Flybrian

Now, to make things clear, I'm not saying that buying an Altima would be on the same level as joining the Taliban, selling secrets to the Soviets, or turning in the Son of God, but their pictures are there, and...well...so is yours. Just think about it.

Your forgot R1, L3, L2, L2, X, O, UP, TRIGGER UP, R2, DOWN, LEFT, TRIGGER LEFT, RIGHT, DOWN, R3, TRIANGLE, R2, X, O, O TRIGGER DOWN, SQUARE, SQUARE.

Such a beautiful car (and fastest in the world) and shows what GM can do when it puts its mind to it.

He used the Saturn OUTLOOK as his base.

He couldn't hear you, 91z. He had his ears on moot.

So was the Navigator, but could you tell?

You know, these could get replaced by something better suited for a changing market. The EXT/XLs don't move well anyway and GM got by for nearly two decades with an S-10-based Blazer/Jimmy/Bravada. Yes, they were a little smaller than the GMT-360s, but what else rode the 360 platform? GM could certainly afford spawning a new generation of midsize SUVs off another pickup platfom... Just saying...

Don't know why the car was designed without these in the first place... Oh yeah, $20 for a set of two including s&h.

A Chevelle and Monte Carlo coexisting today as independent models is foolish.

I don't know why people are thinking this and articles like it are saying that the midsize truck-based SUV will disappear because it won't. However, its glory days are clearly over. Looking back on 2000-2010, we'll see that the weakling and redundant SUVs will simply go away. There will always be a Trailblazer, Explorer, JGC, 4Runner, Durango, and Pathfinder no question, but how many of the others will stick around in their present form? 'Others' meaning Mountaineer, Envoy, Armada, Sequoia, LX470, Commander, and Aspen.

I can't wait for the new Curved Dashes to come out.

Around here, some dealers command a $2000-3000 markup.

The likely reason why... Buicks an' multispokes are down fo' shizzy.

Yeah, but I really don't care.

Welcome to Sketch Competition #5! If one brand of vehicle symbolizes American opulence and culture, it’s Cadillac. And of all the bodystyles automobiles come in today, the one that best represents individualism and freedom is the two-door coupe. Two-door Cadillac coupe – what better match is there? In fact, some of the most legendary Cadillac models have been coupes, from the fin-bedecked Coupe DeVille of the late 1950s to the Eldorado line. Today, the two-door market has shrunk incredibly and the segment once presided over by luxurious ‘personal coupes’ has been annexed and divided up by compact sports cars, hatchbacks, and ridiculously expensive exotics. Where is the lust-worthy yet attainable coupe for us to dream of, the car that shows other we have arrived? Its on your sheet of paper. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to sketch a new Cadillac coupe. Your sketch should include at minimum 2 (two) of the following: -3/4 Front View -3/4 Rear View -Interior View Remember, people will be voting based on the overall presentation of your entry, so the more views, the better, including ones not specifically listed above. Aside from 800x600 size guidelines, remember this must be a Cadillac-branded vehicle and also a coupe. Its size can be whatever you would like it to be, from smaller (BLS) to intermediate (STS) to large (Eldorado or beyond). Whether you take the sportier route or a more luxurious stance is also up to you. There is much to take inspiration from in this contest. Some beginning places include… Many generations of Eldorados Current Cadillac lineup The winner will recieve a Cadillac-related prize! Deadline is Saturday, July 8th @ 11:59PM your local time. Good luck!

UAW says over 33,000 GM, Delphi workers take buyouts Thursday June 15, 6:43 pm ET By Kevin Krolicki At a news conference to mark the end of a four-day union conference, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said 25,000 General Motors and 8,500 Delphi Corp. (Other OTC:DPHIQ.PK - News) workers had taken the early retirement incentives. "I think it's going pretty well," Gettelfinger said. "I think it's a little better than we initially expected." The number of blue-collar workers who accept the early retirement incentives has been closely watched as an indicator of the success of GM's turnaround efforts. --------------- Link to full article @ Yahoo! Finance/Reuters

Detroit's Midsize SUV Problem It's not just the mammoth SUVs that are suffering. The once-powerful midsize segment is also dwindling as gas prices rise and boomers age ------------- In the 1990s, NASCAR dads and soccer moms ditched their minivans for hauling kids and groceries and flocked instead to mid-sized, truck-based sport utility vehicles such as the mega-selling Ford Explorer and Chevy Trailblazer. That was great for Ford (F) and General Motors (GM), who minted money to the tune of $6,000 to $10,000 of profit per vehicle depending on incentive. But the cultural and financial tide has turned against these balky gas guzzlers much faster than any of the companies' forecasts had predicted a few years ago. Both GM and Ford until recently had two assembly plants apiece churning out the SUVs. They each have gone down to one, each able to produce 300,000 per year at peak. But they're not even bullish on that half-market. Ford is on track to sell fewer than 200,000 Explorers and nearly identical Mercury Mountaineers this year, with sales down 28% through May. Explorer sales peaked at 446,000 as recently as 2000. GM will strain to sell 260,000 Trailblazers and near-clone GMC Envoys, Buick Rainiers, and Saab 9-7s, down from last year's level of 380,000. How the mighty have fallen. ------------------------ Link to full story @ BusinessWeek Online A good article that shows the precarious situations the Explorer, TB, Mountaineer, and Envoy are in and recounts the utter failure of GM and Ford to keep their minivans relevant.

