If they wanted to boost fuel economy they'd get rid of the Ethanol additive. Ethanol is a less-dense energy source; it's basically impossible to improve MPG using it. You need a more dense fuel source.
95 Octane (and higher) is available in the US but is sold as racing fuel and generally isn't street-legal.
That's kind of amazing. But perhaps a good business decision.
I agree, it's basically what I said the Big 3 should do 20 years ago. Stop making things where you are uncompetitive or "barely" competitive at best, and start making things you are good at doing. Focus on strengths, accept your weaknesses.
I used to joke Chrysler might be good at making a better Big Mac than McDonald's, but they sure can't compete with the cars I like.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
I saw a maroon metallic Impala LTZ, all cleaned up, with bright molding down the side, last evening. It would still be my choice for a sedan. It's on the chopping block too. Modern lines; old-skool dimensions. I'll have to check--I wonder how length and wheelbase compare to a '91-96 Caprice, and a '77-90. It looks large but not in a whale-like way.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
I had a rental new style Impala LTZ (hard to believe it is ~5 years old already), biggest issue was the absence of rearward visibility - you'll want a backup cam for one of those. Otherwise, nice car for what it is, competent V6.
The current Impala began life as a 2014 model. An upper model would have rearview camera...even my mid-level Cruze has it. I have grown to really rely on that.
RE.: ethanol-free...luckily I can get 90-octane ethanol-free one town over from me. My Studebaker has a tank full of it for winter storage and I'm trying to use it for every tankful as well. 'Course, that's not 95-octane, but it's a 283 Chevy engine.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Here are current (haha) EV sales. Interesting. Tesla still selling but they sure aren't pumping out the Model 3 as they projected they would. I'm surprised how well the Prius Prime is doing (the larger Prius), as it's about as blah as you can get, and not all that much on EV range. But then again, a whole lot cheaper than the Model 3s or Bolts being produced at the moment.
Notice how many hits there are for "infotainment"? I have a suggestion for the car makers -- outsource your infotainment to Google or Apple. Not Microsoft, definitely not Microsoft. Microsoft has a terrible (but well deserved) reputation for screwing their business partners. Just ask Ford about the original Sync system that they basically outsourced to Microsoft.
Agreed on the infotainment. If I use a USB3 flash drive to store music in my QX60 the system might - might - freak out & lock up requiring 1) a lengthy timeout before it self-resets, 2) stop/start the car, or 3) a forced reboot of the infotainment while driving (press/hold stereo power for ~15 seconds). Use a USB2 drive with the exact same contents: no problems. No fix from Infiniti. Now, I don't necessarily mind using an old USB2 drive but I shouldn't have to. And that was not stated as a requirement or limitation in the manual.
Problems with small turbocharged engines and new automatic transmissions with more speeds joined the ever-present sore spot of infotainment controls as leading offenders.
Domestic automakers suffered from “a bunch of new vehicle introductions,” Fisher said. “New transmissions and small turbos were the big culprits.”
I wonder "unreliable" means a problem causing the vehicle to be unusable, or the owner not being able to figure out the tech? I think of all the VCRs and microwaves blinking 12:00 all day in 1985, and know that the owners of those products are still driving cars.
Do you have more than one USB 3.0 drive? Preferably different brands?
Yep. The issue is intermittent so I actually can't say definitively that using a USB2 drive won't cause problems. Just that it's been several months since I switched and the problem has not recurred.
I see Mercedes is being investigated now for late, or lack of, recall notices. Wonder if it will lead to anything? At first the VW diesel emissions issues were kind of low key, so I guess we'll see down the road.
I know they've definitely improved turbo engines, but I'm still a bit leery of their high operating temp and pressure environment in frequent city driving. The Honda CRV issue seems related to short trips and possibly aggravated by temperature conditions outside.
I bought my daughter a new 2017 VW Jetta a year ago when she turned 16. 1.4L direct injected turbo with 5 speed manual.
We'll see how it lasts, got it for such a good deal that I won't care to much if we have to dump it when the warranty expires. So far no issues, but it only has 6,500 miles on it. I am a bit concerned as she doesn't drive much and most of her trips are to school related functions that equal driving a couple of miles at a time. So I did change the oil much earlier than required/recommended.
I do see infotainment issues being a problem for reliability surveys, sure, these types of problems won't leave you stranded, but they'll drive you nuts.
I still have my 14 Ram 1500 Laramie. 115k miles and only one real repair (exhaust manifold bolt) that was fixed under warranty at 99k miles. FCAs Uconnect system does work well and I've had very few issues, the biggest being the latest update has seemed to overwhelm the processing power in my unit. It's just not as responsive as it was pre-update.
