hyperv6

Having spent a good amount of time behind the wheel of a V6 Malibu with the best suspension with the 18 inch wheels I can say it is not a car just for old people. The Malibu rides and handles as well as my 04 Comp G and the new HV V6 at 240 HP makes the 3800 SC feel like a Iron Duke. At this point I if gven the choice of a loaded Bu or GTP I would pick the Bu. Also the new Six Speed Auto is as smooth as glass and moves the Bu along in a way few Chevys have in years. Anyone who would pass a V6 Bu up for a Impala needs revaluate their standards.

I would think most of us here are informed enough and understand well enough what is at play here. First off it is not a forever thing GM hints at that right in its statment wink wink. Second when youre asking for $16 Billion on top of 14 Billion from DC it is best to appear PC while your asking. Third these cars are great cars but they were not going to save GM. GM needs to get it's house in order before they play. Fourth. We still have some performance vehicles to carry till GM is in a better way to bring the fun cars back. Five GM pulled out performance and racing in the late 50's and in the 70's only to return a few years later. Both front door and back door performance was avaiable. Sixth This should not have been a suprise when John Heinrency retired last month and unce Bob made his anouncment. Seven How many times when Ford was hurting for money did SHO and SVT nearly vanish only to return with even better cars. Eight Having the folks from GMPD building the volume cars may not be a bad thing. Who better? They have been building some of the best sorted GM cars in years if ever. A little of that on the high volume cars may just give up regular cars we don't hate. Nine If you want to worry about performance you had better worry about what you're elected officals are doing. A lot of Evro Zelots are in line for pay back for getting many elected this year. In Oregon right now they want to pass laws that will prevent you from putting on larger, sticker tires and wheels on your car. They also want to prevent any upgrades that they deem could effect mileage and CO levels. This is more a danger to your performance needs and your own personel freedom. Ten We will still see performance in the next few years not just in the Camaro but other well placed option boxes that will provide suspensions and engine combo's that may lack a SS emblem but will provide the fun you look for in driving. I know this new sucks but we know what this game is and it has to be playes out. GM needs to get its house righted and then they can play again. Lets just hope those elected just don't make us all out laws with their eviro legislation as that is the true danger.

I think we will find Pontiac will not be a rebadged Chevy but the few models will be based on a Holden or Opel. what ever models they use it will be something offered overseas anf not duplicated here. I think GM is only keeping the name alive to prevent buy outs among the many Pontiac dealers. In other words cheaper to keep them with only a couple cars. As for Saturn there are fewer dealers to buy out and it makes it more cost effective. As for naming the present cars old names get over it. The average buyer does not care. They just want cars better than the G5 or G6. The bottom line is when you have good product it should not matter what you call it. The Asians have proven that with some of their wacked names. Give the public more credit as they buy cars based on value, performance, styling and quality. Few care if it is a old name.

The only way Saturn would live on as a spin off is if the a MFG form China bought them and made them in their own image. Saturn would provide a dealer network but at what cost? The problem is Saturn is tied to GM to close and few people are willing to pay GM's price for the dealers. Unless they can work out some agreement Satuyrn will die.

Ruling things by committe by accountants is what got GM into this mess in the first place. "Given his propensity for carefully constructed thought and integrity" Wow that must have been some good Kool Aide! It's time to wake up the dream is over. Nancy P is running your lives.

There will be a group of Saturn people who meet every year just as the Corvair and Fiero people do. They will all marvel at the guy who shows with the Supercharged Ion. Do not confuse collectability with Value. Some people will still cling to these cars though not in great numbers just because they like them. THey will not be worth anything but they will like them none the same. They will be small in number but they will be there.

This is all true on the Z28 info. The car is on the shelf on hold and can be revived very quickly as it is a done package. GM only needs the money and sales to bring it to reactivate it. Note the Z28 has been mostly in plain sight with the new Bumble Bee in the new Transformers movie show car. The Bee is about 97% Z28. While this is a car we all want to see built Chevy and GM have more important things to do first. I would expect to see this car in the future before the end of the Zeta. With so much of the work done it is more as matter of timing and the funding to just bring it to market. As for the Holden part I have not heard anything there. The bottom line is the Z was never going to be a cheap high volume car. It is a Shelby like car and would not going to be seen on every corner. The bottom line is this car is far from dead and we may not get it for many years but a short run is better than nothing.

