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Agree with bumpy too, all of these trace their lineage to the Commodore and the Lumina SS series. I read about the Ute years ago as well as the Lumina SS being should in the East and I believe Asia-Pacific regions. I actually talked to some GM gals / gals then, darn near begging them to bring these products over as the Impala SS and Elky. But John Moss & crew came to my rescue at SEMA with the Impala SS.
A side article (I think Rock and especially Loren would appreciate this):
2.0 Litre Camaro
Rocky
http://gm.wieck.com/forms/gm/previewpage?045372
click to see picture
The Invicta, which is Latin for “invincible,” evolves Buick’s global design direction from the Riviera concept introduced last year in Shanghai. The Invicta show car was co-developed by GM design centers in North America and China to meet customers’ expectations equally in the world’s two largest automotive markets.
“Buick’s global appeal created an opportunity for GM Design Centers to elevate our collaboration to new levels. Using our virtual reality centers in Warren, Mich. and Shanghai, designers fused the best ideas from both cultures during the development of the Invicta, ” said Edward T. Welburn, vice president, General Motors Global Design. “The result will set a new design standard for Buick, and it couldn’t have been achieved by one studio working in isolation. The Invicta represents another significant design milestone in Buick’s history.”
Invicta draws inspiration from the Riviera concept with a modern and graceful exterior design matched by a sumptuous interior. Invicta pays homage to Buicks of the 1940s through the 1970s with its nostalgic sweepspear design cue, a curved line running the length of the car. The exterior also features Buick’s signature vertical chrome waterfall grille and a new look to its portholes. The Invicta interior will share Riviera’s ambient lighting feature and lavish design.
Would somebody tell me ho">link titlew to post pics????
If you need a place to host your photo, you can do that free on your CarSpace page using the Photo Album there.
The help link explains it better.
Please note that your links above are to the pages where the photos reside, and those links won't work to simply post the photos by themselves. You'll need the URL of the photo for that (often right-click > properties will give you the photo link).
Oldsmobile fans rejoice! (Or revolt—we suspect most will choose revolt.) Your brand lives again, and you’ll never guess how.
Nearly four years to the day that the final Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line in Lansing, Michigan, comes word that Oldsmobile is back. More startling than the announcement itself is its origin—not from Lansing, not from Detroit, not from Michigan, not even from anywhere in North America.
A statement from Tokyo, of all places, reports that Toyota has secured rights to the Oldsmobile name. Asked for comment, GM is remaining extremely tight-lipped on the issue at the moment while presumably trying to sort out internally what oversight allowed this to happen—and who to can for it.
A Most Egregious Oversight
Toyota officials have stated that GM’s copyright on the Oldsmobile brand name expired midway through 2006. In the midst of the constant corporate shuffling underway in the domestic automotive juggernaut, somehow responsibility for renewal slipped through the cracks and the name floated around untethered for almost a year before someone at Toyota noticed. The unsubstantiated—at this point—story is that the alert came from the astute nephew of a still-confidential executive, who works as a clerk in the U.S. Copyright Office.
The Toyota exec saw an opportunity, and the rights to the name were scooped up by Toyota for a nominal re-filing fee—just $5000. As Toyota pushes upmarket—the Avalon and Highlander can both reach above $40,000, while a loaded Sequoia can eclipse $60,000—the question has been raised repeatedly just how much the American public is willing to pay for a vehicle with the same badge as a $12,000 Yaris. Toyota took note of the rapid failure of the Volkswagen Phaeton and does not wish to find itself in the same situation.
Read about flash photos at PopPhoto.com.According to Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota USA, Oldsmobile will fill the gap between Toyota and the company’s luxury flagship brand, Lexus. “Oldsmobile is an established and respected luxury nameplate.” Carter says, “We fully realize this acquisition is unconventional, but the opportunity to immediately acquire over 100 years’ worth of brand recognition couldn’t be missed.
“It’s a shame,” Carter said, “that a company with the proud history of Oldsmobile ever left the market, and we feel that Toyota can establish the same sort of staying power with the Oldsmobile brand as we have with Lexus and Scion.”
A New Twist on the Same Oldsmobile Ideal
Citing Oldsmobile’s greatest successes as a slightly upmarket and sportier alternative to its Chevrolet and Pontiac cousins, Carter said that the name will be applied to today’s American performance-oriented luxury vehicles—SUVs. Asked if the iForce V-8 in the Sequoia will be renamed Rocket for Oldsmobile applications, Carter scoffed. “Toyota is a company that looks forward, not back. The past can inspire us, but we can never relive it. We will not mire ourselves in bygone days.”