I'm ready for something new, but don't know what I want.
Lordstown to close March 2019. This is a kick in the stomach to me personally, as I have lived within 40 miles of there my entire life and have bought four new and three used Lordstown-built cars, all which were reliable, cheap-to-buy and cheap-to-maintain.
My '17 Cruze is an excellent car, and vaunted CR put it back on their list of 'Recommended' vehicles just recently, while removing two Hondas. We rented a Corolla a year or so ago and even my wife said "this feels crappy compared to the Cruze". The interior excels in the Cruze IMHO, with a huge back seat, chrome trim inside and cloth on the instrument panel, and no silliness like center instruments.
I know that compact cars are slim-profit-margin vehicles, and I guess when GM invested in the one Mexican plant that builds the same Cruze sedan Lordstown builds, and also the Cruze hatch which Lordstown never built, that should've been a sign.
Personally, I won't buy a Cruze built in Mexico.
Sad to me that Lordstown only built one model, in one bodystyle.
I remember when they opened in 1966 and were building America's best-selling car, the full-size Chevrolet, in four series, and six bodystyles. Sigh.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
As noted above, Ford has gotten out of the car market almost entirely, with the exception of the Focus and Mustang and I think (accent on 'think') the Focus will be built in China. Ugh.
Lordstown being over 50 years old probably didn't help.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
The exact same car is being built at a plant in Mexico, so I shouldn't be shocked I guess. Still, I am.
I have to believe tarriffs affected the closing of Oshawa, Ontario, which was announced simultaneously. That plant opened in 1953. I remember Chevelles and Monte Carlos from there at our local dealer in the seventies.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Geez, seeing headlines saying "Cruze discontinued", but nothing of the sort in the articles themselves. The Cruze was built in Mexico for U.S. consumption, as well as Lordstown. If anyone sees an article where GM says the Cruze is being discontinued, please post here. Otherwise, it seems like those articles are the dreaded 'fake news'. Thanks.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Built at the three aforementioned plants are the Chevrolet Cruze, Impala, and Volt, the Cadillac CT6 and XTS, and Buick LaCrosse. Barra said that the loss of production would lead to the discontinuation of the models in North America. Meanwhile, ther Chevrolet Sonic, built at Michigan’s Orion Assembly, is living on borrowed time, as is the tiny Spark, which hails from GM Korea. That leaves the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, the upcoming Cadillac CT5, and the current Buick Regal to satisfy traditional car buyers.
Malibu? Sonic? Camaro? Corvette? Sounds like they will still be building more car models than Ford, although I'm sad to see the Cruze go. Like I said, roomy, nicely finished in and out, and I bought my LT for $11,800 in Jan. '17, although I had GM card savings and a thing or two other to get down to that...and that was before my trade.
Signed...Old Soul and Proud Of It.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
This makes sense. Barra is making the right decisions.
The old GM would have heavily discounted the Cruze and other models to keep them alive, Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs said. But that would have compromised profits, which are ultimately critical to keeping the company alive and thriving.
"They just don’t do that anymore," Krebs said. "They have shown a lot more discipline since the Great Recession."
In the first nine months of 2018, U.S. sales of the Volt fell 15.9 percent to 12,664 units, compared with a year earlier. During the same period:
• Cruze sales fell 26.5 percent to 109,662.
• Impala sales declined 13.4 percent to 43,952.
• CT6 sales fell 10.6 percent to 7,240.
• XTS sales rose 15.9 percent to 12,664.
• LaCrosse sales fell 14.2 percent to 13,409.
Altogether, during the first nine months of the year GM sold 199,591 units of the vehicles to be discontinued.
That's less than half of the Chevy Silverado, GM's most popular model.
These kind of decisions make sense on a broad level, but if the vehicles are marginally profitable, overhead may not go down as much as hoped after plant closings and restructuring because of the reduced revenues. The lack of clarity out of Washington further clouds all of this, making predictions harder right now.
GM's transformation plans fits neatly under its long-term vision, dubbed: "Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion." But maybe the new plan itself should have its own name: "Zero Hesitation, Zero Nostalgia, Zero Apologies." Because that attitude is a big part of this monumental shift.
"The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future," Barrra said in a GM statement. "We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success."
