thegriffon

As in my post in an earlier thread, I believe the solution must come from outside GM. This is a problem that effects much of US industry and is a structural problem that goes way beyond GM. There must be a national solution that removes the burden of supporting retired employees from companies whose customer and employee base no longer supports it. Companies change, entire industries change. There must be a structural change in the entire US pension system that avoids the neccessity of bankruptcy and the loss of benefits. It's time to establish a handful of funds that will cover the entire population, pooling the assets and liabilities of existing company, industry and union funds, if necessary backed up by a sales tax on every product sold in the US, both domestic and import, physical and intangible. Only in this way will you avoid the problems associated with economic change you see facing Delphi and GM, and remove the need for the current underfunded guarantee corporation. It shouldn't require every company in the US to go bankrupt with the subsequent loss of benefits to accomplish this.

You misread, that's what some analysts recommended, not what York or Kerkorian are suggesting.

You're not far off. Outside North America, the TSX is just an ordinary Honda Accord in the same lower-medium segment as this new version of the Bluebird Sylphy. Nissan also has the Primera (the former Infiniti G20), related to the U-series Bluebird and A-series Cefiro and now in it's third generation (P12), and Toyota has the Premio, Allion and the slightly bigger Avensis imported from the UK.

I'll try again. The model 310 Datsun Bluebird was introduced in August 1959, succeeded by the 410, 510, 610, 810 and 910 Bluebirds, apparently known only by their model numbers in the US. Maxima was introduced as a trim level of the Model 910 Bluebird (originally Datsun 810, later Nissan Maxima in North America?). With the switch to the Nissan brand models adopted the Nissan model codes, so the 910 was succeeded by the U11 Bluebird and the U11 Bluebird Maxima. After that the Maxima became a seperate model. The U11 and U12 Bluebirds were called Stanza in North America. The U12 was joined by the J30 Maxima and A31 Cefiro, apparently similar vehicles on the same platform. The U13 Bluebird became known as the Altima in NA. The J30 Maxima was not replaced, the A32 Cefiro being known as either the Maxima or Cefiro depending on the market. The U14 Bluebird was downsized and not sold in NA. Instead Nissan created a new model Altima based on the U13, the L30. The A33 Cefiro/Maxima/I35 was replaced by the A34 Maxima (NA) and the J31 Teana (which kept the Cefiro and Maxima names in some markets), reviving the J30 series. For it's last year of sale, the U14 Bluebird was joined by the compact G10 Bluebird Sylphy sharing the platform of the B15 Sunny (Sentra in NA), N16 Pulsar (Almera in NA) and Y11 Wingroad wagon. The B15 was only designed as a sedan, so the hatchback and wagon models sold as the Sunny or Sentra were the rebadged N16 Pulsar and Y11 Wingroad. Although they are different vehicles to the B15 Sunny, both the G10 and the N16 sedans are also badged as Sunny or Sentra in some markets.

It's designed to resemble the midsize J31 Teana (following the long-departed J30 Maxima and succeeding the A33 Cefiro/Maxima outside NA), a (larger?) variant of which looks set to replace the Altima.

Wishfull thinking by power-mad Australian journalists. The base V8 engine will not go from a 328 hp LS1 to a 400 hp LS2, especially when the top V6 has only 255 hp. There are other options. The 3.6 L V6 is also available in a unique 235 hp base variant with intake VVT like the turbocharged 2.8, instead of the LY7s dual-VVT.

Oh and if GM went into bankruptcy it's probable all the stock would be annulled, and how do the top executives get their pay boosted so high? Stock.

They, including the CEO and new CFO, are by and large the new crew who were hired to fix the mess after the old crew "faked it". Just like the line workers there's a good chance some of them will be out of work when this is all over, and it won't exactly look good on their resume's if they aren't there until the company starts making money again, yet for now Delphi needs them more than ever. I would do it for much less money, but then I'd probably have to fire everyone and sell it all to Toyota.

Franchise laws in most states don't allows this.

In general GM is "facilitating" mergers or buyouts in localities where the three brands have more than one dealer, but that is ultimately down to the individuals and companies involved. Less beneficial would be a co-location deal for seperate franchises. I doubt they'd award new franchises unless you can persuade them there are insufficient Pontiac or GMC dealers in your area. Where are you anyway? Both Stoops Buick dealerships I can find are in Indiana, Muncie already has Pontiac and GMC (in different location to Buick, Toyota, Nissan and BMW), Plainfield is closest to Dugan Chevrolet-Pontiac and Pence Oldsmobile-GMC, with a combined Pontiac-Buick-GMC twice as far away (about 12 miles).

Not quite. The Bluebird is one of Datsun's earliest models. With the merger with the Nissan brand it became the Stanza in some markets such as the US. The U11 Nissan Bluebird spawned the U11 Bluebird Maxima, followed briefly by the J30 Maxima, which was rapidly merged into the A31 Cefiro, succeeded after a number of model changes as the US maket A34 Maxima. The U13 Bluebird changed from Stanza to Altima in the US. The U14 Bluebird was downsized slightly and the Altima redesigned on the U13 platform becoming the L30. The U14 was then joined by the G10 Bluebird Sylphy before being discontinued. The G10 was based on the same platform as the B15 Sunny (Sentra in the US), N16 Pulsar (Almera in Europe and Mexico), and Y11 Wingroad (successor to the Sunny, Pulsar and Nissan Datsun station wagons). In many markets Nissan switched from the B-series compact to the N-series, but usually kept the Sunny (or later Sentra) name, and in Hong Kong they did the same thing with the G10 Bluebird Sylphy, selling it in that market as a Sunny. So the Bluebird Sylphy is related to the Sunny, which is the same as the Sentra.

