CSpec

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Strange looking thing. The wheel flare doesn't really work, and the trunk seems very high.

Yes, Buick is a prime example of GM's current state. The Invicta needs to be a home run. Anything else just hammers the point home that it can't manage so many individual brand identities and brand products. Making 8 model lines almost good enough is surely worse than 2 or 3 solid brand lines.

I agree! GM NEEDS MONEY. Of course they could do great things if they had tons of cash, but they don't. They need to do what will maximize the return on their few remaining dollars. Making 3 different versions of a car in the same segment that compete with themselves is not a good plan. And BMW is on a serious roll, introducing updated and completely new models left and right.

New Chevy Cruze Shots Though there were small spyshots of the interior a few months ago, this is an even better look. The exterior proportions also look very tidy.

Toyota stock is also at a 52-week low. Not a 52 year low like GM, but still not good.

Iran isn't even close to having nuclear weapons, that's not the issue here.

I think Cruze is the name it's going to have across the globe, so there are more considerations you have to make when you make a jump like that.

I like how Bush says that diplomacy with Iran is appeasement, but has used diplomacy successfuly with Libya and North Korea in the past couple of years. The military themselves say that opening a front in Iran is a terrible idea, because it would stretch the military way too thin, and it would ruin the recent progress in Iraq. When the head of the Joint Chiefs and the Sec of Defense say something is not a good idea, shouldn't Cheney listen? Bush's hypocrisy is just amazing.

I agree, despite the typos. The G6 is really a second-rate product, and the Solstice has a hopeless roof and major interior shortfalls. The G8 is good, but quickly becoming an anachronism.

Lighter is good...

From what I remember the Camaro only got produced on the old heavy Zeta platform because GM was so open about its development from concept stage onwards. Otherwise it would have met the fate of the other Zetas. I don't think killing the highest performance model really matters anyway in the grand scheme of things. Remember, GM NEEDS MONEY.

Yeah, I guess the new Equinox = Malibu wagon?

Do not think that GM is somehow alone here. Global Crossing was completely vilified by the media during its bankruptcy proceedings in 2002, and the CEO time and again expressed his frustration at the insistence of the media to portray the company in the most negative light possible. People worry more about companies going bust, as losses hurt more than gains help. The media plays into this logical fear, but the embattled companies sure don't appreciate it.

DETROIT, July 8 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is not planning a sale of any of its brands other than the Hummer line of SUVs, GM's North American sales chief said in an e-mail to the automaker's U.S. dealers. Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for North American sales and marketing, said none of GM's brands other than Hummer were up for sale or being considered as candidates for closure, despite growing speculation to the contrary. "I have been asked by the media if other brands were undergoing a similar strategic review. My answer then and now was the same -- no," LaNeve said in his e-mail. LaNeve said GM's dealers would be among the first to know if plans changed for any of the company's eight auto brands. "Similar to the Hummer situation we would communicate with you, our dealers, very early in the process if this was the case," he said. A GM spokesman said the message was meant to reassure the dealers. "What prompted the letter was all of this speculation that we might be looking to phase out or reassess some of our brands," GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. Saturn, which has been named as one of the most likely brands for review by GM, has the right products in a market fast shifting away from trucks and SUVs, LaNeve said. The No.1 U.S. automaker has hired Citigroup Inc to help review its options for the military-derived Hummer line, which it said is looking to sell or revamp. Battered by tumbling demand for large trucks and SUVs since the spring, GM has announced deep cuts in truck production in recent weeks. Analysts are also expecting GM to take other steps to ride out a deepening industry downturn. GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner has said the automaker is working quickly to develop plans to cut costs and improve its cash position. GM shares closed up more than 5 percent at $10.78 on Tuesday "A lot of dealers were concerned, so I think it was a very good thing for him to reassure dealers," said one dealer who received the e-mail from LaNeve.

Wow, nice chop. I bet it's somewhat close to the real thing though.

So.. like a Hyundai minus the Vera?

