Northstar

You have to pay a $695 lease assumption fee if it's GMAC. I was looking at GTO lease takeovers but decided they weren't so great of deals ($199 a month was one, one was $205) when they only had 10 months left and the $695 fee made them like $270 a month. Over two years though the $695 will only set you back about $30 a month.

Oh my... Not only does he advertise but he's not even smart enough to put it in the lounge. Banned.

If that's what you want, it seems like a good deal to me.

Umm, Corvette, Z06, Camaro, Zeta Impala. Pontiac doesn't need to appeal to everyone. BMW sells tons of cars and expensively that are all RWD. Pontiac just needs to be a cheap BMW and they'll sell fine.

Cool, I wouldn't mind painting mine, but I think I'll just get 2005 OEM brakes when mine wear out.

This was going to happen all along until Wagoner got GMNA straightened out. Now he can just focus on doing the CEO tasks and not both. I don't know if Troy is a car guy.

GM names Troy Clarke as new North America president Reuters / May 30, 2006 DETROIT -- General Motors on Tuesday named Troy Clarke to head its struggling North American division, taking over day-to-day operations from CEO Rick Wagoner who has been leading the unit for the past year. Clarke, president of GM Asia Pacific since 2004, returns to Detroit after a two-year stint in GM's fastest-growing market and in time for crucial 2007 labor contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union. Clark, whose new appointment will be effective July 1, served as GM's chief negotiator during previous round of contract talks with the UAW. GM is struggling in North America, where it is battling to stop a slide in market share and to cut its high labor and benefit costs. GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005. The automaker is in the midst of a sweeping restructuring, which includes shuttering 12 plants and cutting 30,000 jobs in North America to return the region to profits. "While much work remains to be done, we have reached several significant milestones in our turnaround plan over the past year," Wagoner said. "This is the right time to turn the region's day-to-day operations over to Troy, who has the experience and skills to help lead the (North American) team as it continues this unprecedented restructuring." David Reilly, President and CEO of GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. in South Korea, will replace Clarke as president of GM Asia Pacific, GM said. GM also said on Tuesday that Vice Chairman John Devine, who announced in December that he planned to retire this year, would leave the company on June 1.

I think that just means they're going to share the platform. The platform should be fine for the GTO as it's basically the same wheelbase as the current one (slightly longer).

Pontiac: Nothing but rwd cars? GM proposal plays up performance cars in attempt to revive ailing brand Jamie LaReau | Automotive News / May 29, 2006 http://autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?...1/1003&refsect= Pontiac plan GM officials will unveil a rwd concept vehicle for Pontiac at the 2007 Detroit auto show. To revive the brand, GM also is considering: - Fielding a lineup of all rwd cars - Replacing the Grand Prix with a higher-priced sedan - Replacing the GTO with a vehicle built on Camaro architecture DETROIT -- After debating Pontiac's viability this year, General Motors' leadership plans to revive the brand's heritage of performance with a product lineup of exclusively rear-wheel-drive cars. There would be no trucks and - after the next generation of vehicles - no front-wheel-drive cars either. GM will unveil a rwd sedan concept at January's Detroit auto show, company sources say. This echoes the strategy that GM adopted with the 1999 Evoq concept, which revealed Cadillac's new brand "look." The Pontiac plan is not final. GM executives continue to build a business case for it. This ambitious proposal is a plan to save the brand, which has suffered declining sales. GM sold 437,806 Pontiacs in the United States last year, compared with 599,123 in 1995. One insider says it would take five years to convert the brand to rwd. That's why Pontiac will get one more generation of fwd and all-wheel-drive small cars. A Pontiac spokesman declined to comment on the brand's plans. Fwd cars will not go away soon, but rwd vehicles will become more prominent "in the near term," the spokesman said. Sources inside GM and close to Pontiac say GM leaders are debating: - The future of the Grand Prix sedan. - A possible GTO replacement based on the Chevrolet Camaro. - A Firebird muscle car. Not so 'damaged' In recent years, Pontiac has been wracked by debate over its future. During a controversial speech at the New York auto show last year, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called Pontiac "a damaged brand." In a recent interview with Automotive News, Lutz said he had never asserted that the brand was "irreparably" damaged. While Pontiac is still struggling, GM is repairing the damage, and the bleeding has stopped, Lutz says. Nevertheless, sources say top-level GM executives did debate a phaseout of the brand. In January, senior executives met to discuss Pontiac's future. GM decided to revive Pontiac as a pure performance brand. GM will trim product lineups as it consolidates Buick, Pontiac and GMC into three-brand dealerships under its retail channel strategy. In a recent interview, Lutz told Automotive News that Pontiac and Buick will not carry trucks. Lutz declined to speculate whether the Pontiac Torrent crossover, a rebadged Chevrolet Equinox, would one day go to GMC, but industry sources say it's likely. The strategy will force Pontiac to sort out its product plans for the Grand Prix. While GM hasn't set a time frame, it's likely the automaker will discontinue the current incarnation of the fwd Grand Prix after the 2008 model year, industry sources say. GM is considering a new mid-sized rwd sedan to replace it, says an industry insider. The source says the vehicle will be "one notch up" from the present Grand Prix, which has a base price of $21,990, including shipping. Whether that vehicle keeps the Grand Prix name is uncertain. A rwd lineup could give Pontiac performance credibility, says John Pitre, general manager of Motor City Auto Center in Bakersfield, Calif. "They're right on track with the performance division of GM," he says. "BMW has been born and raised on rear-wheel drive. For us on the West Coast, rear-wheel drive feels better to drive and seems to last longer." But Pontiac's drive to become a pure performance division would sacrifice sales volume, predicts Doug Scott, industry analyst at GfK Automotive in Southfield, Mich. For example, many G6 buyers in northern climates want a front-wheel-drive car for winter conditions. Scott also said GM is pressuring dealers to combine Buick, Pontiac and GMC franchises into single stores by cutting the brands' product lineups. "They really want to narrow the range of products and narrow the sales objective," Scott says. It means sacrificing sales volume at dealerships for profit at corporate level. "It's forcing the channeling strategy," he says. Like a Camaro Pontiac brand executives hope that if GM builds the Camaro for Chevrolet, the architecture could provide a similar product for Pontiac. The previous generation of GM muscle cars included the rwd Pontiac Firebird, a sibling of the Camaro. But Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson is quick to add, "We want a truly differentiated product. We don't want a rebadged vehicle." Company insiders say that if GM decides to build the Camaro, GM will not revive a Firebird version. "There will be no Firebird," says one source. "Rear-wheel drive? Yes. Pony car? No." Dealers also want a replacement for the GTO, one of only two current rwd Pontiac cars, the other being the Solstice two-seater. Pontiac will kill the Australia-produced coupe this fall after just three model years. Insiders say there will be a replacement for the GTO, but the product gap will remain for a couple of years. Says Pontiac's Hopson: "We haven't made any bones about the fact that Pontiac needs a rear-wheel-drive performance vehicle." ------------------------------------------------------- I'm glad GM has finally realized what Pontiac's niche should be. It sure took them long enough. I have a feeling that if Lutz didn't come on board Pontiac would be six feet under by the time this all comes to life.

