thegriffon

Size and space.

The lack of a sedan (strange since there is one) will hurt sales of the Fit. And yes, I don't think Honda expected a car like the Aveo to be such a success in NA or they would have brought in this exact same Fit years ago. If Toyota hadn't f—ed up so much with the Echo there would be a lot more of these B-segment compacts available already. Mitsubishi should be selling the Colt, VW the Fox and Ford the Fiesta. Instead Ford is doing a crash course in designing a B-segment car for North America, like Honda just playing catch up and hoping it won't be left too far behind.

The Ecotec is an evolution of GM's Family II 4-cylinder engine which they've been building since Noah was a boy. It's gained a DOHC head and more recently the 2.2 L's aluminum block (and since then VVT and direct injection in some versions), but it's a well engineered block with a lot of yeras behind it, so it should hold up very well indeed. A European rag once rated an earlier 16V version (2.0 L I think) as "the best engine in the world" and I wouldn't be surprised if it earned that accolade again in the near future.

In the current environment dealer margins have been razor thin anyway as they offer their own discounts to bring transaction prices close to invoice. The new pricing is designed to reflect this and give consumers a better idea of what they'll actually be paying in the real world. Of course dealers will have less flexibility, but they accept it as not cutting their real (instead of potential) margins. For GM the focus really needs to be on "honesty in pricing" and "less haggling", and not "our cars are cheaper", which would only make things worse. Since there have been a lot of complaints about MSRPs not reflecting the true price consumers will pay (which was the whole idea in the first place), GM's move to "Real Pricing" could really pay off if they market it correctly.

It may look the same, but they moved the engine from under the floor to the nose two generations ago.

Somewhat long in the tooth now, an all-new Patrol with a V8 engine would probably have been a much better investment that the NA-only Armada, and probably a better size for NA as well.

Originally, like the LandCruiser, a Japanese version of the Jeep. Like LandCruiser the Patrol rapidly got much bigger over the years, until the current 5-door version is as big as a Sequoia and probably wider. Known as the Nissan Patrol in export markets and Nissan Safari in Japan, it is one of Nissan's oldest model lines. In addition to the 5-door wagon there is a much shorter 3-door (wider but no longer than the 3-door Blazer), and a 2-door cab-chassis pickup.

Probably GMC —— instead of Montana and GMC —— Denali instead of Terraza. To some extent the Lambdas (both crossovers and minivans) will replace the lwb GMT 370s as well as the CSVs, possibly in more ways than you imagine. I don't think 91z4me was implying the new minivans were GMT 360s with sliding doors.

And for that matter DTS makes me think of the DT's. Neither of which are positive connotations.

FTS still makes me think "F— This"

Bringing Chevrolet to Australia was considered back when GM Holden first acquired its stake in the new GM Daewoo. Instead they first tried to continue with the Daewoo brand and now sell Daewoo models under the Holden badge to save distribution costs. Cadillac with its much higher margins (a CTS might sell for $US75K in Australia) does not face the same hurdles in setting up and sustaining a seperate dealer network.

I think they are assuming much of the work has already been done. If they are simply rebodying a CTS then maybe they could do it in 12 months after approval, but the Camaro would of course need an entirely new interior and probably different V6 engines, not to mention other work to cut the cost. I would expect the next GTO to be substantially bigger than the Camaro concept. A new CTS coupe may be closer, but then if they are sensible it will be much more expensive and have the lush interior, technology and engines to justify the difference.

The LS has profited from bargain-basement pricing - cheaper than the GS 430. It seems the new model will be much more expensive, and it's yet to be seen how many Lexus can sell at those prices, especially since it is still significantly smaller than the majority of competitors, even in long-wheelbase form. Competitors will not stay still either—BMW is prepearing anew generation 7-Series and the next STS and ULS (hopefully they will return to the XTS designation for the production model) should be significant steps forward for Cadillac. We have also yet to see if Nissan will get it right next time with replacements for the Cima and President, potentially far more significant for Infiniti than the new LS will be for Lexus.

Given customer preferences for large minivans I don't think the Enclave will be too big, especially with the interior room offered. Weight and fuel economy will be bigger issues than size, however the luxury crossover segment has certainkly favored smaller vehicles like the RX330 and X5 over larger models. Lutz has already said the production model will debut this year instead of next.

I can see a lot of design cues that will translate directly to the Outlook, such as the vertical crease to the hood (just like the one in GD's Aura sig). Just to clarify how big this is compared to other crossovers I will repeat what I posted in the MKX thread: The only crossovers even close to the Enclave concept in size are the Pacifica and Audi Q7. It's most comparable in size to the Tahoe/Yukon. D/E-segment: (small to large) >4600mm RD-X Chevrolet Captiva Outlander (2007) X5 CX-7 Santa Fe (2007) >4700mm RX330 Edge Rendezvous MKX Murano MDX Equinox E-segment >4800mm XC90 FX45 Tribeca Endeavor Territory -4900 SRX F-segment >5000mm Pacifica Freestyle (much narrower) Q7 >5100mm Enclave

"with 21.3 cubic feet of cargo capacity behind the second row" This is either a typo or they are measuring to the headliner. Capacity is roughly 12.3 cu-ft to the parcel shelf, as Honda in every other market says. The new Yaris data is also wrong. I estimate it has about 9.6 cu-ft in the SAE standard.

Last news was just Chevrolet and GMC will get versions.

How can anyone listen to Okuda and believe Toyota has not passed it's prime. Until there is a crisis Toyota will, like GM in the '70s, be just running on momentum. They have great processes ad good engineers, but the rot has already set in.

Ahh, but don't you know that real hybrids like the Honda Prius run on electricity and get 100 mpg? :AH-HA_wink:

Interior looks even more like the 2007 Aveo than I remember. Dimensions: 4805 (same) 2775 (+55) 1820 (+25) 1460 (-30)

The Challenger always was much bigger than the pony cars, although not quite this big. If and when they build it it will be much closer to the GTO than the Camaro and Mustang.

The only crossovers even close to the Enclave concept in size are the Pacifica and Audi Q7. It's most comparable in size to the Tahoe/Yukon. D/E-segment: (small to large) >4600mm RD-X Chevrolet Captiva Outlander (2007) X5 CX-7 Santa Fe (2007) >4700mm RX330 Edge Rendezvous MKX Murano MDX Equinox E-segment >4800mm XC90 FX45 Tribeca Endeavor Territory -4900 SRX F-segment >5000mm Pacifica Freestyle (much narrower) Q7 >5100mm Enclave

You can't compare the Enclave and MKX, the Enclave is two whole size classes bigger.

It's very close to being a Lincoln Lucerne- between the lwb Phaeton and 750iL in size.

Not LS, more like a Continental—203.8 inches