enzl

I can't argue about your personal experiences...but your argument makes it impossible to believe anything that wasn't personally witnessed--which is slightly impractical. While there are innumerable abuses of power in our society, I would hope that this fact doesn't render all information unusable. I can't (and won't) defend homophobic neanderthals---but taking your factual info about GM from C&G might not be the most neutral viewpoint either. In any case, most of the bad news about GM is sourced from GM--check out their quarterly reports. Or their inconsistent statements about the Volt. Or their sales figures. It's mostly there in black & white...and there's very little confusion about what this info reveals: A Giant in deep, possibly irreversible trouble--and asking pundits not to pile on this is just naive--this is what they do! Additionally, there is a highly relevant concern for current GM shoppers---GM may not last as long as your warranty---unfortunately, that is a very practical consideration, and a possible outcome in all of this.

Oy Vey. Media Bias, again. The Worlds Greatest Corporation has been brought to its knees by mismanagement, competition & economic forces beyond its control. I'm not sure how that's not newsworthy--furthermore, how does one spin that story into a positive, for the sake of the argument? They might not go down the toilet? They're only 4 years from profitability in their home market? The one thing they have been doing right is new product--and that's gotten great press overall. Blaming others is an epidemic in this country. GM's plight is historic--it's a travesty and a tragedy--to expect guys selling papers to play nice is simply absurd.

IIRC, weekly was 6k...which may or may not be affected by other GM issues...

50k built this year so far, as of last week's AN. 39 days of inventory as of 3/1/08. That's good.

Just caught the article. Anything that'll sell more good GM cars is OK with me.

Excellent way to extend the Solstice line...any hope of a Nomad-esque variant or other Kappa products?

Saab is the brand that slays me over at GM.... I've always thought they abandoned the hatch to quickly...and they should have echoed the Caddy strategy of pricing vehicles between other lux brands. A 3-series beating 9-3 at a 5-series size--with a sizeable discount built in. Same with the 9-5 having 7 series interior volume. FWD/AWD should have come to Saab concurrent with Volvo, at minimum. The current line-up just makes me sad...but I promised I'd be more upbeat, so I'll end by repeating my huge soft spot for this brand.

To throw every journalist into the same category is dangerous. This article, to me, restates the obvious..but not everyone is as well informed as we are when it comes to the Auto industry. If it Bleeds, it leads still applies to the business section. BIZ...most carsalesmen are sh!t, yet you appear to be an honest guy...so while it may be true about car salesmen, we can both agree there exists many smart, honest well informed, well meaning individuals in the car sales game, no? In the same vein, I think the WSJ employs mostly legitimate, solid writers---the issue here is really about the topic and the dire picture painted. I'm not sure if many on this board realize that 'Doom & Gloom' isn't an incredibly inaccurate descriptive of the 2.8's situation? That's pretty big news, isn't it? The automakers struggles have caught the attention of 'fatcats', to be sure. But let's not be disingenuous regarding the horrific boardroom level decision-making that have brought Detroit to this point in time.

Journalists aren't smart? Or well paid? Or knowledgeable? You need to get your head out of the blogs every once in a while...The Wall Street Journal is a moderately legitimate source, even if they don't share your point of view, no?

On the contrary...it's their JOB to predict such matters. Ever see financial results analysts term 'disappointing'?...that's because somebody (a professional, generally with years of experience in that industry) made a prediction and that expectation wasn't met....It's every industry, not just autos. If you have pension, a 401k, heck, even a relative with some money, these should be concerns of yours as well. Ignorance isn't always bliss.

If I'm wrong, I'll be man enough to admit it. I might even try to go positive every once in a while.

Again, I don't believe that the braintrust at GM could hold Apple's Jobs or Wozniak's jocks. Comparing the two is absurd. GM wishes they had $20 Billion in debt...their debt service costs are Billions/year...and only getting worse. I don't wish them ill, I just think it's time for fresh blood. Perhaps someone who recognizes the crisis as lifethreatening would be a start? The Volt was an Autoshow afterthought for GM until they realized they had a PR bonanza on their hands. Everything from that point forward has been a GM reaction---they haven't anticipated a thing for decades.

Let's get something straight...they haven't invented anything yet...which is my major issue with the Volt. The best analogy is football--what's better? A great offense that moves the ball regularly and efficiently OR the Hail Mary pass? Yo've eaten up the GM PR machines' product. There's no tangible proof that the Volt can or will work. I can tell you the worlds is looking to buy a few good small cars--here, in Europe, in India, in China---(with or without Diesel, my friend--your neighborhood notwithstanding)--GM, IMO, could use a few good ones right now.

I've never debated the value of the Volt--just the ability of GM to do it as promised. Still have seen nothing that convinces me otherwise...fanboys don't count for factual, actual progress measurements---they came to NY (apparently not on GM's dime, although that's not what's been reported) which means they're really drinking the Kool Aid. The Zeta stall worked, no? Exactly the assinine decisionmaking that has landed them in this spot--market moves to cars, GM gets caught short (again)--tell me how a lineup of RWD dream machine CARS would hurt GM right now? (BTW-GMT900 incentives were sky-high with-in 6 months of roll-out as well, so it was doubly stupid)

With all due respect for your efforts, getting together a group of fans for a rap session is not the same thing as answering questions from real, educated, industry professionals. Everything I've read (and I've looked) indicates that GM will be late to deliver this product--and, according to some battery suppliers, may never be able to meet the advertised performance parameters. Additionally, it's not that the Volt isn't a good idea--it's brilliant--it's the notion that this is the best way for GM to be spending it right now. They're strapped, so throw a Hail Mary? How about spending a fraction of the $ on improving your discredited smaller models? Diesel anyone? How about the two-mode you just dropped Billions on? As I said above, bringing a bunch of people predisposed to like you in for a free trip to NY isn't a difficult crowd to please. Bring in 100's of Prius owners, then you'll get my attention (in a good way.)

If I hurt your feelings, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, GM has real employees, real franchisees and real lives in their hands. I'm certainly a cynic...my question is why would people here blindly accept their BS? And what have they been doing so right that I should look the other way? A couple of good products and all is forgiven? Please. I love GM, that's why I'm hard on them. I've got my future and hundreds of other dependent upon their choices, so it's my right--check that--my obligation, to analyze each and every move they make...and the Volt has become a joke, IMHO. Refer to Gm's claims upon intro of the concept--and see how they've completely backtracked in an effort to avoid the embarassment of being a bunch of liars---$30K is now $40k, Spring 08 testing of batteries is now Summer, full production is now limited roll-out (w/customer beta testing?)---This whole thing makes them look like Keystone Kops--at a time they can least afford to... Other than a few nice products and selling more of the family silver (Allison) they've been doing nothing newsworthy, zip, nada--other than raises for the Executives--in the past year or so...and, most importantly, none of those products have stopped their endless slide into the abyss. You want to hand out praise for that--go for it. I'm waiting to see evidence of a true turn-around. I've got enough to worry about each day without having to think about doing their job for them.

I'm not sold. More Free PR--No real info. Someone must have gotten a hold of Lutz and told him to stop speaking off script. Important questions: 1. When is it's availablility being projected? 2. What will it cost? ('Good Value' is not a number) 3. Anyone at this 'event' actually ask a tough question? The Volt is, I'm sorry to say, a false hope. I can't understand why $ is being spent on this when the two-mode has Billions invested and would bring real economy gains to current product. If GM had the $ to waste, I'd support this. If the Camaro took them 4 years with current tech, how the hell are they going to produce a real, saleable, technologically superior vehicle in less than that?

I find it even more ironic that the iconic Saab hatchback doesn't exist, yet the market is running to CUV's...the damage done to this brand, both here and abroad, has been immeasurable. The fact that they missed the AWD trend, the CUV trend and are finally getting it together 10 years late seems like little cause for celebration. For every dollar spent going forward, it's stolen from divisions that have sold or will sell 2-20X as many vehicles---Saab is a sinkhole. Period. You can wish that things were different or optimistically believe things will get better--I just see no historical evidence that GM knew or knows what its doing with this brand.

I might believe the 9-7X is profitable, but the 9-2X program...I have serious doubts as to the truth of that claim. As for allowing Saab the rope to hang itself with, I again find it hard to believe that GM would just throw money at Saab as it lost money for 10 years of partial ownership--then deciding to purchase the money pit! GM either knew what was going on and thought they could correct it OR they made a really bad decision---or both. These are PR pieces, no? Lets be honest...can we admit that only softballs were tossed at any of these get-togethers? The 2 issues above are alone enough evidence...

There's a vast difference between aggressive & effective vs. a cheat & liar...I would argue the capitalism has developed to a sophisticated enough point that we can all agree that the former is fine and the latter is a problem. I've consulted for dealers that have massive issues with employee honesty, be it stolen cash deposits or 'ghost' contracts, employees that will steal from your customers will steal from you as well.

100% truth. Extraordinarily sad, but true.

The issue isn't OnStar's usefullness...it's the fact that GM has been using it as a substitute for designing cars/trucks that have the option of Navi--an option that should be offered as much as possible, given the perceived need and profitability of said install. OnStar has its place--but it is not a complete substitute for Navi, as GM would like to believe.

Have you driven either a Kappa or XLR? Compromised. The Aura is, pretty much, a failure--DOA Car of the Year? Only at GM. The 9-3's have between 4-8k on the hood, perpetually. It's the world's best Opel. I've owned a 'real' Saab. The 9-3 ain't one. And the SRX is another great product, killed by GM errors. So, what lesson should we draw from the above? That the odds of GM rolling out a slew of well designed, unique & well marketed product is slight. Their margin for error is about as close to zero as possible. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Since, apparently, some of you guys need a sledgehammer approach: I was refering to your (& others, to be fair) boorish/childish running commentary chasing him, not FlyBrian's automotive opinion paralleling my own and thus leaving. It gets tired and reduces the site to a level which discourages intellectual exchanges & degrades to schoolyard taunts over legitimate differences of opinion. At least Fly could disagree with you with a well-thought, rational argument.

a. I wasn't ranting about speculation. b. even if I was, you don't find a mods complete disappearance...especially one as invested in this site as FlyB...odd?