CSpec

Cool, thanks for the writeup. I hope to go to the pretty lame Rochester auto show next month, where they sometimes have cars you wouldn't expect, often unlocked.

Looks fabulous. I would buy one if I were in the market for a car like that.

The exterior looks great; I would guess this is basically what the Subtheta Chevy or GMC would have been but it's on Gamma instead.

A picture of this car leaked a year or so ago I think. Looks sort of like a big Honda, to steal Northstar's summary.

Those bigger wheels help a lot. Wouldn't unsprung weight be the bane of battery-powered cars though?

Sorry here is the correct link to the pictures: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/01...ction/index.htm

They are not on the same platform... The SRX and 9-4X are on the new TE platform (also called Theta Premium). It is uses a mix of components from Epsilon II, the updated Theta, and some bits from Lambda. The Equinox and Terrain are just on an updated version of the old Theta platform. However that doesn't seem to stop GM from styling cars similarly even if the underneath isn't the same, such as the Astra and Cobalt share a lot of design features.

General Motors cleans out the garage Troubled automaker is selling vehicles from its 'Heritage Collection' General Motors is cleaning out the attic to sell some stuff at the auction house to raise some much needed cash. Around 250 vehicles from GM's "Heritage Collection" will be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson, with the first lots going on Jan. 13 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the second hitting the block in April in West Palm Beach, Fla. Don't think that GM is parting with the family jewels to pay the mortgage. Though insiders can't recall such a big chunk of the collection being sold at once, 25 percent of the total, most of the vehicles are special show cars and one-offs that GM snapped together for the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Assn. (SEMA) shows over the years, as well as some classic production cars that were duplicates of models GM still has. Of interest to some bargain-hunting curiosity seekers, too, are some examples of GM design failures. As one GM executive told me off the record, "These are mostly cars that current management [probably product boss Bob Lutz and design chief Ed Welburn] don't much care for." The real family jewels aren't going anywhere, even if one, like the first off-the-line 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado or 1938 Buick Y-Job, might bring as much cash as 10 or 20 of the cars being sold off. GM Heritage Collection spokesman Greg Wallace says it's more a "thinning of the warehouse." He says it costs the company roughly $2,000 a year per car to maintain, store and transport each vehicle. And with GM designs getting better and better under Lutz and Welburn, the company wants to make room for some of the new family gems, like the 2008 Chevy Mailbu and 2010 Chevy Camaro. ----------------------------- Here is a list of some of the cars being sold: 1955 Buick Century Bolero 1918 Cadillac 1986 Presidential Limo 1998 Popemobile 1960 Chevrolet Impala 1985 Chevy Silverado Tonka (SEMA) 2003 Aveo Xtreme (SEMA) Solstice Jazz (Transformers movie) 1970 Cutlass SX 1996 Buick Blackhawk Concept () 2004 Saturn Ion Red Line () 2001 Aztek ( again) 1989 Geo Metro Zonker Here is the link to the original story with descriptions of each car: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/01...ction/index.htm

Huge wheel-body gap.

It looks pretty good, but as others have pointed out it's still not the right size. The old Equinox was way too big, with a huge turning circle, poor economy, and sluggish performance. They were supposed to alleviate those problems with this one, but it usually doesn't signal a door-buster product when all they did too design it was correct the problems with the old one, instead of thinking of something new.

No one knows how to design the back of a sedan anymore. I don't have much hope for the interior based on the awful design of the C-class.

There seems to be a disconnect in Congress: they chide GM and the Big Other Two for not having enough green and small vehicles, but does anyone actually want to buy microcars and expensive dual-hybrid systems and alternative-fueled cars? It seems to me that if people really wanted that kind of stuff Honda would actually sell its natural gas Civic, etc. Who wants to bet that Congress will just dictate production of green cars that no one actually wants?

We'll see if they can even choose their own product portfolio in the future; Congress might just force them to make a bunch of expensive and fatuous "green" cars that no one will actually buy. Regarding the Lacrosse, I have full confidence that it will be an excellent car. Let's hope GM is around long enough to sell one.

Cool, thanks for the write-up. I used to go to the NE Auto Show back before I went to college (so last time I went was in 2004), and I remember they usually didn't have anything of interest. They must have real stuff now because the LA show was moved up I guess?

Let's hope the interior isn't junk...

Sorry I haven't read all 11 pages of this thread, but I've been watching a lot of the footage of the Senate committee meeting, and I have to say big respect to Sen Dodd and all the other senators frankly for taking this issue very seriously and taking the time to study all the possible ramifications and possible solutions at hand. He had some very strong words for Pres Bush's complete lack of action or even willingness to listen to anything the automakers say when clearly this is a huge issue and there isn't really time to wait for Jan 20th.

Oh boy....

Cool thanks! Your pic of the back of the Cobalt coupe makes me cringe...

Good that this is moving along. Shame that we have to endure the Cobalt for so much longer.

Well obviously the image is distorted, but so are all the cars around it. It's HUGE compared to the normal sedans and certainly the other sports cars positioned near it.

There have many cars that have either been just terrible, or haven't sold at all through bungled launches and/or horrible media campaigns. Saturns rebirth recently has been pretty weak, except maybe the VUE. The CSVs were awful, but I don't think really looked at those as new models, nor did GM really expect them to light up the marketplace. The GTO was a serious flop (shame), and I agree that the SRX really hurt Cadillac, even though it got fantastic reviews across the board. The STS is seriously subpar and always was, and now no one really talks about a rebirth. It's the CTS and the others. What about the Solstice? GM hyped it up to extreme levels, but it has a problematic interior and an inferior roof design, and the market for that kind of car isn't huge anyway. I would vote for the GMT360 platform however. Riddled with serious reliability problems from the onset, the continued abuse of platform mates was shameful. Their interiors were always subpar and from all accounts they have pretty bad driving dynamics, especially the EXTs. Not that they were horrible compared to the competition, but the rampant badge engineering and platform sharing is seriously old-school GM think, and they do not have a good image.

Yawn.. The only reason you would ever get either of these is because you can't afford a 911.

Disagree about the interior. Nissan to me has always had issues with interiors and they always seem very blocky, overdesigned, and plasticky. The 350Z interior is unbelievably bad. This is better, but I'm not mad about it. Nice Z on the steering wheel. Not.

The vote has been put off until December so that GM Ford and Chrysler can have a detailed explanation for what they will actually do with the money. Regarding foreign makers, if the US companies get a bailout one will almost certainly befall the German makers.

I would prefer it if it had a real grill, but I think it looks quite good. Better than the Cruze I think, but the Cruze is more conservative and might age better.