And so Toyota is sticking with names from recent Oldsmobile history, so as not to alienate the young, upwardly mobile customers it is targeting. Bravada and Intrigue are names that will be familiar to the target demographic, affixed as they will be to the RAV4 and 4Runner SUVs, respectively
Chevrolet Car Retail Sales Up 6 Percent
Led By A 122 Percent Increase in Malibu and a 16 Percent Increase in Impala Sales
Cadillac Retail Car Sales Up 22 Percent with a 43 Percent Increase in CTS and 6 Percent Increase in DTS
Strong Retail Month at Saturn with Aura Up 25 Percent, Vue Up 18 Percent and Outlook Up 14 Percent, offsetting Ion
Enclave, Acadia and Outlook Drive Mid-Utility Crossover Segment Up 45 Percent
Saab Total Sales Up 12 Percent; GMC Total Sales Up 1 Percent
Retail Share Remains Stable Despite Market Pressures; Fleet Sales Down 7 Percent Continued Strength of Malibu, Impala, CTS and Aura Driving Passenger Car Growth
So GM car retail remained flat for March while everyone else is pretty much down. Fleet continues to drop. Ford down 14%. However GM was down 16% due to trucks and fleet.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/car_shopping/suvs_family_haulers/o- ldsmobile_returns_car_news
What do you hear of the on again / off again of the Northstar replacement? Currently it's off with no restart in site (or has something changed?). Will Caddy soldier on with the current versions, with the LS-series used for the wonder-mobiles in the fleet as is the case now? Wonder how this will play with the STS/DTS replacements?
I do remember the 70's with greatly reduced hp in everything including the vette. That is what we have to look forward to.
The 1970s following the 1960s was like a hack comedian following the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.
No kidding, we don't want that. At the same time I don't know if we need 5000+ SUVs running 6 second zero to 60 and 15 second qtr mile ie. Sequia, Escalade.
One "good" thing about the strike is that it's mostly effecting the GM full-sizers, which are lagging in sales anyway due to the softening of the market. With the high inventory GM can withstand the hit, but I'm not sure how long. Hopefully they can burn off the inventory without having to have fire-sales. Also questionable is if this is going to effect the new 'Bu sales (I believe GM gets half-shafts from AA as well).
Not really effecting us since GM is not a major customer, but we're getting a little slow on some things.
The company said the cuts mean it will make about 88,000 fewer pickups and
50,000 fewer big SUVs this calendar year.
GM said the exact number of layoffs will be worked out with its unions.
Workers will get unemployment benefits and supplemental pay that total 80
percent of their normal 40-hour gross pay, said GM spokesman Dan Flores.
in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major supplier and
plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and pickups.
The loss reported Wednesday for the January-March period, which amounted
to $5.74 per share, also reflected one-time charges. It was much larger
than the company’s loss of $42 million, or 7 cents per share, in the
same quarter a year ago.
GM said a two-month strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings
Inc. has cost it $800 million and 100,000 vehicles. The strike has
affected 30 GM plants.
GM’s loss included a $1.45 billion charge to reflect a change in the
value of GM’s interest in GMAC Financial Services and $731 million to
increase GM’s liability in Delphi Corp.’s ongoing bankruptcy.
Excluding the one-time items, GM lost $350 million, or 62 cents per
share, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson
Financial had expected a loss of $1.60 per share.
This just proves GM and the domestics have a hard road ahead of them. As good as this vehicle is it only gets 20% trade ins from non domestic vehicles. It is doing better than it's plain Jane past but still should be getting higher conquest sales. It is in short demand and perhaps GM is sending more of them to traditional domestic strongholds and traditional import buying areas do not have them. Then again perhaps those areas that do sell mostly imports do not have the domestic dealers there to supply the demand?
What is interesting is that Toyota conquest went from last (#12) to 7th while Honda stayed close to it's11th place. The Chevy is attracting more of the Toyota buyer than the Honda buyer. Nissan also jumped up a buncha spots. Hyundai also showed up on the list whereas it was not on the list before.
"
This company continues to dance around the fact that its North American vehicle operations are simply out of touch with the reality of what's going on in this market. With too many models, too many divisions and too many dealers, GM will continue to lose money hand over fist in North America, and it's simply unacceptable at this point. Where is the leadership? Where is the vision? Where is the outrage? When is somebody down at the RenCen going to stand up and say "This ain't working!" What the hell is the so-called board of directors doing and why do they continue to rubber stamp what's going on in GM's North American operations, quarter after quarter after quarter? It's one thing to keep re-aligning GM's divisions here in an attempt to streamline the operating structure because that all sounds good on paper, but unless and until they start cutting divisions, cutting the model overlaps among the divisions and cutting their dealers dramatically, this company will continue to do piss-poorly in the U.S. market. GM resolutely believes that things are going to get better in North America, and that's fine, a little optimism never hurt anyone. But this is ridiculous. Nothing fundamentally has changed that will eventually improve this situation. And I mean n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Dealers are still clamoring for more products so that they can do what, sell against other GM divisions in their local markets? Frickin' brilliant. All the great products in the world aren't going to matter one bit if GM can't do what needs to be done in their home market. At this point what's going on in the North American market lands squarely in the lap of Rick Wagoner. Fix it, Rick, because this situation is getting flat-out embarrassing. If not, then a regime change will be in the offing long before you're ready to retire. - PMD
http://www.autoextremist.com/on-the-table1/
quarter, the Ford-outperforming-GM drumbeat will likely grow a bit
louder.
Things are never quite as simple as they seem, however.
GM actually reported a 70% increase in pretax profits on its worldwide
automotive business, to $392 million in the first quarter vs. $231
million in the same period a year ago, not counting some big write-offs.
Basically, GM is suffering from a triple whammy of big problems that GM
has and Ford doesn’t have. GMAC, the troubled finance unit where GM has
a 49% stake, is still reeling for the nation’s mortgage meltdown and GM
took a $1.47-billion hit for its share of that mess in the first
quarter. Chalk up another GM write-off of $731 million for costs
associated with the seemingly bottomless pit that the Delphi Corp.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy has become. And GM said its pretax operating
earnings were hurt by about $800 million thanks to the ongoing strike at
American Axle & Manufacturing, a key supplier of part for GM trucks and
SUVs.
GM Vice Chairman Fritz Henderson, when I asked him today about GM’s
turnaround momentum compared to Ford’s, would not talk about his
Dearborn rival. But he did say that GM saw reasons for optimism in its
overseas sales and profits, particularly in Asia and Latin America, and
from a sizeable reduction in dealer inventories in the United States by
about 200,000 vehicles, or 20%, during the quarter.
“On balance, we’re not happy” with a $611-million pretax loss in North
America, more than double the $269-million loss a year earlier. “But
there are some things we can build on,” he added.
So, Henderson’s partial answer to the Ford-GM comparison is that, yes,
GM continues to make progress on key elements of its recovery plan – and
Wall Street appeared to agree with him, as traders pushed GM’s stock
price up more than 12% to $23.81 by 11:30 this morning, apparently on
grounds that GM’s loss was not as bad as expected.
That, as Henderson would agree, is still not where GM wants to be,
living in a world of crummy expectations.
OK lets talk about the reasons for the losses in a data driven method.
GM cannot do much about the GMAC issue. They are stuck with all the bad loans.
GM cannot do much about Delphi because of the financial market due to the above bad mortgage loans throughout the industry, they cannot get a loan to get out of bankruptcy.
On the AA strike: GM just announced a major shift cut in large trucks and AA's plant in Mexico can supply all the parts. Guess AA will be closing plants now. To be honest though I cannot see how the strike caused that much loss in profit. The large trucks would not have sold anyway and the plants still would have to been closed.
On the actual vehicle profit loss in US. Few if any of the hourly wage expenses have gone into effect. They still have the most expensive hourly work force, it will take years to reduce the hourly rate. The Beni's are going to take years to be reduced.
But the major reason for lack of profit is the huge hit in profitable truck sales. Everyone is getting this.
Another reason is the huge drop in sales this year for the entire industry.
Do any of the above really have to do with too many divisions? No. Would cutting a few divisions help the bottom line? Most likely the answer is yes, BUT it is not a huge issue for profitability. Peter is correct there are issues to the number of divisions but it is not a huge driver for profits.
strong overseas sales, despite a costly supplier strike, waning demand
for its most profitable vehicles and charges related to struggling
former subsidiaries.
GM, whose shares rose nearly 4 percent in pre-market trading, also took
a $1.45-billion charge for its remaining investment in finance company
GMAC and a $731-million charge for its exposure to the bankruptcy of
auto parts supplier and former subsidiary Delphi Corp.
Weighed down by those charges, GM posted a net loss of $3.25 billion, or
$5.74 per share, compared with a profit of $62 million, or 11 cents a
share a year-earlier.
Revenue declined to $42.7 billion from $43.4 billion.
Excluding one-time items, GM reported a first-quarter loss of $350
million, or a 62 cents per share, a narrower loss than Wall Street had
expected.
On average, analysts had expected GM to post a loss of $1.67 per share
before items on revenue of $40.6 billion, according to Reuters
Estimates.
GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said analysts may have
underestimated the strength of GM's sales from emerging markets and the
progress it made in cutting costs in North America. "The headline
numbers don't look that great, but when you actually peel back the
numbers ... I feel the first quarter is very encouraging," Young told
reporters.
“The challenge for the industry from a revenue standpoint is -- revenue has disappeared due to the truck market declines, higher commodity prices, the cost to develop technology to meet CAFE and other .
GM President Fritz Henderson on Thursday announced the deal with Mascoma Corp., of Boston. Mascoma’s “best-in-class microorganisms and enzymes could lead a transformation to a new era of biofuels,” Henderson said in prepared remarks.
Mascoma plans to complete a demonstration plant near Rome, New York, that can produce 200,000 gallons a year of ethanol. The plant first will use paper mill sludge as its raw material.
This year, GM announced a similar deal with Coskata Inc., of suburban Chicago. Coskata is building an ethanol plant in Pennsylvania. GM has not disclosed the size of its stake in either company.
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/FREE/630700018/1023/- rss01&rssfeed=rss01
Total car sales at GM were flat despite strong demand for its redesigned Malibu sedan and the Pontiac Vibe
A downward pattern was expected throughout the industry as gas prices rose to record highs. Automakers reported sales Thursday.
General Motors Corp. said its truck and SUV sales were down 27 percent, dragging down increases in car and crossover sales. GM's overall sales were down 16 percent for the month compared with last April.
Ford Motor Co. said its SUV sales were down 36 percent in April compared with the same month last year. Car sales were down only 1 percent, buoyed by sales of the Ford Focus small car, which saw a 44 percent jump in sales. The Focus gets 24 miles per gallon in the city and 33 on the highway. By comparison, Ford's largest SUV, the Expedition, gets 12 miles per gallon in the city and 18 on the highway, according to federal statistics. Ford's overall sales were down 12 percent.
Toyota Motor Corp. said its car sales rose 12 percent, largely on the strength of the subcompact Yaris, which saw sales rise 46 percent and the hybrid Prius, which was up 54 percent. Toyota's truck and SUV sales dropped 8 percent.
The buzz around a potential agreement came as General Motors Corp., American Axle's largest customer, reported a 16 percent U.S. sales decline for April that included 15,000 lost fleet vehicle sales as a result of the strike.
That lost sales cost GM about 1.5 points of market share, Mike DiGiovanni, GM's sales analyst, said. GM's fleet sales are down 30 percent more than the automaker planned for the year because of the parts shortage created by the walkout, he said. More than two dozen of GM's North American factories are either idled or partially shut down due to the strike.
GM said earlier this week that the dispute cost the company $800 million in the first quarter. The automaker also lost 100,000 units of production, though many analysts say a cut would have been necessary anyway because of sluggish U.S. auto sales.
Press is making the changes to Chrysler that GM has been making for 5 years. Very interesting story. Except for major alliances with foreign companies. Instead GM is using it's own companies in Korea, China and India for the product it needs.
on the Nürburgring Nordschleife that CEO Carlos Ghosn personally
delivered the news to journalists gathered in Portugal.
It must be sweet for Ghosn who championed the GT-R when Nissan was in
dire financial trouble. And trumping Chevrolet's double-barrel
announcements last week regarding the Corvette ZR1's outrageous 638-hp
output and its 205-mph top speed, doesn't hurt either.
But wait, didn't we quote Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter as
saying that the ZR1 "will be able to take the production-car track
record at any racetrack"? Yes, we did. What we didn't mention was that
in the same interview, Juechter said that, while the company didn't yet
have a full-production ZR1 to test at Nürburgring's old track, he
confidently predicted the super-Vette would do the deed in "Seven
minutes, twenty-something seconds."
Hey, is that a gauntlet we see there on the ground? Anyone care to pick
that up? (We're looking directly at you, Chevy.)
are cars and crossovers.
They will when a production spec ZR1 hits the press fleet. Considering the GT-R has topped the Z06 and 911 Turbo's Nuremberg's lap times it is certainly an impressive car.
The ZR1 will be should be setting it's lap time around Nuremberg. It will be interesting to see how it does. HP certainly won't be an issue.
It's not about size. The CTS is being compared to the 3-series because of price. The GT-R will be compared to the Z06 because of price. The ZR1 will be priced around $100,000 I have read. Both the Z06 and GT-R are priced around $70,000.
RANK VEHICLE 2008 2007 '07 RANK %Chng
1 Ford F-Series P/U 192,951 228,343 1 -15.5
2 Chevy Silverado-C/K P/U 160,010 202,151 2 -20.8
3 Toyota Camry 147,018 143,774 3 +2.3
4 Toyota Corolla 99,482 120,484 6 -17.4
5 Nissan Altima 99,037 90,338 9 +9.6
6 Chevrolet Impala 98,478 108,876 7 -9.6
7 Dodge Ram P/U 93,068 122,816 4 -24.2
8 Ford Focus 72,920 56,463 15 +29.1
9 Chevrolet Cobalt 66,660 56,848 14 +17.3
10 Toyota Prius 64,664 52,738 18 +22.6
11 Ford Escape 59,299 54,105 17 +9.6
12 Chevrolet Malibu 59,133 48,270 22 +22.5
13 GMC Sierra P/U 57,403 64,639 12 -11.2
14 GM Pontiac G6 57,143 46,780 25 +22.2
15 Ford Fusion 55,109 51,981 20 +6.0
16 Toyota Tundra 54,134 43,386 29 +24.8
17 Ford Econoline/Club Wagon 49,196 62,246 14 -21.0
18 Chrysler Caravan 47,936 75,984 n/a -36.9
19 Toyota RAV4 47,002 55,900 n/a -15.9
20 Ford Edge 46,367 33,612 n/a +37.9
- This list excludes Hondas. Honda didn't report April sales due to technical difficulties.
- Ford Explorer is not even on the list. How the mighty have fallen.
- Chevy Silvarado is down 21%, while the the older F150 is down 16%.
- The Prius is now No. 9 among passenger cars, and sold more than the Chevy Malibu and Ford Fusion.
- If this keeps going, the Camry will soon displace the Chevy Silvarado as the second best selling vehicle for the first time in history.
There is much more to comparing a car than just looking at performance numbers. How the car communicates and feels behind the wheel is hugely important and this is the area where exotics shine, as they should.
As far as the 3 or 5 vs. the CTS the same logic applies to your last comment. The 3 gains a huge advantage over the CTS AND the 5 based on it's much smaller stature and added weight advantage. But their seems to be hedging on putting the CTS up against the 5 based on the cost difference.
However, a rear-wheel drive Chevy sedan is not completely out of the question as the new Zeta/Sigma platform will underpin six models on three different wheel bases, including:
The next-generation Chevrolet Camaro, and possibly the Holden Monaro and a G8 coupe
The next-generation Cadillac CTS coupe. Although the next-gen car will have the same wheel base, handling will be improved thanks to a forged-aluminum suspension
The next-generation Pontiac G8/Holden Commodore, and possibly a Chevrolet model — although not the Impala
The next-generation CTS sedan. Unlike the coupe, the sedan's wheel base will be stretched by 1.4 inches, but will use the same forged-aluminum suspension
A longer wheel base version of the Zeta/Sigma platform will underpin the Holden Statesman/Buick Park Avenue in China (essentially long wheel base versions of our Pontiac G8) and possibly even a rear-wheel drive Buick Lucerne.
The aforementioned STS/DTS replace will also ride on the extended platform, but will get a forged-aluminum suspension and longer overhangs.
As we have reported before, the new platform will also underpin Cadillac's upcoming 3-series fighter and will replace the Euro-spec BLS. To help further spread costs, Holden, Pontiac and Chevrolet could get models based on the small Cadillac platform.
GM’s April retail sales were down 11.5% and total sales for the month were down 16% on a non-adjusted basis. On an adjusted basis, total sales declined 22.7%. Retail car and crossover sales were up more than 9%. A sharp sales increase in fuel-efficient cars and crossovers could not make up for soft truck demand and a sharp decline in fleet deliveries impacted by the American Axle strike.
Here are some noteworthy items:
Retail car sales up 6%
Chevrolet car retail sales up 24%, led by a 147% increase in Malibu, 17% rise in Cobalt, 13% increase in Aveo and 8% hike in Impala sales
Pontiac retail car sales up 6%, with a 39% increase in Vibe, 3% climb in G5 and G6 sales
Buick retail trucks up 32%, led by 4,000 Enclave crossover sales
You can read the entire press release here.