hyperv6

There is a place for the Impala and Malibu jsut as Ford has the Fusion and Taurus. The workhorse cars of the future are going to be the Malibu and Fusion. With their price, size and economy they fit what most buyers are looking for. The Impala will jsut compliment it. I just hope GM does not get crazy and price the Impala out like the Taurus. I may be wrong but the price on the top end models puts it in a class where there are just better cars to buy. The Future update to the Malibu will be very important. They will need to build on what they started. The next car has to be best in class in all areas and no short cuts. Also they need to be spot on with the price in class. This car will be the profit center at Chevy and it needs to be the best of the best in class.

One of the few smart ones here!!!! Like I said to many panicing over what they really don't know.

If the Michelins on the Nox are not any better than the Pilots on my SS I would take the Hankooks. Michelin has had some money issue of late and it is showing in their products. My tires are piss poor in wear and wet traction is even worse. I remember a time Michelins were only on premium cars and now they will do an OE tire for anyone. This is what killed Goodyear and why they dropped the OE market. It forces them to sell cheap tires and make little money on them. It is a rep killer. I do like seeing the will not offer a base cheap steel wheel with a plastic cap. Wheels can change a cars appearance greatly and Lutz is one that has used this often. He fills the wheel wells and make the wheel flash and complement a cars design. I often thought if GM would offer a great wheel and tire package even on the base cars it would enhance the image of the car greatly. The Chrome 5 spoke optional 17's on my GTP have drawn many comments for my car by non GM people. Even the new Ford Edge CUV with the 22's looks so much better with the bigger wheel vs the entry small wheels we normally see. Fender radius to wheel diameter is very important. Also wheels that fit the Vehicle are important. A dull and mis fitted wheel can kill any car design. Too big is just as bad as too small.

Like I have state let this settle out and then get mad once you have some concrete plans from GM you hate. At this point no one here really knows much of what product we will see as much of it has yet to be settled. Come Sept comes and they don't have any solid plans you like then slit a wrist. Lets see what Uncle Bob has cooked up and where he takes this bus. With money and better marketing I think many will be suprised with some of the thing we may see from GM and Bob. Too many here think every car has to be a GTO or Camaro. That would be great but welcome to reality.

Smart move on GM's part. Better resale and no incentives needed to unload over inventory. Any good company needs inventory control and GM in the past could not cust production due to the cost of ideling plants. That is no longer an issue and should help them all the way around. If the sales warranty it they can add a shift for as long as they need to meet demad.

Note both will be RWD.

I just love all the over reaction and drama on this web site anymore. With only 2% of the info know with the 1% of it that will change after the hold that many think will mean the end to the platform that never was canceled. Again this is a case lets let them get us a little more info to work with. GM is early on some of these programs and they are looking and dealing with alot of things right now. Bob Lutz will do well with the cards he is delt. Just look at the fact he already has the CTS V coupe on line for release and has come out to say the new Buick ads suck! Wait till fall and we will see a lot more of where GM is headed. Lutz wins more and get more right than anyone at GM has for years. We all just need to give him a little time to do his magic.

The truth is the niche deal was just going to buy time to close Pontiac a model at a time till the end of the G8. With Rick leaving it just moved up the end.

And that is why they are not building anymore Pontiacs and my GP resale sucks.

I don't need some cheap emblems or a Viking funeral to mark this. Just make the last one built a Solstic coupe put it in the collection next to the first Pontiac Coupe and leave it on a high note. Let the last car be what Delorean wanted. I hate to see the last one be a G6 or Vibe and show what Pontiac died of. At least make the last car a real performance car. The truth is this happens so fast and there was no money to do anything. If this was planned out and GM was not chapter 11 I am sure they would have done something.

I stated in another thread the things GM needed to do and the one I stated most was Marketing, Marketing, Marketing and yes Marketing. With Bob he understands it and will empower those in GM marketing to do the job they have not and could not do in the past. The biggest issue is when GM marketed it was not that it was all that bad all the time it was the fact it vanished on each model 6 months after intro. Then of late when the money was gone it just did not happen. Take the Cobalt and HHR SS. models. Both of these are very respectable cars but have you seen a print ad or tv spot? I know for the HHR SS they did a intro at Woodward Cruise and that was it. Some good short press stories and word of mouth has been it. Just look at the Saturn line up. they had some damn good cars but seldom pointed out models in their advertising. They sold Saturn not the Sky, Astra or Aura. Even if Bob does not get it totally right anything he does will be 100% better than they have done in 10 years. The merging of the man with product planning and marketing will make things simpler and more effective. Also Bob is to the point like Lee and tells it like it is. SOme may like it or hate it but he is hanest with what he believes. That in this say and age of lying polititians and business people a guy like Bob is a freash voice just as Lee was in the 80's.

I would like to see a little less hard plastic on the inside but the interior look much more expensive than the last one to me. I do want to drive both the V6 and Eco. The reviews of the Eco have me wondering how good it really drives. As for styling of the Terrain the only taste the stylist had was in his mouth. There is just no flow to it like the Nissan Cube. There are a few things on the Nox I would change but overal it has the appeal to meet most customers expectations. It has a little Benz to it more than Element. That is not a bad thing.

I checked the wheels out today. These are the 17 inch wheels and the one I saw before were the LTZ 19 inch wheels. The 19's look better but the 17's are not as bad in person as they look here.

I liked the Invicta name too. It was something old that was new again. Past generations would remember it and new generations have no clue of it being an old car since so few are left. I never liked Lacrosse.

These I think are the base level wheels. The 17 inch are too small for the wells. The one I saw had much bigger wheels [20 inch I think] and they looked great on the LTZ. I hope they were not just for show.

