Northstar

I don't see any problem with it. If I could have any car under $30k right now I'd more than likely pick an '06 GTO (I have an '04 GTO now).

The GTO is a good idea, depending on what you want to spend on gas The Sky RL would be a bit more affordable in that respect.

GM should hire whoever did the Tundra ads, I think. While I don't much care for them because of the obvious BS in some (falling box that by the laws of physics could not be stopped by a Tundra) they're bold and aren't afraid to say anything. GM needs something like that for the new Malibu (comparing it to the CamCord). For instance: the Camry in Chevy showrooms is a start, but the ads must be just as bold. If the Malibu gets better mileage, say "Camry and Accord get X MPG, you wanted X+Y, and we gave it to you." "You wanted a little flavor to go with your ice cream, so we didn't give you vanilla." "You wanted a 6-speed auto with your fuel-sipping engine, not 5-speeds like the competition." etc etc. Target the CamCord directly, show why the Malibu is better, don't say for instance, "The Malibu gets an impressive X+Y MPG" and fail to mention that the CamCord gets only X, or "introducing the stylish new Malibu" without showing how damn bland the CamCord is, or "available with a 6-speed automatic to save fuel" without mentioning the CamCords only have 5-speeds on their 4-cyls. The latter statements I made would be the current Chevy marketing, and the first statements need to reflect the new. The same thing should be done with all of GM's commercials. Why do none of the Lambda ads mention how they getting better MPG than the Pilot? Why are the T900 ads so inoffensive to anyone (unlike the Tundra commercials)? Why are the Aura ads still "we are the nice folks at Saturn and we're passing our trophy around do everyone" and don't communicate that Saturn is a newly reborn brand with different, competitive products? I thought Saturn is "like never before" but the ads are still the touchy-feely "we're nice here" kind. The Camaro damn well better lay the smackdown on the Mustang, too. No sissy BS that doesn't target the Mustang at all, though I'm sure it will. An idea just popped into my mind, actually: What if the husband is going out to pick up his new Mustang, and says "bye honey, I'm going to pick up my new car," and while he's gone wifey goes and picks up her new Camaro (which husband doesn't know about)... (this next part is hazy, not sure exactly how it would be done) Somehow both cars are in the garage at the same time, and the Camaro scares the Mustang $h!less (perhaps the Mustang "pees its pants"). Then the voiceover says something to the effect of, "don't you want your muscle car to... ______________?" (don't know what to say exactly, but I think considering I'm not majoring in marketing the marketing people could figure something out if I've shown this much creativity in one post).

Nice job, though you should have steered him towards the GTO (if he could find one) h There's a guy at work looking at Sonatas. It's going to be tough to get him away from it, I fear. Big discounts and long warranty. I told him to look at the Aura, but he said he didn't really like it, perhaps it was too stylish (see below). Perhaps I should suggest a Fusion, but I think that would probably have a bit too much style too. We were sitting in the truck eating lunch when he was talking about what sort of car his wife wants... he said it must be very bland, meaning: (these are his words) 4-doors, good gas mileage, cheap, vanilla styling, good reliability, can't be too flashy.

If I don't give a crap (which is 95% of the time), the GTO gets 14 in the city. 20 on the highway is about the norm. When I do give a crap and drive similar to an old lady in her Buick, I can actually get surprisingly good mileage. I went to the mall over the weekend and I had just filled up and wanted to see what type of mileage I could get. I got 18 MPG on the way there (about a 15 minute drive with numerous stoplights). On the way back, I didn't care and the average went down to 14.

An Enclave in "auto show color" (Mocha?). Looked good, though I like the silver and red ones I've seen better, I think.

The xD sucks, the xB swallows.

Could be the G6 refresh, it appears it lost its dip under the mirror though? I would have thought that would have been rather expensive to change. Perhaps not.

An XLR in bright red. Didn't know they made them in that color. Looked awesome.

I would much rather have the XE have the 2.4 and six-speed. The people buying 4-cyl Camcords don't care about the extra power, and would much rather trade it for improved fuel economy, something they get in the 4-cyl Camcords.

Probably the rental costumers that have to drive them.

4 x 6 cyl + 1 x 8 cylinder = 32.

Looks like the F-Series is feeling the heat from the T900s. Edge, Mariner, and Escape are all doing well.

A solid month. Nothing that made me say "wow" except for Impala sales (which could be fleet) and Acadia sales and a nice gain as a result. Saturn is disappointing, the Aura and Outlook are still below 5k/month.

You would think the G6 would be just as safe being on the safe platform, but perhaps the longer wheelbase is worse for side-impact crashes.

I know, I wasn't being serious either.

There already is a Pontiac version: Acadia.

The part about the Vue-based vehicle is certainly not true unless it is the Captiva or something from Europe that is already in existence, just not as a Buick in NA.

With the number of Chevy Lambdas they're planning to sell, I think a good number of them won't be over $40k. In addition, Chevy just attracts more buyers than other brands. Look at the Sierra and Silverado. The Sierra is probably preferred in terms of styling by most, but the Silverado outsells it by a huge margin. Same thing with the Tahoe and pretty much every Chevy vs. GMC. There will be loaded models, but the majority of the models aren''t going to be loaded. I worked at local Chevy dealer last summer and w definitely had a majority of non-loaded/highly optioned models. The bottom line is that it should be relatively cheap for GM to do and it will add a lot of volume if it sells as well as GM expects it to. It will make plenty of money, and just in case the Outlook and Acadia are starting to become slightly stale, it will give GM another great entry in the exploding crosssover segment. GM doesn't care where the sales go, so long as the other three don't suddenly stop selling when the Chevy comes.

Usually the salespeople around here aren't too bad. When I was looking for a car for m aunt though we were at the Ford dealer to see if they had any Edges, and the salesman ran out waving at us as we were drivin through the lot, said "nice car! are you looking for a new one or is mom?!" We told im we were just looking and proceeded to drive off after he gave us his card. I threw it away at the next stop.

Why does anyone want it to be 5-passenger? The Equinox takes care of that. In addition, if the Chevy is priced at $25k, how is this going to cannibalize a whole lot of sales? If the base Chevy is $5k cheaper than the Saturn counterpart, it's going to attract different buyers simply on price. GM wants to do a very, very high number of Chevy Lambdas. The number about 4/5s of that of how many Malibus they want to sell; therefore, I say it's not starting at $30k, but more like $24k.

Well, I guess they'll be plenty of first-time buyers and owners of the Tundra, assuming it has attracted some first-time Toyota buyers.

My dealer got an XE in a few days ago. I'm going to see if it's still there tomorrow and if they got in any more.

Waiting a few years? That's a pretty old car by then without any warranty left. You'd be better off buying something newer with a warranty, I think.

An Outlook at one corner, and at the next, an Enclave