hyperv6

Keep in mind this was talk radio and you always get some tough talking rank and file types that will tough talk and say anything. I hope the labor leaders have their heads screwed on right and can come to a reasonable agreement with GM. There was a time labor unions used to fight companies but many have realized they are now expendable and replacable in the world market. The United Rubber workers should be a good example of how a union can pay dearly for a tough stance. They died a quick death in the 80's and had to disband. Rubber workers had to combine with the steel union. They are much more agreeable now but way too late for many of their members. Too many see the big picture too late and have no one to blame but themselves.

We have a few Delphi plants in this area and a lot of people who are employed there. Talk radio here is lit up with Delphi workers calling in and saying they will strike if called on and will be willing to go down with the ship taking GM with them. I know this is not a reflection of all Delphi workers and I pray the UAW managment use good judgment in their dealing with Delphi and GM. Someone stated the GM plants have 5-6 days of parts on hand does anyone know if this is correct? Also I know the wheel maker on the Z06 wheels went bankrupt and GM had to get a new supplier. How long did that take and is it possible to get replacment suppiers in time for a strike in May? Or is that even a realistic option?

He has done well with the mess he walked into.

I hear in red it is good for 10 HP and if it was chrome it is good for 15 HP

Thanks!

BMW is too busy trying to convice the die hard owners of the positive aspects of the trade marked "i Drive" to promote "Steptronic". Their all guilty of the TM game. Though with i Drive they might want to try some cheese as what they are doing is not convincing many that it's some marvel of engineering and technology. Maybe a big "I" emblem on the wheel center caps would help?

In other words this would only be just a worse case/ last resort type plan only if it would ever happen?

Here is the full story for what it is worth. Be fowarned, I don't know this site and how reliable it is. Holden could be sold as GM goes into 'death spiral' Robert Wilson March 25, 2006 HOLDEN could be sold off if a desperate General Motors continues to fall into a financial death spiral, a global automotive expert says. The principal of international automotive strategic consultants Autopolis, Graeme Maxton, said GM was already taking desperate measures to avert the greatest crisis in its 98-year history and sell-offs of its better performing divisions couldn't be ruled out. "If you look at in terms of pure economics, their investment in Australia must be under question," he said yesterday. "GM is having to sell off the family silver and close down anything that is not economic to cut costs in order to survive for the next few years," he said. The Detroit-based automotive giant had already begun disposing of its shareholdings in Japanese makers Isuzu, Subaru and Suzuki, despite these being strategically significant ventures, Mr Maxton said. And GM yesterday announced it had sold its property financing arm, GMAC Commercial Holding, for $12.5 billion. "All of these are desperate measures to stay alive. What GM is waiting for is when enough of its pensioners die off that it can re-fund itself and invest for growth again. But it's absolutely hidebound right now. It has so much debt and so many liabilities that it has to simply cut them loose," Mr Maxton said. "They can't do anything until their situation improves but they've got themselves into something of a death spiral because the more they have to cut, the more consumers stay away from their products, the more their market share goes down and the more their losses go up." Mr Maxton acknowledged Holden was not in the same dire sales situation as GM's US brands whose combined market share fell to a historic low of 25 per cent last year. But he said that the more profitable Holden was, the more tempting it would be for GM to sell it off. "The question for Holden is who would buy it. There are actually not many companies except maybe a Chinese maker who would buy it right now," he said. GM's traditional global rival, Ford, was in just as much financial trouble, Mr Maxton said. "Ford is in many ways in exactly the same situation. The big difference is that GM really does understand how serious its situation is," he said. "Ford is still pretending it's not that serious but their market share has fallen even more than GM's. The company hasn't woken up to what it has to do." The cycle of cutbacks and rationalisation that threatened Holden also applied to Ford Australia, Mr Maxton said. "It's absolutely the same situation but it may take a bit longer because Ford headquarters is in dAnd GM yesterday announced it had sold its property financing arm, GMAC Commercial Holding, for $12.5 billion. "All of these are desperate measures to stay alive. What GM is waiting for is when enough of its pensioners die off that it can re-fund itself and invest for growth again. But it's absolutely hidebound right now. It has so much debt and so many liabilities that it has to simply cut them loose," Mr Maxton said. "They can't do anything until their situation improves but they've got themselves into something of a death spiral because the more they have to cut, the more consumers stay away from their products, the more their market share goes down and the more their losses go up." Mr Maxton acknowledged Holden was not in the same dire sales situation as GM's US brands whose combined market share fell to a historic low of 25 per cent last year. But he said that the more profitable Holden was, the more tempting it would be for GM to sell it off. "The question for Holden is who would buy it. There are actually not many companies except maybe a Chinese maker who would buy it right now," he said. GM's traditional global rival, Ford, was in just as much financial trouble, Mr Maxton said. "Ford is in many ways in exactly the same situation. The big difference is that GM really does understand how serious its situation is," he said. "Ford is still pretending it's not that serious but their market share has fallen even more than GM's. The company hasn't woken up to what it has to do." The cycle of cutbacks and rationalisation that threatened Holden also applied to Ford Australia, Mr Maxton said. "It's absolutely the same situation but it may take a bit longer because Ford headquarters is in denial," he said.

Were they driving Pontiac's? Sorry! Someone was going to ask.

Here is a web site from down under claiming Holden may be put up for sale? www.theaustralian.news.com. makes this claim and points out for is in as bad of shape as GM but is in denial unlike GM which only is going to make things worse for Ford. I would like to say I don't think GM would sell Holden and this is just rubbish. Can anyone shead any light on this as just being a wild false story?

If the HHR was offered in a SS package with a SS suspension and 205 SC Ecotec would the out come have been different? Just wondering? I don't know if I would be happy with a HHR but am intriged by them. Performance is one area of concern for me. Cornering and power both are of great interest.

What made the original TA series was the realness of the cars and the factory support. What ever new series might come it will fail unless the factories really back it. All of them.

Fact is NASCAR reaches more people more hours a week than any other motorsport in this country. Advertisers go to where people are watching. With Toyota and the new markets the stereo type is wearing thin [unless you go to Talladegas infield]. Trans AM is like all other road racing in this country a hard sell to the general public. Those here and myself love road racing because we understand it. But the general public just don't understand the road racing is technic where NASCAR is door to door close racing for 500 miles. I would not be Suprised if the France Family don't bring in a GT series that would run under Grand Am. The MFG are all involved there already. I had my Doughts about the Daytona Prototype series but Jim France has got a good competitive series going. I would guess they could do the same here with the Pony cars. The key is to make sure all makes of cars can win any given race, If one is dominate it will die a quick death. On dominate car has killed many series over the years, only F1 is able to get away with it. But F1 has never gotten a good foot hold in the states because Americans want compitition here not stratagy or technology. It is like football, if it is a good game most don't care who is playing.

Might get a better responce if you ask what they won't be. I have seen few that will name what to look for but many will say what not to expect. You might be able to weed it down to what ones they are looking at.

Some of GM's old names are still around and remembered well. Like Posi as in Positraction. I still get customers with Fords and Chryslers slaing to have a Posi rear end.

Too late for the Firebird. I also thought Holden after all the pictures of the cars they were testing here last year. Just not enough to go on from wha this guy saw unless someone has heard a hint of what it might have been. He had some other post. I did not get much out of it. What would they be testing this time of year. Too cold for the desert and not that cold for cold temp. High Alt?

This was posted on CamaroZ28, The post has his thoughts on what he saw. I will post it here as It is hard to say other than it might being a Chevy what they are. Lets see if anyone might recongnize what they might be. If your in the Reno, Carson City, Tahoe area you might want too keep an eye open for these cars. Here is his post: No BS here, this was what happened: I was driving down US-395 today through the Carson Valley towards Minden, NV. I saw three black vehicles in a row ahead of me and thought they might be testers. There was a new bodystyle Avalanche in front, a black camoflaged car in the middle, and ANOTHER black camoflage car in the back. Three in all, all three with blue Michigan MFR plates. The Avalanche was taped off in a few places but otherwise open. We all know what it looks like anyways. Maybe a Hybrid or E85 tester? The SECOND car is what I believe was an early test mule for 5th gen Camaro running gear. Honestly. It was short, wide and had what looked like 2003-2004 5-lug Monte Carlo wheels painted black with no centre caps. The front end had cutouts for the headlights and grille but I couldn't see it clearly through the mesh. The lights were projector and were on. Not HID but bright. I did not see any foglights (or cutouts for them). Grille was also black and there was a good-sized intake below it. The taillights were small and LED. They looked similar to the concept but were more slitlike. These had oval cutouts in the camo. The reversing lights were in the bumper on each side of the license plate. There were two exhausts and a distinctive tone, much like (for lack of a better description) my dad's 1999 C5. Definitely V8. The wheels had good-size rotors and calipers, much like the GTO. There were antennae all over the place, and the dash (from what I could see) was pretty much covered with test gear. I did notice a pod-like setup to the dash, like an old Corvette. The driver gave me quite a look when I rolled next to him in my 1995 Red Z28. I truly believe what I saw was an early Camaro mule based on CTS-V or GTO running gear. The last car was a 4-door sedan, about the size of a Malibu or Impala. It also was heavily camoed and had dual exhaust. The tone was low and might be either a HO V6 or a V8. The headlights were on and they looked like projectors. It also had LED taillights but they were vertical! The door design was striking; the doors had an upslant to them much like a CTS or STS. The driver of this car never looked at me and was on a cell phone. This might have been a new CTS or a Bel-Air tester. I work at a GM dealership and get to hear all kinds of rumours and chat but this one takes it. They must have been doing cold-weather testing or something. I was actually thinking of stopping and getting one of those disposable cameras, but they would have been gone by the time I got it and caught up to them. I'm getting a friggin' digital camera now for SURE. We see cold-weather testers all the time here and can't miss another. I hope to see them again! More later (I hope) -Dave These could even be Caddys? Lets see if anyone might have any clues on what they are.

NASCAR started to fail for the long time fan in the late 80's. Marketing has taken over. I think the car companies see the ratings and the marketing people see the exposure. Many in marketing could not tell you who David Pearson was and think they understand NASCAR. As for NASCAR it is another way to make a buck. It is not so much what is good for the car but what is good for the people and companies involved. The car is just a marketing tool now. It come down to the all mighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. The last real NASCAR racing was Dale Earnhardt vs Tim Richmond on a real short track.

The car of tomarrow was not inplay in the earlier story. NASCAR is looking for a way to revamp the Bush series with a car not like the Cup car. The Idea is the Pony cars would be a draw in their own way and These cars would not sare anything with cup. The secondary idea is the Cup drivers that run Saturday are learn things they can use on the Cup car on Sunday. Well If they run cars not anything like the Cup cars there is nothing to learn and less would drive both series. Either way this would not happen over night as ypu have to get the cars to market first, second make race cars out of them and finally get every thing else in place. The Car of Tomarrow has been in the works for 5 years. so the Pony car deal will not happen soon. IROC needs cars, they might see them first if they ever get used. Pontiac is into road racing with the GTOR. I would expct to see them there with it first.

This was mntioned in a story in January. The MFG had no coment and NASCAR said they would be interested in a Mustang, Challanger, Camaro rivalry but also noted they would have to see how things work out if I recall how it read. I would love to see a start up of a stock base road race series much like Trans Am was in the late 60's.

Ok every one has said a lot of dates and what is not possible. All agree that 07 is out and now some say 08 is out ot not likley. Is fall of 08 as a 09MY the reasonable target now to look for. It would fit into to the Canadian plant losing the W body line in 08? Also any word on what V6 will base the car or be a likley canadate. The only thing that has been said by GM is the 3.9 is wrong when Edmunds listed it with the 6.0. Also would it be cheaper to offer a 5.3 with DOD as a base engine over tooling the car for a V6? I don't know the figures on cost between the two but was told the 5.3 in the GP is cheaper to build than the 3.8SC to build. It may just be the cost of the SC I don't know. I have never seen the numbers to verifiy this. I know Fbodfather had posted on the Camaro site and asked what they thought of the 5.3. It could be just as a base V8 and a middle engine over a V6? Anyway he was asking but never said why. There must bve some thinking going on on the 5.3 for something. I like to see what anyone has heard and know on this since so little has been said. The Base engine vs the Mustangs base will be very important to this car and make up the bulk of the sales.

If I buy one your off the ride list. I don't want the leather stained! I have seen a few around here. They do look great. I just wonder what the UBER Vette might look like. I hate Yellow, but the special cost Vette Yellow screams Lemans. I like this one.

Not against it at all, just can they price theirs with the 500? Just the other options would make it cheaper

Wider is Better!

The deal in Canada looks like a similar to the deal struck with the UAW in Lordstown for the Cobalt. They were offered a deal with reduced staff and maintained wages and GM would award the Cobalt to the plant. Too bad GM does not have the time to do this at the other plans to get the UAW to cust labor cost or lose their new car lines. There was some grumbling at Lordstown but it did not last long as UAW strongly supported the deal. Not sure if it is AWD coming or not. It may be up to if GM can price it well and if competitor sales are still good. Anyone know if Chryslers AWD models are they selling well yet? With traction control and stablility control RWD is not as big of a problem in snow states as regular RWD used to be. It is also must cheaper than AWD. I could see AWD on a Buick or Pontiac but could they price a Chevy to still be a value leader?