enzl

Mine are all in storage...apparently, my wife needed some more room for the baby. Can you believe that? I've been picking up Maisto's at Costco for years...I think I'm up to 20 or so 1:18's...

BIZ is right..disliking Japanese cars does NOT make you a racist. Allowing posters to use slurs in their diatribes IS being an enabler for racists. Allowing the display of the Confederate Flag IS being extraordinarily insensitive to a race issue. And there is an undercurrent of xenophonic hatred in many posters screes on China, Japan, India, et al. I also wonder, given the vocal proportion of gay posters, would the same subtle or overt slurs be tolerated here if these opinions regarded homosexuality? Japan is currently, unless I missed the news, an ally. Criticizing corporations for taking advantage of the rules they operate under is like blaming a shark for eating a beautiful fish...its simply a shark behaving as one should.... This all being said, I think BIZ is truly a person of real character and loyalty. I just think certain blinders are being used to ignore the obvious and certain cretins on this site are given a free pass because they suit your side of many arguments here, IMHO.

The Upmarket/Downmarket squeeze has been going on for years in Europe...and has recently hit the US too. As the Koreans hit mid-market brands low, the lux brands have lowered their cost of entry dramatically. It's true in fashion, retailing & many other industries as well...

You need the XE's low, low 'base' price (try and find that mythical no-A/C Astra) as an ad tease. They've got to be losing $1,000 minimum/car sale, regardless. That's what blows my mind. A great product that will get lost in the shuffle, unfortunately. W or W/O A/C!

I was merely trying to point out that ---where it counts--Toyota is already winning--in fact, the war is over. RETAIL sales that generate real profits on a per-unit basis already favor Toyota---simply take fleet rates of 25% and 10% and discount sales accordingly---Chevy's 2nd. The lead is only increasing, as the 13% hit GM took this month was twice the decline of Toyota's---while all of the peanut gallery celebrates, they don't even realize that Toyota still took more share! I didn't misunderstand, I just took the real numbers, rather than the joke that is the gross sales numbers...1 of 4 GM vehicles aren't sold to individuals--and haven't been for some time. No wonder they went bland--they had to please the guy in accounting, not the guy spending his hard earned cash. It actually makes perfect sense in that context.

Your premise is wrong at the outset. Toyota (the brand) cars outsell every other nameplate with retail customers...take fleet/wholesale out and more individual consumers buy a Toyota. People "used to" do alot of things. Lots of those things were really stupid in 20/20 hindsight. Blaming Toyota for 'blanding' cars presumes that GM has been making more interesting ones--which ones are you thinking of? All of GM's mass market offerings for 30 years have been nearly or equally average and boring---that's part of the rut that GM is spending alot of time and $ trying to pull itself out of. The only poison I'm concerned with is the disdain shown to American consumers by GM management for decades--again, something they're trying to correct, at the cost of $, jobs and potential extinction.

Wow. A lot of hate out there. Here's my advice: Stop blaming Toyota for being an efficient, effective purveyor of machines. They take advantage of the opportunities given to them and exploit them with precision. I read through this thread thinking to myself: How many of these people are simply racist? How many just don't understand how to run a successful business? How many of these people make the same excuses for themselves in their daily lives that they make for GM here? This board is alot more interesting when it tackles real issues or analyzes how to IMPROVE GM---when you guys start these bashing threads, you sound exactly like the 12 yr. olds that flame GM on the import-humpers' sites. Is that really who you want to emulate? I'm not defending Toyota (they don't need it), it's just that the quality of discourse here is sinking, IMHO. This type of thread does nothing to help things. Maybe a few more of you should come up with some ideas to HELP GM and the rest of the domestics?-- look like they could really use that right now!

More 2 dr. Zetas makes sense...already tooling up for Camaro anyway...Given exchange rates, an Opel coupe could go there too. Mmmm.

I had a '93 Intrepid years ago with a a similar stalling issue--spent a few bucks on a few of the items you mention...didn't get it fully licked and, since my brother was commuting with it (the stalling never bothered me, as I would shift into neutral and restart everytime) and he would panic each time (don't ask), we traded it in...

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../803290339/1148 Now, that's some good news...

it's an unfortunate by-product of greed & desperation. It's part of the death spiral when things start to go wrong for a retailer of any product...the need for huge profit on the rare hit overrides the longer term outlook of a customer's repeat biz & general ethics. Although this behavior is far from a Pontiac exclusive, you'd think the recent lesson with the GTO would have sunk in?

An even handed account of the reality in China...I agree completely. As a US company, when I outsource to China, I am responsible for that labor, that product and that quality(morally & legally). To state that China makes cheap crap, and leave it at that, is not reality. Many high quality items are produced in China. Lots of crap, too. If a company chooses to sell it here, they are exclusively responsible for it. Not the Chinese people as a whole--most of whom would give up a body part to work at a 'Western' factory--simply because they need work! Not because they're trying to unseat the US economy. Odds are these individual Chinese human beings don't know nor care about stuff we have the luxury of choosing to idly debate here.

