smk4565

The Accord is a perennial C&D 10 Best and Automobile All Star, and it's sales volumes over the past 25 years speak for themselves. The Camry is for sure not the best car in that class, Altima is pretty good, 2010 Fusion looks promising, Malibu looks nice on the outside, but the Accord is still the gold standard of family sedans. And Honda has the best resale value of any brand, people trust Honda. GM needs to get people to believe their cars will last forever and not break down. The G8 is not as good of a driving experience as a BMW, it has straight line speed, but so do a lot of cars, like a Mustang GT for example. The G8 just isn't a good enough car, otherwise it would sell. I do think the CTS's DI engine would do well in the $25-35k segment, however the CTS's DI V6 is not as refined as BMW's inline six, so I'd like to see Cadillac get a better engine. I could tell when I drove the CTS they used a lot of sound deadening around the engine to try to isolate the driver from the lack of refinement and engine noise, in the 5-series you don't feel as detached, you're more connected to the road, the engine note is better, it revs freer, the engine is just amazing. What the Genesis did was allow Hyundai to sell more Sonatas, Santa Fes, etc. It is a halo car that works, unlike many of GM's halo cars that aren't generating sales across the brand. If Cadillac had the S-class and not Mercedes, I guarantee that sales of all other Cadillac models would rise. Brands need focus, a constant image and a true halo car, GM brands lack that, and will always lack that as long as there are 8 half assed brands rather than 3 excellent ones. February auto sales may be even worse than this month, and since government money is the only think that will keep the lights on until 2010, they better come up with a plan, because I don't think they'll get another bailout check f sales drop 50% again and Wagoner's response is "we are weathering the storm while the market readjusts"

But Pontiac's are cheaper and they dropped 60.5%

The Sonata interior is just as good as the Malibu's or Fusion's. The Accord is still best in class, but the Sonata isn't 3rd tier. And their V6 is 249 hp, and 19/29 mpg, which is pretty good mileage for a V6. Not that I'd buy one, but they give you a lot for the money. G8 tried to be the budget BMW, and no one cared or believed it, and why did GM launch it with an unrefined V6 in the first place, or a cheapish interior? Why not get it right the first time out? They should have never compared it to BMW, and GM needs brands that have their own unique identity, not with the goal of being a cheap knock off of other brands. Buick shouldn't be a poor man's Lexus, they should be Buick. Cadillac should be Cadillac, not part BMW, part Lexus, at a discount. BMW and Mercedes never compare themselves to any other brand, they only continually push their image. Honda does the same thing, they have focus. GM should be Chevy, Buick, GMC (for commercial trucks, vans, fleets) and Cadillac by the end of 2009. Everything else they make is a drain on the company, and Buick should be on a very short leash. Personally I thought Buick was dead in 2006, and I am not sure it is possible to save them, but I think GM should have something between Chevy and Cadillac.

I have always said GM should make rear wheel drive cars. Although I think importing the G8 from Australia is a half-assed way to do it, they should have designed something from scratch like they did with the original CTS, but for Chevy/Buick use. I also think GM should build more small to medium rear drivers, rear drive cars don't have to be full size or over 4,000 pounds. If they build the best car in the world, they'll find customers, if they build mediocre and try to sell the deal, they won't. They need to start advertising cars and not mentioning price or discounts. What Hyundai did right is build an excellent car that was able to change the perception of their brand, and got people to look more closely at Hyundai and see the value in their cars. The Santa Fe, Veracruz and Sonata all have pretty good interiors and powertrains and are priced lower than comparable Japanese brands. Plus the long warranty and assurance plan, I can see why Hyundai is a growing brand.

The Fit and Civic are good products, the Cobalt and Aveo are not, so it isn't surprising at all that GM's small cars are getting killed. That is what happens when you put all your resources into full size SUVs, and don't invest in small cars. Pontiac down 60% means they are dead, too many underfunded brands that GM can't afford to keep alive. Saab didn't even sell 1,000 cars, it is time to cut down to 4 brands, and hope they can rebuild. If they do nothing, GM won't be around in 2 years. Hyundai looks like they get it, the Genesis worked, it legitimized the brand and now people are willing to consider and even buy a Hyundai.

I think future BMWs are going to look better, even if sales went up while he was there, I don't think it was Bangle's designs that were causing it.

I've logged about 75k miles on the Aurora V8 with a K&N filter, I never had any bad experience, any performance gain is probably negligible though.

I've seen the CSX before, and it is terrible. The TSX is ok, since they don't sell the Euro Accord in this country. And they adapted the Euro-Accord to fit in with Acura's US lineup. I see that as like the Sky and Opel GT, the car works in both continents. CSX should tie though, that is why Acura is a low level luxury brand and will never compete with the big boys.

It will be like the Libery-Nitro clones, but with Grand Cherokee and Durango. And body on frame SUVs aren't going to save Chrysler.

