a little confusing, to say the least," Stewart said today. "I wish it were more clear and didn't have so many twists to it. The simplest incentives often work the best." Stewart said he'll likely put most of his certificate money on his 2006 models. GM plans to advertise the sale aggressively in print and on TV, radio and the Internet, McDonald said. He said GM will advertise the sale through the respective brands with the same tag line as last year's promotion: "See some red, save some green."

Nice Impala MAXX Nice Optimaxima.

Armadaesque roofline. Still looks like crap. In other words, China should stick with building dumb little boxes like this.

This is probably not true if this car has been to Otis Ford.

Aurora - 111,000 Bonneville - 117,000

Except for the following list...

Seems to suffer from the weird cab-forward design of the Titan. Different? Surely. Tasteful? Contestable. Attractive? Hardly.

Reminds me of the '97-'99 Fleetwood Limited, which was simply a stretched DeVille with rear vanity mirrors, better center console, and footrests.

This sounds like a Top Gear challenge...

Fort Wayne workers celebrate redesigned GM pickups Associated Press Link to Original Article @ DetNews Workers attach fenders to a new truck on the line at the General Motors Corp. assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Ind., Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006. Workers and managers celebrated the early rollout of GM's redesigned full-sized pickup trucks from the plant. FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Workers and managers celebrated the early rollout of General Motors Corp.'s redesigned full-sized pickup trucks from its Fort Wayne assembly plant. The company launched production of its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks 13 weeks earlier than first planned after spending more than $200 million on machinery and facilities at the plant over the past two years. The factory's 2,900 workers hope the trucks will be a big seller and help them avoid the layoffs that have hit other GM plants amid the automaker's sales slump. "It means a lot to know we have a successful product that goes out, and it is not only a successful product for Fort Wayne but for the area," said Walt Halley, who works in the plant's body shop. "I think it looks real good and the people make it a success." Wednesday's celebration included showings of the five Silverado television commercials featuring John Mellencamp's song "Our Country," which has received heavy airplay during NFL, college football and World Series broadcasts. The employees applauded each of the commercials and praised the new truck design. "I think it is awesome. I think it is the truck of the future," said Cammy Perkins, who has worked on the motor line for more than a year. The Silverado and Sierra trucks are GM's best-selling vehicles, with pickups comprising a quarter of the vehicles built by the company, said John Schwegman, a GM marketing manager. The Fort Wayne plant is the first one to start building regular- and extended-cab versions of the Silverado and Sierra and a full-size hybrid pickup. The redesigned trucks also are to be built at plants in Pontiac and Flint, Mich., and Silao, Mexico, beginning next year.