riviera74

No. The current LaCrosse is the car to have, especially since Buick lacks a RWD flagship. Nothing wrong with the current Regal or upcoming Verano, but I would take a LaCrosse CXL or CXS over almost anything GM currently has. Cadillac does need the upcoming ATS, but it also needs a real RWD flagship too.

Are you sure? The Verano and Astra appear to share the exact same interior (minus the Buick's plood/color schemes), the same greenhouse from the B-pillar forward, identical doors, hood, all hard points between the headlamps and taillamps, mirrors, etc. Plood, huh? Which carmaker puts in better wood inserts and why? A lot of plood goes on everywhere these days.

Not necessarily. The original Mustang was released as a 1964 and 1/2.

Maybe thanks to better cars, the need for compact pickups can finally shrink after 20 years. Of course $4 or so for gas does its part too.

This is strange. I was at Best Buy on Thursday and I was talking to a guy (in a blue shirt) about this very HP TouchPad and why it was not selling. Three hours later, I see the news that HP is ditching the Touchpad and cutting prices. Go Figure. I thought that BB would need to heavily discount in order to get sales going anywhere.

Four years ago, my Florida car registration was about $36. Now it is about $72 for 2010 and probably 2011 too. Normally, this is an anti-tax state, but when did Tallahassee decide to raise fees like this..... especially when Republicans have run the state legislature for at least a decade straight?

I suspect that the GMT truck platform is just one platform, except for maybe the huge trucks, such as construction equipment. The winnowing of platforms can only be a good thing.

Roger Smith

Pilot sales are up for July and YTD. I suspect it may well be stale product. I find it hilarious that Acura is not able to sell anything, especially the RL. Why does Acura exist again?

I am concerned about Buick and Cadillac. Buick released the new Lacrosse for 2010 and sales are down this year? While it is a good thing that the Regal is making up the slack, falling LaCrosse sales cannot be good. (Lucerne sales, on the other hand, are down because the car is DOA.) As for Cadillac, I am really concerned since the STS and DTS are disappearing, the CTS and SRX are NOT making up for the loss in sales. The ATS cannot arrive soon enough! Escalade shrinking is an issue, not a disaster.

The Veracruz may well be a missed opportunity. The real news (to me at least) is that the Genesis is outselling the Chrysler 300 this year and in July 2011, even though Dodge Charger sales combined with 300 sales beat the Genesis by 2 to 1.

Downmarket? You mean cheap specials, right? That is what used cars are for.

I think I can explain why Explorer sales are so high: people are impressed that a once BOF SUV is now a large crossover..... and then they buy it in droves.

GM as #1 in sales is OK I guess. I would rather see GM as #1 in profits and positive cash flow, which are actually beneficial. #1 in sales is no longer the big deal it once was, especially if you needed a lot of rebates and cash back to move the metal...... like four or five years ago.

Sounds like a really nice MCE. Too bad neither this one nor the MY2014 Impala will actually be significantly different than what it currently is now.

Boring, yes. Then again, Lexus is still the #1 seller of luxury vehicles in the USA, mostly because of the ES350 and the RX350. A discernible design language for Toyota or Lexus undermines the bottom line. Lexus has never really innovated since 1990s LS400. I doubt they will really innovate much now.

Sounds like good news. I do hope that GM can keep it up and ditch government and UAW ownership as soon as practicable. Financially speaking, rising free cash flow is the real number to watch since you cannot fudge cash (you can with earnings per share).

I can understand that. Then again, most of my experiences were with the 3800 ('84 Cutlass Supreme, '98 Intrigue, '05 Lacrosse, '99 Park Avenue Ultra (3800SC)). THAT v6 (other than maybe the Cadillac HT4100 of 1983-88?) was the V6 worth not going for a V8 over. Nowadays, the HF V6 you want is the 3.6L v6. The 3L V6 I hear is kinda weak and lacks torque. Allegedly the 2.4L 4cyl is better than the 3L these days.

I doubt the Escalade will completely go FWD (i.e. be put on Lambda), especially if GM wants to maintain profits. I suspect that the SRX will still be with us as a FWD for another decade; I do hope there is a RWD alternative available alongside the SRX to cover both ends of the market. The XTS should be temporary, and I hope it does not see 2018. Lamar is right about the GM 6ATs being a joint venture with Ford; I forgot about that fact.

Like a Smart FourTwo or a Fiat 500?

GM did do that about 20-25 years ago with those weak 4cyl cars and any GM V6 that was NOT a Buick 231 (aka the 3800). I remember renting a Chevy Lumina back in 1996 or 97 with a 3.1L V6 and that POS had no torque at all! I have been told by local dealers that the 4cyl in the Equinox & Terrain is better than the 3L V6 (that may be true). I suspect that the modern 4cyl engines (all from Opel) are better than the Iron Duke era 4cyl, but I am still skeptical as to whether they are actually good enough. Look at what Ford is doing now: EcoBoost Four

The proposal is poor because CAFE itself is poor. Too bad we have a Republican problem since that party had ample opportunities to simply repeal CAFE when they had the chance five years ago. They did not. Change the fuels, not the cars..... to what exactly?

GM hates buying automatics from others because the automatic was invented by Oldsmobile in 1940. Moreover, BMW and Ford use GM 6ATs in their vehicles now, so why should GM use someone else's AT?

Croc, knowing GM, other cars will get that diesel. The ATS would be a prime candidate for that newer diesel engine for the Cruze.

smk4565, it is true that the current SRX is a generic FWD crossover. But this generation sells a LOT better than the previous one, which was more like a tall CTS wagon. The Lexus RX350/400H lead this segment, and it has done so ever since the original RX300 was released about 15 years ago. Sure, FWD is lame compared to RWD. But the sales figures do not lie. New customers ditching other brands for the new SRX is a good thing because it is what they want. The new LFX engine going into the SRX should have gone in the engine bay in the first place because lack of torque in the 3L V6 made this porky crossover feel slow. Ideally, the X3 and the X5 would be the market leaders and the 1st generation SRX would have been upgraded. That did not happen. Since women seem to lead in this segment, let her have what she wants: a comfortable ride in a useful vehicle that is not too big for her. As for the TL/MKZ vs. CTS/3/C class, point taken and QFT.