I don't think they should dumb down cars, but they should fit the American market if they are sold here. For example, the GTO was not available with a sunroof, when almost every $30k+ car has one as an option at least, many have that standard. GM designs cars for specific regions, like the Impala for the USA, Astra for Europe, G8/Commodore for Australia. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc design their cars to work everywhere in the world with subtle changes to fit a market. Such as options or equipment or a 2 liter diesel for the European 3-series.

Buick sales were down in Asia by 15.8% in 2008, they are losing traction there almost as fast as they are in North America. Although what is really sad is Cadillac sold 187,000 units worldwide in 2008, when Audi, BMW and Mercedes sold 1 million. Cadillac needs help fast before they become the next Saab.

Buick owners don't want something that handles like a Vette or M3, otherwise they wouldn't have bought a Buick. If Alpha can't surpass the current M3's handling and performance abilities, there is no point in even making the platform.

GM just needs to stop bringing over cars from other countries thinking they will work here. These cars aren't designed or tailored to the American market, and it isn't like the Opel Omega had an S-class type reputation. The Catera, GTO, G8 and Astra were all duds, yet they keep remaking the same mistake. Rebadging in the 80s and 90s killed GM, yet in the 2000s, they did the GMT360 clones, the Uplander/Montana/Relay/Terrazza, G3/Aveo, G5/Cobalt, Torrent/Equinox, Chevy/GMC, etc. I don't get why GM keeps doing the same thing, expecting a different result.

Buick doesn't need the Alpha platform, the Alpha Cadillac is going to have to handle like a Corvette to rival the next generation 3-series that will hit the market before Alpha does. Delta II Buick should be like the Jetta in size and equipment and price, but not as firm of a ride. Regal is a true midsize, make it nicer than a Malibu, competes with top end Camry, Passat. It won't have that many direct competitors because the TSX is smaller, Avalon is bigger, but that is a good thing I think. LaCrosse is their full size and 3 cars is all they need.

I think they should call it the Buick LaSalle Concours de Elegancia. And add a "Brougham" to that name for the sedans with those canvas/vinyl roof things.

Alpha was delayed until around 2014, I don't think Cadillac will survive that long without it, but oh well. I've always thought Buick should get smaller cars, I'd hope for upscale version of the Cruze, rather than another Astra import. Importing Opels and Holdens is not working, they don't fit the American market, and we often get them after they were on sale over seas for a couple years and are a little dated by the time they get here. We don't need to keep reliving the Catera, GTO, G8, Astra mistakes.

Perhaps not, so there is no need for this engine in a Buick then. But isn't awd offered only with the 3 liter? The 3 liter awd is 0-60 in 8 seconds, so they may care about that when an MKZ is 6.5 or so.

True

They have the awesome and rugged HHR.

The A8 was never offered in front drive, they are all Quattro standard. It shares a platform with the dead Pheaton and the Bentley Continental, no one is going to tell me the Bentley Continental is a front driver with it's 600 hp, 12 cylinder. That is a rear drive style platform, engine and transmission set up with a permanent awd system. My original point was that the 320 hp turbo V6 in a front driver with an awd system is fine for a Buick that is just trying to keep 0-60 under 7 seconds and compete better with Acura or Lincoln (or the Taurus SHO), but it isn't a performance car, or worthy of the GNX name or anything like that.

They lack a minivan also, and some people just need a van since they have more space than an SUV does. More customers for Honda I guess.

Cobalt sales have been bad, in 2004, the Cobalt was thought to be GM's small car savior and it wasn't. Now they are saying the same about the Cruze, so we shall see what happens. The Cobalt just isn't competitive enough, even with high gas prices and now a down economy when people might look for a smaller and less expensive car it isn't selling. Interesting that they are laying off people at the Enclave-Acadia factory, so I guess the Enclave is not such a hot seller after all.

Uncompetitive and poor image models get a bad reputation so they have to change names. Changing names leads to consumers not being aware of what the car is, so sales drop. It is a catch 22, stick with the bad image and lose sales, or change names and lose sales. I would guess that the majority of people now have no idea what a Chevy Cruze is, even the first 6 months on market few people will know what it is (kind of like the Astra), yet you can go almost anywhere in the world and they know what a Toyota Corolla is.

Not enough people want a performance Buick, especially a front wheel drive one. A turbo 3.0 V6 could be useful in the LaCrosse since it is large and even with the 3.6 DI posts a 6.9 second 0-60 time; the turbo model could get that down to 6.3-6.5 seconds to attract those who want a little bit of performance and prevent those shoppers from going to Acura or Lincoln. Also since it seems that AWD isn't offered with the 3.6 engine, they could offer it with the turbo engine.

Audi has a longitudinally mounted engine (this is transversely mounted), therefore the weight balance is close to 55/45 in the A4 and A6, and the A8 is a rear drive car. Audi's don't perform as well as a BMW. My mom drives an Audi, I've driven it, and some BMWs, and the BMWs are far superior in driving dynamics, it isn't even that close really.