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Comments
National Health Care may be lobbied by manufacturing industry, I would think. Anyone know the official position of GM on this?
Loren
-Rocky
Yes but most likely still a slightly revised Aura here.
I missed the 4WS in the earlier message. I doubt if that will go anywhere since it has pretty much gone by the wayside. Does anyone have 4WS today?
But my comment was that AWD will be available on the EPS II architecture.
Oh, yea, when I said I lost millions I was looking at the possible future gains I could have made if I would have gotten out before the crash and then gotten in before it went back up:P
Chevrolet- 185,759
Ford- 185,553
Toyota- 184,462
-Rocky
Infiniti G35.
-Rocky
A lot of it also depends on trucks. If trucks somehow take off then Chevy will easily stay ahead of Toyota. If Trucks continue to slide due to the economy then Toyota can have a good chance at passing Chevy. The entire ecomomy is sliding to oblivion. Because domestic sales are poor and plants are closing and people are losing their jobs, the housing market took a big dump (also brought on faster by speculators). With housing down the contractors are hurting and are not replacing their trucks/equipment.
Large corporations are for the government taking over health care, but most small businesses aren't, once they find out how the cost will be paid (i.e., by taxes levied on them).
Wellll, of course, many of GM's brands in North America are selling at niche levels (Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, others?). Chevy is by far the largest. It seems appropriate to compare its annual sales to the Ford and Toyota brands.
The ongoing feud between Chevy and Ford to be America's #1 selling brand has always made for good years-end entertainment. I had no idea Toyota was so close to making it a three-way race.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Instead of Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth, we'll have Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The rest of GM:
Buick 13,234
Cadillac 16,839
GMC 41,748
Hummer 4,375
Pontiac 26,346
Saab 2,350
Saturn 19,977
Buick was outsold by Subaru (13,786)!
If it's what it takes to restore the true value of Chevrolet vehicles (getting rid of fleet sales, better quality, few incentives, etc. resulting in higher resale down the road), then I guess losing 1st is okay. Ford's hanging in there too, though it seems that big incentives are more to blame for keeping them there than anything else right now.
Right. Lexus sold 25,995 and Scion sold 7,960.
The Prius (13,056) came within 200 vehicles of outselling Buick. :surprise:
What do you do as a US customer when you do take care of the car, baby it, take great care of it, and it still seems to have some malfunction every 3 to 4 months, consistently and repeatedly. Expensive costly breakdowns!! Shouldn't AMERICA subsidize me by paying for my mechanic's and my tow trucks??? If they paid those bills, then I'd buy American and stop "hating" as you said.
Glad we cleared up that you've never owned a Japanese engineered, designed, built, and assembled foreign vehicle. The VW bug hardly qualifies you as having ever owned a foreign vehicle.
I'm saying this not as a PRO Japanese viewpoint, but as an anti-Chinese manufactured viewpoint. China can sure make things cheap, but thats exactly what they are, cheap, and unreliable.
Problem is, if you purchase a HD TV for say, $1500 and it lasts you 10 years w/ no problems, and the Chinese manufacturer sells one for $850, and gets brought back for service once or twice, yet only lasts 7 years, there are FAR too many people who will accept that, thus giving the Chinese manufacturer a market here. I think the same goes for cars. We saw this w/ Hyundai. In the 80's and early 90's, they were junk, yet cheap junk, and people kept buying them for that reason. Fortunately, they have turned the corner in reliablilty, yet still have a ways to go to change the perception. However, price still trumps perception. If GM could produce an Impala SS for $16,995, they'd probably sell a million a year, no matter what the quality issues (within reason, of course).
Loren
On the surface, the Chinese company has a shot. It owns more than 60 supplier companies, most of which are joint ventures with firms such as Visteon Corp, which ranks behind only Delphi, ZF Friedrichshafen, TRW Automotive and Germany's Bosch. It has sales offices in Detroit, Tokyo and Hamburg.
Already, SAIC suppliers provide prop shafts for General Motors cars in North America and suspension springs for vehicles at GM operations in Canada and the United States.
Many auto parts companies are setting up shop in China, seeking low-cost labor and a spot in a booming economy. But many of these companies are now finding out that access to the fast-growing market comes at a cost.
While Chinese auto workers earn as little as $1.50 an hour, international firms are providing training that may drive that wage upward. And they're building modern factories in China as well, modernizing its production facilities.
