Windy-57

Well, GM absolutely needs a car like this, I just wonder why an HHR companion doesn't take its place. You're right, this car does hurt Pontiac's "Performance" image, but don't forget that Pontiac is in the process of losing a lot of sales volume right now: Torrent is going to GMC, Montana SV6 is dead and the GP is being replaced by the undoubtedly higher-priced, lower-volume G8. That leaves the Vibe, an aging G6, low-volume Solstice and the rebadge known as G5 to carry the load for dealers. In time, I would hope to see the Vibe (or its replacement) make its way to GMC, but for now, its a necessary bridge.

Yeah, I think I'd like that too. Tough to tell though; I saw some spy pics of the new bu about a year ago and it had mocked up taillights that were round just so that the mule was road legal. Right now the taillights remind me of a VW Jetta or Passat

Ummm...Insight. And the last time I checked, the Civic had a full hybrid version...as well as the Accord?? On another note, GM has recently made a habit of under-promising and over-delivering. I wouldn't be all that surprised if they Volt arrived with a 50-mile range or more. They show it early and give specs to garner buzz and favor with the greenies, but not give true specs to competitors. Then still have something in reserve for when it arrives. Just a thought.

I know getting the next Humvee contract would be huge, but Jeep has done well with their image (save the Compass) and I don't think they build any military vehicles anymore.

The SRX is a bit out of date. On an absolute scale, it's not that bad, but there's too much competition in that market for it to seriously compete.

I have to disagree with you about the Yukon and Canyon. The Yukon is a pretty good looking vehicle. I didn't particularly like the headlamps they used, but they aren't that bad. This model is still class leading and I don't expect anyone else to challenge them here for a while. As for they Canyon, they should either keep it or get rid of the Colorado as well. Chevy doesn't share this model with any other brands, so they'll take whatever volume GMC can give them. What they should do is focus on the interior. People don't just buy compact pickups to have a less expensive truck (the work truck versions of the 900s are pretty cheap) but rather, to have a less expensive truck that actually has some amenities.

Yup, LWB

Sorry, I don't mean it looks junky overall; I actually love this thing. I just agree that it would look that much better without all the extra badging. The clean, simple design is in...for example, look at the way Apple packages things...very clean.

This interior is pretty nice. It does have some real issues and it isn't going to be class leading, but you have to remember that it wasn't too long ago that Hyundai was a solid generation or two behind GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Chrysler in a lot of aspects, primarly styling; they are making up ground.

I don't usually get this picky, but you're right. It looks junky. The only badging this should have is the Caddy logo, the CTS letters and the V-Series should get the V badge. If in the future they have a hybrid model, maybe that gets a hybrid badge, but that's it. It should good enough that it's a Caddy...and it should go without saying that it has great features.

They shouldn't suffer on the highway like others do, that's the whole point of dual-stage. These will mostly run on 4 cylinders while cruising and be able to instantly transfer back to 8 when going up hill or passing. I've heard a lot of rumblings about this and other platforms. A little bit of speculation, but the feel I get is that GM is going to put them on the 900s and Lambda and see how they sell and then decide on other structures. With that in mind, I've heard loose information about dual-stage versions of Zeta, GMT360 replacement and even Theta.

I have a sneaking feeling that if you're disappointed at how far the H3T is from the concept, you're not going to be too happy with the H4. There is no way it will be anything like the dune buggy vehicle we saw.

This is turning out to be one of the more interesting contests in the U.S. auto market. Yes, it's important who gets here first. I still think there is a limited market for hybrids and every day that one is on the market without the other, the market for the latter gets smaller. I also think it will be interesting to see how the marketing of these vehicles will play out. So far, word out of Toyota has circled around the 100+ mpg argument, whereas GM is opting for the "no fuel used" (within a 40 mile range) argument. Which one will resonate with customers better?

I could maybe see this on a DTS. The Brown is more of a quiet elegance which fits Buick whereas Caddy is supposed to be about decadent luxury. Caddy will do good to stay with more Blacks and Silvers...Reds too. I could see a Navy color being used for both.

