GM News, New Models and Market Share

torque_r

Fast-growing Buick plans to add 3 models to lineup
To ensure continued success, it will cut trim-level badging, expand marketing
Scott Burgess / The Detroit News
Warren -- Buick will stop using trim-level designations for its 2012 models and plans to introduce a compact car and small crossover in the near future, top Buick executives said Wednesday.

Those measures, as well as expanding marketing efforts, were unveiled at the Buick Immersion Program at the Tech Center, where General Motors Co. mapped out the keys to the brand's continued success to employees who work with the premium brand.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100506/AUTO01/5060358/1148/auto01/Fast-growing-Buic- k-plans-to-add-3-models-to-lineup#ixzz0n9uWkQDI

fezo

Got another shot at that? The link isn't working.

stever

I think the extra hyphen/space around "Buick" messed it up.

Another try:

Fast-growing Buick plans to add 3 models to lineup

Heh, the "Buick Immersion Program". Not sure about that word choice, makes it sound like the company is underwater.

fezo

Ah! That's better.

One could almost believe that they get it. This will be good to watch.

Immersion, huh? I guess they didn't see the sign .....

fho2008

YAWN

If they ever make the Volt, will you be able to buy one or just lease it?

tlong

If they ever make the Volt, will you be able to buy one or just lease it?

What should they call the Volt rebadges?:

The Buick Zzzzzap!
The GMC Electrician (professsional grade)
Cadillac EVX

lemko

Possible names for Volt-like vehicles by other manufacturers?

Acura Amp
Audi Arc
Buick Bolt
Chrysler Circuit
Dodge Dynamo
Ford Fuse
Honda Hotwire
Infiniti Insulator
Jaguar Juice
Kia Charge
Lexus Lightning
Mercedes E-lectric Class
Mercury Magneto
Nissan Node
Oldsmobile Ohm
Pontiac Phase
Smart Spark
Subaru Switch
Toyota Taser
VWatt

stever

Those are really good Lemko. Especially the Dynamo and the Charge.

You may be in the wrong line of work.

(I sort of like the VWatt too, but it's just a bit too close to VW - ATT, and rings the wrong kind of bell).

jayrider

I would be one of many retired boomers who would be all over a malibu/impala hatchback. Don't like the honda crosstour or the venza. Don't want an suv or stationwagon. A cts hatch would be a possibility -- hate the sportwagon. C'mon GM, give an option to go hatching.

nippononly

I think you can buy it at around $32,5 (after the federal tax credit), but I am hoping to lease one to see what kind of mileage I can achieve. Lease would have to be $400/mo or less for me to remain interested. I can lease a 528i for $499/mo, so the Volt has to be at least $100/mo less! :-P

jayrider

Where can you get a $499 zero down lease on a 528. Miles and months please.

anythngbutgm

But don't you have to pay the full amount up front and then claim the 7500 when it is time to file? Also, figure in the ADM (Added Dealer Markup) and I'm willing to bet my own life the 40 grand figure easily turns into 45... :sick:

For 32 grand, one could buy a Nissan leaf and never, ever use a single drop of gasoline. No need for the weight of a seperate ICE either.

Or if you want a bit more luxury than a Chevy generibox, a Lexus HS hybrid with the added luxury touches as well as a the Lexus service experience actually costs less than the volt.

Not my first choice, I'd go with the leaf...

Then there is the probability of a plug in Prius, an all electric Fiesta and various other companies jumping on board the EV wagon and the Volt is an overpriced, sitting dud duck.

tbone_rare

Hey Jayrider......Did you miss out on the Malibu Maxx? We sold a bunch of them.

carstryke

I disagree with the bottom paragraph. I like the big and bold gold badges on the front and back of my 09 nox, and id really hate to replace them with a ugly white and blue square. Last thing i wanna be reminded of is a Ford while im driving my GM. The tiny chrome GM badge on the side of my nox is good enough for me.

No offense to the Ford fans, I just prefer my GM's.

jayrider

tbone -- yeah, I missed out on the maxx. It was a bit odd looking from the rear but ok. I wasn't in the market when it was available. The new malibu is great looking but the trunk is a bit small for the class. Just lower the rear sill and make it a liftback. The impala has a great trunk and with leather has the flip up rear seat. May have to settle for that or wait til 10/11 to see what else surfaces.

andre1969

I thought that generation of Malibu and Malibu Maxx was kind of a grubby looking thing, but the Maxx did have some nice versatility to it. One of my grandmother's friends had one. She might still have it for all I know, but she's in her 90's and should have given up driving years ago, so it's possible that she finally got her license yanked and the car sold off.

I do remember her talking about selling it once, and I even considered it. It was low-mileage, nice shape, and she didn't want a whole lot for it.