DETROIT, July 7 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say. Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out the downturn, GMis counting on the Volt to break its costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices are near record levels. GM is likely to complete the production version of the Volt by early August and plans to show it off in September, just when the embattled automaker celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding, people familiar with the plans said. A GM spokesman declined to comment on the timeline for its next announcements on the Volt, which will include naming a supplier for the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack, the single most expensive element of the vehicle and the component seen as critical to its success. "Everyone is waiting for the next steps," Rob Peterson, spokesman for GM's electric vehicle program, told Reuters. GM designers and engineers are "getting very close" to a production-ready version of the Volt, he said. GM showed off a concept version of the Volt in January 2007 but has retooled the look of the vehicle significantly since then, in part in order to improve its aerodynamics, representatives of the automaker have said. GM has already shown a near-production version of the Volt to a Los Angeles-area focus group of consumers as it pushes toward production of the vehicle by late 2010 under a development plan the GM board approved in June. By unveiling the final version of the Volt at a centennial observation in September, GM will be looking to shift the focus for investors and consumers from its current sales slump toward the more fuel-efficient vehicles it has in development. The automaker, which saw its stock hit a 54-year low last week, is expected to use the circuit of major auto shows that begins with Paris in October to unveil a series of upcoming vehicles that will underscore its effort to move away from a reliance on light trucks. Those include the production version of the Chevy Beat, a replacement for the Aveo hatchback, and a replacement for the Chevy Cobalt, a small sedan. VOLT: READY FOR ITS HOLLYWOOD CLOSE-UP In a further bid to create buzz, the Volt is one of several GM cars set to make an appearance in the action movie "Transformers 2," scheduled for release next summer, a person familiar with the matter said. GM was heavily involved in the production of the first Michael Bay-directed "Transformers" film, released last summer, and provided a concept version of its 2009 Camaro for a central turn in the movie. GM is designing the Volt to run for 40 miles (64 km) on a lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged at a standard electric outlet. The Volt will also capture energy from braking, like a traditional hybrid, and feature an on-board engine that will be used to send power to the battery on longer trips. GM is racing Toyota Motor Corp to bring the first plug-in car to the marketplace and has already featured the Volt in its advertising, part of a bid to improve the public image of the fuel efficiency of its car line-up. Just as the Detroit-based automakers once rolled out limited-edition performance cars to create a buzz around their brands, the Volt has emerged as a kind of environmentally friendly "halo car" that GM hopes will have as much impact as the Prius hybrid has had for Toyota. Two suppliers have been in the running to provide lithium-ion batteries for the Volt: A unit of Korea's LG Chem said last month that it was ready to supply batteries for the Volt, and German auto parts supplier Continental AG, adapting battery technology used by privately held A123 Systems, is also competing for the Volt battery contract. The Volt marks one of the first attempts to adapt lithium-ion batteries, widely used in consumer electronics, for a car, although Toyota and others are pressing ahead with their own work on the same technology. GM celebrates its centennial on Sept. 16, the anniversary of its founding by Billy Durant. It kicked off a series of events last year to mark the date, but those have been overshadowed by concerns about its performance and whether it has sufficient cash to ride out the downturn in U.S. sales. GM's U.S. sales are off 15 percent this year, and analysts expect the automaker to raise additional capital to shore up liquidity as it looks to turn around its U.S. operations.

Wow, thanks for posting this.

Good post. GM NEEDS MONEY. That's the only reason they exist. Anything they do to return to profitability must be done as quickly as possible.

Yes I also never understood why people freak out so much about a relatively small increase in annual expense. Trying to sell your house at 40% less than what you bought it is probably a bigger worry.

Looks like it's about to hit the fan at GM...

Somewhat conservative, but very very nice. The interior looks like a supremely comfortable place.

Bravo! bobo, are you reading this thread? This post might make a comeback in December. People here are so obsessed with brands and "history" and "tradition" at the expense of GM's survival. No money, no brands. Period. People here also consistently deny all reports from people that have worked for/with GM that all say that management is notoriously arrogant. One piece I read about someone who worked for GM in the 90s said that he was shocked at the plain old lack of talent. View please the following: "I taught a bundle of GM lower and middle management folks at a private business college in MI in the 1990s. Believe me, if you think the UAW is the cause of GM's problems, you are much mistaken. Job description by job description, task by task, I left the experience amazed at the shallowness of management talent at that company at that time. "

So... GM's complete lack of cash is just some figure pulled out of the air by "analysts" to complete their bloodthirsty quest to lose money on their own investments?