The Malibu is selling to private people and real families. These are true car sales and a very good car. The Impala is still around due to fleet sales. LEts face it how many of these are sold to rental fleets, City fleets, taxis, and the great number now sold to law inforcment. A lesser percentage of overall sales are going to the public sector than the Malibu. The Crown Vic has been kept around so many years just because of fleet sales and mostly law inforcement. Well GM had taken a large chunk of that with a V6 car that saves departments money. Lets face it GM is still making money of this car and if they were not they would have killed it already. The only people buying the Impala over the Bu are older people who what bench seats. If anyone under 60 has driven both cars would know after one test drive of each which one is the better car. I suppose if GM did fleet sales of the Bu in great numbers they would bash it for being poor resale.They would comment how GM is dumping too many on the market form rental fleets to tarnish resale. If cars companies were so easy to evolve and run we all would be doing it. I do agree GM has too many models but when you need capital it is hard to kill some of them. But on the other hand GM has low profit models that need to be struck down.

Chapter 11 should never be the first line of recovery but in light of the present market conditions it is becoming a more clear path. GM had great issues but now with the economy as it is the whole game is different now. This also may finally not hurt GM inage wise as much since the entire industry is taking dive. It may not be too far out that even some of the imports could be driven to this state next year. Not all are cash rich as Toyota. If one goes chapter 11 the other 2 of the big three may soon follow not just because they are also hurting but also for the competitive advantage it would put GM in during tough times. Ford is holding on but with the market down there pockets may not hold out for too much longer. GM would still have to tough it out and work hard to right the ship but with much less burden in times when all are hurting. Besides in the next couple years many Americans will also be filing bankrupt status. Too many people have too great of credit card debts and if they are laid off it will catch up to them. THis may help GM nit suffer the stigma of bankruptcy as much since some will really know what chapter 11 really means. I hope the stimulas bill works but from the way I see it being handled I am not holding my breath. Way too much busy work vs creating increases in our industrial base and markets. Too bad they will not get the credit problems fixed first. Having cheap affordable cars in the future will be key. If we lose the UAW this may help stablize or lower prices on the cheapest cars. In 2-4 years a Spark may be all some can afford new.

I think people are learning about them at this point but now they need to trust them with the money they need to pay down. That is if they can get the loan.

And don't forget to rebadge a few Chevys as Pontiac's! GM is in good shape product wise as they have many good programs in the works. The big problem is because of the lack of cash flow and buyers they are all on hold accept the Volt and a few other models ready to go to market. I get tired of the DC arguing on the Trillion Dollar package and so few in DC are addressing the credit market. Too many just want to build bridges and create busey work but too little want to fix what provides money in long term investment in industrial programs that would be long lasting and improve investment by industry in this country. If we do not help industry create new products and markets and give them the capital to move these programs forward. Also provide ways and means for the public to buy them we are just building bridges to no where. It is time the public really looks the the stimulus bill and see what we are really getting. There is a reasons they are rushing it through. There are some good things there but there are so many things that are just a waste. There are also things in there that will remove your freedom of choice in some areas of your life you may not approve of. They need to fix the leak first before they worry about mopping up. It is time DC addresses the credit problems and the rest will help fix it's self.

I just hope Microsoft does not get the software job! It would take them longer to get it right than GM.

396 more GM dealers to go for this year.

You win the prize. That is why they are doing this. Might see more of this in the future too. On the cheap cars like this they need to save money anywhere you can.

The dash is nothing new the Fiero had a floating pod dash years ago. If the car looked plain it would look like every other Asian import from Honda or Toyota. As for heritage look it has the Malibu grill. As for the old heritage most people under 25 today don't know or care if it has round Chevelle tail lights. As for skinny.. That is true but you meet the emission, crash and mileage requirements of Washington and keep the weight out while still selling this at a price a collage kid can afford. This car is not my cup of tea but if it is priced well and screwed together well that is all that counts in this class People dont buy cars like this to be cool or rember the past. GM did it right by hiding the rear doors but putting them on as most young people today hate two door cars. They think in utility more then style. GM will do alright with this car if it has at least Malibu quality standards if not better. The time has come where the goverment is going to make cars like this more the norm so we had better get used to the rolling phone booth like them or not. The 60's ain't coming back even 8 years from now when they [lose their goverment grants] err I mean find they were incorrect on Global warming and the Russians were correct on the global cooling. LOL.

Well The dealers around here do not need anymore sitting around. As for the 97% I would guess the 3% would account for the 09 GXP models? Why import them untill they start selling again. God knows GM does not need anymore cars sitting around than they already have.

The SHO should have been a updated Fusion and started at $29K. This car needed to be smaller, Lighter, sportier looking and Cheaper. People in the past always bought the Taurus because they were cheap and a good value. This may be a good car but far from a good value. Ford will sell these but not not is any volume where you will see one everyday. To may better cars in this price range.

