Northstar

And notice that none of them are driving around Impalas, Malibus, or Cobalts, either. LA and California in general does not reflect the general buying public everywhere. Here in the midwest, American cars are more popular. Also, do you really think Chevy needs 8 sedans as you said before?

They're going to make them both at Delta Township and Spring Hill.

You're taking my quote as "a 40 year old is more likely to buy a Buick than a Chevy" when what it really implied was "a 40 year old is more likely to buy a $40k Buick than a $40k Chevy." Would you buy a luxurious 4 door sedan? Currently, you drive a somewhat sporty 4-door sedan that is not at all luxurious. You seem to be more interested more in speed than luxury to me. 40 year olds looking for luxury are much more likely to buy a $40k Buick than a $40k Chevy. In the professional world, a Chevy is laughed upon, but not a Buick. I know quite a few people who drive Buicks who probably have enough money to buy a Cadillac, but like the understated-ness of the Buick and would never be caught dead driving a Chevy. For example, I know a lawyer who drives a fully loaded Lucerne (even has NAV). He also has a Corvette (not your typical Chevy, so don't pull that one) and a Denali. He's plenty rich (has a house in Flordia and Michigan along with multiple boats) and he would never buy a Chevy. He might buy a Cadillac if Buick was killed, but there are other people who don't want the flash of the Cadillac.

I didn't think about that, but I don't see why 40 year olds wouldn't pick a Buick over a Chevy for the same price.

Looks pretty good I think. I've seen those taillights somewhere before, but I can't figure out where.

People don't research cars as we here on the forums do. They would wonder why there are two Chevys the same size sitting in the same showroom. They wouldn't realize that one is for performance enthusiasts and one is for everyone else. So you want Chevy to have 8 sedans? You just proved the point that there is a need for Pontiac and Buick. There's no need for 8 Chevy sedans. You say you want more engineering money for Chevy, but really you just said to convert the Pontiacs and Buicks to Chevys... so where is your extra engineering money? The only vehicle you eliminated by killing Buick and Pontiac is the LaCrosse and you added the Caprice. So really you end up with the same number of vehicles. You obviously think there is a need for these sportier and more upscale platform mates of the Chevys, but you just don't want them to be called "Pontiac" or "Buick."

No, the Alpha car could not find a spot at Chevy. It would create too much confusion anywhere besides Pontiac and Buick, and it doesn't really fit in at Buick. The Impala SS is going to be performance-oriented, yes, but re-read what I wrote and notice that I said there are people who want something more performance-oriented but not the big engine. The LS, LT, and LTZ aren't going to be performance oriented, they'll be rather boring to drive, I suspect. No one who wants a $40k Buick buys a Chevy. They'd either go to Chrysler for the 300 or somewhere else. A Caprice may bring in more buyers, but it's not going to bring in Buick buyers. Another key difference between the G8 and Impala is size. The G8 is on the SWB Zeta and the Impala is on the LWB Zeta. I expect the Impala will probably be 10 inches longer than the G8.

A Lambda doesn't really fit Saab, IMO, though neither does the 9-7. Saab doesn't need an SUV any bigger than the 9-4x. Saturn still isn't selling well on a sales-per-dealership basis. Too many dealerships is not necessarily a good thing, either. Pontiac and Buick stores are closing because there are too many of them. There are lots of brands that sell better than Saturn on a per-dealership basis. Saturn should at least be able to match Lexus, meaning the Aura should be selling a lot more than 4k/month. Do you happen to have a breakdown of the number of dealerships per brand?

Let's see... Impala SS... W-Body = no performance aspirations Monte SS... see above TB SS... fast, yes, but it's a heavy SUV Cobalt SS... the only one that really is very performance oriented, but it's a small, cheap car. Nothing at all like a muscle car. Silverado SS... a truck, not a muscle car Did I miss anything? None of the current SSs are like a GTO, Alpha car, or G8. The next Impala SS and Camaro SS would be similar, but they're still downmarket, IMO. Plus, there are people who would like a vehicle that isn't top-of-the-line that still handles great and performs well. The Impala isn't going to be sport-tuned because it needs to appeal to a wide audience in non-SS form, while the G8 can be sport-tuned in all models. There would be no other division that didn't have a Lambda besides Cadillac. That is a very risky proposition seeing as how the new Saturns aren't selling very well.

Notice that now that Olds is gone, GM is moving Saturn into that market to fill the hole left. Now Saturn is going to be marketed as the import fighter because GM doesn't have anything else to fill that hole. Killing Pontiac would cause a similar problem, because there would be no performance brand. Where is the cheap Alpha car going to come from? Saturn? Isn't that going to cause confusion with the next Aura, then? If it came from Buick, I suppose it might be a bit smaller than the LaCrosse and make sense, but that's not really Buick's image/target image, plus how much cheaper would it be than the Cadillac Alpha?

