PurdueGuy

These are probably all spoken for by now, right? At least the first year's production?

Semi-related - there's a sad number of new Saturn Astra owners that are getting all snobby about how their car is built in Germany. When people point out that the plant is in Belgium, which is not Germany, they try to play it off as the same thing. I'm sure people from either country would really appreciate being told they're the same.

that a cobalt coupe? Shame.

I hope gas prices stay about where they're at, not up or down really. They're high enough to motivate significant research into alternative fuels, but not high enough to destroy our economy... too much... hopefully.

It's the caddy that zigs!

Looks very good, but this car is going to look so old by the time people can buy it. People whine about a car needing an update after 4-5 years. That's how long we'll have seen this car for by the time people can buy it! It's still a cool car, and will probably sell, but c'mon.

Someone tries to make a funny and you just get upset with it? That kind of thing is darn tame compared to other forums I'm on...

I've read that EV1 book, very good read.

nooooo mai crunch berries! sometimes you have to laugh so you don't cry.

Part of the idea is to let the market say what gets dumped, kept, or grown.

Shifting the pollution to the electrical grid is still good - a coal power plant should pollute significantly less to provide that energy than a small, comparatively inefficient, ICE. Off-peak is definitely waaaaay better, though.

You guys are so biased, you're seeing this Tacoma thing all backwards. Toyota, in their infinite wisdom, actually made the Tacoma more than a truck. It, in fact, evolves like a living creature. How else can you explain 5-10 year old trucks developing new features such as a tilt bed?

In #s that small, the chevy badge won't drive enough people away to worry about - it's just a halo car that'll help the Chevy brand over there. If they were trying to sell it in larger numbers, maybe it would be a concern.

Analog gauge + digital HUD = WIN why is the above combo not more common? HUD in general should be more common.

On food, yes. On every manufacturer's website, and readily available in every dealer, probably. On every advertisement, no. They don't even require that with food (well, not here at least, do they over there?)

dur!

Yay Idaho BLM. Public land FTW.

looks a lot more like a micro Scion xB. I see nothing Hummer about it.

*drool*

This is kind of a spin-off from a comment in the thread discussing the interest in Hummer by a couple companies from India: What would it take for GM to merge some brands? Take the whole clustering of brands (Buick-Pontiac-GMC for example) to the next level, and have them share a corporate shell and legal entity. Let's call it "GM Specialties" for now. Some thoughts: + Dealerships would have a contract with "GM Specialties", not the specific brands contained within. A Specialties dealership (auto boutique?) could order (or not order) any product from the Specialties' included brands, maybe with some requirements/standards as to how the products are displayed and/or marketed. This is not terribly different from a department store. If, for example, California has very little demand for product A, but the midwest does, then maybe some Cali dealers will choose not to order, stock, or market product A. They could still be able to special order product A for those few people that "gotta have." + "Failed" brand-names could be phased out without severe legal repercussions. They could also be right-sized. Think Hummer taken down to only one model (probably a Wrangler competitor). When one brand-name shrinks because of market demand, Specialties management can recognize where the market is growing, and provide more product in that segment to even things out (SUVs get cut, new compacts introduced). The dealership may be a little frustrated at having to rework some showroom floor to adjust, but for the most part they're happy because their product is moving with the market. + Brand names never truly die. What's to say they couldn't bring back Olds as a couple special models? Drop Hummer for a little while, then bring it back? GM doesn't have the $$ to invest in a product worthy of a brand/segment? Wait a couple years, the dealer has other product to keep it afloat. + While in some respect, this idea is another way to homogenize GM, and in a management level kill some of the things that make brands special, it really empowers brands as well, allowing them to be what they are truely meant to. Pontiac is burdened with having to carry some plain-jane models and rebadges, because the dealers need product that'll sell. If there are other brands to support the same dealer in volume sales, then brands like Pontiac have more freedom to exist as fewer, more true performance vehicles.

They should make a "spacious edition" with one big cushy front seat and two normal back seats. Driver-centric!

There's a LOT of things the gov't needs to do before handing out money to people who got loans they couldn't afford (though they do need to kick some financial companies' butts for deceiving people, too).

So, what's the likelihood that the 2nd transformers movie will be out before the Camaro?

A) GM is larger than the other two, which makes it more of a target. B) GM has probably shown more evidence of turnaround & chance of success than the other two, which probably also makes it a target. Is it fair? Probably not. At least it should help GM from getting too complacent (hopefully).

Yeah... we had the "let's gripe about the hot summer weather" thread over on sixthsphere earlier today. Then the guy on the board who's over in Iraq right now made everyone else's weather look like a brisk spring day. Count your blessings.