SAmadei

...and so the terrorists have finally won. No RWD, no sale. Its that simple. The Germans and Japanese will continue to provide good RWD cars, so I guess I'll have to get a bumper sticker for my 7 series... "I tried to buy American, but the Big 3 used CAFE as a cop out". When I buy my G8 GXP in a few months at a GM fire sale, I guess I'll have to put it in the garage and treat it like the early '70s end-of-an-era cars. I hope Lutz, Wagoner and PCS like their Studebaker-like legacy. I really have to stop paying attention to this soap opera. It's giving me an ulcer, and the results are going to be as predictable as a slasher film: more of the same FWD generics... a 30 year GM legacy... and America ain't buying them.

True, but sometimes you have to buy bargains when they are available... and Toyota seems to have the biggest piggy bank right now... definitely more than BMW. If Circuit City was selling 65" TVs for $25 this month, I would buy ten... even though it doesn't jive with my "residential business model" of saving electricity and space... its just too hard to say no to the upside of a big screen in every room with a backup in case of failure. ;-) The same thing for Toyota... they could bring SAAB back to profitability under the table using their current business techniques. It doesn't have to be a project closely associated with Toyota, but something held at a distance. They could sell it later when they fix it or when times are better. Worse case scenario, you value the purchase like Warren Buffet... for tangible assets... low ball GM and fix/disassemble/liquidate it as needed. At this point, for SAAB, anything is better than the General's current plan of immediate death.

Its the second best looking Buick since the '95 Riv. I thought the new Chinese Park Avenue was the best looking Buick since the '95 Riv... but granted, it doesn't look Buick enough. I don't see it... but it is closer than the F150 comparison earlier... the Buicks clearly don't have a bed. ;-) I see it in the interior, however.

I'm surprised Toyota didn't buy it.

No arguing with that, but Buick's presence is what paves the way for Pontiac... thinking dealer network, service/parts, marketing channels... for the younger set... and granted, I was thinking a lot more of pushing the Solstice and G6 coupe/vert than the G8... but make the G8 available, at least. Figure out which celebrities have the young people's eye and give them a Solstice or 50 cent's G8 in a big public display.

Sorry to nitpick... STS is NOT FWD... unless your AWD model drops its rear driveshaft on the highway. Sigma, Sigma, Sigma... is RWD. Why is this such a misconception?

The article doesn't say Tundra outsold the Ram in 2008, it says Toyota outsold Dodge, where Toyota mostly sold Tacomas, not Tundras. Plus Dodge had a bad year, with Dakota sales down and Ram buyers waiting for 2009's new model. Granted, it still sucks.

Thats why I prefer to look at sales like this... Brand Total Sales 2008 #1 - Chevrolet - 1,801,131 #2 - BPG - 781,541 #3 - Saturn - 188,004 #4 - Cadillac - 161,159 #5 - HUMMER - 27,485 #6 - Saab - 21,368 Also, the fact that GMC sells 367K of disguised Chevy trucks tells me that badge engineering still works to enough of a degree to continue doing it. After all, much of the public is so clueless that they think Oldsmobiles are still made, and so think Silverados and Sierras are totally different trucks.

Well, a few of the indigenous Chinese auto companies are showing off muscular sports cars, I think there might be some interest. In my experience, the Chinese are not the cultural wallflowers the Japanese are... they have the potent GTR as their idea of a muscle car. As long as there is testosterone, there is a certain degree of ego, aggression and "bad ass"-edness (for lack of a better term). A muscle car gives you an outlet for that, instead of joining the Triads... and is slightly less likely to land you in prison. ;-) Granted, the Chinese population has likely had the American muscle car era largely censored from popular media... so a little informative marketing will be required.

Just a stupid thought out loud... The Chinese (and to a lesser degree Indian) automotive markets are considered to be the biggest growth markets right now, and the Chinese are batty over getting the opportunity to get their hands on part of the vaulted American lifestyle... a Buick! Obviously, these folks are probably influenced by a long history of great Buick models, not the current crop of boring crap. However, they are willing to take what they can. If they have been exposed to that much American culture, is it a long shot to think that they also have been exposed to the muscle car culture in America? Wouldn't some people in China like to get their hands on a piece of that? At least a Solstice or a G8 would be closer in heritage to America's muscle car era than a Buick. So considering the relative ease of getting into the Chinese market (compared to the US or other wealthy, overregulated countries), perhaps Pontiac could see some salvation in becoming another global brand... even if its a global niche brand. Granted, there are some drawbacks... for example, having a gas guzzler in a 3rd world country, the competition from the Park Avenue or future competition from a Chinese bound Camaro or the timing... these places are getting hit as hard as we are financially. Thoughts... I'm donning my asbestos suit...

Yeah, but its a LOT truer with electric motors. If you look into the homemade electric car circle, you will see people making fairly fast electric cars with forklift motors rated at well under 100 hp... some as low as 10 or 20hp. I also would like to see this with RWD. Make a G8 with this drivetrain for less than 35K, and I'm getting in line.

WTF! The Beat was perfectly fine... why does _everything_ have to have 4 doors. Americans are getting larger, not smaller, and the rear seats in a lot of these things are useless! Yeah, the Fiesta is going to kill this thing because GM is still idiotic. Of course, IMHO, the Fiesta is still too long for a "city car".

If reasonably true to the original Beat, I'd buy one tomorrow. They better hurry up. I'm on the verge of buying a mint Festiva for my "city car". It'll be a tougher sell to me after that.

This is one of the big things that I worry about in GM's attempt to return to its prior glory. IMHO, I don't think GM is going to attract serious conquest buyers with great product alone. They need to beat Toyota and Honda on price, as well. That is with a low MSRP, not a high MSRP with a mountain of cash back incentives... that just confuses the customer, as well. I can understand simple taxes and law and I fix cars, computers, houses. I'm building my own solar PV array right now. However, I have no idea WTF GM is doing with pricing and financing right now. And guess what... its keeping me out of the showroom.

However, now that most plastic fendered Saturns are approaching 20 years old, I've seen a lot of them with shattered fenders... likely minor impacts to plastic that has been thermally cycled too many times. And since all these fenders are nearing 20 years old and I have to assume that GM stopped stocking them a decade ago, you aren't going to find a lot of quality replacements.

So the difference between a compact (Cobalt at 180 inches) and fullsize (G8 at 196 inches) is 16 inches? That's nuts. No wonder I have to argue with the rental car people when I ask for a fullsize and they give me an HHR or a G6. 16 inches doesn't make that much of a difference in fuel economy. It doesn't really make that much of a difference in parking. I don't even think that makes much of a driving feel difference. I imagine the general public couldn't judge the size difference if the cars were 20 ft away. Why even bother to have different platforms with a 16 inch size difference?

Love your review of the Sebring... I couldn't describe it better... I think the only things they get right with the Sebring is that the wheels are round and that it doesn't normally drive sideways. I am still pulling for Chrysler, though. I used to cheer for underdog AMC, as well. A history of beautiful cars of questionable quality. I've seen several new Challengers in person, and the car has great presence... I hope that the Challenger is still loved after racking up some miles.

And IIRC, that car became one of the fastest Trans Am's ever to do 190 mph on it's roof. Oops. It made for some entertaining reading, though.

Whats the part number for a 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP? I hate walking into dealerships... parts dept or showroom. It makes me feel dirty.

I don't believe there are enough people left from the Skyhawk demographic to support a small Buick... and I don't feel there is much of a market for "premium small cars" anyway... especially one with Buick written on it. Buick is the antithesis of the Mini, GTI, etc. With Pontiac at most Buick dealerships, this is an opportunity for Pontiac, not Buick. In other thoughts, I still thing the Chinese Park Avenue needs to come here... and I don't want to here about badge engineering... a Statesmen based Buick would get some serious press and would give Buick's image a kick in the ass. So, Buick would have Medium, Large and Supersize... just like fastfood restaurants. (Though I really do not feel the Statesmen is Supersize... but it sounds better than "Slightly Larger". Buick hasn't had Supersize since 1976.)

Perhaps the CTS should have been a little shorter, but not much. I do agree the STS should have been longer. It's mission should have been to phase out the DTS from the get go... if Caddy wanted to continue producing a DTS-sized car, the STS should have been stretched... like the Chinese SLS. I feel the idea that a larger DTS is slightly cheaper than the STS confuses customers. And the resale value on the DTS is horrible. I've seen 1-2 year old DTSes selling for 18K... that's a powerful argument against buying any large Caddy. IMHO, the biggest problem is that the STS-V has less power than the touted upcoming CTS-V and the informed public knew this... and soon the STS overall seems obsolete. Again, this is GM shooting itself in the foot because they got a big mouth and can't get a product to market in time to be relevant. In this case, it potentially could have sold cars (either STSes or CTSes that could have been pushed to market faster) before the credit crunch.

So GM is going to just give up selling the most popular car in Australia? GM has this luxury? Let Holden make Zeta derivatives for the next 25 years... like the mileage GM got out of the old B-bodies, and simply import a few to the US. There are plenty of people who would buy B-bodies today (With a LS2 or L76 and a 6L80)... twelve years after the last one fell off the Arlington assembly line. As someone else mentioned, its as simple as making it LHD, creating a plastic Pontiac nose and crash testing a few of them. This is not a huge expensive task, as Holden will already be paying for the R&D for the Commodore. If GM can't handle this easy task, it's doomed. I'll look forward to all of GM management hitting the unemployment lines. For a dead platform, it sure gets rave reviews in the auto magazines. Unlike the rest of the usual crap.

Can't wait until these start hitting the secondhand market. Unless, of course, they tightly control the sales of these... like UPS trucks... but I'd think that would be economically unfeasible... especially for the local police departments. In other thoughts... Checker's taxicab business used to be like this... but Checker died out in the '60s for a reason...

The incentives Cali gives out are relatively small. You seriously think people trading in their smoking junker for $500 is going to then step into a new car dealership? They are driving a car worth less than $500 because they can't afford a $1000 car, let alone a new car. This does not help sell new cars. Again, I don't want to pay for these junkers in exchange for pollution credits. The ONLY cars attracted by these programs are sitting unused because they are hopelessly broken and are NOT emitting air pollution or using gasoline. This is "green theatre" if we set up an aggressive CAFE requirements only to allow the car companies to defeat them. In many states, especially the northeast, cars worth so little that it would be worthwhile to scrap them for the scrapping incentives are already legislated off the road by emission inspections. Cars that score you a $140 ticket for non-inspection are not driven much. As a person who buys parts cars from time to time, I agree these programs destroy good, usable parts which are unavailable elsewhere. However, the price of steel is more of a factor here than any scrapping programs. Cali might give you $500 for your junker, but the scrapper will give you almost that much for a large car or truck. If GM was seriously going to try to use this to force us to buy new cars... just kill off the parts aftermarket business. The stealerships are required to stock parts for cars for 9 years, from my understanding. After that, you would be out of luck... that would dry up used car stock _real_ fast. And it would prod the American sheeple to activity.

Agreed and hence why the Insignia makes a better G6. Of course, this don't matter. The only Buick I would be remotely interested in would be the Commodore-based Park Avenue China got.