Y'know, with the way a lot of cars these days are going, with the stubby little decklids and C-pillars and rear windows that rake almost to the back of the car, they almost might as well go hatchback. In profile, they're not that far from it.

cooterbfd

SUCK on this:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/06/2011-buick-regal-first-drive-in-germany/#cont- inued

cooterbfd

".....The Genesis coupe is no comparison but it did edge out the Mustang and Camaro according to MT."

And your point??? opinions are just that, and this one says your Hundee is the LOSER!!

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/09q2/2010_camaro_v6_vs._genesis_- coupe_v6-comparison_tests

cooterbfd

"......For 32 grand, one could buy a Nissan leaf and never, ever use a single drop of gasoline. No need for the weight of a seperate ICE either."

OK, riddle me this. What happens if you ever happen to say, venture more than 50 miles from home??? How do you get your leaf back??? Flatbed it for the last few miles??? Bring that mandatory $2200 charging station with you??

Remember, the Volt isn't just an electric vehicle, it's an EXTENDED RANGE electric vehicle.

dieselone

SUCK on this:

Being that it's a GM product, it probably will SUCK on it's own.

Seriously, it looks promising. I will stand up and give a big around of applause to GM for not sticking those stupid portholes on the Regal. I wonder how many meetings it took to resist that temptation.

I like the idea of the manual, but I'm guessing few will sell. I hope GM doesn't it drop it (manual trans) if sales don't meet projections. It would be nice to have an inexpensive domestic sporty sedan with a manual. I don't think we've had one since the Ford Contour SE/SVT. I know you can get a CTS with a manual, but that's a much more expensive car.

fezo

Based on what I've read up to this point I have high hopes for the Regal.

Don't blow it, guys.

berri

The Regal does seem like a nice car, but I think GM may already be blowing it by rushing in with a higher priced performance model months before they have the lower priced volume models out. The car may get hung with a "it costs too much" reputation before it has a chance? People write about the performance models, but most buy the volume model.

dave8697

Astro trans was fixed for $275. A flush, refill, and conditioner was $125, so the repair was just another $150. My Buick trans lost 4th gear at 163k miles. For now, just taking the reduction in the Buick's mileage down to 21 avg. as a 3 speed. That's it for well over a million miles of running GM trannies for me.

omarman

I really think Lemko is on to something. Soon as the Volt becomes available and spawns twins and imitators, badge engineers must be ready:

Buick Battery Park Avenue, Oldsmobile Gamma Ray, Pontiac TransDucer, Cadillac Coast

Ford LED, Lincoln Continental Diode, Mercury Radiant

Chrysler Catatumbo, Dodge Discharge, Jeep Staccato, Eagle NRG (or eNeRGy)

Toyota Ton (say TAWN, pro-TAWN), Lexus Lectro, Nissan DotSun (or .Sun), Infiniti Inductor.

Honda Current, Acura Electron, Hyundai Hyper, Kia Kinetic

Smart Cell, Mercedes-Benz Motion Mc2, VW Bunny

stever

lol, you guys are on a roll. Love the Battery Park Avenue version.

anythngbutgm

Wow, Angry. Did I hit a nerve with you or something? :confuse:

Yay, a Buick... What's you're point? Not sure what there is to "suck" on other than the fact it's a German car that was supposed to be a Saturn Aura before the brand was citshanned. Park it on the same lot as a behemoth Enclave or a Lacrosse/Lucerne Rental car with hubcaps and a cloth interior and it'll be downright lost in the mix. My grandparents will hate it...



And what it has to do with a recall for a Hummer is confusing. :confuse:

anythngbutgm

Where the heck are you going? How often does one really "venture 50 miles from home"? I don't live in the sticks so maybe things are different in Kansas or Oklahoma....

From Putz's own blowhole
link title

"GM says 78 percent of U.S. commuters drive 40 miles or less in a day."

And who told you the charging station was "mandatory"? because they were dead wrong. It's not. The Leaf can be charged on a typical 110 volt outlet, it just takes longer. And if you DO buy the charger, well there will be a nice little tax credit for that as well.

Remember, the Volt isn't just an electric vehicle, it's an EXTENDED RANGE electric vehicle.

And once the juice is out after 40 miles you are driving a normal, everday Chevy econobox that is getting 35mpg, no different than a Cobalt rental car, just 20 thousand dollars more expensive Just don't use the A/C or YMMV...

lemko

Yeah, but I wonder what it's going to do to people's electric bills? Oy vey! My electric bill went from $100 to $600!!! Does the Leaf really help the environment? I dunno. What about all those coal-fired power plants? Well, look on the bright side, it DOES help the economy of NE Pennsylvania which collapsed in the 1950s with the death of King Coal!

anythngbutgm

I agree and I'm certain there will need to be a major overhaul to the electrical grids if EV's really take off. I believe they have also come up with a "clean-burn" coal so the environmental impact should be minimized.

