hyperv6

It was just one of many they could apply. It has worked well for Honda here in this area as in Anyway Way You Want It. What you consider awful has been playing well with all ages right now. Journey is not my favorite group but they have really reach out again even with the young. My son who is 12 has it on his I pod. The whole point is you need a song or music that reaches all ages with the message you are promoting. This is something the Black Eye Peas will can not do. On the other hand the Black Keys now have a wider appeal and reach many. They even have law suits out to stop copy cat songs some advetisers are using. I was not a fan till just recently even though they are from here. They get air time from every thing from Pop stations to Niki Sixx on XM. Even Billy GIbbons plays with them now and then. The kind of song we are looking for is even like Sweet Home Alabama that has sold everything from Chicken to you name it over the years. Like a rock was one that gave good appeal over all groups of buyers and it was a song you could get into your head all day.

Yes but how many of the Passat owners came from an Audi, Volvo, BMW or Benz. Many people have been down sizing in this economy and VW has really reaped a lot from the other Euro MFG. They even picked up a lot of sales from Saab too. Of that 29K I would be 3/4 were previous German or Euro car owners. The Cherokee and Durango are in the segment that will bleed over from the trucks. It would be like putting a Pick up diesel in a Tahoe. The Charger now would be a challange no pun intended. But for Chrysler to continue any kind of volume with that car they will need to seek MPG to meet the coming regs. The Diesel will help them if they can get people to buy it. This is a segment that needs to be grown and if you just build them and put it out there they will fail. You have to show and teach the American public how good these new engines are and show they just why they will like them. Also you will need to show how easy it is to get fuel as many people could not even tell you where they can fill up. They are common but just not everywhere and many people see that a local station does not have it and assume it is now where close. What the public dosen't know hurts the diesel much. People in general have little clue and those who know love them so it is time to teach and re educate them.

The reality is if anyone is worried about MPG they are not looking to the Impala anyways they are looking to the Cruze of Malibu.

something around 1 in 4 Passats sold is a diesel. Jetta is approaching a similar take rate. The limitation primarily being VW's production capacity for the diesel engines. But you leave out the some major factors. #1 it is a German car and buyers of German cars are very open to Diesel. Keep in mind these too are the same kind of folks who still buy wagons in small numbers too not something the average American sedan buyer is open too. #2 These are VW's and most VW buyers are open to Diesel just as they are to German cars. The reality is the only Diesels the Americans can really sell are trucks and most Asian companies have been in and out and in and out of the Diesel market due to luke warm sales in this country. Don't get me wrong I want a Diesel offered here and the Cruze is the pertect platform for it and then the Malibu but the Impala is down the line in my book to recieve this engine in this country. You can put the out there but it is very difficult to get anyone interested in an American sedan to buy a diesel. GM will need to get the Cruze out and market the hell out of it to teach the public the relaities of the modern Diesel and then pray the EPA does not get FN crazy and add even more regulations to make it even more difficult to build them and sell them here. There is what you and I want and then there is what the average buyer wants and right now there is a gap that needs to be worked on before we chuck a bunch of diesels in the Impala that end up with large rebates on them to get the dealers to off them. By all means GM should have a stake here but lets work our way up with some proof of product in the Cruze and then Malibu before you jump into the deep end.

I ponder how well the [American] Public will accept them. I will wait to see the take rate of the Cruze before I go asking for more. I think it would be a good idea but the question is how many people will be willing to pay more for them.

The key here is they need a program that will meet the needs globally as Base Ball, Apple Pie and Cheverlet will just cut it else where. Whlile the globalization of Chevy has been a good thing in many areas it will lead to more generic marketing like Honda and Toyota. They keep a basic theme and then do spots locally that connect to the market it is in. It is the local marketing that will be the make or break in this deal. Not only is the Global marketing not easy the issues also comes into play with building the image of Chevy as a Value Leader but also all thing to all people as in economic transprotation, afforsable performance and luxury. These things cover a lot of area and makes it hard to focus the point of things. Lets face it marketing a Cadillac is much easier and to the point. Music will be done market to market I would assume since the world has many different taste. In America I hope they stay with a more Classic rock theme as it transends most demo's. The Like a Rock is had to top but they should be able to find something. One Idea I had for music is to sign a group like Journey and have them do different songs that would match different products and commercial themes. With the response that their music got on Glee has made me hate Don't Stop Believ'in but the public has really taken to it of all ages. They have a lot of other songs that could translate to the screen well. They also could use the Eagles or several other groups that have been around for years that have a wide appeal with young and old. Just look at what Zeppelin did for Caddy and how it got them noticed. The way I see it there is a lot of music here and they can do well to dig find that song or songs that everyone never changes the station on.

The Malibu is not a bad car but it is just a good car in a tough segment. GM doing a refresh this fast tells me they expected this. We know they pushed this car forward because it was late to start with and being later would have only been more diffcult to launch it. I suspect they launched it with what they had and continued work on the upgrades they knew they needed. Lets face it it is too soon for most car companies to react this fast unless they had expected to do so from the start. The 1.6 Turbo will help and some of the other changes like a new nose to match the rest of the new Chevy lines will help. The nose would have been ok a couple years ago but it looks so much like a older Cruze. Compare it to to the Impala and Traverse and it looks dated.

We too have a lot of them here in Northern Ohio. They have gone from a rare sight to a common sight. When we got hit in the heavy snow two weeks ago I followed one and it went throught the snow pretty well.

nice... Sorry I was watch BIg Band Theory at the time. Now that is funny! I think Benny Goodman is in that, right? I love it if I can bring a smile to you! Sheldon.

If you look at the work they put into the Alpha to cut weight and to make it better you can see the compromise to make it FWD would result in less of a car. Nearly anytime you make something to universal the end product suffers in more than one way. I think GM is doing it right with the right platform for the right job. The needs for RWD and FWD are much great. Think of it like the Amphicar. Sure it is a boat and a car but it is a half ass boat and a half ass car. The same thing applies here and the market it too compeititve not to make the platform the best it could be. When others are making the best platform for a specific line anything less will never measure up. Besides I am sure GM and most other makes have looked at this as on paper it is a great idea but in reality it just is difficult to do properly.

It would be nice to see them offer suspensions like they sued to. In the past you could order a F41 on lesser models. But with the way they bundle things anymore I don't expect that.

nice... Sorry I was watch BIg Band Theory at the time. Now that is funny!

I just saw that they sold 23,000 plus Volts this year. At least it keeps growing. To be honest there are small Chevy dealers that should not be even selling or servicing Vettes. They just do not have the staffs to do all that is needed or are trained on the cars. I know I would be reluctant to take a 2004 Vette with a bad fuel pump to a small dealer. My neighbor just lost his pump at 7,000 miles and to change it requires dropping the rear suspension, exhaust and gas tank. The next year had a panel you could remove but his year did not. That was around $3,000 and I know I would not want some guy who has never done it trying this at some small dealer. Many guys also had issues with the turbo upgrade like I had put on my SS. The connectors take a special Kent Moore crimper. Many of the dealers did not use the correct crimper and there were some issues with loss of power. I have found the vehicles done at the larger dealers generally had the kits installed correctly. My dealers turbo tech was well trained and even owned one himself.

Now you may consider attempting it in Klingon next time it may at least add some element of humor to it Sheldon.

It is available here because it is offered where they sell more than 5% manuals. Global models have some good things about them other wise we would not have this or the new SS sedan. If it is really funny it's easier t catch and when it is not really that funny it can be a challange to detect.

I am sure GM has already looked at this ten times from Sunday and have found they are better off with RWD and its own FWD platforms. If there were no down side they would have done wide spread by now, I figure weight and cost would be issues involved.

Hmmm as it is Holden and Chevy are nearly one. Besides there is enough SS info here and more people will see it.

Here is a interesting story on the RWD down under and their take on the new Holden and Chevy. Also included is the future speculation on the future for Holden and GM. Note too the talk of the D2XX platform that will replace the Delta II and Theta. There are a few things on the new SS and the Falcon. http://www.motoring.com.au/news/large-passenger/commodore-v-falcon-the-final-chapter-34294 Note too the ad for the Colorado 7 opn the right side. After really looking at it I am not a fan. Looks like a Nissan. This is one that may have to grow on me with time if it ever comes here.