We kind of knew this because the Grand Am/G6 market is quite lucurative and cheap to build for.

Chrysler. And you say that, but... Full Article @ Imperial Pages (A good read!)

If you get a Milan, can you drill out the taillamps and relocate them about five inches lower? Then you'll have the only Milan that doesn't piss me off.

Heh. Party time! No, its a good list for the most part. S80, well, that's expected. DTS should be there, too, since the Buick is. Odd to see the LS since its gone. Trivia - a Dodge Charger SE with a 3.5l and stability control is cheaper than a base 300 with the 2.7l and no stability control. About $1500 cheaper.

I dispute the Lincoln Town Car being that high since stability control isn't even an option. What's up with that?

Wrongola. Oldsmobile used Super like Pontiac used SE, SLE, SSE, SSEi, as a trim designator. Buick used it like as it would Century and Roadmaster, as the model. Buick Super was a full-fledged model from 1940 until 1958 when it was supplanted by the Electra. Olds' Super Eighty-Eight ran from 1951 until 1964. Since Super was used as a designator/trim level of the Eighty-Eight model, and the Eighty-Eight nameplate's continued use '65+ after the Super moniker was dropped, and the coexistence of the Dynamic Eighty-Eight (1958-1966) as a trim designator for a 'base' Super Eighty-Eight, I would give full rights of the name to Buick. Plus, who has ever talked about their "1957 Oldsmobile Super" as opposed to "1957 Buick Super"?

New York Times editorialist Thomas Friedman's recent piece attacking and accusing General Motors as being a major contributor to our dependence on foreign oil by analogizing that, among other things, the automaker is like a "crack dealer." These inflammatory comments have raised the ire of many here and on web communities like ours elsewhere. If that weren't enough, the Times refuses to print a rebuttal from General Motors unless it tailors it to the Times' wishes, removing among other things, the word 'rubbish' and 'irresponsible' as they are "not the tone we use in Letters." Really? 20th Century Fox, producers of The Omen, may have a bone to pick with you as another editorialist, Stephen Holden, described that horror film as "rubbish." Don't take my word for it, click here and scroll towards the bottom to see for yourself. But more on point, I would come to understand the pretense of Mr. Friedman's argument a bit more if it weren't so contrived. Where, Tom, were you in September of 2005 when Mitsubishi began their Gas Comes Standard program that provided buyers of new Mitsubishis with gasoline cards worth between $1500-2500 depending on the vehicle's EPA mileage rating; the higher amount, of course, would be for the gas-guzzling V8-powered Raider pickup truck. Perhaps in your search for his-and-her Toyota hybrids, you passed by a Chrysler dealership and noticed large banners advertising their Free Gas for Two Years on select 2005 and 2006 models, or maybe listened to a Ford ad earlier this month promoting their Drive on US incentive that offers free gas for 6 months on nearly all Fords, including their very thrifty Expedition and Explorer. And car dealer franchises have been running free gas deals for years. I could surely scan and show you ads from Clearwater Toyota, Kuhn Honda/VW, Autoway Lincoln-Mercury, Crown Eurocars, Ferman Nissan-Hyundai-Suzuki, Lokey Kia, Stadium Toyota, Saturn of St. Petersburg, Lexus of Sarasota, and dozens of other lots in my neck-of-the-woods that have been giving away gas in amounts from tankfulls to 100 gallons to 1000 gallon gas cards. But as an esteemed journalist, I'm sure you're aware of it. And your assertion that a Toyota buyout of GM would be a saving grace must be tongue in cheek because there's no other way to take it. We'd be better off driving 14mpg Sequoias instead of 15mpg Tahoes? Even if all of this nation's automobiles were miraculously switched to 40-50mpg hybrids, it would temporarily slacken the rope around our collective necks, but it wouldn't untie it and set us free. Our continued dependence on imported petroleum is not the fault of one company, nor any one body. It is merely the result of decades of American lifestyle, poltics, and foreign and domestic policies that have led us up to a point where many in this country cannot handle the rising costs any longer. So, I look forward to reading a real, thought-provoking editorial by you, Mr. Friedman, that outlines the causes that led up to our troubles today and real solutions we can all work towards to see a way out. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening, at least not from you, especially in light of the piece you wrote yesterday as a rebuttal to a rebuttal that wasn't ever printed. I haven't read it yet because I feel a $49.95 annual subscription charge to TimesSelect could be better spent on 93 octane, but more so because I think it will just be another pile of rubbish. Oh. I probably shouldn't say that. How about 'crap'?

Please do explain how what GM did is any different than Chrysler giving away gas for a year or Volkswagen giving away 1000 gallons of gas with every car or truck purchase?