I have always had issues with the cheap wheels or covers on base models. GM could upgrade the base wheels to a better or more expensive looking combo makes for a much better precieved vehicle. You can dress a homeless person in a expensive suit and even make him acceptable to a wider crowd. The same goes for a car.

The details are coming out on some of the changes that are coming. Things like th Single 8 member committe to replace the tweo senior leadership forums is only a start on the removal of the bureaucratic managment system now in place. The redundent decision making machine is being cut down and this is only the start. We need to see what all they have planned before we condem this. This time is not like the past times. While some here think the oversight people will just prevent RWD and V8's. The truth is they are more here to make the whole system smaller in size and cost. Will it work I can't say yet as there is much more to be shown. But I do know they are making the right moves now and I am waiting to see what more is done. As for the sevice I have recieved on my 2 cars I bought last year it has been great. The dealer could not be better and even with the teething problems with my Turbo upgrade kit it has been address and fixed. In fact after I sent an e mail to the lead engineer at the GM Performance Team he called me 15 min later and helped me and the dealer solve the odd issue we had. It was a simple clearance issue on a Bosh Map that came about with the changing of a intake tube. He even had my old intake tube in his office. It was only one of two that had this issue and was the one replace after my intercooler was damaged in a a crash. He even foillowed up with my dealer and myself. Note I am not a GM employee and e mailed the engineer cold. GM's E mail system is not hard to figure out if you know the persons name. As for the other car it has not had to go back for anything.

Thank God Bob got here when did. Also than God got Wellborn. If the GP looked like that there would have been one less Comp G sold and it would not be in my garage right now. Thanks for posting. This shows how much GM was helped by Bob. Even a blind would understand that.

The GP was even worse. It has the upper scoop line like the Aztek had. I wish I had save the picture I saw of the prototype. GM really locked down on these photos.

Here is some of the keys to GM' Future 1 to continue to improve on what they already have started with better quality and products. 2 Price their product at or below the compitition. 3 Builfd the best small cars avaiable as gas prices will go up and they need to address all markets not just large cars and trucks. 4 Marketing marketing and marketing. GM's greatest failure is they could barely support development of a car and then still afford to market it properly 6 months after intro. If you want people to know your product you need to tell them and tell them again. To bad we lost Billy Mays! 5 Did I say marketing! 6 GM also need to find ways to answer the press and defend themselves from unfail attacks. There are many people out there that are working in the press and other areas to make sure GM fails. They need to address this and call the bluffs on this kind of atttack. I have already seen the people saying GM needs to get better product when they can't even name any of the new cars ready for release in the next 3 years. They make it sound as if GM has nothing in the pipeline. 7 Remove the clueless dead wood from within GM. Is see some of some of it is already gone. So this is already a positive. There are many more details but GM does have a fighting chance and the economy is right now their worst enemy. The one thing they do have is they have income form China and some other areas. Count this with reduced operating cost and no majore debt other than the goverment loan it should be easier. Note I did not say easy. The last factor in their corner is the Goverment can not afford to let them fail now. The democrates can not afford to go into an election year with GM failing after the loans. THe people will vote each and everyone out for this reason alone not to mention the Cap and Trade bill.

I think you are thinking of the GP. He showed up just a short while before the 04 GP and Larcrosse appeared. The Lacrosse was put back for a entire redesign of the body and the GP got a nose job because it had a Aztek nose. I saw it once and it was awful.

Good catch!

Sorry I was speaking in the past as with this Buick and other GM show cars. Today since Lutz's arrival most of the show cars that we see at the shows are pretty much as we see them in production. The acceptions being rare like the Volt where they were not full clear on where they were going with this car at the time it was shown. Reality hit and changes had to be made to make it work in a real world. The fact is styling is important to a point but quality, price and value are just as if not more important. A car today does not need to be over the top in styling to be a sales hit. Just look at your best sellers. Camry and Accord are not what I would term as a works of art and sell in great numbers. People today treat cars as appliances and as long as they do not have to visit the servvice department and can afford the payments while not being hidious they are happy. Just look at some of the trolls that are imported by Kia and the like. To most car owners a nicely styled car with inoffensive styling that appeals to a wide group of people is what the target needs to be. Styling in a mass produced car need to be appealing to many and not polarizing. This true more so in the sedan market where a coupe market is more intune with the emotional side of the buyer. A Camaro is more a car someone is willing to take styling over back seat room or usable trunk space. THis is a car that people buy more for image.

You are not going to get all weird on B pillars too are you? LOL! You seem a little stressed I think you should go drive a new Camaro SS!

The last Riv carried some of this theme of a long sweeping car. The new Lacrosse has the side sweep and curved hood line. The port holes came back with this car for what they are worth. The grill theme was carried to several models witht he waterfall theme. The GMC SUV has the opening back. Want me to go on? It is time to be realistic. As you have stated this is a show car and it is time to be realistic. Many of the features would not pass goverment regs, would add a great amount of weight or not survive in the real world. This was on of the last cars GM did before Lutz and was one of the last that was not even close to being build able as a real world car. You know as I do that even some of the show cars built into production cars like the SSR are hampered by many things a good production car should never have. It is not a idea of can't but more of a be realistic. Besides other than the Lucerne and the new Lacrosse that is coming out in those 9 years how many new cars has Buick had? You can't count SUV's, Crossovers, or minivans. I think that is why there are severa themes form this car being used on the new Lacrosse such as the hood line and sweep spear. I have seen this car in Detroit and as a show car it is neat but if it were a real world car it would be a little odd. Just as if they had built the Pontiac Banshee as a real world car. It too was a neat show car but would have been a little to buck rogers for the road. Show cars are like a tarted up Julia Roberts whore in a movie. They may look good on film but nothing like the crack whores you see on Cop's. Reality suck so get used to it.