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If GM lasts that long...GM is in complex negotiations with UAW and the parts giant about financing buyouts of Delphi workers and about hiring back some Delphi workers.
A strike at Delphi would lead to a shutdown of GM assembly plants across North America almost immediately, and a long strike would cripple the world's largest automaker.
And isn't 2009 and 2010 a long ways away to be bringing out these rear wheel drive cars. The largest car company in the world can't develop something more original than a next generation Impala and a Mustang inspired Camaro. By the time these are launched we'll all be driving 4-wheel drive cars.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Well, from my expirence most are not buy American. I know 2 ladies over 70, who were loyal Buick buyers didn't buy another Buick, one bought a Kia Amanti, instead of a Lucerne. She said she didn't like the name and second got everything a little more for a lot lesser price and better warrenty. The other lady went from a Buick to an Avalon. I know of some other older buyers going to Toyotas, Lexus and the like, trading higher end Fords, and GM products.
I have an old RCA 25" console tv that a coworker gave me about 7 years ago. I don't know how old it is, but I'm sure it's at least 20. It has the old fashioned dials, as opposed to the keypads that became common in the 80's.
Personally I've never had a problem with it, but last year we got a new 32" Sharp to replace it. It's still a tube tv, nothing fancy there, but that's all I really wanted. I'm not ready yet to spend thousands of $ for a new tv!
I'd say the biggest issues we had with the tv were...
1) No remote control. We did have it wired up to a surround sound system and had Directv hooked up to it, so you could control the volume and channels with their respective remotes. But you still had to get up to turn the tv on or off! :P
2) Being a console tv, the tube was low on the floor, and partially obscured by the coffee table. And I learned that the dog actually pays attention to what's on the tv. If he sees something that even remotely resembles a dog or a horse, he'll go wild and start barking at the tv and growling at it.
Well, the new tv fixed the remote control issue. And we bought a stand for it, so it sits up higher. Damn dog still pays attention to it, though. If I fall asleep on the couch with the tv on, God forbid a dogfood commercial or even that Suzuki Vitara commercial where the dude skydives out of his front yard to his Vitara in the canyon below (you can very faintly hear a dog barking in the background) comes on! I'd often fall asleep watching TVLand, and, well I'm just glad they don't show "Little House on the Prairie" at 5 in the morning anymore! That would really set the dog off and he'd wake me up! "Gunsmoke" sets him off too, but I'm usually up by then.
Anyway, one thing I'll say for the new Sharp TV I got...it was only $269. And it's out of warranty now. If it breaks, I'll just throw it away and go buy another. TV's are pretty-much throw-away items these days. Nobody takes them in for repair anymore. I guess those multi-thousand $ tvs might still get service calls, though.
As for those newer digital/plasma/whatever tvs? The picture in them actually bothers me sometimes, because they tend to pixellate too much. And often it seems like if there's a lot of action on the screen, sometimes the picture feed seems to bog down a bit. And with the bigger tv's, often that just means that the pixels themselves are bigger, to the point that you almost expect a title screen that says "Atari" or "Mattel Electronics Presents" to fire up in a moment!
The Japanese and Korean companies licensed the technology, they did not copy it.
I doubt they made it cheaper. Rather the Japanese companies are willing to run manufacturing operations that are not profitable for longer periods of time tolerated in the US.
Sony and Matsushita are not doing all that well right now and have not been for almost 7 years. If this thread were about Japanese electronics companies, the arguments offered here about why Ford and GM should go about business would be expanded geometically.
At least in the US, I cannot think of anyone who does not buy a flat panel television without somesort of rebate, sale, tie-in or discout interest or some combination. It is the nature of the business.
However, I would be willing to bet the only companies that made money off my purchase were Best Buy, Texas Instruments, THK and the owner of Dolby sound (the company may be Dolby. I do not recall).
If I had financed my purchase - as many do - the credit card company would be the one that really makes out.
I paid cash and messed over the banker.
LOL, guilty! Heck, I still have the remains of the old 25" Zenith console that my grandparents bought new back in 1972! :surprise: It had a nice slate top, and when that tv blew up back around 1987 or so, Granddad just took the guts out of it and tore the sides off, and the top set down on the base and made a real handy coffee table! :P
Do I get bonus points though, for at least having a tv that's only about a year old? :shades: We don't use that old early 80's RCA anymore. I just put it in the spare room, set plants on it in the wintertime, and the cats sun themselves on it in the summer.
