Windy-57

In an ideal world, none of these brands would need to be paired up. As much as it can be, Caddilac should be stand alone and that includes dealerships. But, if you have to put something with it, I guess Hummer is the best option. But Saab just doesn't belong. But that doesn't mean it belongs with Saturn any better. In fact, no matter how I think about GM's brand structure, Saab just doesn't seem to fit in the US. Seriously, can someone please explain it to me?

I actually kind of like the Routan. The thing that bothers me is that it's a symbol of when VW actually had a decent future product plan. As I recall, this was part of Wolfgang Bernhard's plan to end VW's failed experiment as a near-luxury brand and bring some every-man vehicles to their lineup. But since he's gone and that idea has passed, the Routan will just be a misfit in a crappy brand. Oh, but rumor has it we're getting the Phaeton again...I guess it didn't do bad enough last time, so they're bringing it back for more.

Much better than I thought it would be. When I heard that they were considering a GMC version of the Holden Ute, I was afraid, but this doesn't look like a car with a bed. Personally, I'd rather see this come to the States than the G8 ST.

+1 It actually looks like a composit of a number of current vehicles: Headlights - Edge Hood dipping into grille - Camry Roofline & spoiler - Veracruz Color - Enclave BTW, in the pic above, everything from the c-pillar back looks very awkward. If I were a Toyota Executive, I'd be embarrassed.

I was afraid that a Cadillac Theta would end up looking like this. It's not bad and there's plenty of room to make it more sophisticated when they get rid of the concept cues, but it's overall shape can't help but be Saturn Vue like. I love a lot of what GM has been doing, but getting rid of the idea that Cadillac has its own platforms (Next STS/DTS is moving to Zeta as well) is a mistake.

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about this. While I think that getting this out somewhat on time is very important, if they need to delay a 1/2 year, that's fine. It's more important to get it right.

The next step is to find a consolidated, consistent system that incorporates all of a car's digital features, sort of like Ford's Sync. If GM could streamline those things along with OnStar capabilities, that would be great. Also, I know there are a number of cars that have on-board hardrives that can store music and play them by the touch of a button, but do any have video file capabilities that can play on rear-seat screens?

It's a great sign that they have shifted their thinking from, "How can we sell as many as possible right now?" to "How can we sustain the profitability of this vehicle line for years to come?" The old thinking led to a lot of GM's current problems, high incentives, high fleet sales, low resale values, thin product mixes and the list goes on. The new thinking and restriciting supply is much more than a way to keep "buzz" around a vehicle, it's a way to lower incentives, fleet sales, increase resale value, build brand equity, etc.

Yeah, but that's not the focus of the car. If you want a supercar with a great interior, then you're looking at Ferrari and Lambo, but if you want a car with all the performance at a lower price tag, then you want a ZR1. With that in mind, the interior sort of takes a back seat and should. It would be very un-Corvette if they jacked up the price another $40K to make the interior outstanding. To me, this thing is pretty awesome. Enough is different that you'll know it's a ZR1, but you'll also know it's a Corvette. I also love the fact that the spedometer goes to over 200 mph...nice touch.

Because the younger people who joined under the old contract pose the highest long-term cost liability to GM. You can buy them out now and hire a new batch under the new contract that pays a lot less.

Wow, that's a lot of discussion over the cruise control. A couple of thoughts: This is something that probably should have been included, but honestly how often do you really use the cancel button on your cruise? More importantly, if they had to go to this to find stuff wrong, then the new bu is doing alright.

Yeah, I can't wait to see this. Looks like the big lower air dam will keep it from looking too much like a Saab.

The front overhang looks shorter (good improvement) As mentioned, the rear doesn't look as boxy (hard to tell), but still looks good The biggest thing to me (and it could just be the white and blurry pic) is that the line below the door that was so pronounced before looks to be very dulled. I'll reserve judgement until I see it in person, but hopefully that line is still there and prominent For the record, I'm drooling too.

Well, I don't know about that, but I think the point is that this is exposing people to the idea of core competencies. Toyota can have the greatest system for testing, but if they don't know what to look for when testing a truck, then it's not going to do a lot and they're going to end up with problems like this. Toyota gets so much credit because there are a ton of people who are driving Corollas and Camrys with 200,000 miles on them (rightfully so). But the domestics don't get that same credit for the drones of people who beat the crap out of their trucks on a daily basis for 200,000 miles and up. Why, because they had a relative weakness in quality with their cars. Previously, Toyota didn't have that weakness since the last Tundra didn't really have to stand up to the usage of a real fullsize pickup. Hopefully this will lead to the realization that the domestics don't suck at building vehicles, but rather focused on a much more difficult challange of building great trucks and just ignored their cars for a while - to their own detriment.

Here's a link to Autoblog with the pic. http://www.autoblog.com/2007/12/10/breakin...ion-chevy-volt/ I know there was a lot of concern when they said that the Volt would change its appearance, but I think this looks pretty nice. Seems a bit Saab-esque, but is definitely sexier than the Prius. Thoughts, other observations?

Gotcha, that makes sense. Still, I get the feeling there will be much debate over this if the laws aren't written with provisions for vehicles like this or hydrogen.

I guess I'm OK with this. I like that they're making it part of the G8 family...not sure why, but I do. The only thing that troubles me is that this is an indication that Pontiac is moving toward a muscle-car performance brand. But, that's going to overlap some of what Chevy does. They should have just made an El Camino for Chevy if they really wanted this car and focused Pontiac on being more of a sport performance brand. They already had a good start with the Solstice.

First, let me say that this is horrible. But, given the culture (and the fact that they have a word for this...yikes), I don't think Toyota is the only Japanese company to have done this. Still, this is the type of stuff that gets a lot of media play when you're "#1".

I was skeptical of this vehicle to begin with, but after seeing these pics, I'm starting to come around. It looks like it has a longer bed than most SUTs; that will make this vehicle very versatile and useful. I could see GM getting rid of the Canyon in favor of this. Slightly more upmarket which opens room for the Colorado to do more volume and it would give GM a chance to do the vehicle right the first time instead of having to fix the Canyon and change buyers' current perceptions. Also, with the direction GMC is going (more CUVs), Hummer seems like it is the more credible brand for this vehicle.

This is a bit off topic, but I've wondered, what is going to happen to economy rating when cars like this and the Volt are on the road? Particularly, with all the noise about stricter mpg ratings from the government. Technically speaking, the Volt is capable of using no gas at all, or rather, having an infinite mpg rating, correct? So, couldn't you make the argument that with one Volt in your lineup, you'll meet any mpg standard? I know that's not going to happen and would be a loophole at best, but my point is that if the new laws are set with mpg standards, how will they enforce them in a world of electric vehicles and series hybrids?

Thank you!!!The only time a name really matters is when it becomes an icon like Corvette or if it becomes synonymous with something bad like the Yugo did. In fact, it should have to be a pretty extreme situation to change a name because it screws with the buyer. So, don't rename the CTS to CT5 because the CTS has a pretty strong following and is getting a lot of press lately and they'll lose a portion of that momentum by renaming it.

Great news, now keep it up with the next Cobalt, Equinox and the all-awaited-for Camaro. The writeup on the Tundra is troubling though. I mean, how many things need to go wrong with that truck before people start to wise up? It's not the best truck on the market...period. Yes, it's probably the best truck ever from Toyota and has closed the gap a bit, but saying this is a better truck than the F-Series, Silverado and Sierra is just dumb...unless you want a truck that snaps camshafts and has the tailgate fall off, then I can see.

Agreed. That's sort of my point, so long as the domestics keep the segment moving and truly continue to push themselves, then Toyota will have trouble catching up and will need to spend a ton of money to do so. Further, by staying ahead of the game, the domestics make it harder for Toyota to sell Tundras which, in turn, makes it more difficult to justify the investment. But, if the domestics get lax, then they leave room because Toyota will try again.On another note, I thought about this some more last night and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how big of an screw up this is. I mean really, plowing wasn't part of developmental research for a pickup?? That's just dumb. If I had to guess, Toyota focused too much of their research around Texas (which sort of makes sense, but still) and not enough in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

OK, I think this is a great example of how the media works. There isn't necessarily a bias against anyone, but rather, all writers are inherently storytellers. The story for a long time was how the domestics were messing up and how the asian brands were growing at a crazy pace. It was sort of like watching LeBron in his first few years where he wasn't the best yet, but was very impressive. That story was told long enough until Toyota passed GM in global sales earlier this year (briefly). At that point, it got old to praise their every little effort; much like it got old to make a big deal out of LeBron scoring anything less than 50 pts. Now, the sports media bashes him if he's not awesome every night out. So my point is, Toyota has been put in the place of the juggernaut and they are getting it stuck to them at every sign of weakness because no matter what the context, it's always a compelling story to tell people about the underdog beating up on the giant. So I ask, is the xD really any less of a vehicle than the other offerings from Scion? To me, it has much better styling that the xA. There are still positives to tell about the xD like how Scion is the best brand in the industry at attracting young buyers, but that story was only good to tell when Toyota was the underdog on their way up. They've always been crappy, cheap vehicles from an absolute standpoint, but you didn't hear about that until now because it hasn't been as compelling of a story as it is now that Toyota is expected to do everything right.

Good to see that they can think outside the box on this and give GM credit for 2 key things: 1. Breaking new ground with the dual stage - a hybrid that gives fuel savings on the road. 2. Addressing fuel economy in cars that need it the most. Also, I too was a bit sticker shocked here, but keep in mind that these are top-notch SUVs with the latest hybrid technology available. Compare that to the Prius which, if you disregard its hybrid system, is a POS compact that should have a base MSRP of about $13K, but in reality starts at $20k.