Wow, that's pretty bad. The janitor at school committed suicide after a standoff with police. He was always happy and would greet you with a smile and a "what's up?" or "how's it going?" when you came in to school, but apparantly he had some family problems.

Yes, but there are still quite a few aging products and it seems trucks other than the T900s are really feeling the heat from high gas prices.

I think as Croc said you have to be 18, but it doesn't hurt to ask. One job the dealership I might work for was hiring people for was follow-up service calls - basicalyl checking in on how the service went and making sure the costumer was satisfied. I didn't really want to do that though.

The Mustang GT is actually underrated for the #'s it makes on the dynos. The ones you've run into probably don't have the best drivers. I don't think I've seen numbers for auto GT's though, so maybe they're significantly slower.

Hmm 95 miles on a quarter tank... that might be possible if it's all highway miles, but I'm guessing my tank is bigger than yours (18 gal) so it wouldn't be as good MPG. Are you sure you don't want to race? My taillights look better in person

Big Three sales fall in May Rising interest rates, gas prices cited for keeping customers away from auto showrooms. Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News May is shaping up to be another lackluster month for Detroit's automakers, as rising interest rates and gasoline prices turn some shoppers away from dealer lots. While sales results will not be released until Thursday, some dealers have seen demand decline slightly over the past few weeks. "It's been a little slow," said Steven Zehnder, sales manager at Zehnder Chevrolet-Buick in Frankenmuth. Wall Street also is taking a dim view of the month. Brian Jacoby, an analyst with Goldman Sachs in New York, expects a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate of approximately 16.1 million units in May, down from the 16.7 million pace reported last month and in May 2005. "Soft retail sales, particularly at the Detroit Three, are the main reason for the decline," Jacoby said. "Sales should continue to look strong at both Toyota and Honda, given their new product launches." Toyota recently launched the Yaris compact and Camry sedan, while the Honda lineup has expanded with the Fit compact. Himanshu Patel, who follows the industry for J.P. Morgan in New York, also is expecting a year-over-year decline, predicting that sales will fall to 16.3 million units on an annualized basis. Analysts expect General Motors Corp. to lead the decline, with a drop of between 10 and 14 percent compared to the same period in 2005. Sales at Ford Motor Co. are expected to fall between 6 and 8 percent for the month, while DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group sales are expected to be down about 5 percent. Continue reading: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...70370/1121/AUTO

I don't think non-pre-production starts until Nov., but I could be wrong. I think that shot of the Outlook looks pretty good. I can see why some people don't like it, but I think it looks very unique and techy.

That looks really big for an Accord (almost looks like it was based on a Phaeton to me) but it is a big improvement over the current one. However, I think it looks a little bit too much like the Civic and TSX and I don't know if it will look that fresh by the time it gets here. It's a 2008 MY, correct?

That's great news! Now come down and race me, you can check out my new taillights during the race

You could just ride the Nighthawk to work until you get some money to buy a car. It would get great gas mileage, too.

Umm, I realize it's missing a lot of pieces, but that center stack doesn't look like it's going to be very attractive. At least it's not terribly bland, but I have to ask, what was Chrysler thinking?

I don't like silver surrounds either, but I think the blacked-out look looks really good on black and silver. Black because it blends right in and silver because silver and black contrast each other very well. To each their own...

I think what's going to happen is the Buick Zeta is going to be the next Lucerne, thus Invicta is not needed.

Thanks for the compliments. Oh, and Croc, about those old tails... well I think I'm selling them for about $100 so I guess I can't give them to you for guessing my license plate

Well today I got my 2006 GTO tail lights in the mail and installed them. It took about 5 or so minutes to take the old ones out and put the new ones in. Anyways, here's before: One black light and one red light: And after:

Moved. It would be interesting to see what the numbers would be with the Performance Package (the 18" wheels they were talking about) but overall the numbers aren't too bad considering it's at the end of its lifecycle.