And it's not that I'm technology-adverse or anything. I just can't justify spending tons of money on a huge-screen tv, when I can just sit closer to the one I have! Heck, even at 32", the headlights on Lara Croft are big enough! :shades:
Well, just goes to show, America comes up with the technology, and Japan is there to copy it and make it cheaper. It is the same with cars.
The only invention Japan brought to the auto industry is the little change keeper in the glove box, the rest is just that they copy really well.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
You think?
IMO will become the norm to have 4 wheel drive all the time (guess I should say all wheel drive)......not as in a SUV but as in Suburu.
The safety of all wheel drive makes it a must, for better cornering, traction for those of us who have snow, and better steering response.
Seems more cars are going "all wheel" more and more, and GM will catch up someday....even Ford has it!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
And to answer the actual question posed by the originator of this thread - No, GM's 2006 styling won't do anything for the company's bottom line.
http://www.predicta.com/index.shtml
Apparently there are enough people (mainly in SoCal as it happens) who are so into the MidCentury Modern look, a company has formed that makes televisions that look all the world like the units you have found in an upscale house in 1955.
There is something coming through here that looks like a common denominator;
The guys who have the 20 inch Zenith or RCA TV's also have the old GM cars.
This is a tremendous marketing tool to know. Hmmmmmmm, let me think.......
How about with every Impala you get a free 1960 Admiral TV set.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Speaking of boring, GM needs to pull a full "86' Taurus" out of its hat to get people back in the showrooms.
Exactly what I'm saying as well. I also hate the Lucerne name, not as badly as I hate the rear end design, but....
It's now a very easy move from Buick to Avalon, or Lincoln to Lexus....
Makes one wonder if a company could make money licensing the design but putting otherwise modern trappings under a Corvair or some other such mid-Century iconic car. I guess the engineering would be a bit more complicated in a car than a television.
I think the Enclave/Outlook have a chance to be big sellers for GM if the quality is good. You will have much better looks, safety and mpgs than SUVs, but otherwise almost all the utility people want with the trucks.
Apparently the new dual phase hybrid system will be available in these soon as well. A help if gas prices keep heading up.
These vehicles are excellent candidates for GM's Euromarket diesels if the air quality regs can ever be sorted out.
Back in '86, I think Buicks still had a pretty broad appeal. Sure, more older people probably bought them than, say, a Pontiac or Chevy, but cars like the Regal were almost chameleon-like in their ability to adapt to the buyer's tastes. If an older buyer wanted a landau roof and wire wheels, they could get the Limited. If someone wanted a musclecar, there was the Grand National. If they wanted something a bit less conspicuous, there was the T-type. If someone wanted a car that just looked good, they could get a regular Regal with the rally wheels and a mild V-8. Cheaper people could spring for a V-6. It didn't make the best family car in the world, being a 2-door model, but it at least had a useable back seat and a decent trunk so it could still be pressed into family duty if need be.
Oddly, while aerodynamic styles seemed to be Ford's salvation, I always thought they backfired a bit with Buicks. The crisp, wedgy 80's styles looked good I thought, but when they started rounding them off with cars like the '88 Regal and '92 LeSabre, I thought they just lost their edge. The '91 Park Ave and '95 Riviera were lookers IMO, though.
With all the electrical engineers working on flat panel designs, this may be one issue that is never addressed.
A few years back, there was a company that took mid-late 60's GM intemediates and updated them with disc front brakes, 220 or so hp 350 crate motors (this was around 1990) and (IIRC) 4-speed automatics. They'd also put appropriate musclecar trim on them, meaning they'd badge out a LeMans to look like a GTO, or a Sklark to be a Grand Sport, or a Cutlass to be a 4-4-2, etc. They modernized them in a few other ways too, like more modern radial tires and a decent sound system.
I do remember they actually came with a 1 year warranty, but they were officially sold as used cars. I'm not sure what kind of suspension mods were made, but I really doubt that there's much substantially different underneath between, a '67 Cutlass (the car I read the test of) and a 1990 Caprice.
I also know a guy who took a '59 Coronet and put disc brakes all around. Up front the conversion kit utilized Volare (hopefully copcar Volare!) discs, and in back he put a '70-74 E-body rear on (practically a direct swap...those E-bods were WIDE) and he said he thought the disc brakes came off of a '79-85 Eldorado...were they using discs on the back of those by that time?
I'm guessing if there was enough demand for it, retrofitting stuff like that could be feasible.
I would look seriously at a retrofitted '64 or so Corvair or Impala Coupe.
The real things are beauts. But their collector value - and their antique undertrappings would keep me from driving a real one except on Sunday afternoon boulevard cruises.
GM has the CTS and the Monte Carlo. Now those two look like no other. I like the G6 GTP Coupe, but it is like the Honda Coupe and a little Solara.
-Loren
Infiniti by design copied the Jaguar sedan. In fact, Infiniti's US brand manager in an interview about the car bragged the J stood for Jaguar.
Am I the only one who thinks these numbers are wildly optimistic?
The numbers for the DTS and Lucerne are optimistic. Buick sells an average of 7300 Lucernes and about 4500 DTS per month now.
Something unusual about that, Loren? Let's see;
Lexus copied Mercedes,
Buick copied Acura, (the rear end of the Lucerne, F.E.)
Acura copied Volvo,
Mazda copied Audi,
Chevy copied Ford, (Look at the new Tahoe, just like Expo),
and EVERYBODY copies BMW........the current Gold Standard. :surprise:
I'm seeing some J30 in that LaCrosse...
The J-30 came out way after the Taurus, and the J-30 copied possibly the Hindenburg, or nothing at all.
I think the LaCrosse looks like a tiny Park Avenue, myself.
Buick copied Acura, (the rear end of the Lucerne, F.E.)
Acura copied Volvo,
Mazda copied Audi,
Chevy copied Ford, (Look at the new Tahoe, just like Expo),
and EVERYBODY copies BMW.
Every automaker borrows from its rivals, at one time or another, particularly since increased regulations about bumpers, pedestrian safety, etc. imposed design constraints to promote a certain degree of conformity.
Nothing wrong with that, if the consumer is happy, the brand is well served and there is enough innovation to create forward momentum. This is not unique to the auto industry.
Exactly.....
Not quite. Buick sold 7311 Lucernes in May, and 36,433 for the first 5 months of May (average of 7287 per month).
An insider (Joe Langley of CSM who posts under the name AH-HA at some other message boards) has already said that the article is wrong.
Few designs are wholly original, I am sure even the lumpy Monte borrows from something...a big chunk of raw cookie dough maybe.
I saw a GTO today...somehow it slightly reminded me of an early 90s BMW 8-series. BMW is copied again!
I have seen A HA's posts over the years. He is pretty reliable.
-Loren
Agreed.
In the days before safety and economy drove design, you had some very creative sheet metal and interior work.
Today there are so many regulations, it is a wonder we don't live in a total Stepford Automobile world.
I think all the creative designers have gone over to the analogue amplifier shops.
-Loren
Those Nissans are made in Tennessee. I'm sure that Nissan appreciates your business.
i heard PAUL HARVEY saying on the radio that Nissan had stopped sales of Sentra and Altima
(putting on bad Paul Harvey radio voice):
Page 2 -- GM is a sponsor of the Paul Harvey program. He reads the ads as if they are news stories. I thought everyone knew this, but I guess some people don't realize that half of his "news report" is advertising aimed at old folks.
And THAT'S the rest of the story...Good Day!
I think the rear on the Lucerne looks a bit like my '98 only larger of course.
Acura copied Volvo ??? What car would that be?
Mazda copied Audi ??? What?
Chevy is copying Ford - this is the end of the World as we knew it
Maybe the Fusion and Milan are new designs? Are they?
Now what is an Azera a clone of?
-Loren
Definitely a Honda/Avalon
Actually, they all copy Mercedes and then it filters down from there! :P
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
IMO the Infinity J30 looks like a Jaguar and everyone has got to admit those big Buicks are a direct copy of Jaguar only they butchered it up. I am surprised they weren't sued for plagerism!!!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
If I recall correctly, Infinity even used a Brit actor to promote the J.
Nonsense. Buick has nearly a century of large sedan design tradition to draw on.
The Infinity only a few before it came out with the J.
I do like the Altima version of the Passat. Cool looking tail lights, less expensive to own, and to buy.
Do like the new Civic Coupe looks wise. Never driven one. Not so keen on the long windshield / cab forward thing going on there, but it looks good.
-Loren
Cruise on baby!
-Loren
Look at the 1980s vintage Jaguar XJs. Then consider that the J in Japan was sold as the Nissan Leopard J Ferrie. Then consider Infiniti used the letter J -- XJ Jaguar. Then consider Infiniti paid Jonathon Pryce a small fortune to promote the J.
Nissan meant the J to be its Jaguar. Your not wanting to lose an argument will not change the fact.
-Loren