bowtie_dude

Do domestics have any choice in the matter though? At this point in time its either keep majority production in the US and bleed money to unions, healthcare, and retirement or move production to less costly countries where wages are much much lower.

Oh, I also saw my first Sky on the road. Dark blue, HAWT!!! Too bad I can't afford one.

I don't think they'll fade away. I think GM may move Pontiac away from a volume sales division to more of a sporty niche division.

I'm so sick of retro crap, hopefully this won't come to market in its retro form, and will arrive with more modern styling cues.

More Camrys today, most I've seen in one day.

My Ideal GM by Justin Brock The following hopes, wishes, assumptions are all based upon information and speculation from some of C&Gs insider sources, as well as my own hopes for the future of General Motors. This is purely speculative and is almost entirely my opinion. From what has been told from sources here at this site, Croc and evok, there are no plans currently for a future G6. What this can possibly mean is that GM may be moving Pontiac away from directly competing with the Japanese Big 3. I'm hoping that it may possibly mean a future Pontiac division riding entirely on RWD architectures, though thats purely speculative and maybe a bit too hopeful on my part, and also about half-a-decade away. First you have Chevrolet. What GM SEEMS to be doing, with its Malibu and Aura plans, is the Malibu takes on lower-to-mid trim level Camrys, Accords, and Altimas, and then Aura picks up from there to take on the upper-level V6 Camry, Accords, and Altimas. The reason Saturn is needed is because, while there are people willing to pay $30+ for a loaded Camry, I don't think they'd be so willing to do the same with a Malibu, even one that may outclass the competition. This is all my opinion, btw, I have nothing to back it up. Of course Chevrolet will fill in the rest of GMs large volume vehicles. All of its vehicles, with the exception of the Corvette and future Camaro, are aimed towards mass volume sales. Then you have the Pontiac-Buick-GMC consolidation. Its my opinion and hope that the three divisions will move toward a near-lux and luxury lineup, competitive with Lexus (Buick, GMC with trucks/SUVs) and Acura (Pontiac). Pontiac will move to small and mid-size RWD vehicles. -Solstice, both ragtop and coupe -some RWD midsize sedan and hatch/wagon -entry-level sporty RWD/AWD 5-passenger SUV -and some mid-size RWD coupe, ala GTO or something. From there, Buick picks up with: -A small RWD car (IS competitor) -A mid-size FWD car (ES competitor) -And A full-size RWD/AWD (GS, LS competitors) -A Velite-type vehicle (SC competitor) -And A the Enclave (RX/MDX competitor). GMC will basically be premium Chevrolet trucks and SUVs, like its always been. The Yukon competing well with the GX, leaving the LX to the Escalade. The Sierra is there for suburban cowboys. The only odd-duck, IMO, is the Acadia, which I don't see the need for with the Outlook and Enclave being able to cover all mid-size, 7-passenger SUV bases. Then you have Cadillac, which should hopefully become more competitive in the premium sport-luxury market, dominated by BMW and Mercedes. I don't think Cadillac should aim for Lexus sales numbers, but become happy with outselling Bimmers and Mercs, leaving high-sales volume to Buick, which is a better Lexus competitor IMO. Saab and Hummer are there for niche sales and profit-mongering. IMO, GM could lose both divisions and never bat an eye. Thoughts, opinions, criticism? Your own ideal General?

Without consolidating down to one division, Chevrolet, there's no way GM can manage ONE car to outsell the Camry. GM's strongest asset is also their weakest, in some ways, in that they have different divisions for different people. The problem for decades though, is that basically each division had the exact same car that was only slightly differentiated and had options packaged differently.

I didn't assume that. I said people LIKE you working for GM have, among other things, caused GMs current woes. Which I followed up with the hope that people LIKE YOU never work for GM again.

You're not the majority of the market. X car has 4 window buttons all with express down AND up, and for the same price Y car does not. Hmm? People like you are why GM is having issues. You can't see past your own nose when it comes to what GM needs to be in the industry, so hopefully people like you will never work for GM again.

No Clarkson?! Why watch Top Gear if Clarkson isn't a host?

Clarkson hates the new Z4 for its ride as well. His exact words, more or less, [in an American accent], "Its sporty! Its got no suspension, so its sporty!" This was in a roadster comparo, where Clarkson, Richard, and James compared their favorite roadsters, the S2K, the Z4, and the Boxter, respectively. They each trashed the other cars. Good episode, just like all Top Gears.

Red Volvo T60 previous gen Red Audi S6 with custom body work that looked REALLY good Blue Cobalt SS Supercharged and I saw the same blue FJ Cruiser I see all the time. 07 Camry's are becoming more and more common as the weeks go by, no surprise. Saw a red XLE today with dual exhaust. Bad as I hate to say it, the car looks pretty good, especially in darker colors. Oh, I've seen a few Yaris's as well, a black one in mall parking lot and a green one today on the road. What else? Oh, an older Bentley Continental and an Rolls-Royce, not sure what year, but probably older than the Bentley. Also, over the weekend I saw 7 separate Tahoes. 3 silver, 1 white, 1 dark red, 1 dark blue and 1 black. The new Tahoe looks fantastic in the darker colors. Red is especially becoming. Also saw an 07 Denali today, and the local GMC dealer has the XLs in now.

I don't know why anyone would by EITHER car, when 15k can get you a damn nice used Accord, Altima, Maxima, or Civic.

I would have to agree with Camino. Even though the last Camry was trumped in almost every aspect by the Accord, it still outsold it. Toyota sells on name recognition as much, if not more so, than it does just based on the merits of their cars. Take away the Toyota name, and the same vehicle wouldn't sell as well.

I'd say thats more a testament to the selling power of the Toyota brand name these days. Even on truly uncompetitive cars, like the Yaris, the Toyota name manages to get people behind the wheel.

Is there an archive of C&G circa 2002-2003?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Monte Carlos are total white-trash-mobiles, unless they're the 80s models, and they're all pimped out, jacked-up, dubbed, ghetto-mobiles, mostly. Dodge Neons are up there as well.

Will Toyota begin to lose touch with consumers? What causes that to happen? Nothing but arrogance, which GM had plenty of for the past 30 years and Toyota has oozing out of its ass. Will Toyota repeat GM's mistakes? I think it possible, if Toyotas most recent fumbles, the Yaris, the new 6-spd tranny, Avalon's teething problems, are any indication. I dunno, its possible that Toyota learned from GMs mistakes, but just as likely that they're destined to repeat them, especially with the Koreans coming up fast on their six. Time will tell.

Actually, I didn't realize how close the production version was to the concept interior-wise. Which sucks because from the very beginning the Aura interior design was last gen. Though having the aluminum radio/HVAC would help the interior much more.

Apparently I'm a Gen Y-er...never knew.

Gah! Seriously? That orange is horrible on the CTS. Oh well, everyone has opinions...

They complained about low-grade plastics in the area receiving the most abuse? Wow...they were DESPERATE to find something wrong with this vehicle to pull that out of their ass.

Drive and dump for me. Why keep a vehicle after its paid off? Probably why I may be leasing my Mazda3.

Ugh! Stupid STUPID GM! Goodbye GM, HELLO Mazda3!