According to what definition of a Pontiac is a Holden with a "Chevy" engine not a Pontiac? What makes a Holden with an LSX any different than a car designed as a "Pontiac" from the get go with an LSX engine? Because it was a Holden first and designed to be a Holden makes it not a Pontiac? Please give me the definition of a Pontiac. My definition of a Pontiac would be: - RWD - Performance oriented powertrain - Clean, sporty styling - Great handling - More upscale than a Chevy The GTO fits all of these points and does so very well. There's nothing remotely similar to any Chevy sold here, besides the "Chevy" engine (which, BTW, is really a Corvette engine if you want to get technical -- not your everyday Chevy engine). The only thing any division of any company is is simply a marketing name. What makes a Chevy a Chevy? What makes a Buick a Buick? What makes a Lexus a Lexus? It's all relative to where the product is sold. Here in the US, a "Pontiac" is very similar to what a "Holden" is in Australia. Riddle me this: What difference does it make if GM markets the car named "GTO" as a "Pontiac" or as a "XYZ"? It doesn't matter one bit, except for the image "Pontiac" is supposed to convey. For example, "Buick" is not trying to convey the message "Pontiac" is trying to convey, and therefore the GTO would not work as a Buick, but it works perfectly marketed as a Pontiac. A Chevy is conveying a whole different message, as are all the other brands. All of the brands are simply marketing divisions, but deciding to kill the marketing divisions named "Buick" and "Pontiac" doesn't make any sense because if you try to sell the cars that those two marketing divisions sell as "Chevys" buyers would become confused and wonder why the new "Chevrolet Lucerne" does not at all fit their idea of what a Chevy is... killing a division is dumb because GM still needs to market to everyone, and killing a brand takes away a certain group of people to market to.

I would expect it to have at least 380HP in the smallest size. A 4.6L with the same HP/L as the 3.6L would have 385HP, and a 5.5L would have 460HP.

The LS1 is not 350 ci :AH-HA_wink: Closing down the other brands would do more damage than giving Chevy more money to make better products would. Chevy only appeals to so many people. Toyota doesn't have the problem of unions, heath care, etc., bogging them down. There's nothing wrong with keeping Pontiac and Buick around if they're only going to have 3-4 models each. That's not hurting Chevy very much.

There's no such thing as a GTO with a 350 under the hood. If GM killed all brands besides Chevy and Cadillac, sales would fall significantly. A lot of GMC buyers would go elsewhere (I think Sierra buyers would likely go to Toyota, Yukon as well) and very few people who buy a Buick are interested in a Chevy. If GM makes Pontiac into a RWD-only brand, there's a viable reason to keep it. There's no need for Chevy to have a midsize FWD car and a midsize RWD car. That's what Pontiac is for, and it would cause a lot of confusion for Chevy to have both FWD and RWD midsizers. Buick could possibly have a midsize RWD car, but it doesn't have the somewhat sporty image that Pontiac does. Killing all those brands would cripple GM. Do you have any idea how much it would cost to close all those dealerships and assembly plants? The price paid to employees per vehicle built would skyrocket as at least a million less vehicles would be sold and GM would still have the same set costs. GMNA would be dead as we know it. Captain Bob and Admiral Richard wouldn't be rearranging the broken deck chairs, they'd be calling the Coast Guard because their ship capsized and had 5 minutes left before going under.

Ugh, it's pretty ugly. At one time the Aveo pretty much owned the sub-compact market, now it's being owned.

How are you only getting 20mpg? Sitting and waiting a lot, or driving the hell out of it? I can get 18.5 mpg in the GTO in city-only if I drive it like a grandma and it weighs 800 more lbs and has a performance camshaft that really loves gas. As for the Compass, I have seen very few around here, but it is selling a bit better than I expected it to.

That's not uncommon even today...Cobalt and G5, Acadia and Outlook, Equinox and Torrent, Tahoe and Yukon, etc., all share still doors, sometimes with different cladding, sometimes not.

I think so, but I am not positive. They are in an administrative position, and therefore their job is not to actually do most of the work, but rather make sure the work is being done and done well. Take for instance the CAO (accountant) of GM. he is most likely not actually figuring out many numbers and such, but rather overseeing many other accountants who are working on all sorts of different things. They then have to report to that person and ask him questions if they have any. Then he will answer them, etc. The VP of design would be the same, I would think. Welburn is most likely not designing a car, but rather making changes to perfect other designs that have been presented to him.

What sort of buffer do you have? An orbital buffer won't remove much of anything, you need a much more powerful buffer to take out scratches. I'm assuming that's what you have? What compound do you use with it? Congrats on the new car. N-Body's aren't bad but nothing great, either. If nothing else it should be a pretty reliable car that's a decent car for a new driver to run around in.

Nesbitt is still the Welburn of Europe, I believe. Besides, I think the head designers usually aren't the ones doing most of the work, they're just tweaking them and helping the other designers usually. Welburn doesn't actually design GMNA's vehicles, he just signs off on the designs and helps out on them, makes sure they're going smoothly, etc. Zak should be doing the same, I think.

Sorry to hear you had to let it go. I hope to hold on to mine for a very long time.

The 4-cyl and 6-speed option is a mid-year introduction, it's not available at the start. I like how the hybrid's center stack color matches the rest of the area around it. On the cocoa/cashmere it looks out of place with a silver radio and the rest having no silver. I think the Malibu should do well. It's better than the Camry and I'd say will probably be a top 3 family sedan (Altima and Accord would be the other 2 in the top 3... in no particular order).

4100 lbs is probably with AWD.

I built a CTS on kbb.com a few minutes ago, and some of the options seem pretty dumb, unless it's just KBB's site. For example, a moon roof when you order the Luxury collection is cheaper than if you order the luxury level one and luxury level two package, even though level one and level two give you more luxury options. How can a moon roof have two different prices depending on what other options you get? Also, I just realized if you get NAV it's actually cheaper depending on what options you want. If you don't want NAV and get everything it has, it actually ends up being more... Premium Luxury collection includes lux 1, lux 2, wood trim, seating package, and moon roof for $8165. If you don't want NAV but you want all the other stuff, you have to pay $1000 for lux 1, $2025 for level 2, moon roof $1450, $2200 for the seating package, and both wood trim packages for $645, and you are required to get a $1000 radio upgrade with 5.1 surround sound (included in Premium Luxury collection) = $8320 without the NAV system. Very odd...

Cosign.