What I like about the Leaf and EV's in general is they ween us off of foriegn sourced oil 100% and the closer we get to that...

dieselone

The grid would definitely have to upgraded. Has anyone seen how many KW per mile something like a Volt or Leaf on electric power use? I know charging my 48v golf cart at our camp ground adds about $10/mo to my electric bill and it only gets used on the weekends.

anythngbutgm

Chevy drops ad firm like a rock

Word is that a marketing firm in France is where future Chevrolet marketing will reside.

"Buy American"

GM, GOOD FOR AMERICA, AND GOOD FOR FRANCE TOO! :P

bumpy

It's nowhere near that bad. The battery pack in the Leaf is 24 kwh, so if you ran it down and had to completely recharge it every weekday it would cost about $50 a month at 10 cents per kwh. Meanwhile, you're not spending $200 a month on gas for that 75-mile daily commute.

bumpy

Hard to say without actually testing, but I'd hazard a guess of somewhere between 250-350 watt-hours per mile at highway speeds.

andres3

I wonder if Buick's market share decline rate is directly correlated to the rate of old geezers keeling over and dying?

Anyone have a graph chart of the US citizen old age death rate to compare to that Buick sales chart above?

dieselone

That's much cheaper than running an ICE. My lawn tractor probably would probably cost more than that to run an hour. Granted you to pay a lot more for the car.

dieselone

Anyone have a graph chart of the US citizen old age death rate to compare to that Buick sales chart above?

Are Buick's causing old people to die? Or are old people dieing correlating to reduced Buick sales? Maybe it's a vicious circle, where Buick's are killing old people thus Buick is loosing it's customer base? LOL;))

andres3

Well, If I was old and on my death bed, I'd probably get out of bed and live a few more months so I could drive that Audi R8 in my garage a few more times.

I can't think of anything Buick sells that would even remotely make me want to live longer so I could drive it again! So if I had a Buick in my Garage, I may just think it was time to cash in my chips sooner.

anythngbutgm

According to Cars.com

Movers
2011 Toyota Avalon: 6 days
2011 Ford F-250: 7 days
2010 Hyundai Tucson: 10 days
2011 Honda Pilot: 12 days
2010 Toyota Highlander: 12 days
2010 Toyota RAV4: 12 days
2010 GMC Terrain: 13 days
2010 Subaru Outback: 13 days
2011 Hyundai Sonata: 14 days
2010 Chevy Equinox: 14 days
2010 Audi Q7: 15 days
2010 Lexus LS 460: 15 days
2010 Toyota 4Runner: 15 days
2010 Mercedes-Benz E550: 16 days
2010 Mercedes-Benz GL550: 16 days
2010 Acura MDX: 18 days
2010 Land Rover LR4: 18 days
2010 Mercedes-Benz GL450: 18 days
2010 VW Jetta SportWagen: 18 days
2011 Toyota Sienna: 19 days

Losers

2010 Jaguar XFR: 192 days
2010 Suzuki SX4 Sportback: 286 days
2010 Mitsubishi Eclipse coupe: 173 days
2010 Volvo C30: 166 days
2010 Hyundai Sonata: 156 days
2010 Volvo C70: 128 days
2010 Toyota Tundra: 128 days
2010 Ford F-450: 127 days
2010 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder: 123 days
2010 Dodge Ram 1500: 114 days

link title

dieselone

The Ram surprises me somewhat only because I seem to see quite a few of the new model running around.

fezo

Uh oh.

There may be something to this. My dad leased DeVilles for years and then one day decided he needed something smaller and leased a Buick. That was the end. After about 10K miles he stopped driving and then he died. The fact that he was 90 should not be a consideration.

circlew

You've got yours but the Camaro is third place in my book. I'll take my High-Undies over a GM in all categories: Sonata, Gen Coup and Gen Sedan. :shades:

Regards,
OW

torque_r

And it is no longer called Dodge Ram. It is Ram Truck now :shades:

cooterbfd

"......Park it on the same lot as a behemoth Enclave or a Lacrosse/Lucerne Rental car with hubcaps and a cloth interior and it'll be downright lost in the mix. My grandparents will hate it... "

Gee, that's odd because the last 2 Buicks I saw on the rental car lots in Warwick near the airport were CXL's, and not CX's. Both had leather and alloy wheels.

I just had a kid pull up in a Park Ave oohing and ahhing over my car, Saying he loves his Buick.

".....And what it has to do with a recall for a Hummer is confusing. "

What is HAS to do with is GM. Which is what this site is about. And a response to your constant posting of silly little recalls as if they are this indictment on poor GM quality. I mean a hood louver. A piece of TRIM. C'mon, can't you find anything more significant than that???

cooterbfd

".....who told you the charging station was "mandatory"?"