Gee, who would have guessed that a company would close plants and lay off a bunch of workers not even a year after they got a fat corporate tax cut? I'm not picking on GM only - any big business would do the same thing today, even Honda or Toyota. Business today can't be trusted to do anything except greedily fatten the bottom line. The more people that are put out of work, the fewer people that can afford to buy durable goods. Business should be responsible to both their shareholders and society in general and make decisions that at least partly benefit both groups, but today that is way too much to ask, apparently.
Sure seems like many big corporations are using the recent tax cuts for executive bonuses, stock buybacks, and/or dividend hikes - NOT new major investments. But then, our leadership made sure all the real estate developer and investor tax breaks were pretty much maintained.
But take a look at GM's history, as Barra surely has. One of the biggest reasons it went bankrupt in 2009 and had to be rescued by American taxpayers was decades of reluctance by previous CEOs to right-size the company for new realities, including a stubborn hesitation to scale back at all on the company's crucial self-perception as the world's largest and most important automaker.
Sure, part of GM's new plan is $6 billion in annual cost savings by 2020, and it is dealing with extra commodity costs from tariffs on steel and aluminum.
But the company made the point that among other advantages from the production reordering, its new plan will allow it to share technology across all vehicles more easily, reducing the time and labor it takes to build cars.
And that's just one important aspect of the ultimate truth here, which is: Barra is taking a big axe to the GM we all once knew, and it's the appropriate tool.
Pruning ruthlessly now will give America's biggest automaker -- and still one of its iconic companies -- the best chance of avoiding the General Electric syndrome and of flourishing in a new future that promises to be much different than the past or today.
I think pricing on Cruzes--and as I said, I like ours so much that I was actually was talking to my wife about buying her one just this past weekend although she said she wouldn't want to own two of the same model cars--will be particularly attractive moving forward. I, personally, wouldn't want one assembled this day or later.
The Cruze, Malibu, and Impala resembled each other in a familial way, just on different scales. Ford got out of the Malibu's segment by dropping the Fusion.
As a longtime GM owner, and fan, and knowing people for decades who have worked at Lordstown--I think the 'people' side of this story is sad. I never gave a damn about any sports team, but my whole life, new models at Lordstown or anything else there was local TV news. I'm sad today, particularly since I think they were building a very competitive product there. I actually own two Cruzes; my daughter drives a 2015.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
I think ultimately what happens is that vehicle prices take a jump. Sales volume may decrease, but margins will have to increase to absorb all of what is happening, both in the marketplace and in Washington. I've noticed a lot more concern about all of this breeding another recession from a number of Wall Street financial institutions lately. Too much political talk, threats and banter can backfire on a country. The US is not so omnipotent to avoid such a situation.
Tariffs and isolationism were key contributors in Hoover economics prelude to the great depression. As Shifty noted in a different forum, tariffs are a tax, pure and simple. In fact, they were a major funding mechanism of early America. But as such, tariffs raise domestic prices over time. If wage increases don't keep pace (and they haven't) the longer term result is usually ugly. The president has to know this since he went to business school at Penn.
Comments
95 Octane (and higher) is available in the US but is sold as racing fuel and generally isn't street-legal.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/25/ford-to-stop-selling-every-car-in-north-america-but-the-mustang-and-focus-active/
That's kind of amazing. But perhaps a good business decision.
I used to joke Chrysler might be good at making a better Big Mac than McDonald's, but they sure can't compete with the cars I like.
Car I saw looked just like this one:
https://www.dunningmotorsales.com/new/Chevrolet/2018-Chevrolet-Impala-cambridge-oh-82e5cda00a0e0ae70c244e03e42dc21b.htm
I know it's smarter to buy a one-or-two-year-old one, but I still like new, for me. LOL
I wonder when the Tesla tax break will run out, this year?
Saw an A3 e-tron in traffic today.
This is a local story, just about new car sales in Houston for the last month. Not sure if it indicates anything, or just an anomaly.
Every Single American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of Consumer Reports' 2018 Reliability Rankings
https://jalopnik.com/every-single-american-car-brand-is-on-the-bottom-half-o-1829974713
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Problems with small turbocharged engines and new automatic transmissions with more speeds joined the ever-present sore spot of infotainment controls as leading offenders.
Domestic automakers suffered from “a bunch of new vehicle introductions,” Fisher said. “New transmissions and small turbos were the big culprits.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/10/25/unreliable-new-vehicle-technology/1760387002/
We'll see how it lasts, got it for such a good deal that I won't care to much if we have to dump it when the warranty expires. So far no issues, but it only has 6,500 miles on it. I am a bit concerned as she doesn't drive much and most of her trips are to school related functions that equal driving a couple of miles at a time. So I did change the oil much earlier than required/recommended.