The collaborative relationship between U.S. automakers and their Chinese hosts has some people worried. And while China is still a small player in the global automotive industry, it has large designs on the U.S. auto parts market. Chinese firms showed off their wares at this year's Society of Automotive Engineers conference in Detroit.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4635087
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The Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon will offer the gas-electric hybrid by the end of the year, improving the vehicles' gas mileage by 25 percent, GM officials said.
"We're still in the development stages, but we're on track to have these vehicles ready by the fourth quarter of this year," said Larry Nitz, GM's executive director of hybrid technology.
The hybrid system powers the SUVs using electric motors (mounted inside the transmission), the gas engine alone or a combination, said Tim Grewe, GM's chief engineer for rear-wheel drive powertrain hybrids. Additionally, the electric motors can be locked out of the drive train during times the engine's power is needed, such as in towing up to 6,000 pounds.
Both models include a valve shutoff system that allows the 6-liter V-8 to operate on half of its cylinders to help conserve fuel when at cruising speed.
GM needs to have more relevant products appealing to the newly purchasing young drivers, whether it's the new car or a 1-2 year old car purchase. They need to be well made and appealing. They do not need to build a better Civic-it just ain't gonna' 'appen in today's media markets, but they can build a great small car. Cobalt does it but needs to have more "I gotta have one" appeal. The competitors are trying to line up customers for current little/cheap cars to be future buyers of more expensive cars.
GM needs some concessions from unions in work rules and plant changes. They don't need to roll over but they definitely need to be very flexible as long as GM is flexible and has a real plan, not just a bandaide. The workers need to be well paid for the jobs they do to attract and keep quality workers. GM needs to look at ways to save on retirees' costs. Perhaps they can take hints from Toyota's methods of avoiding costs of older workers and retirees.
GM needs better attitudes from dealers.
Some of these items are slightly tongue-in-cheek. Comment, addon, don't pile on.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't know about you but 16,995 is still a lot of money. If the car is in the shop all the time. It's still not worth it. If it strands me on the side of the road or roasts me repeatedly due to the air conditioning not working, I would not buy that brand again.
Now hyundai didn't do well during that time. Sure people bought it. People are always willing to try new things and a sucker is born every minute. However their bad rep still haunts them and if they hadn't made better cars they would have probably gone bankrupt. Without that warranty, they certainly would not have grown as large as they are now. In order to thrive and grow and dominate you need repeat sales and it takes a certain amount of quality to do it. It does not have to be built proof, but it better not tick off the customer who bought it.
And please nobody say anything about an Astra, because everyone (read: me)doesn't want a hatch.
Twenty five% of 22 mpg highway translates to about 27.5 mpg. So whatever happened to 30 mpg highway in full size SUV's GM was talking about last year?
The Good: Chevy Impala outranked Civic as America's 4th best selling passenger car.
The bad? With the exception of Ford Escape, American SUV's are nowhere to be seen. What happened to Ford Explorer? Jeep G. C and Liberty? Chevy Tahoe and Trailblazer?
Also notice that Prius' sales are up 73.7%
Rank Vehicle 2007 Sales
1. Ford F-Series P/U 228,343 -13.7
2. Chevy Silverado-C/K P/U 202,151 -0.4
3. Toyota Camry 143,774 +7.3
4. Dodge Ram P/U 122,81 +1.3
5. Honda Accord 121,516 +11.9
6. Toyota Corolla 120,48 +1.7
7. Chevrolet Impala 108,876 +20.6
8. Honda Civic 97,29 -11.3
9. Nissan Altima 90,338 +11.8
10 Dodge Caravan 75,984 -6.4
11 Honda CR-V 64,951 +41.6
12 GMC Sierra P/U 64,639 +2.3
13 Ford Eco./Club Wagon 62,24 +7.2
14 Chevrolet Cobalt 56,848 -20.8
15 Ford Focus 56,463 -6.2
16 Toyota-RAV4 55,900 +17.0
17 Ford Escape 54,105 -7.2
18 Toyota Prius 52,738 +73.7
19 Chrysler Town & Count 52,572 +1.9
20 Ford Fusion 51,981 +22.4
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
If the existing rating was 29.5%, then yes 22 would be 25% decrease. But you can't use the number 29.5 as your start point, because it doesn't exist in rating still. Well, i might be wrong of course on how they do these calculations, but I know a percentage relative to increase or decrease is not the same. In this case, we are talking increase.
