Robert Hall

I wonder if those #s included fleet sales for each or real sales only..

Gas is $2.89 here today and will probably be at $3 by the weekend (Denver). I expect it will be above $3 and stay there for sometime..

I suspect the Yaris will be in the US as a Scion or the Echo replacement eventually...the old Yaris 3dr was sold in Canada as an Echo...

Pontiac cut the Aztek, Sunfire, Bonneville, and Montana (the old Montana carried over for '05 after the SV6 was added). Buick cut the Century, Park Avenue, and Le Sabre (the Regal was cut for '05). GMC cut the XUV and Safari. I forgot the Torrent and G6 coupe...

The RAV4 greenhouse reminds be of the Tribeca... the Yaris interior is so minimalist to be depressing...

Well, Buick didn't have a RWD V8 model at all for about 7 years... (last Roadmaster was '96). And isn't the Rainer AWD only (or is there a RWD version for the Sun Belt states?) Interesting... Pontiac cut 5 models for '06, Buick 3, and GMC 2... 10 models cut from PBG for '06 and only 2 added....

I got the new Car & Driver and Road & Track in the mail today..both have Solstice test drive articles.....the Solstice is on the cover of R&T and C&D has a Solstice vs. MX-5 article also..

Yeah, I love the driving-across-a-bridge photo...looks great in read (and I usually don't like red)...and the green...wow..

Yes...that is a big dissapointment..one of joys of sports car ownership is the weekend getaway with the GF/SO/wife... my girlfriend & I love taking late spring/summer/fall weekend getaways to the mountains (Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, etc), and usually take my M3 or her 330Ci convertible...lots of fun driving up in the mountains with the top down...3-series have enough trunk space for a couples' soft luggage. If we go up in the mountains to do mountain biking, though, we take my Grand Cherokee or her Wrangler to haul the bikes.... Then again, GM built Corvettes for decades without useful trunk space, so maybe the lack of trunk space won't hurt sales much.. the 5-speed was dissapointing, though (why not a 6-speed manual?)

Agreed...if I lived in one of those markets, I'd have the same type of cars as I have now in Denver--RWD primary and a 4WD SUV to go in the mountains occasionally.... (snow and off-road). Then again, there seem to be a ton of FWD cars in the LA area and SF Bay Area.... obviously, it's not just the FWD aspect that sells so many Hondas and Toyotas..

The Cobalt is fine for what it is...I wouldn't buy one, but it's adequate for a rental car...

It does snow in the mountains in AZ and CA.. :) I know what you mean, though... I live in Colorado and winters are very mild (some snow in the high country, but limited nasty weather here in Denver). The US population growth has been shifting to the South and West for quite a while now. GM is still predominantly playing to the Midwest, IMHO--not where the growth is happening... The big league 'premium' brands all are predominantly RWD (Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, MB, Jaguar), but other than Chrysler's LXes, the old Ford Panther-platform cars, some Cadillacs, the GTO, and the Mustang, the domestics have nothing to choose from in RWD today for less than $40k...unfortunate...

Similar cluster shape, different detail...the Q45 has those neat circular rotary dial phone-style openings on the larger light...

Americans like obesity...that's why GM is spending zillions on new giant GMT-900 SUVs and not on compact SUVs... :)

The Magentis is the next generation Optima, I assume...based on the Sonata... the US version (still called Optima?) will probably be built in Alabama with the Sonata, I suspect...

Hah-hah... M-B is playing to the core Stones demographic--aging baby-boomers. I'm looking forward to seeing the Stones again..saw them in '03 in Vegas..they still rock, iMHO...

Not really...the 130 is a 5dr 4-seat hatchback, the Z4 coupe will be a 2 seat sports car...different realities.

Check back in a year...maybe something then.. :)

So that size in sq. feet measurement is length x width? I would think curb weight would be a better measurement for classifying vehicles, since obesity is one of the big factors in poor gas mileage...

Their Astra and Vectra appear to be based on the previous generation models with some changes.... the Omega appears to be a Commodore. The Montana appears to be a ute version of the Corsa...interesting. I wonder what the Celta is..doesn't look like an Opel or a Daewoo..a .home grown variant? Not sure what the Classic is...

Looks pretty nice...interesting details...the headlight clusters remind me alot of the previous Grand Cherokee.

Hmmm...maybe GM is working on an aggro off-road package for the Colorado. I remember they had something 15-20 years ago with big tires, etc for the S-10...'Baja' or similar?

One of the things I do miss about living in Michigan are the mules/prototypes you can see on the roads, day or night... When I lived in Ann Arbor in the mid-90s I saw all sorts of interesting prototypes around town and on the U of M campus....late at night, I'd see strange prototypes with Mfgr plates outside the main Engineering building...things like undisguised Renault diesel vans (idling in the lot at 2 am), the C5 Corvette (slightly disguised in fall '95), European Fords, etc... not to mention all the cool cars in the Car & Driver and Automobile magazine parking lots.. (I would cruise through C&D's lot off Hogback Rd at least a couple times a month to see what they were testing..) I do see an occasional prototype doing high-altitude testing here in Colorado occasionally, though--I saw Monaro coupes (and Commodore sedans) 2 years before the GTO came out--crusing through a mall parking lot in broad daylight--with Chevy badges and Michigan mfgr plates, the Nissan Armada 6 months before it came out, an AMG CLS 65 and AMG R-class Merc recently, etc...

Yeah...I missed your original post (I read the thread from the bottom up...) :)

Wasn't a previous generation years ago of the Equus based on an older Merc E-class? (or was that the Hyundai Chairman..). Yes, Equus means horse...BTW, there was a rather strange movie with this title made in the '70s with Richard Burton.