I do see infotainment issues being a problem for reliability surveys, sure, these types of problems won't leave you stranded, but they'll drive you nuts.
I still have my 14 Ram 1500 Laramie. 115k miles and only one real repair (exhaust manifold bolt) that was fixed under warranty at 99k miles. FCAs Uconnect system does work well and I've had very few issues, the biggest being the latest update has seemed to overwhelm the processing power in my unit. It's just not as responsive as it was pre-update.
I'm ready for something new, but don't know what I want.
My '17 Cruze is an excellent car, and vaunted CR put it back on their list of 'Recommended' vehicles just recently, while removing two Hondas. We rented a Corolla a year or so ago and even my wife said "this feels crappy compared to the Cruze". The interior excels in the Cruze IMHO, with a huge back seat, chrome trim inside and cloth on the instrument panel, and no silliness like center instruments.
I know that compact cars are slim-profit-margin vehicles, and I guess when GM invested in the one Mexican plant that builds the same Cruze sedan Lordstown builds, and also the Cruze hatch which Lordstown never built, that should've been a sign.
Personally, I won't buy a Cruze built in Mexico.
Sad to me that Lordstown only built one model, in one bodystyle.
I remember when they opened in 1966 and were building America's best-selling car, the full-size Chevrolet, in four series, and six bodystyles. Sigh.
Lordstown being over 50 years old probably didn't help.
I have to believe tarriffs affected the closing of Oshawa, Ontario, which was announced simultaneously. That plant opened in 1953. I remember Chevelles and Monte Carlos from there at our local dealer in the seventies.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-restructuring-idUSKCN1NV1NB
GM is killing the family sedan, too
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-killing-family-sedan-185838368.html
Built at the three aforementioned plants are the Chevrolet Cruze, Impala, and Volt, the Cadillac CT6 and XTS, and Buick LaCrosse. Barra said that the loss of production would lead to the discontinuation of the models in North America. Meanwhile, ther Chevrolet Sonic, built at Michigan’s Orion Assembly, is living on borrowed time, as is the tiny Spark, which hails from GM Korea. That leaves the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, the upcoming Cadillac CT5, and the current Buick Regal to satisfy traditional car buyers.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/11/the-fallout-asinine-suggestions-and-legitimate-pain-greet-gms-announcement/
Barra said the Cruze would no longer be sold in the U.S. Production would stop March 1.
https://apnews.com/3e51216360e14053ae3e4b3461db615b?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=APBusiness&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
Signed...Old Soul and Proud Of It.
The old GM would have heavily discounted the Cruze and other models to keep them alive, Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs said. But that would have compromised profits, which are ultimately critical to keeping the company alive and thriving.
"They just don’t do that anymore," Krebs said. "They have shown a lot more discipline since the Great Recession."
In the first nine months of 2018, U.S. sales of the Volt fell 15.9 percent to 12,664 units, compared with a year earlier. During the same period:
• Cruze sales fell 26.5 percent to 109,662.
• Impala sales declined 13.4 percent to 43,952.
• CT6 sales fell 10.6 percent to 7,240.
• XTS sales rose 15.9 percent to 12,664.
• LaCrosse sales fell 14.2 percent to 13,409.
Altogether, during the first nine months of the year GM sold 199,591 units of the vehicles to be discontinued.
That's less than half of the Chevy Silverado, GM's most popular model.
"The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future," Barrra said in a GM statement. "We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success."
Sure, part of GM's new plan is $6 billion in annual cost savings by 2020, and it is dealing with extra commodity costs from tariffs on steel and aluminum.
But the company made the point that among other advantages from the production reordering, its new plan will allow it to share technology across all vehicles more easily, reducing the time and labor it takes to build cars.
And that's just one important aspect of the ultimate truth here, which is: Barra is taking a big axe to the GM we all once knew, and it's the appropriate tool.
Pruning ruthlessly now will give America's biggest automaker -- and still one of its iconic companies -- the best chance of avoiding the General Electric syndrome and of flourishing in a new future that promises to be much different than the past or today.
The Cruze, Malibu, and Impala resembled each other in a familial way, just on different scales. Ford got out of the Malibu's segment by dropping the Fusion.
As a longtime GM owner, and fan, and knowing people for decades who have worked at Lordstown--I think the 'people' side of this story is sad. I never gave a damn about any sports team, but my whole life, new models at Lordstown or anything else there was local TV news. I'm sad today, particularly since I think they were building a very competitive product there. I actually own two Cruzes; my daughter drives a 2015.