thegriffon

I had the same thought. A cool retro pickup, but expensive for the payload and capacity v. the Colorado. As a macho alternative to the tC and Cobalt coupe it might sell enough to be worthwhile though.

The vehicles in question were new products from GM Daewoo.

Didn't anybody take any notice of the Supercharged LS7 being the "rumored" powertrain? FYI GM Europe has tested the old iron-block 2.0 L turbo to 370 hp, but that doesn't mean the Solstice GXP will have this much more power than the SPO Stage II kit for the Cobalt.

Let's see, dealers have no stock left, and there are much lower sales. Doesn't anyone see a connection? You can't sell what you don't have. This may look bad in terms of the sales decline but it has to happen. GM must keep inventories low in order to avoid profit-draining incentives. If they are too low now, then that will only add to volume growth in the next few years.

The manuals are from GM Powertrain Europe, the autos from Aisin AW, who previously supplied 5-speed autos for GM Europe and the Saturn Vue. The rwd 5- and 6-speed manuals are from Aisin AI.

Enclave is a diplomatic term for territory isolated in a foreign country. In current use it typically refers to a homogenous "ghetto" of foreign nationals within another country, e.g. "the American enclave in Paris". It's a terrible name for anything, whether a car or subdivision, beyond proud and elitist it says "you are not our compatriots and we don't want to associate with you".

That's the one, known in Japan and some other markets as the Mira. Perodua is Daihatsu's Malaysian subsidiary.

Micra is the European name of the March. The Perodua is just the Malaysian version of the car modified by Mitsuoka, but you are getting warmer.

If you are having trouble identifying the Ray, search for the engine.

Yes. Men in white coats from Bellevue are on their way right now. Please do not resist, this is for your own good. The more original sports car they showed at Tokyo is even worse, if you can believe it.

"This would confirm that the link between GM and Isuzu is close," said Kawai, predicting that Isuzu's shares would "outperform" the market. "Isuzu wouldn't buy out the venture" if GM planned to end the relationship, he said. Errr, and what does he think they'd do if GM did want to end the relationship, sell their truck business to GM? The commerical truck business is heavily cyclical and GM will not be very attached to the business. Beyond the distribution operations in Australia I would expect GM to be interested in selling the manufacturing operations in Nigeria and Kenya, not just in South Africa. Net profit for FY2005 was just over 60 billion yen - about $520 million, but is forecast to drop to 50 billion yen for FY2006. Market cap has gone from $3billion to $4.6billion with the recent rise in the stock price, compared to $1.9billion for Navistar. The company is still highly leveraged

I thought the info from Las Vegas was they'd be all released next year, although Auto News seems to have heard differently.

The KA24DE is currently used only in the Nissan Caravan/Isuzu Como minibus/van, producing 138 hp under the JIS standard. The B6284T is an old Volvo engine: B=Benzin 6=cylinder 28=capacity 4=valves per cylinder T= turbo.

Very true. The crossovers have all been pulled forward and will now all debut next year (at least the one known to be approved).

5 out of 5 for LA. The last one is from a company that hasn't sold cars in the US for many years but who do their own version which looks more like a Mini. The Viewt (I think in Japanese this is written/pronounced the same as Beauty) is a much improved version of the last model basd on the previous-generation March.

"The Saturn crossover will be called the Outlook, GM told dealers, confirming a previously rumored name." Err... that's previously announced. They even released a photo of the badge, and that was months ago now. Sheeesh.

Before you all get really upset,this comes hard on the heels of Toyota's "Fleet pricing for everyone."

From my analysis of the press kit, the A3310 does copy pretty much everything from the A3300 - exterior and interior design, body structure, suspension (still torsion beam just like the Cobalt and Astra - despite complaints from the European press still de rigeur in the segment). The floorpan is not from either the T3000 or A3300, but from the A3301 Astra Caravan. The major difference seems to be a slight reduction in overall width of about an inch, which is not reflected in the track.

Mitsuoka takes innocent Japanese cars and turns them into strange mutants. Can you identify the donors? Most have been sold in the US under other names, but they are not all from the same source. http://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/lineup/index.html 1. Viewt was once a ...... 2. Nouera was once a ..... 3. Galue was once a ...... 4. Ryoga was once a ..... 5. Galue-II was once a ..... 6. Ray was once a .....

"Crazy Bus, Crazy Bus...." "D.W.!!!!!"

And the new Audi keystone steering wheel. Someone actually got offended when I compared it to a GM truck.

Ahhh, I think yoiu need to think that through again - if inventories are high, they wouldn't need OT. If they are running OT then it isn't because they have too much , but because they think they don't have enough. Thus OT may be a symptom of low inventories, not high. In any case it still takes a few weeks for production to flow through to dealers.

For GM it just has to be more profitable. It would have to be high-volume, so bulldozers and tractors are probably out. The UAW may grumble, but a new wages/benefits deal for assembly of Kia's pickups and midsize SUVs*, for example, is got to be better than another plant closing and layoffs - and income from production has got to be better than just paying people while they're laid off for GM, even at a low profit margin. Automakers already contract out production. Toyota and Nissan already have a host of companies that build their products under contract, with varying levels of equity. Central Motor Co. (77%) (Home of the MR-S, Raum and supplemental Corolla production) Hino (50.55%) (Hilux, 4Runner, light trucks and some commerical vans. Also developed the Tacoma) Toyota Auto Body (57.02%) (Home of the LandCruiser and most of Toyota's vans and mpvs) Toyota Industries (24.56%) (additional Vitz/Yaris production, ToyoAce light van/truck) Nummi (50%) (Tacoma, Corolla) Gifu Auto Body (47.71%) (Hiace special vehicles) Kanto Auto Works (50.64%) (Home of Lexus, Celica and most luxury Toyotas) Daihatsu (51.69%) (Probox and Succeed wagons, OEM production) Nissan Shatai (42.6%) (Elgrand, Infiniti FX45/FX35, Pickup, Wingroad/AD Van, Safari, Lafesta, Avenir/Expert, Caravan, Civilian) Then there are companies like Magna Steyr, Valmet, Heuliez and Karmann building Chryslers, Saabs, BMWs, Porsches, Mercedes, Opels etc. Many of GM's North American plants offer good productivity and excellent quality. Capacity must increase for "import" manufacturers, and more will come. The UAW and GM need to adapt to that, either by closing plants and losing even more money paying people to do nothing, or seeking to take advantage of the imports' need for local plants. * I mention Kia because they have a desire for a local BOF truck plant to build the pickups and SUVs shown as concepts in recent years. An under-utilized GM plant would work out nicely for everyone.

They need a better fact-checker.

What they should do is spin off most of the North American (particular US) assembly plants into a semi-independent company instead of selling a big stake in GMAC; and go after contract assembly work for Toyota, Kia, Iveco etc. in the same vein as NUMMI. Set it up as a partnership with a venture-capital firm or someone like Magna and call it Fisher Body. Just keep a few core plants such as LGR and Delta Township. Cutting a special deal with the UAW to build big pickups for Kia would be better than a plant closing and be more productive than layoffs. They could also expand the commercial vehicle alliance with Renault/Nissan to develop compact and midsize vans for production in Europe, North America and Asia (with Isuzu), to replace the Kangoo, Combo, Astro, Urvan and Como.