thegriffon

dosvedonya (spell.) Off topic:  (surprised that's in unicode, not surpised you may need another font too see it [appears in edit mode for me]).

This was all filmed three months ago though.

http://video.cgi.cbsnews.com/vplayer2/play...39.000274079088

If he has a formal education he should know how to spell "cynical".

NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW: Rick Wagoner CEO of General Motors Feels 'Completely' Secure in His Job: 'I Know in the End, All of Us Are Going to be Judged on Accomplishments' On Calls For 'New Blood' in GM Management: 'That Is So Simplistic ... That Would Be The Biggest Risk I've Ever Heard Of' NEW YORK, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner tells Newsweek's Detroit Bureau Chief Keith Naughton he is particularly annoyed by critical media coverage that fails to acknowledge any progress at the troubled company. "They talk about that we are not moving to address the problems," he tells Naughton in the April 10 issue (on newsstands Monday, April 3). "I want to say, 'Excuse me, what part of $15 billion in health care (cuts), 12 plants (closing), 30,000 people (cut), attrition programs, salaried health-care and retirement (cuts), salaried head-count reduction, a new sales and marketing strategy, advancing product programs-what part of that doesn't exhibit a sense of urgency in doing what matters?' What's frustrating to me is a lack of recognition of the progress." In response to those who charge that because Wagoner grew up in GM culture he's incapable of the radical overhaul required and that new blood is needed, he says, "That is so simplistic. These are sophisticated problems with historical tails that run back 80, 90 years. The chance of someone coming in and understanding our business, making the right calls and doing them in cooperation with key constituencies like dealers and unions, is absolutely microscopic. That would be the biggest risk I've ever heard of." So does Wagoner feel secure in his job? "Completely," he answers, "because I know in the end, all of us are going to be judged on accomplishments, whether we address issues and take advantage of opportunities. And I think we're moving on both fronts, frankly, pretty well. So I feel very confident." Wagoner also responds to Jerry York's speech in which he said GM must go into "crisis mode." "It's easy to announce stuff. It's not so easy to do stuff, particularly if you can't do it yourself, if you've got to do it in cooperation or in conflict with unions, if you do it with Delphi, if you need partners to consider a partial sale of GMAC," says Wagoner. "What has been done in the last six months borders on unprecedented accomplishments and advances. This stuff didn't happen because someone decided on Jan. 15, why don't we do stuff? This stuff happens because we're working on it, we're ready to do it, we're talking to people and when we have it ready, we announce it." (Read entire interview at www.Newsweek.com.) Source: Newsweek

Some of us fell back.

A 275 hp 3.6 L GXP was shown in 2004, then in 2005 a 270 hp 3.9 L performance coupe. What they are unveiling in NY is, officially, the 270 hp 3.9 L. People won't pay enough for the 3.6 L. At $4K or more below an Accord, something has to go.

Buick died because it tried to be another Chevrolet, offering affordable cars to average buyers, instead of sticking to premium vehicles for people with more income. Naturally as they start to get back to that sales are going to fall off, but they'll be more profitable.

Your Honda catches fire and you wait months for Honda to do something toi fix it? Dude aren't these people insured? Make a claim and let your insurance company beat up on Honda.

Nope, read the press release. 270 hp 3.9 L. AFM should arrive this year too, now that it's debuting on the Chinese 3.0 L V6.

The brain drain is happening at Ford withput layoffs. GM is cutting the "dead wood", as you call it, in laying off unnecessary white-collar staff. Assembly workers are another matter. Anyone can leave until they hit certain limits at each plant. Would be intersting to know what those limits are.

You're thiunking the V6 diesels, not the latest V8s from Mercedes and Audi, which are both over 300 hp, while the BMW and Mercedes V8s are over 500 lb ft. A larger GM V8 should naturally produce more power. This is a car engine, a V6 truck engine is another thing. The only modern 6-cylinder light truck engines I know of are the Cummins 600/610 in the Ram, and two International engines, a 238 PS 4.5 L V6 based on the Powerstroke 6.0 L V8, and the common-rail version of the Sprint 4.2 L I6 producing up to 245 PS, based on the Sprint 2.8 L I4 in the Brazilian S10/Blazer. Toyota has an older 4.2 L I6 used in the LandCruiser, but despite direct injection it isn't as efficient as the new 5.3 L V8 in the Tahoe and only produces 190-200 hp.

"That would not prevent him from strategic strikes, at a plant or two, if he felt it was necessary to send a message to Delphi, these people said." hmm, like "only plants which supply Toyota, Honda Nissan etc.."