A comment here made me believe it was. May not be.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/28/report-nissan-expecting-leaf-shortages-thanks- -to-high-early-dem/

But it doesn't "just take longer", it takes a whole lot longer (8 hrs vs. 3 with the charger.)

Even where I live (which is not far from you) commutes can linger. My brothers commute from Bristol RI, to Canton Mass, not including picking up carpoolers, which adds a couple miles to the commute (I'm sure 4 -
200 lb'ers does WONDERS for the range) is 52 miles!!! What if we want to go to Fenway or the Garden??? 65 miles!!! (I guess I'd need a second car for that)

As far as the 35 mpg, nobody really knows right now. I've read that it will be closer to 50, but right now it's wait and see.

nippononly

The attraction of the Volt for me is that it is a long-range car that will be all-electric in my daily commute. Right now I have a commute car that makes 40 mpg and a larger AWD car for highway trips, vacations, trips to LA, you name it.

So instead of having two, the ONE Volt could fill both roles. THAT'S what is unique about the Volt, for which the Leaf is no substitute. All the electric-only cars have the drawback of operating range. The plug-in hybrid (or independently powered hybrid with an all-electric range, like the Volt) is where the future is at, it seems to me. Maybe one day we will have all-electrics with a range of 300 miles or more, and a highway infrastructure of charging stations for those long trips. On that day, I will be tempted to go all-electric, but not before.

Now if the Volt is as sloppy a drive as the Prius, I would have to sit down and do some exacting calculation as to precisely which would use less gas for me and my driving pattern. But I am really hoping the Volt is a much better driver's car than the Prius. Just about anything is. I don't want to have to buy a Prius to save gas, it's just such an isolation box (which is also my complaint about the HS250h, which doesn't get close to these other cars in mileage anyway, so that wasn't a good comparison).

plekto

Back when I was in college in the early 90s, there were competitions to see how far you could get homebrew and similar EVs to run. This was a year or two before any of the internet archives started to be kept, so the data is a bit hard to find at times.

The simple fact, though, was that cars were able to do 200 miles between charges if they were carefully built and they used the proper vehicle. This was with lead-acid, NiMh and similar technology, and with no fancy regenerative braking, either.

Need proof?

http://www.megawattmotorworks.com/display.asp?dismode=article&artid=305
"...and Solectria, completed 258 miles on a single charge yesterday..."
This was in 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solectria_Sunrise
It averaged over 200 miles in a drive from Boston to New York and dealt with city and highway traffic to do so(200+ miles actual real-word range)

So what gives? We're talking about 4-6 times the range out of a tiny company with a few employees. And that was almost 15 years ago.(the company is out of business, but it used mostly Geo Metro and other small car parts at the time so was 100% off-the shelf and doable)

60 miles or so is and has always been what the "industry" has squeezed out of its giant turgid body as a response to people wanting electric vehicles. Of course nobody buys them or wants them in serious numbers and of course they don't threaten normal vehicle sales.

So I'm just simply not buying it - GM's engineers aren't that stupid. They're purposely trying to use this as a PR and funding stunt and not as a real attempt at a proper EV. Even the Electric Smart Car sold in the U.K. gets about 60-70miles. (next gen model out in 2011 this fall will have better batteries and get 90 miles) There's simply no space for batteries in that tiny thing and still the few that they put in it gets it more distance than the Volt.

GM... fails again.

cooterbfd

OK, I'll bite. From the press release:

"......With more than one million miles accumulated by over 200 Solectria electric vehicles produced since 1991,....."

That is an average of just 5000 miles per vehicle. If that's it, that, along with the fact the company is now defunct (your words), leads me to believe that the battery packs weren't all that reliable.

Nice try........NEXT!!!!!

carstryke

if i flipped burgers for a living then maybe i would consider a ugly korean import.

iluvmysephia1

carstryke.

1) What is wrong with flipping burgers for a living?

No, I don't flip burgers for a living. But what if there was no one in Mickey D's to give you your $1.19 Double Cheeseburger, Meed fries and gigantor $1.00 Coca-Cola? What would ya do? Steal the food?

2) What is at all wrong with these new world order Korean automobiles? If anything.
Be specific but please limit your comment to 27 characters. Or...less.

rdm925

To bad that Mazda did not continue the 5-door hatchback in the current series Mazda 6 model. It is built in Flat Rock, MI. along side the Mustang. I own a 2007 Mazda 6 (built in Flat Rock, MI.) and love it. I consider it as American made as any USA branded car model.
BTW, the main reason the curent Ford Fusion is a good car is that is built on the same platform as the last generation Mazda 6. :shades: