General Motors discussions

rockylee

And thats a bad thang ???? Like socala4, always said you need to start them young on marketing. Perhaps he now works for GM, and he (socala4) made sure GM cars were going to be the main brands in the movie. :P

Rocky

P.S. I know another Rocky conspiracy

fintail

Indeed. And this movie is much more aimed at the ca. 30 year old set than kids too, I am sure. They will be walking a thin line with the product placement. Personally, it makes me not want to see the movie so much, as I liked the variety of cars in the old cartoon.

british_rover

Me too you had just about every type of car/vehicle in the old shows and movie.

Just for example bumblebee has to be a VW bug he just has to be because that is how he is shapped. In the new movie I guess he is goign to be a camaro.. :sick:

rockylee

What did you say to me the other day.....Oh boo hoo. :P

ROTFLMAO

Rocky

fintail

And there was even a Corvette (I think), so GM gets their share too.

I think there was also a GoBot Mercedes, but of course it was a little lame.

fintail

LOL...

GM might be going boo-hoo if the movie ends up causing ridicule among a demographic that they wouldn't mind having...

british_rover

I have a DVD, yes I am a dork, of the Transformers movie some where and it has all of the original characters as well as the ones that were added towards the end of the series.

I can't remember all of the characters but I think there was a sports car that sort of looked like corvette. I think there was a porsche or two as well.

I also think the ambulance was a Chevy Van ambulance.

rockylee

You and fintail were watching Transformers, and I was watching Thundercats.

Rocky

fintail

Yep I remember I had a Porsche one, along with a Z car and a Toyota pickup. There was also one of those cabover Toyota vans too, I think, and maybe a Lamborghini. You might be right on that ambulance, seems to ring a bell.

I have clear memories of most of my old toys...so I am only halfway to being a dork lol. I do remember that I liked the 'soundwave' decepticon most of all.

fintail

And Voltron too, right? :shades:

rockylee

I guess I don't remember that one.....

Rocky

british_rover

MY college roomate loved voltron when he was a kid. I didn't get into it as much.

We did both like thundercats and transformers though.

rockylee

I often thought about buying the season series of thundercats for my son since so many of the cartoons today are gay !!!!

Rocky

fintail

Now now...that's being insulting to the term 'gay'...

My little brother, Christmas 1986. There's Voltron for ya

I can still feel that horrible family room carpet burning my knees.

He was also into Thundercats and He-Man. Other than a little bout with Transformers, I never really fell for TV-toys. Lego and toy cars all the way. And I didn't discriminate against GM toy cars! I still even have my Hot Wheels Chevy Citation...

rockylee

Now now...that's being insulting to the term 'gay'...

You know I meant happy. :P

can still feel that horrible family room carpet burning my knees.

He was also into Thundercats and He-Man. Other than a little bout with Transformers, I never really fell for TV-toys. Lego and toy cars all the way. And I didn't discriminate against GM toy cars! I still even have my Hot Wheels Chevy Citation...

Yeah you have a nice collection of cars. The funny thing is my lil' brother had a lego town and would kill anyone who would get near it in his bedroom.

Rocky

fintail

The cars I have pics of are the vintage ones...1970s-80s cars in played with condition are worth very little, so my childhood cars are just in a big plastic tub. I too had a big lego town that was supposed to be untouchable. I still have a couple lego houses left.

I'm trying to think of other GM cars I have/had...I remember a Pocket Cars bustleback Seville, a Pocket Cars Fleetwood, a Hot Wheels Seville, many various Vettes and Camaros, a Matchbox Allante, a Majorette Caddy limo, and there had to have been a few others. So GM was aiming at a younger crowd just maybe...

rockylee

So GM was aiming at a younger crowd just maybe...

Fintail,

It obviously didn't work since you love mercedez so much today. :P

Rocky

fintail

LOL, true.

I have to wonder what got me fixated on Mercedes in particular. I remember when I was maybe 5, going to a store and seeing this Pocket Cars 450SEL, in silver, and I just had to have it. From then, I got all the toy MB I could find. I remember not long after that Hot Wheels had a line of 30s classic cars, and there was a Packard and a Caddy that I also loved. I seemed to think they were actually old and rare. I also had a Matchbox Rolls Royce that I somehow thought was very special. I didn't understand that all toy cars are pretty much equal by brand.

I remember being very fond of that Seville too...my uncle bought it for me in Japan, and I thought it was very detailed and special.

rockylee

So the Mercedes matchbox cars as a kid inspired you as a adult to own and drive Mercedes Benz. Socala4, would be proud of the marketing MB used to lure you in to buying their brand. :P

Rocky

fintail

But what marketing made me want the toys? And why sedans in particular?

Heck, I recall a Hot Wheels K-car wagon...I didn't end up wanting that!

rockylee

I was kidding but I'm sure it had some impact.

Rocky

bumpy

Bumblebee can't be a VW bug anymore since VW won't license the design for use as a Transformer now. I would have made him a Nissan Micra, but no one on this continent would recognize it.

The original Transformers toys were borrowed from an existing Japanese toy line, so the vehicles were mostly JDM with some circa-1980 sports cars thrown in. Ratchet (the ambulance) was basically the same Toyota van as Ironhide. Tracks was the blue C4 Corvette with flames on the hood. This is about as close as we can get to a modern-day lineup, though being based on current-production vehicles means no transforming Silvias or NSXs.

anythngbutgm

And I didn't discriminate against GM toy cars! I still even have my Hot Wheels Chevy Citation...

Weren't they all recalled?

rockylee

No the Toyota's he had are missing because they are still in the shop getting that "secret" service call campaign. :P

Rocky

fintail

Now that I think of it...I had very few toy Toyotas that I can recall. A couple of Supras and some weird Pocket Car JDM stuff is all I remember. Certainly no Camrys. So GM is better at toy car merchandising, if anything.

rockylee

LOL.........

Rocky

62vetteefp

I do not think Toyota had much to offer back then that kids would want in a toy. Could be wrong but the Supra is the only one I can think of. They were also pretty low volume back then and not much of a market either.

lemko

I remember the Thundercats as being a pretty cool cartoon, though it was more of my younger sister's time than mine. The Go-Bots were a lame rip-off of the Transformers.

I always preferred the old Warner Bros. and Walter Lantz cartoons as well as Tom and Jerry and Hanna-Barbera's older stuff. You don't see this stuff anymore as Cartoon Network pretty much airs its own stuff as well as too much anime. A lot of the older Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters were based on comedians of the time. Yogi Bear was Art Carney, Top Cat was Phil Silvers, Snagglepuss was Bert Lahr, and Wally Gator was Ed Wynn.Daddy Doggie was Jimmy Durante, and Fred Flinstone was clearly Jackie Gleason.

rockylee

Interesting..........

Rocky

lemko

You wanna talk about toy cars? I still have a 1982 Cadillac Seville Hot Wheels car, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala taxicab and 1964 Cadillac S&S ambulance by Matchbox, and a large Matchbox version of a 1976 Plymouth Gran Fury taxicab from my youth. I never outgrew my diecast car thing as I have at least 24 Danbury and Franklin Mint 1:24 scale models and many other less-expensive cars on display throughout my house.

lemko

I have the Majorette Cadillac limo in white. I had to buy it as it resembles my 1989 Cadillac Brougham. My parents gave me a 1983 Cadillac Presidential limo for this past Xmas. There is a Pocket Wheels Cadillac Seville STS somebody gave me as a lark, but it's very crude and barely resembles the car. Corgi made a very nice fintail Mercedes if you can find it. I think Majorette had a 1977 Mercedes 450SEL in gold.

rockylee

WOW........Sounds cool you had the sense to hold on to them after all these years

Rocky

lemko

...the only toy cars that were imports were of British domestic market cars made by Matchbox, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, and VW cars. I can't recall any Japanese cars. There were a few exotics like Porsche and Ferrari, but were rare.

fintail

Yep, you're right about that Majorette. Those had the three spoke wheels, I had it. I also had a very cool Majorette Saab EMS hatchback that got destroyed along with many others by my little brother. I still have a three spoke Majorette VW Rabbit though.

Tomy/Pocket Cars (Japan) made a nicely detailed Matchbox-size 70s Caddy Fleetwood and Lincoln Continental, those strike me as something you'd like.

Japanese cars have really never invaded the toy car scene, due to the appliance like nature of most, I guess. Back in the late 70s through the mid 80s there was a brand called 'Pocket Cars' made in Japan by Tomy, that featured a lot of JDM stuff. These are more collectible than Matchbox/Hot Wheels from the time, too (although still worth little, usually no more than $10).

Dinky made the nice fintail, it is even in a color similar to mine. I have one. Strangely enough, Corgi made a 220SE, and on the box it was a fintail, but the actual toy car was a coupe! The best toy fintails were by German makers like Gama, and Japanese tinplate makers like Bandai. I have a lovely blue Bandai tin fintail, ca. 1:18 scale...I think I have it on my carspace.

lemko

I have a very nice Gama BMW 528i in 1:43 scale. It is sort of a grayish blue metallic color with a black interior. I bought it back in Fall of 1984.

Speaking of Japanese tinplate cars, I have a beautiful black 1950 Cadillac coupe in about 1:18 scale. I also have a large Danbury mint 1953 Cadillac Eldorado in 1:16 scale.

Shoot, maybe we ought to start a topic about scale model/toy cars?

fintail

Ah yeah I know the Gama cars from that time. I remember seeing a Gama 190E when I was a kid, but it was like $20, which was too rich for my blood. I do have a 1:43 Gama W126, but it rolled off my desk, and the grille and windshield are damaged, strangely simulating a pedestrian accident. Earlier Gama cars were 1:24-1:18 and were often battery or remote control.

I have a Franklin Mint Cord L29 I found at a yard sale, but it is only 1:43. Otherwise, I try to get only cars I own, or vintage toys.

That would be a good thread. There is an 'automobilia' thread on the classic forum I think too, if the overseers didn't think it belongs on this forum.

Kirstie_H

That might be a kinda cool discussion - and hostility-free. You're welcome to start a new topic right here in Auto News.

fintail

Cool, I will do that, and the rah-rah GM stuff can continue here.

lweiss

You can read online about GM's market share prospects- the slide from 60% to 40% and for 2006 maybe 24 or 25%. GM's management has given up on 30% for the North American market, but thinks they can stabilize at 25%. The columnist (Mr Brown, I think)says that 20% is more realistic. And I agree- I don't see any combination of blockbuster hits that will halt the slide. The new Malibu can be good, the trucks will probably stabilize, and GM must be hoping and praying that fuel prices don't spike way up again. But the Asians seem poised for another fantastic year at the expense of the Big 3- do you agree?

louiswei

Gas price will inevitablly go up again, however I think GM's new truck sale would remain stable due to their good reviews unless we reach something like $5.00/gallon. I think GM's new entries in the sedan market such as the Auro, Malibu and CTS will give it the boost it has been long looking for. I personally believe that from now on GM can only go up, not down (again, that's assuming the gas price doesn't go sky rocketed) so stabilize at 25% shouldn't be all that difficult.

However, GM still lacks a product (or products) to take them back to their ole' glory days. If I am the GM chief I will focus the research on following areas:

1. Develop a competitve 4-cylinder engine. the new I4 has to rival both Honda and Toyota's version in performance, as well as fuel economy.

2. Need a real Civic fighter. The Cobalt just won't cut it no matter how them GM band wagonners spin it. This is somewhat correlated with the I4 engine research.

3. Need a competitive sub-compact sedan/hatchback.

rockylee

louiswei,

GM has a wards top-10 4-cylinder already they just don't use it in enough applications.

Rocky

62vetteefp

But the Asians seem poised for another fantastic year at the expense of the Big 3- do you agree?

No, Toyota is the only big player that has really significantly increased penetration of the NA market. Honda is up slightly while the others are down. I do not see anything new at Honda that will really make a big difference for 07. To me Toyota is the one that is really stealing the market share from everyone. GM really needs some work to keep from dropping more share.

Toyota...+12.5%
Honda....+3.6%
Chry group..-7.7%
Ford.....-7.6%
Nissan...-6%
GM.......-8.3%

louiswei

I do not see anything new at Honda that will really make a big difference for 07

The redesigned 2008 Honda Accord should be hitting the show room floors in late 07 and reportly along with a desiel version. If that's true then we can expect to see Honda sales picking up really quickly by the end of this year.

I would also expect the new TSX to arrive around the late 07' and early 08' timeframe as well. So yeah, you might be correct, not too much going on for Honda this year but next year should be pretty impressive since the bread and butter for both their Honda and Acura lines would recieve redesigns.

As for Toyota, with the new Tundra and Corolla on the way, one can only imaging their market share is again on the rise. Oh yeah, and don't forget Lexus' money cow RX will be redesigned for either the 08' or 09' MY.

I think Nissan's fate lies all on their new Altima, Sentra and G35.

lemko

I think you mean the Nissan Versa - their new small car.

louiswei

No, I meant the Sentra, Nissan's Civic fighter.

Nissan Sentra

lemko

I must be confused. I thought the Versa was supposed to replace the Sentra. Maybe the Versa is supposed to go against cars like the Yaris and Fit?

anythngbutgm

Looks like we need Nissan 2.0 to kick in to action pretty soon. They must be feeling the heat from this and I would think the last thing they need is another mid-90's slump. We can only wish for them to get on the ball with this.

bumpy

The Versa is supposed to be a Yaris/Fit/Accent car, but it's really the same size as the outgoing Sentra, while the new Sentra is almost as big as the original Altima.

Damned car bloat. :sick: :mad:

louiswei

lemko, you are correct, the Versa is Nissan's sub-compact entry to go against Yaris and Fit.

lweiss

I was at a stoplight in Northern Virginia and saw a Honda Fit right next to a Chevy Tahoe, and yowzers, high gas prices or not, I think I would feel like a mouse next to a herd of elephants driving one of those. If everyone drove Honda Fit sized cars, that would be another matter, but in the interim...I think a mid-sized sedan is as small as I'll go. Plus reasonably sized cars like the new Nissan Altima get 26 mpg city (4 cyl), which is really pretty good.