The wife deals with county and city admin people. They do little and vote themselfs cars, housing funds and trips that really have little to do with work. It is so bad they don't hide it as no one is holding them accountable. The run under the surface to the point the public never notices. If it is that bad on the lower levels you can figure how much worse it is as the rank in goverment goes up.

Well the goverment with their $700 Billion are looking to creat a lot of jobs and many are not in the public sector. More Goverment jobs that just employee people but add little to our economy. That may hurt things as adding more govement jobs is not going to make investors happy. The wife works for the Gov and the waste there has been crazy for years. It is insaine what they spend money on and keep asking for more. Anyone notice the safer we make our cars the lower quality the elected officals become? I guess that is what happens wen you mess with natural selection? It has been a decline for years. I have always said Airbags, Helmet laws and Seatbelt laws have stopped the thining of the heard.

Nice car but not a $40K+ car. Once I hit the $40K level my option open up and I would look to spend it on a car that I can get from Hertz. Even if it had a little less HP. This car would be acceptable at $38K and down but once it options out over that there are too many other options open over a Ford. Same would would go for me even if it was a Chevy. As for AWD nothing wrong with offering it but if you can't drive a RWD in the snow you should not own a car with near 400 HP to start with. Millions drove for years with V8's RWD and poor bias snow tires and got around just fine. The only reason Ford is offering it is to prevent torque steer since this is a FWD based sedan. I wish them well but I don't see many of these selling. At least not at anything near sticker.

The two Chevys done under his watch were the Malibu that sold over 150,000 in its first year as all new over 50% increase before the market fell out. The other is the HHR that has sold over 100,000 each of the last three years. Seeing the decrease of fleet sales I see both as positive growth of both. The Cruze has yet to show what all it can do once it hits the market. The RWD Impala was killed before we could even see it. You have to be realistic and understand Bob did not get everyting he wanted or asked for. He was never given the product or marketing support he really needed because there just was no money to market the too many models they offerd. He also spent a lot of time trying to fix what they already had screwed up before he got there. The lecrosse went back to be redone and the GP was revamped to a little more acceptable levels vs what GM had originally. The Aura sold over 60,000 while being a near clone of the Malibu and sold with little to no advertising or marketing. The only real negitive Lutz produced was the Opel Astra and I don't blaime him fully for that. He was never given the marketing support to sell those cars properly. Also they shuld have offered a Red Line Turbo out of the gate. THis was a car that could have competed with VW as it already does in Europe. We ended up with the watered down version. We also have to consider the many cars he has ready to come in the next 5 years after he leaves. At this point we have only seen half of what he has done. The question is how much will GM mess with what he has left them? The changing market , economy and GM financal state is playing hell with GM's plans daily.

At the time it was a smart idea with truck sales off the charts. GM needed money to revamp the other car lines and the trucks were the key top provide that profit. There was no one at GM let alone here that could have predicted the gas prices going up just that the time the new trucks were starting to roll out. Even if GM only got 2-3 years out of the 900 program they owuld have made a lot of money.

The truth is some of the worst model mistakes Lutz made were still much much better than some of what GM did right in the 80's-90's. If his worst sins were the a late HHR, Sky/Solstice and GTO I would take that anyday. The Aztec and Cadillac Cavaliers of GM's past were the real mistakes. To come to GM and try to revamp a company with too many models and little money he did a hell of a job. This was a job few could have done any better with the restriction placed on them. Few understand Bob went to the powertrain guys and told them he had their back. Today we have some of the best engine on the market Form the Ecotec Turbos, HV V6 with DI and even the Chevy V8 that can run with the big boys at a fraction of the cost. IF Bob had the money and time we would have a lot more in product but there is only so much you can do with so little. What Bob did best is show GM how if you empower the vast talent you have you reap greater rewards. Too often GM never used what was avaiable to them and it went else where and did the job for someone else.

To blaime him for the large SUVs and like is just flat ignorent. He was the first one to bring a Chevy that is on par with the cars from Asia. He was the first big wig to know enough to ask why GM could not do 3 mm panel gaps. When he got the reply form the staff that no one ever asked. He stuck hi neck out and brought us the HHR in light that many all said he was nuts. In the last 3 years GM has made a good profit on the 300,000 plus units they have sold. Few of these were fleet sales. Bob may have over spoke at times but he often spoke as he felt. Honesty may not be popular in the headquarters but it is nice to hear on our end. I would take another Bob in a heart beat at GM warts and all vs another paper shuffler that has no clue about product. If GM does not have a good product man to take his place GM is doomed. It will have to be someone that understand and loves cars.

Sorry to see Bob go! At this point I can't blaime him.