Timely save by a mod! Two minority opinions were about to unite and overtake the board! Wow. I can't believe that Toyota let the gov't pay for research that has given them a competitive advantage & that the Detroit 3 just took their gov't money and flushed it...it's sooo much cooler to waste the gov't resources, rather than create factories full of future jobs with that dirty money. Feel better now, Ven?

Not all Chinese products are bad. IBM sold their laptop division to the Chinese--and the quality is fine. Some of the leading tech in batteries for computers and cell phones are from Chinese companies. Personally, my grandfather started factories in China that produce world class umbrellas---actually, they've been making them for 30+ years--for very high-line brands. So, I think it's unfair to paint all Chinese products with the same brush. Additionally, if we're going to blame the Chinese for the consumer products you have discussed, you must first blame the Western Brands that have plastered their names all over the sh!t being offered today. All of that being said, I think the fear of the Chinese is simply not grounded in reality. Should we sell our souls to them? of course not. But I would apply that maxim to any outside country. The US public needs to reassess its priorities--but blaming the Chinese for that is simply wrong.

Maybe I'm just a little older than you, but I remember when Made in Japan or Korea meant 'cheap, disposable' products. There's no reason to believe that 'Made in China' will be any different. I've driven a Chinese car---it's bad, but I could see 10 years of development closing most of the gap--I also believe that American ingenuity will trump all of the rest of the issues created. Look at companies like Apple or Microsoft, not the Detroit 2.8 when considering our chances. That's why I'm constantly carping about RW---he's a GM lifer that hasn't done anything else. How does that prepare you for the New World of business? Answer: It doesn't & GM has shown how unprepared they are, repeatedly.

You've got to let it go...as someone here that is constantly in the minority opinion, I realize how frustrating it can be to have your cogent explanations interpreted incorrectly or worse--and the slurs here are inappropriate as well--but I think you'll find that if you're right, the flamers will melt away. The personal stuff may be tempting, but it's counterproductive---they'll just use it to chase you off. The better bet is to impart knowlege and hope it sinks in---just my .02.

The Chinese are already here. The 'nox & Torrent have had Chinese engines for years...what are the failure rates for those items? IIRC, they're fine. All this fear mongering and anger over some products that weren't being supervised and tested by American Companies that should know better-- The Chinese are already part of your lives--just glance around your home--YOU let them in! Cars are just the next step. The good news is that this capitalist path they're taking will mean, eventually, 1 Billion more free peoples--so, all in all, it'll probably be just fine. US will invent more stuff--or maybe get off of foreign energy, finally--and we'll all be fine.

I appreciate your passion, but the issue is our governments' lack of backbone, not Japanese or Chinese companies that take advantage of a system tilted towards their success...its like asking a shark not to feed... Until or unless we get off our addiction to cheap goods or recognize as nations that our future and security depend upon things like a manufacturing base or independence from foreign energy, you're just tilting at windmills. All of that being said, many western multinationals have excelled in the New World of the International Economy. This site happens to be dedicated to one that hasn't--and that is mostly it's own fault, unfortunately.

All that you say is hard to argue with...I just place alot more blame with the people running the Detroit 2.8. They squandered (literally) a magnificent legacy. Everything else is just contributing factors. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I'm not sure that the proper lessons have been learned--and I don't believe the current leadership at GM is qualified to lift them out of the quagmire.

To be fair--the US response to MITI behavior was Import Quotas....so Honda started production here...and now the transplants will outproduce the Big 2.8 in a few years-- Otherwise, the governmental incompetence cited is partially to blame-- there were a series of programs the US gov't sponsored to encourage the manufacturers (Ford, GM & Chrysler all produced concepts in conjunction with them.), then they went and built millions of SUV's and large trucks, so go figure. While there is certainly plenty of blame to go around, the delayed 'globalization' of these 3 companies--and the product inadequacies--are the real problem. Blaming the media or wall street is simply letting them off the hook.These companies had weaknesses that they chose NOT to address---all of the other factors merely created the environment in which the 'sickness' is threatening the patient's life. As far as the paper-pushing...well, that's been going on for 50+ years. Most of those 'fatcats' losing their jobs are middle-class individuals who work in a high cost city like NY and, depite possibly making 6 figures, are simply surviving economically.The others are their secretaries and support staff---otherwise, it's golden parachutes all around--just like the braintrust at GM!

Here's how you save them: Build the 9-1 in the States...a full line-up of 900 inspired, Delta sized (& exported) in the spirit of the latest showcar. Instantaneous +100k sales & a way for GM to make money making small cars in the states... I just don't see the world needing 2 more sets of EpII's at $30k+. And a Vue in drag. Just MO.

True dat.

Could export to EU be possible? It would certainly make sense given exchange rates. Given what's being pawned off as Chevy's in Europe, it would be a huge step up.

A great engine in search of a great car. I could see this as a killer base Saab engine or an interesting complement to the next gen BAS--0-60 in 6 sec & 28-30 MPG city? Do-able with a 6 speed & new tech.

My gut tells me it has something to do with the G8 being perceived as a (late) Charger/300 response by those that know the biz and reinforces the idea that Pontiac is irrelevant to the internet generation. The Camaro has a base/history to get out the vote..the G8 not so much. It is an oversight, IMO, but I certainly can see how it happened. Scary days, my friends.