hyperv6

I am sure some dealers may get a pass if they are the onely one around in a rual area. We have some here in outer areas like that. On the other hand GM is not going to lose sleep over losing a lover volume dealer when they have stronger ones in some cities. My point is GM has too many dealers and this may be a way they can lose them. Just the fact of Buick and Pontiac combining is makeing less dealers. One trend in this area also is that major dealers are buying many small family dealers and just building one big dealer and closing many others. All of these and other reasons will lower the dealer network and put them on keel like many of the Toyota and Nissan dealers. We have also had many Ford dealers close here when bought up by larger Ford retailers.

Who is to say this is not a good way to weed out many dealers that can not live up to their franchise agreement with GM. GM already has too many dealers and if the lose some due to the fact that some franchises can't meet the standards. So be it! I have one rotten dealer here I would love to see go under for a lot of their under handed dealings. This would only help the good dealer here that is building a new building now and give them more buisness that they deserve. As I have stated earlier some here were close to losing their dealers if they did not relocate to a interstate or major highway.

About 80% of the dealers in this part of Ohip have already built new or upgraded dealers in the last 4-8 years. I can see them doing this upgrade in the future since most of the work here is already done. Most already had GMC and Buick in them anyway. The funny part is one dealer in Rittman Ohio is one that just built a new building and dealer. There name is "Premier Pontiac". The key point is this is not anything that is going to happen over night but they need to set what is expected for future dealer development to bring this all together. GM is already requiring most dealers to be or relocate on a interstate or major highway. Many still need to relocate so when they rebuild they can do this like directed. Toyata has much the same look in ther new super dealers as we just got one of the prototypes here. I looks similar but just buiger as it hold Scion and the new trucks too.

I got my hands on the May Hot Rod from my advertising department at work and noted they covered some of what we already know on the Blue Devil and 650 HP. Well they had a short piece on the Camaro engine line up. Here is what was stated word for word. Hot Rod May 2007 page 39 "However GM insiders have blabbed to Hot Rod the range of potential engines for GMs new Ponycar. There will be two V6 choices and at least three V8s, Including a 550 HP version of the supercharged 6.2L V-8 for the High content Z28 model. Scorces indicate there will be two base V8s, one stick and one Automatic, both of them over 400 HP." This fits along with much of what we have been hearing. I think for Hot Rod to make such a statement might be what GM wanted planted? I do not know this for sure but I do know Hot Rod as most magazines are driven by Advertising and support from American auto companies. Chevy and Hot Rod have been working very close on many projects and the Power Tour. I don't think they would have said anything out of turn as they would never want to start trouble with a major scource of income and support. In other word this statement I would assume was cleared before it was printed as to not upset anyone. Anyway this kind of fits with what I was expecting I assume the 400+ HP engines will be the LS 3 engines and now only wonder if one of the V6 engines will be the DI 3.6 300 HP? The 550 HP supercharged engine was a given for a Shelby fighter. Now can the keep the cost under 50K.

What were G6 sales as all I saw was Pontiac was down 15.6% Inever saw a total for each model. While were at it what about G5 sales I am seeing a lot of them on the roads here.

The numbers I saw were 3.4% increase for GM and 11% for Toyota. If this was correct I will still be glad to take the 3.4% at this time of year. The listing I saw had Saturn doing a whopping 59% increase. I take this as the imporvment with the new added models. Big losers were Pontiac, Hummer and Buick. It said Saturn sold more cars than Hummer and Buick combined. This just goes to prove you need more than 3 or 4 models in a dealer. GM is not out of the woods yet but we can see the light at the edge of the woods. If GM can keep improving things are falling into place as they should with this world platform deal, The real challange will be the next contract with the UAW and how to handle the retirements and health care to save more money.

You hit the bullseye on that one! Mercedes can't even make a dent with the Maybach how is Caddy going to even chip the paint. Caddy needs to walk before they grt too big of any Ideas. If they ever do a Status car it will be like the Ford GT a limited run and good for image but nothing else. If Caddy wants to make a statment build a DTS that looks like a Sixteen with a 500 + HP V8. Shorten the hood to make the car driveable but still keep it well balanced to look like the show car. Sell it at a reasonable price and make it RWD. Leave the FWD to the Lucerne. As for the dream of the GN Buick, those days are over. Buick can do a turbo but it will be a much different car than what many would expect. A Turbo 4 cylinder G8 might be a fallback plan to give the larger sedan a little Euro flair with economy if the sale of V8 G8's tank if gas goes over 3$3. Lets face it the Chrysler/Dodge cars sales slipped with the high gas last summer. Besides a Turbo 4 in a small sedan would have some appeal here in RWD if priced well and Quality is kept up to German standards. Standards of late VW seems to be in trouble of meeting.

Well now the latest on Autoblog.com is Chrysler buying a minority interest in GM? What are we going to hear next?

Its not a book for the deep thinker it is more a PR/coffee table book with some interesting unpublished info on the building and design of the car. You can still tell this was a GM approved book. The book is from Lamm publishing but written by Gary Witzenburg. Gary has written many books on GM cars [Firebird and Fiero,etc] and you can tell he was hired by GM by only telling you the good stuff with out many warts. In the Solstice book it is similar but they do address the things like the roof and trunk space but only lightly. He and his wife are both retired GM people. I called Michale Lamm to order my book right from him as he is sellng them. I assume Motorbooks or someone else will also distribute them in the future as it has only been out 2 months. This book did give some insight on the problems and changes in building the car. It in a way shows the new way GM is operating. At the end of the book Gary writes he is not only a writer on the Solstice but a owner. He relates some of his own adventure with his car. He loves it and has no regrets.

I get the feeling they are in a wait and see mode. They most likley have a plan but may be waiting to see the reaction to the G8 and also how well the Camaro sales are. Also gas prices would effect any additional models. Or at least that is my feeling. Chrysler sales slowed on all the RWD last summer when gas was high. At least with the Holden/Pontiac tie and the ability to creat quickly will let GM move quickly if the need should come. This global platform thing is going to really help all the way around.

Why don't we wait to see the end results before we pull the pin on this panic granade. A inch or two here or there is not going to be a big deal. I think if GM can design a car like this they can do a good job to translate it into production. The Solstice is a good example. The prototype and the production car are not identical nor in real life would the prototype survive on the road so changes had to be made or every owner would lose the front valance at the first trip to a parking lot. Anyway if you compare the prototype Solstice to the production they made the needed adjustments to keep it all in proportion and retain the show cars looks. Read the new Lamm book on the Solstice as it explains what and how they made the transition and worked hard to retain the show car appearance.

What you say is true but how long did it take to get the G8 program done on a already made Holden? I still would not hold my breath for a TA! At this point I would hold even on the GTo name. I would build a anti pony car adult performance coupe. It would be more expensive, , more powerful and and have more luxury. Will just have to sit back and see what Holden does and if it could apply to Pontiac down the road. Either way both the TA and GTO bring baggage that Pontiac does not need right now. I can here it now "It does not look like a Trans Am". Well Burt Reynolds does not look like Burt any more either. It is time to quit reliving the past. Time to move into the future or steal from BMW at cut rate prices. Let let Chevy worry about selling enough coupes now and then if they do we can move Pontiac back into the game. I think a coupe might sell again but you need to grow the market first and make sure it is there. It is better to grow then commit a lot of money ang get burned.

Here is an update on this story by Autoblog.com UPDATE: After conferring with Motor Trend and finding the original source, it's clear that GM's Jim McQueen did NOT say the C7 Corvette will produce up to 700 hp. The original article's author, MT's Paul Horrell, merely extrapolated on his own and made an educated guess that the C7 might produce that much power, probably considering that the C6 SS would already be producing in the neighborhood of 600 horsepower. The stuff about no all-wheel drive and maintaining a unique platform still stands, though.

Not really as BMW does not sell the 3 series under 3 different or more brands let alone different models.

THE DREADED BLACK SUBURBAN STRIKES AGAIN. Just saw on autoblog.com that the shipping employee who took the photos was fired and a second was jailed. They were unsure of the charges of the arrest. If you want these pictures save them now! Just a word to the Moderators, Autoblog has removed the photo's because GM has been asking sites to remove them. I don't know if they will have a problem with the link here or not.

For all that need to know the G8 is now in Cleveland for the auto show for a week Per Scott Settlemire.

Myself and many of my friends are core Pontiac buyers. We all love what we see so far in the G8. The sooner they kill off FWD the more we will like it. [That is if that is what they plan to do] Most Pontiac people have had a Trans Am in the past and many are older and have no need for a small coupe. Most are waiting for a V8 RWD but hope they don't get too crazy with the price. Pontiac's image is damaged but not in the same way as Olds. Most people think of Pontiac as performance but they really do not have much in a performance car. Give the people what they precieve and many will return. Olds on the other hand was my Fathers Olds and I had no interest in what I precieved as a Old mans car. The new cars near the end were better but still lacking of what I wanted to buy as a 20 and 30 year old. I still got images of my Fathers wire hub capped Cutlass every time I heard the Olds name.

Relax as long as this is not another winding road prank, this is just a drivetrain test mule. The hood may be the only thing on the outside that makes it to the final car. if you noted the under side and cover on it. Also I expect we will see pictures of this car on track in Germany in a week or two along with somew other cars. I would not be suprised if GM has several cars going for testing at the Ring. I expect the clue of this in a German airlines storage area is a clue to where it is going. The final car is said to be more like the C6-R body with the needed areo advancments to keep the car planted at the speeds it will be able to do. What add ons will be light and functional. Hmmm that intake could fit under the hood of many cars. CTSv, Camaro SS, GTO, Super Impala, Holden, G8. I would not expect the top HP in those cars but the same package with less boost could make a limited top line performance car with many other bodies or even a truck.

Hmmm, You may have noticed my lack of interest in upscale cars from Japan. Anyway you should understand my point on Buick and Pontiac being a cut above Chevy and Saturn with out going to a Caddy price. Cadillac is GM? :AH-HA_wink:

They should just E bay it and get it over with. I bet the someone from China spikes it in the last second. I read a story the other day that said Daimler paid $36 Billion to buy Chrysler and may not get anymore than $5 billion by the time they are done.

Sorry I get Lexus and Infinity crossed up once in a while. I try to remember Lexus is the one with a 4 seat 350 Z based car. Other wise I am not a fan of either brand. The money they spent on the GTO was so small as it goes in the auto world that it really had little impact. What hurt more was any negitive publicity they got out of it for the name plate. So little money was budgeted that they could not afford the hood scoops and duel left and right exhaust the first year. The only bad thing about the GTO was it being an old car when it came here at nearly the same time as the Mustang came out with a new car. Add the fact Dealers jacked prices up and screwd themselves. If prices had been lower it would have sold out very quickly and much less would have been said. GM was no in a lot of trouble as they imported so few per year and did not expect to go high volume with this car. I feel the G8 is set very realostic and should do well if priced as I expect. The only problem I see is what the Impala will do to sales and how it is priced. I expect Pontiac to make changes to set the differeance between the Impala and G8 to be greater in the future. I also expect the Impala to be less Euro and more American flavored.

Pontiac and Buick will no longer be depended upon to be all things to all people. They are freed up to sell nich cars and special cars that even with 3 name plates only have to add up to one brand total and not three as they have had to do in the past. It is a good way to cut volume and protect and keep good names viable. There is a lot of equitiy in those names and they can be rebuilt. If one can turn Saturn around and if Hyundia can go from absolute trash to the new trendy car that Japan fears a turn around at Pontiac and Buick can be done. Think of Pontiac, Buick and GMC as Acura is to Nissan and Lexus is to Toyota. Special cars for Special people willing to pay extra for something a little better and different. Besides it is better to low ball your expected G8 sales vs letting a lot of them sit on dealer lots in a 120 day supply. If they need more they can bring them in. If you create a little artifical demand is better than discounting because of over stock. Lets just hope the G8 takes off and they have to go for the 50,000 they say they can do if needed.

The Fiero plant is still there but needs a lot of work.

What are we missing here? GM has to see or know something we are don't if they are really entertaining such an idea. Word on the street is the price that is wanted for Chrysler is cheap. Also would any of the debts be passed on or would Daimler offer to cover some of them. Could they be offering Daimler technology along to sweeten the deal? Could they be just selling Jeep? Could this whole thing just be a lot of nothing. We need to wait and see what the deal really is as I can not see Rick W throwing away all the work he has done to save GM for some wild hair to by Chrysler unless it was to his advantage. He is not that Dumb. What is Daimler will to do to unload Chrysler that would not burden GM or any other buyer? They might have to sweeten the deal to get any takers. All we know for sure at this point is they are talking but on what we can not confirm yet. Heck this whole thing could get bounced like the Nissan/Renault deal if it really is happening at all. It might be a interesting week coming up. In the end Rick will do whats best for GM and I don't expect it will be anything that will hurt them in the long run. Many of us thought the Daewoo deal was bad at first too.

The latest rumor is that GM would make a deal to partner with Chrysler to give them a SUV base on the Suburban. I know it would bring money into GM but how would it effect their own sales if gas goes back up this summer. I would like to see the details on what GM would get in return for such a deal if this is true. Just have to wait for some kind of anouncement to see what this is all about.