Shantanu

Actually I kind of like it. Some might say it were an improvement.

See above

Hysterical. This is from the same state, whose government built the billion dollar 110-105 5-level stack interchange: And the 23 lane El Toro Y: New York's metro has more people than LA's, and it manages to get by without building monstrosities like that. Maybe the problem is California's policies? Or California's geography, that traps vehicle exhaust between mountains and desert. Or California's hypocritical citizens that buy the most trucks/SUVs of any state, and then blame someone else for all their problems. The rest of the country should sue California's overhyped tech industry in Sillicon Valley that raped the stockholders of the country in 1990's with bull$h! tech companies that never earned a penny. The 1990's film "Rising Sun" made it seem that California was Japan's bitch. I thought it was over the top, but maybe it's rooted in some hard truth. Don't people from California like to brag about how they buy more Japanese cars than American cars? Why don't they go sue Nissan?

The perfect car, for Jihad!

The new Lexus IS is taking the market by storm. The previous generation was a complete dud, and I thought that Toyota might have a hard time redeeming themselves. But it seems like they have.

GM has a lot less incentives than Ford or Chrysler. Their sales are pretty decent, although they could be better. I think GM has caught a lucky break with the declining fuel prices before the introduction of their new trucks. That will help in the coming months.

Good research.

I don't think GM wants to be associated with this kind of controversy. I can see the headlines now: "General Motors bankrolls primitive race wars".

These advertisements aren't as compelling as the Led Zeppelin "Break Through" campaign. But Cadillac is a bit more secure now, a bit more respected, than 5 years ago so advertising that is more understated may work well.

Bumblebee is like 30 feet tall. And he's supposed to be a Camaro?

I don't think so. XM has a lot more subscribers than Sirius, and while neither is making huge amounts of cash, XM is in much better financial shape.

XM radio has succeeded and thrived largely because GM has aggressively put it on so many vehicles, something Sirius has not had the luxury of. GM has done so because they own 8% of XM. A big beneficiary of this has been Honda, which owns 10% and is a much smaller player in the U.S. market (and hence in XM's success), but benefits from the rise in stock price.

2.5 years is about as quick as it gets. Usually these guys work on cars for about 5 years before finally releasing them.

I think those are nice vans. If Mercedes is able to sell there's here (as a Dodge no less), than GM should bring their own van over. Especially since they recently killed one of their big vans. In the age of high gas prices, they could sell decently.

I think Nissan has pretty much peaked. 3,000 units of Versa sales aren't going to help a company that's been used to massive sales gains from big trucks and fast sport sedans.

The second part of 2005 was awful for GM, after their summer fire sales. This year will prove to have more steady movement of product. And the second half should be particularly strong with the introduction of the new trucks.

I think the new ads are excellent. "Break Through" was what Cadillac needed to come back, and "Life, Liberty, And the Pursuit" is what it needs to now assert itself.

OK, maybe I reacted a bit too soon. The CTS is most definitely not getting razor thin taillamps, judging from these spy shots from a few months ago: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Gener...cleId=110105#11

The end product is pretty dreadful. The front end is alright, but the rear with the skinny taillamps and old man proportions is just hideous. This could be the biggest flop of the year.

This is good news for Ohio. In the future I'd like to see engines built from the ground up to run on E85. I expect the fuel economy and performance will be even better then.

Well, you act like you have inside knowledge, but you also predict a lot of stuff that never comes to pass.

The Escalade is *exactly* the image of GM's dominance. GM's full size trucks and SUVs sell as many units in this country as Nissan's entire lineup put together.

Everybody knows about economies of scales, but there are also dis-economies of scale. Sometimes a company gets so big that it's just impossible to manage all of it effectively. I think GM is fine and does not need any more partners.

PEUGOT IS NOT PART OF RENAULT! Peugot/Citroen is a different automaker, just like GM and Ford are different automakers. Furthermore, Renault has the *lamest* lineup of cars of any of the major European brands. I am not sure who is buying Renaults when there are so many other better choices in just about every segment: Volkswagens, Opels, Fiats, Ford, and even France's own Peugot/Citreon. Peugot/Citroen on the other hand have a well deserved reputation for making popular, sporty cars. But Renaults are crap.

I'm not sure how useful your analysis is, because as I understand it, GM has no power over this deal. They are not asking GM to issue more stock. What they are trying to do is acquire 20% of outstanding GM shares on the market, perhaps by convicing enough big holders of GM to sell it to them at a considerable premium. In that case, GM has no power to tell their stockholders that they cannot sell.