Hybrids Consume More Energy in Lifetime Than Chevrolet's Tahoe SUV BANDON, Ore., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- As Americans become increasingly interested in fuel economy and global warming, they are beginning to make choices about the vehicles they drive based on fuel economy and to a lesser degree emissions. But many of those choices aren't actually the best in terms of vehicle lifetime energy usage and the cost to society over the full lifetime of a car or truck. CNW Marketing Research Inc. spent two years collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial concept to scrappage. This includes such minutia as plant to dealer fuel costs, employee driving distances, electricity usage per pound of material used in each vehicle and literally hundreds of other variables. To put the data into understandable terms for consumers, it was translated into a "dollars per lifetime mile" figure. That is, the Energy Cost per mile driven. The most Energy Expensive vehicle sold in the U.S. in calendar year 2005: Maybach at $11.58 per mile. The least expensive: Scion xB at $0.48 cents. While neither of those figures is surprising, it is interesting that driving a hybrid vehicle costs more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. For example, the Honda Accord Hybrid has an Energy Cost per Mile of $3.29 while the conventional Honda Accord is $2.18. Put simply, over the "Dust to Dust" lifetime of the Accord Hybrid, it will require about 50 percent more energy than the non-hybrid version. One of the reasons hybrids cost more than non-hybrids is the manufacture, replacement and disposal of such items as batteries, electric motors (in addition to the conventional engine), lighter weight materials and complexity of the power package. And while many consumers and environmentalists have targeted sport utility vehicles because of their lower fuel economy and/or perceived inefficiency as a means of transportation, the energy cost per mile shows at least some of that disdain is misplaced. For example, while the industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2005 was $2.28 cents per mile, the Hummer H3 (among most SUVs) was only $1.949 cents per mile. That figure is also lower than all currently offered hybrids and Honda Civic at $2.42 per mile. "If a consumer is concerned about fuel economy because of family budgets or depleting oil supplies, it is perfectly logical to consider buying high- fuel-economy vehicles," says Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, Inc. "But if the concern is the broader issues such as environmental impact of energy usage, some high-mileage vehicles actually cost society more than conventional or even larger models over their lifetime. "We believe this kind of data is important in a consumer's selection of transportation," says Spinella. "Basing purchase decisions solely on fuel economy or vehicle size does not get to the heart of the energy usage issue." The goal of overall worldwide energy conservation and the cost to society in general -- not just the auto buyer -- can often be better addressed by being aware of a car or truck's "dust to dust" energy requirements, he said. This study is not the end of the energy-usage discussion. "We hope to see a dialog begin that puts educated and aware consumers into energy policy decisions," Spinella said. "We undertook this research to see if perceptions (about energy efficiency) were true in the real world." Source: CNW Marketing Research, Inc.

It was in the Saturn release.

They've arranged for the hearings to be pushed back three weeks later than normal, giving them five weeks to work things out. Some of he businesses are being sold—companies such as Magna and Johnson Controls are potential buyers.

Another reason toreduce the number of white collar staff.

GM has been validating alternate suppliers for as many products as possible, but it will take some time to switch. The Delphi workers talk as if they have nothing to lose if Delphi goes out of business, but of course, that doesn't apply to the majority of UAW members. If I was a UAW member at a GM plant I'd be out gunning for any Delphi worker who goes on strike right now. Union solidarity be damned if these jerks cost everyone else their jobs.

Well according to that site you shouldn't have coke in any form, or any grains (sorry my colon demands planty of whole grains). This has the same neuroses as conspiracy-theory sites.

Sucralose is artificially created from sucrose, since there isn't enough occuring naturally. "Natural" doesn't mean it's safe—plenty of natual compounds are unsafe, one driver for creating artificial substitutes such as aspirin—and the fact that it is a mirror-image of sucrose may mean it has other effects beside the greater sweetness and the inability of the body to digest it. However sources alkleging Splenda isn't natual and claiming sucralose is a misnomer are based largely on paranoia and pre-concieved ideas of the danger of any artifical sweetener, regardless of the facts or the nature of the product. There is a lot of this, fueled by conspiracy theorists and sensationalist media who don't let the truth get in the way of a good story (like "unintended acceleration", exploding pickups, and anything that might stop morning sickness).

That's why this one was designed by Pininfarina, with engineering by Porsche.The Zhonghua was designed to compete with the Buick 2.5 sedan, which was updated to the current Buick Regal 2.5. Sales have not met expectations and have been steadily, rapidly falling. Brilliance China, although controlled by the Liaoning provincial government, is a Bermuda company listed on the NYSE (CBA). It has a joint venture in China with a related company (Shenyang Jinbei Automotive), called Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei Automobile, which makes Zhonghua brand sedans and three versions of older Toyota Hiace vans sold as the Jinbei Haise (Haise for Hiace). Not to be confused with another Shenyang Jinbei subsidiary, Shenyang Jinbei Vehicle Manufacturing, which makes 1t, 2t and 3t commercial trucks.

Wrong images. That's the facelifted Zhonghua Xunche (Grandeur), designed by pininfarina, the vehicle Global Holdings is showing is the original Italdesign Zhonghua from 2002, which Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei is no longer actively publicizing in China. It uses a primitive version of the old Mitsubishi 2.4 L from the Sebring coupe, which does not meet either European or American emission standards.

Equal is another brand of aspartame. Although controversial and the subject of numerous "conspiracy" theories, there are no proven risks with aspartame, but there are some credible studies which imply there might be cancer risks (nothing definitve yet). The "methanol" problem is purely junk science. Aspartame is an artificial isomer of a natural protein. The known risks are those associated with the natural protein, hence the warning for phenylketonurics. The protein breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol when digested, but the amount of methanol is negligible and should be safely metabolised. As with most artificka sweeteners it is much sweeter than sucrose, so only a tiny fraction of the "sweetener" is actuall aspartame. When heated it straightens out and loses its sweetness, which is why Splenda is preferred for baking. Splenda is a brand name for sweeteners made with sucralose, a natural isomer of sucrose, which is also called "left-handed sugar" or L-sucrose (i.e. it is a mirror image of the standard "right-handed" isomer). 99% of natual cane sugar is sucrose, the rest is sucralose. The human body uses specific enzymes to metabolise sucrose, but these enzymes don't work for the left-handed version, hence sucralose is not digested. Most forms of Splenda also contain other sugars for bulk in tablet or granular form—lactose, croscarmellose, isomaltose etc. Most so-called "conspiracies" can be explained much more easily by somone screwing up, which happens far more often.

Hmmm, could be the photos but that looks like two different disguised crossovers to me—smaller Qashqai and larger X-Trail?

Just goes to show how much faith you can put into these rumors—the G6 GXP will debut at the NYIAS with the 270 hp 3.9 L.