I do think the Cobalt, is a key area for GM. I think a sporty G5 size car with RWD and maybe optional AWD would sell quite well. Drop the 260 hp Turbo in it on the GXP model and give the teens a premium stereo system like a 5.1 unit on the GXP. My base G6 would be the 175 hp 4 banger for $18K. GT would be sportier more upscale with leather for $20K. GXP would be $23K.
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
I'm not sure what he meant by that as China, is #2 in the world as far as automobile market which is expected to exceed out in a few years. I also find it interesting that the automobile workers are even making that much (if that is really true) as Mr. Lou Dobbs, said the average Chinese Worker makes $0.44 an hour. Maybe the chinese autoworker's have the ROCAW :P J/K
Interesting article 62'......
-Rocky
Torque_r
Twenty five% of 22 mpg highway translates to about 27.5 mpg. So whatever happened to 30 mpg highway in full size SUV's GM was talking about last year?
27.5-30 mpg under current EPA figures will drop what 2-3 mpg under the new one ???? Regardless they will be by far the most fuel efficient full sizer's on the market. Now only if they would put one in the Sierra Denali.
-Rocky
Yes they will be the most efficient full-sizers. Well, they're gonna have to be as they are in fact the only hybrid full-sizers. Dodge and Chrylser will use they same hybrid system for the Durango/Aspen, but those trucks will be less fuel efficient but much faster, thanks to the powerful yet thirsty Hemi.
Apparently, Toyota thinks those who want fuel efficient vehicles will never look at full size SUVs in the first place, even if they have hybrid powerplant. That's why it never offered hyrbid in anything larger than the Highlander. Future will tell if Toyota has a point, of if it misjudged the market.
That's true but only IF GM, doesn't offer the 6.2 V8 which I think they will along with a 6-speed auto.
-Rocky
Dang GMAC, lost a lot of money. Luckily GM, only owns 49% of the company now. The 51% sale of GMAC was a good deal looking back on it.
-Rocky
All due to the housing market which will continue to drag everything down.
I believe you are correct. But I still don't recall reading anywhere that the upcoming 900 series dual mode vehicles were expecting to hit or exceed 30mpg highway EPA estimate (there will most undoubtedly be folks who manage to do that with them in the real world occasionally, all the same). As I said in my post above, I seem to remember more about the "combined" average being 24 or 25 for these, rather than a specific 30mpg highway expected. Lots of people attempted to extrapolate the expected EPA ratings from that. The only 30mpg numbers I ever recall being bandied about for full sizers had to do with where they're trying to get to, not necessarily this next round of vehicles.
At any rate, having a full sized 5000-5500 pound, 6000 pound tow capable SUV that gets equal to or better than most of today's minivan fleet isn't anything to poo-poo. Though I'm sure there'll be those that do, just because it's already so popular to target this segment in particular for derision for whatever reason.
Apparently, Toyota thinks those who want fuel efficient vehicles will never look at full size SUVs in the first place, even if they have hybrid powerplant. That's why it never offered hyrbid in anything larger than the Highlander. Future will tell if Toyota has a point, of if it misjudged the market.
I don't think Toyota misjudged the market going in with hybrids. They simply realized that until the technology is well established, most buyers would be from either folks wanting maximum fuel economy (and hence already looking for a smaller vehicle) or from the eco-nut side of the line (not that all of them are that extreme, but 'earth-friendliness is still high on their lists).
I believe Toyota will be expanding their hybrid lineup into larger and larger vehicles as people from other groups become more accepting of the technology. Sales potential nothwithstanding, I think it actually helps the environment more to have a full sized SUV getting over 25mpg highway than to have a compact car getting over 40. The same idea as having city buses get improved mileage.
GM has always said about 25% more efficient. The press did there own calculations and got 30.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/gm_hybrids.html
The transmission is a major piece of what GM calls a two-mode hybrid system in the Escalade. The Escalade will be similar to the hybrid version of the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs.
The hybrid Escalade, according to GM claims, will obtain a 25 percent gain in fuel economy meaning the vehicle could get close to 30 mpg on the highway.
The two-mode hybrid system is unlike the gas and electric engines found in the Toyota Prius and other hybrids now because it provides improved fuel economy in stop-and-go driving and at highway speeds.