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More likely you'll see a rush upgrade to SS or Ranier or 9-7 spec to preserve those BOF sales you need...I don't think most consumers who were buying these types of vehicles because they 'liked the look' are coming back after the latest crop of CUVs from all manufacturers....

I'm no ES fan myself, but when has this product ever been a media darling? They'll sell everyone they bring over because it has out-Buicked Buick....high content, high price, unimpressive underpinings...the GM recipe for every vehicle Buick, Olds and Caddy produced between 80 and '00... It's just frustrating to see how it works when executed successfully...kudos to Toyota for getting $30-40K for a top of the line Camry. (Seems the general criticism of the Leinarts gets ignored when they agree with our party line here.)

Saab & Caddy are already paired in Europe, in many places...Saab is still considered premium in many circles (worldwide) and, apparently, has good 'psychographics' and, not unlike Saturn, was assured a place in the GM firmament when the Olds death was such a bloody one. I'm not sure who would buy Saab, if the co. was offered, but I suppose the Chinese might be tempted at some point.... I was in a 75k 01 9-3 for a few weeks and I enjoyed it despite my misgivings about the scary build quality and the torque steer from hell.... Three models with premium derivatives should be the max model line-up....I guess we'll see how the General handles things...

CLS is a flash in the pan. You heard it here first. CLS sales will slow within 18 mo. of intro.....and some would argue its cannibalized CL sales, as it is sexier, meaner and more practical than the CL . Lets concentrate on spectacular product, an order of magnitude beyond the current STS. Think Catera to CTS transformation...I'l take that, a 10% discount on MSRP, a 20% superiority in HP and a solid interior to challenge in this class... ...make a 2 dr. CTS, a 4 place hardtop C vert with the tooling and see 300K in sales with the improved STS. Make sure you can stretch the New Sigma upwards of 12" so you have options..... Just my .02.

There were two things that led to Fords' 80's era crisis...one was the Minivan debacle (Iaccoca gets credit, but it was Sperlich's idea...The Duece hated Sperlich...)And the Second was blowing off Honda when they offered their engines (and more importantly, the CVCC tech) in Fords small car line-up. The Duece allegedly said that 'Jap' engines would never be put in a Ford branded car....Honda could have become a valued partner rather than competitor. Looking at Ford's strength in trucks and Honda's in cars, it would have been an interesting union, no?

Great job with pricing! I think the 'no haggle' aspect of the Saturn experience has resulted in reasonable pricing to prevent a need for rebates.... I don't see the need to shop Chevy or Pontiac with this pricing and content levels. I'm assuing the 3.6HF will make more appearances in the Epsilons as time goes by...

Niche is no longer a dirty word...(see Kappas for Niche done correctly)....I advocate finding each and every vehicle GM produces on the planet and identifying which could work in the States....It's critical to have 'must have' product in the showroom, even if its just to produce foot traffic for other product....

They get it because they have a 'tin ear'.They don't massage the press well, they don't market in the proper channels in the proper way, they have a recent history of rental grade product and, they have managed to lose market share and money by the boatload in the world's biggest car markets' record sales years..... And that's just a start....

Herein lies the problem: Porsche makes an SUV, I'm fairly certain GMC's 'brand image' can withstand a CUV or Minivan....I disagree wholeheartedly with the points made: 1. A small sporty minivan would work, if it were truly a, you guessed it, small sporty minivan, not a rebadge of a mediocre product that Stevie Wonder can pick out from across the street....noone else is doing it (well)...why not create a niche? It's the lack of creativity that has f'ed GM to this point. 2. What Chevy proves their capability for 'great styling'? The only exampl I can think of isn't going to be here for 2 years and is based off a 60's icon.... 3. Saturn should be bringing in every Opel they can get their hands on....you honestly don't believe the Meriva would trump other B-cars here today? The Zafira is a 7 passenger Delta? How's the Mazda 5 doing??? C'mon guys. Let's give GM some good ideas!

Agreed. Looks like the Aura got Chevy's grill from the 'bu SEMA concepts......I'll wait on better spy photos, but this has 'typical GM' overpromise, underdeliver written all over it. --BTW-Those Silverado pics make me think that someone at GM still isn't listening...it looks 4 years old already, and its not out yet! Ford must be breathing a sigh of relief....

GMDAT included as of 6/30/05, according to Automotive News.Fascinating breakdown on page 24 of this week's issue....Ex. Suzuki appears to be the world's most efficient producer, with only 13.7k employees producing 2million vehicles/yr.....Fords breakdown doesn't include Mazda's 1.2 million produced...VW has more employees than any other co.....

If they built cars that were more relevant and less 'brand managed', they'd be in much better shape...Trucks are the new XL 'merican mobile, check out the acres of chrome on most luxo-trucks... Just make great stuff, invent niches, be aggressive...that's what needs to be done. Forget Divisional BS...you're 'dividing' a smaller pie each day.

For a Dodge dealer to have product to ADM is rare. They're going to take advantage of the situation. That's human nature. As a sidenote, some dealers pay Salesmen only on front-end, or perhaps at a higher rate than 'the back.". This guy may have misjudged you...but were you willing to buy at MSRP if that was offered???? I know I wouldn't sell an SRT-8 for less than sticker....a big fat loan along with it is a bonus, from the dealer's perspective. You could find out easily by placing a call to the dealer's internet or fleet manager...

Agree wholeheartedly with the above: More choices mean more good choices. Mediocrre could be the death knell for Mitsu...& I say this as someone who works for one of their franchisees...The new Lancer/Evo & Outlander have an outside shot of saving the day. The worst thing that happened to Mitsu was needing to fill the Normal plant with capacity. It resulted in spawning 3 eh products: Eclipse, Endeavor & Galant...

Eh...I'm not so overwhelmed by the article...perhaps I'm an 'import humper', but I don't see the blatant bias..shoddy reporting, yes, but he's just picking a little low-hanging fruit... Interestingly, Toyota's favorable data is easily exposed as thin, but not actually untrue. For instance, the 1.5% warranty cost can be explained in a variety of ways...higher retail prices, Toyota's unwillingness to pay for warranty claims the domestics accepted as the price of doing business, lack of indemnification for dealers on the same issues or simply, underreporting. That being said, perhaps Toyota's masterful use of the media should be emulated by the Big 2.5, rather than criticised....they've clearly been successful in engendering tons of goodwill....I think its goodwill the domestics could use while they turn their ships around....which, they can, inspired by some of us 'import humping' critics, as well as their fans.

No Buick will ever sell 300k again...unless it's sold in China.Zeta Impala is coming. Charger is currently selling at a 100k+year clip, about 2/3 of the 300's sales. That's not bad for an ugly, RWD sedan...I'm assuming those that have seen the Impala mock-ups are being honest when they report it's beauty...I guess we'll see.

What company doesn't stretch the rules in the grey areas???GM was once a champion of just this kind of corporate manipulation...unfortunately, we all live in glass houses in this respect.Wal-Mart, as Evok pointed out, has been wiping out community small employers for years, depressing wages and creating traffic nightmares across the country, while becoming the driving force behind the outsourcing of almost all manufacturing to low wage countries.... If anything, companies like Toyota have contributed to a much needed kick in the ass that GM, Ford, Chrysler and other companies needed to produce better product for ALL of us...I don't think anyone here would argue that competition has created better GM product. I'd blame gov't policies regarding health care and currency valuation for 50% of the uneven playing field our manufacturing base has faced in the last 20 years.

I don't think the article is negative. Nor did Ms. Maynard argue that the Camry is the 'best' at anything (except selling!)....the significant portion of this article lies within the sections which describe the undertaking that an Accord or Camry's development is for its respective manufacturer....Perhaps a mid-80's 'Taurus' type effort would be useful....Zeta's, anyone? We can only hope. The need to subtly or overtly differentiate product that sits on the same platform diminishes the $ available to hone its basic goodness...this is compounded by the fractured costs of marketing these various entries, which either requires separate, smaller budgets or the division of a larger budget with separate messages. While many would argue that GM's divisional approach gives consumers' choices, it also means the products are natural competitors and there's no incremental gain against the competition.

I think we're seeing more of a 'dead cat bounce' than anything with the V8 engine...I believe that the total product mix in the US (since the world has already embraced the 2,3,4,5,6cyl. car) will continue to tilt towards the 4/6 cylinder end of things... Hybrids, twin turbos, turbodiesels, direct injection and super/turbocharged engines are the future in most applications.....

They can't and they won't. It's a PR move, pure and simple.I admire the dealerships that hold the line... but if it ain't ADM, it'll be forcing people into ext. warranties, Vin etches, Simonizing, etc....to evade GM's wrath at many Saturn places...

Exactly.That's just trying to out-Japanese the Japanese. There's a slew of domestic & import success stories that do not depend upon 'uniform tolerances' & 'tactile quality'. I never understood GM's refusal to attack the design equation harder...that's why Lutz better be 100% on with future product. I've gotten the impression that only the Solstice/Sky have his full blessing, but I don't see his hand as forcefully in the Aura...hopefully, this is an architectural rather than corporate limitation.

It's what happens when cars are designed by committee, approved by risk-averse management and produced by indifferent or moderately angry workers...You get a car that would appeal to Toyota's current customers (who aren't even stopping in anymore, BTW), quickly turned into rental queens when the quarterly numbers don't meet internal forecasts and not consistently turned out in the best quality, as per initial impression, not necessarily long-term (as I fully agree that GM's cars are as mechanically sound as the next guys...) And the vicious cycle continues...

I'll take the middle ground: Caddy's turnaround is 'renaissance-like' - however- The STS & (esp.) the SRX have not met sales targets...it's thinner air and re-conquest becomes unlikely, but aggressive growth amongst newcomers fuels most of the sales success. Get 'em to come back and increase sales over 300K---the BRX should sell in the 50K range and the new CTS should reinvigorate the CTS' sparkling sales in its' 4th full year out. No 'Mission Accomplished' yet...but possible, very possible. Hands down the best $ GM has spent in the past 10 years is Caddy's (maybe Daewoo a close second, $ 4 $.)

Yes. They're called REBATES...

Right...we'll see how that works out. If I'm a Saturn dealer (probably fighting for my business life), I'm charging what the market will bear...you can't stop it from happening.