The LT technology will be used in trucks and Vettes. Even the cylinder drop system will finally be added to the Vette since they solved the issues with the use with the transaxle. The V8 will be around as long as they can sell it people will be willing to pay the higher price. The V8 will continue to only be used in higher priced and more expensive cars as we go. If you are willing to pay the price you will get one. But even in trucks I see Ford F series sales were down from over a million in 2001 to just over 600,000 this year. Buying habits are changing even in trucks. Ferrari is a different story as they can add to the price with what ever penalties and people will not care on a $250K to Million dollar car. You start adding a large penalty to the Vette it will take the car out of the price range they always worked. Companies like GM are at a disadvantage vs the specialty high priced makers with the way the laws are. Lets put it this way GM said they will keep the New SS sedan at a high price and low volume to make money but not take a major hit on CAFE. This was what was stated a while back and now they say will sell as many as people will buy but at the price they have it they expect sales to be 15,000 or less. The bottom line is they do not want to sell a high volume V8 sedan and they are marketing it in a way they will make money and not take the hit on MPG. It will not be long before it will be near or over $50K for any V8 GM car. Trucks will be the only thing that will be less and even their price will increase. Note as it is now the Camaro is the only thing under $40K now with a V8 and by the time you load it up it is well over $40K. Right now we have 3 V8 cars at GM and I only expect the SS and the LTS to increase this and both are not going to sell many units. This is sad from a company that at one time sold 80% or more V8 cars.Sorry but I do not see the volume increasing.

It does not matter how many Vettes you sell when you are not meeting the required number you are not meeting the required number. If the Vette did not matter then wny are they working so hard with things like the cylinder cut out and crazy transmissions and cutting weight.? Sorry but in GM's eyes everything is on the table and nothing gets a free pass. While they will never expect the Vette to get 53 MPG the will require it to contiunue to inprove over what it does now. Besides GM would also like to avoid the news story we get every year of the list of the worst MPG cars. This is not a good thing unless you are Lambo or Bugatti.

It matters little what car or vehicle it is in the fact is the V8 is under attack and it will either have to fine a way to do better or get the laws kicked back or changed. We are watching companies sell their souls for 1 MPG and even less. Did you ever think that you would see GM sell a car like the Spark in the US market let alone people start buying them? We soon will see 3 cylinder cars some smaller than the Spark. The Corvette in a good year can sell 30,000 car and in a bad year 12,000. I am sad to say even at these numbers in this politcal climate has an effect on a company. They do give trucks a little room to work yet on the 3/4 and up but I wonder how long till the EPA attacks them. I do not like it either but as long as we have people in office appoint the people we have in agencies like the EPA and others with little to no oversight it will not improve.

I am affraid it is closer than you think. They will put it off as long as they can but they will at some point have to look at the options. Back in the 70's they looked at a mid engine concept with a mid engine V6 the GM engineering presented to them. Chevy passes and it was brought back when Pontiac was looking at doing a small sports car as the Fiero. Not long after that when GM had considered killing the V8 all together in the early 80's they used two V6 engines in a Citation. One in the front and one in the back. The car is still around in private hands now. This is something they have faced before and were able to hold off but I am at a loss as to what else they can do other than a hybrid system and I really do not like that either.

GM tried to cut down the number of dealers for a reason. Less dealers and larger dealers would better be able to afford to have better tooling and better tech staffs. Too many areas have a bunch of smaller dealers that do things pretty half ass and with the things that are coming it will only get more difficult to find qualified techs to do the work. Ther is already a shortage. I know it is not an easy thing all the way around to cut dealers but it is difficult to make things better as they are. Also with the goverment coming in and trying to say who and who can's sell you products is not much help either.

First thing to do is understand if GM is ever forced to go to a V6 it will not be to make the car cheaper. Just because a car gets a V6 does not mean it will make the car cheaper. Even at the present price for the Vette it is a cheap sports car but never expect it to be priced with a Miata. The thing GM has going for it is nearly everyone is in the same boat and what changes they face the others will too. It was not long ago many scoffed at the idea of a Cadillac having a V6 too. I even made fun of a buddy that bought a RWD Coupe Deville with a V6. Today other than the high priced V or SUV there are no V8 engines and this is from a company that used to push a V16? There is going to be a lot of unexpected and accpected change in the future. Not everyone will be happy but what other choice do the auto makers have in a world where goverments have put them in a small box to work in. It has become adapt of fade away. In a day where Porshe and Ferrari have looked at and will use electric systems similar to FI for their top line cars is crazy. Imagine the cost of repairing that? It will make the $8,000 clutch change look like a dream,.

GM from the start should have regulated who got the Volt and who did not. Small dealer not able to service them would do more damage in customer service vs good. Many of these small dealers are the same ones that will have trouble too with the new DI engines and Turbo engines since they will have few if anyone on staff trained to deal with them. My local dealer here has had a Turbo tech on staff for years and he knows his stuff. I already have seein service issues with the SS Cobalt and HHR because the dealers just had no one trained on what to do. These dealers will need to invest in their staffs to deal with the future gas, electric etc.