Good call on this being on the LaX and Lucerne and being Buick exclusive. Also, this is a great piece of market research...you need to do more of this GM. You didn't look at Lexus and say, "That's what we need to do." you just went out and trusted yourself.

Right on. As the market becomes more competitive, GM can't get away with stuff they used to. Still, I don't think it's vital that GM has a dominant A-car for the U.S. It would be nice, but not necessary. Their main areas of need are improving the Impala, Malibu, Cobalt, and Equinox and then defending their trucks as best as possible. And to my previous point, the only way they will be able to have competitive vehicles smaller than the Cobalt (Aveo and Beat) is to import them.

Not necessarily. The new Malibu is bigger that the model it is replacing and the next one on the LWB EPII will be even bigger. SWB EPII should be close to the same size as the current Aura.

Good points. Some additional thougths: #2 is affected by #1; #1 makes it tough to make business cases for low-margin vehicles. They are working on #3 and are making serious strides toward truly leveraging their economies of scale - now if the critics would just give GM a break and not complain everytime they import a vehicle. And, you mentioned that their global success is partially to do with entering new markets. Very true, but there's a flip side to that...it's tough to defend market share as new, strong competitors enter your established markets ala North America.

Wow, there's a lot of negative things being said here, but I think it looks pretty good. It does look a bit BMW-ish, but that's good, it's supposed to be an import fighter. And what is this nonsense about needing this sooner? The current model went on sale last year, 2010 puts it on about a 4-year cycle which is actually a bit fast and didn't the current model just win the NACOTY?

I disagree. We're talking about cars smaller than the Aveo that are in the range of the Smart fortwo. These cars make sense in Europe where the roads are more narrow and space is rare. They also make sense in large US cities where it's tough to park and the streets are crowded, but the bulk of Americans drive on highways and I dare you to drive a Beat at 80 mph next to an H2. No amount of styling will change that. And as for why GM would show vehicles in the US that weren't designed for this market...easy, they're testing the waters and gauging reaction, that's half of what they get out of auto shows.

The primary reason they do this is to have it fill fleet sales. They don't want this new model to be fleet heavy because fleet sales can hurt resale values.

I don't know what they're smoking, but it wouldn't matter anyway, the naming of this model went to a vote. Tiguan was actually a group decision. I don't really think there's that much wrong with the Tiguan. The main problem will be price. VW can't figure out that nobody gives a crap that it's "German Engineered". That doesn't justify a price premium...silly Euro arrogance. They should have stuck with Wolfgang's plan to get VW's costs back in line and bring the brand back to it's roots of being an affordable transportation provider to the masses.

True, but let's not assume that Camry and Accord buyers don't shop at all either. This model stacks up in other ways that will attract buyers. Let's not forget how much better the interior of this thing is.

Here's a thought. GM is supposed to have the Volt ready by 2011, right? What if they put a Volt system (or something like it) on the majority of their vehicles? How to do you evaluate the mpg of a car that doesn't use gas for the first 40 miles? I know that's simplistic and there are a million reasons why that won't happen, but my point is, there are 15 years until this takes place. Given the number of technologies being explored, will gas mpg even be a relevant standard by then?

I've read a couple of things on this topic about whether GM has the money to do certain things. Yes, there certainly is an absolute limit to how much GM can spend, but they certainly have enough money to invest in a mid-engine Vette, they'd just have to choose that program over something else. And, that decision is made based on expected returns. So it's not fair to say that they can't have the money when they don't have the money to invest in minivans. A $100K+ mid-engine Vette would play in a field that GM currently doesn't. It would rival the exotics in performance, but not in price. The question left is how would that affect the current Vettes? I think that's the center of most of the debate here. As for the minivans, the issue is that it's going to take a lot of money to be competitive and the returns in that market are ever-decreasing. Further, they're already catching (and can catch more) of that market with crossovers. Here's a question. How would everyone feel if the mid-engine car we're talking about was called something other than Corvette?