It will stay the Sentra. The Datsun Bluebird became the Nissan Stanza and then the Altima in the US long ago.

Nissan will unveil a number of concepts and new model previews at the Tokyo Motor Show in addition to the GT-R Concept. The one with most relevance to the US market is the all-new, bigger, Bluebird Sylphy, which I believe will be the basis of the 2007 Sentra. http://www.auto-report.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=685

The GM Hydrogen 3 (Opel Zafira FCV) is in relatively widespread fleet use (for a fuel-cell vehicle). Fedex and Ikea both use them, but GM doesn't pretend to "sell" them as Honda does.

I doubt you'll see anything like this at all on a rwd platform. (Obviously the next Ion and probably the next Vectra and then Aura will follow this design), or indeed any rwd Opel except the GT. Apply this styling to a fwd/awd crossover sport tourer like the swb R-Class and you have what they are talking about. The sedan body is a red herring.

GM is expecting a 25% decline in volume for the GMT 900s, even with expanded market share and muc improved fuel economy. A lot of big nw SUVs are coming too. Ford has it's new lwb Excursion and Navigator, Toyota the new Sequoia and LX, DCX the new G-Class and Chrysler Aspen. This is in addition to other big SUVs such as the Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol (neither of which have modern diesels offering fuel-economy better than GM's bigger V8 engines). You can criticize GM for not making the GMT 900's more flexible and innovative in their interiors, but why spend more on a dying segment?

Nascar isn't stock, or even "silhouette" racing like the DTM. Although maniufacturers have their own engines, the guidelines don't allow any innovation and very little difference from one to another. The bodies are unique to each "model", but onstead of matching the production car in appearance must confoem to a standard Nascar template with only minor changes allowed. The reason is to make the racing interesting, with near-identical cars leading to lots of passing and lead changes. The Australian V8 Supercar series is heading in this direction, partly to improve the racing, partly to control costs, partly because they view Nascar as the most successful format around and want to emulate it.

That's nothing. I have to log in again after I post a reply.

Think a smaller CSV. Typically they are designed like a small 2-box minivan (C- or D-segment), but built on a compact pickup chassis. Base models generally have only small wheels, high-end models often have larger wheels, extended wheel arches and off-road bodykits (still rwd though). The pioneer was Toyota, now in it's third generation with a new monospace model. Mitsubishi was next and Isuzu/Chevrolet followed with the Panther/HiLander/Tavera. The main markets are Indonesia, Philippines, and India, although they are also sold or assembled in Vietnam and Thailand, and more developed markets have at least been briefly considered by both Toyota and GM. Toyota (Kijang) Innova Mitsubishi (Freeca) Adventure Chevrolet Tavera

You're a little late, they did that years ago. The light vehicle engines, the Polish plant, the German development subsidiary (Isuzu Motors Germany), DMAX Ltd. and the Japanese development center (GMI Diesel engineering) are all controlled by GM. Don't mistake the US performance for global. Internationally Isuzu is still the world's biggest manufacturer of medium trucks like the ones GM manufactures at Janesville and sells through Isuzu GM in North America (under the Isuzu, GMC and Chevrolet brands), and thery are now making a lot of money again. They are also the world's second biggest manufacturer of pickups outside North America (behind Toyota), under the Chevrolet, Holden and Isuzu brands. Production of pickups and medium trucks is supported by GM plants in Thailand and Africa. GM has also had a lot of success with the Chevrolet Tavera AUV (half minivan, half SUV), jointly developed with Isuzu. In some markets in South East Asia, Isuzu is often the 2nd biggest selling light vehicle manufacturer after Toyota, despite the complete absence of car models.

This is one of the plants the new GM Daewoo declined to take over earlier. It seems to be run better than some of the others and is still a major player in the Eastern European market, despite the lack of investment. Given the strong growth of Chevrolet in Europe and strong growth in exports from Korea GM may be looking at cheap European production sites. Daewoo Romania is not the only option. Ukrainian automotive distributor UkrAvto's manufacturing arm AvtoZAZ recently acquired FSO, which builds Daewoos in Poland and supplies key components to AvtoZAZ' Ukrainian subsidiary ZAZ (which also manufactures Opel and Mercedes models). The company is said to be lookin for an assembly contract from Chevrolet Europe to boost profitablity as FSO. If GM decides the capacity would be of benefit, it will come down to the price.

A new 4.0 V6 has already been announced.

That's a matter of debate Croc. Stephen Carter's The Culture of Disbelief explains it better, although I don't agree with all his opinions. The court has reinterpreted the establishment clause (probably wisely) to prohibit government establishment or support of a religion, when it was originally intended to be antidisestablishmentarian (and now you know where antidisestablishmentarianism comes from): i.e. the Federal government could not interfere with a state religious establishment (such as subsidies for Morman churches in Utah). To some extent this is still assumed, or Christmas and Easter would not be holidays (although both are essentially pagan winter and spring festivals rather than Christian in the Anglo-American tradition). There is still a lot of argument about whether it should now be taken to prohibit support of specific religions (which almost everyone agrees on), or broadly applied to religion in general (which many people do not agree with). US civil religion is long established and almost universally supported, if in a necessarily vague and all-encompassing way. "All men are created equal" "in God we trust", Thanksgiving etc. are all religious in nature, without reference to any specific tradition; and the desire to purge all religious language from civil life is arguably an attempt to "establish" secularism as the official American "religion".

Errr, isn't all the Nissan info embargoed until the 7th? You should see a preview of the Sentra with the Bluebird Sylphy then.

The pics seem to have no relation at all to the vehicle discussed in the article - an R-Class type MPV mentioned months ago by Automotive News. "Fullsize" should be taken in a European context, not an American one, however.