G. David Felt

Maybe the salt back east eats them up too fast, but here in Seattle where they do not use salt on the roads, you still see many of the luv trucks driving around.

This is why I still see so many mid 70's Chevy Luv Trucks on the road with a diesel engine. Isuzu built a great mini truck then and GM need to bring their Mini sold in other world markets here with the 2.9L Duramax Diesel.

I think all fuel tax's should go to road and mass transit. That way you have the funds dedicated. I am not a fan of the so called general fund and then idiots end up using the money for other social pet projects rather than what it was intended for. Perfect example of this was the Lotto that was added in washington state back in the early 90's. They said the money earned would be dedicated to the school system. Instead they put all the money into the general fund and now we have 500 million spent on illegal medical care rather than taking care of the teachers properly.

The below quote is a perfect show no go example from BMW that America was accused of doing in the late 80's early 90's. Seems BMW has gone to rebadge everything with different looks but really no change driving dynamics. A poser car if ever there was one. A visual package will be a joke and be the downward fall of them.

I love Drew's stated plan, that is what should be done.

That is very cool, thanks for posting Drew.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Love this concept!

Love that concept Drew of the Stow-n-Go option in a crossover. GM should do that in their crossover line.

I loved the older Rolls Royce cars but the last 15yrs does nothing for me other than being an ugly brick on wheels. I guess if you have more money than brains and your a name dropping idiot than this is the ugly car for you.

That is why I am looking for feedback, I started reading a story about the Toyota Supra and got sucked into going through multiple stories on Autonews and how they kept going back to their PDF above on product roll out so I figured I would see if others thought this was good or not. Thank Z-06

The Land of the Rising Sun Readies New Auto's. Autonews has been running a series on Japan Future Product and even built the following timeline. As the five year product pipeline based on Autonews compilation of rumors and facts they have come up with these nine that are to be their exciting products to look forward too. Do you agree or do you think there is something missing? #9 2017 Nissan Maxima #8 2016 Toyota Prius (Spy shots courtesy Autoblog) #7 2017 Honda Ridgeline #6 2015 Honda HR-V #5 2016 Lexus GS-F (Spy shots courtesy MotorAuthority) #4 2015 Lexus RC #3 2017 Honda Civic #2 2018 Toyota Supra #1 2017 Honda NSX (Acura NSX spy shots courtesy Autoblog) Sound off on what you think of this list!

Agreed, there is to much overlap and not enough gain for having a mid size and full size. Better use was to have a Mini Pickup and then full size.

and Beyond!

I agree with you here, and the earlier statement that the Pacifica was ahead of it's time and hurt by a poor marketing/sales execution and poor powertrain line up.

So SMK what you are saying is you want our life to be a socialist hell with forced inflation. Your thinking is just stupid like all the idiots who say we need $15 minimum wage as a living wage. Base minimum wages is to give young a chance to earn money and learn to work, not ever meant to be a living wage. This in it's own right forces inflation of increasing costs and no real gain long term. Education and performance to grow and get promoted is what it should always be about. Trucks and SUV's are the backbone of America work force. If you force your tax on them then everything else will be forced to go up and that pushes houses out of reach of more people. Even your apartments will cost more to rent due to increased cost. The Construction companies are not going to absorb these tax's and neither can America afford to adsorb these cost with stupid tax right off's. What you are also saying is that large people like me with large families should be penalized since we do not fit in the standard mid size sedan. The GAS Guzzler tax is the stupidity of the Tree Huggers movement. We can live just fine with out all the wasted regulation and forced taxation Inflation. So more to your thinking, since most people cannot afford an E series MB, we need to add additional tax's to these expensive auto's to make this about sharing the wealth with everyone else. If you can afford to drive a luxury auto then you have to pay a luxury use tax. How do you like that thinking then?

This is good, they should move faster towards these global clean diesel auto's. GM would strike GOLD if they built a true Mini Pickup truck for the US market with the 2.9 L Duramax Diesel. That would rock here.

What a joke, they already have diluted their product line and now they want to do it more.

GM like everyone else is missing a major sales boat by not having a mini pickup. Sorry but the Mid Size is a waste when you can get a full size for not much difference in coin.

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com IIHS Small Auto, Electric & Hybrid Crash Testing all over the Board! http://www.iihs.org/iihs/sr/statusreport/article/49/6/1 The recent IIHS testing of Electric and Hybrid auto's show just how far we have to still go to have safe small auto's. The video shows just how wide a difference there is in surviving a crash. The Chevy volt and Ford C-max were the only ones to receive an acceptable rating. Compare this to the Ultimate Nissan Leaf that received a poor rating in the latest crash tests. This also goes for a widely popular Mazda, Mazda 5 which received a poor rating. To quote the IIHS report; "Five small cars, all 2014 models, earn an acceptable rating, two earn marginal and four earn poor ratings for occupant protection in a small overlap crash in the Institute's latest round of evaluations. The Institute now has evaluated 32 small cars for small overlap front crash protection. Of them, 19 earn a good or acceptable rating and 13 earn marginal or poor." This latest round shows that auto companies are paying attention to building safe vehicles but also still has room to continue to improve. The biggest problem is when you have occupant compartment intrusion. This is where safety airbags and other devices are knocked out of position due to intrusion allowing greater damage than expected. To quote the IIHS report; "Collapse of the occupant compartment is the downfall for four small cars in this group, including the Fiat 500L, Mazda 5, Nissan Juke and Nissan Leaf," Nolan explains. "A sturdy occupant compartment allows the restraint systems to do their job, absorbing energy and controlling occupant motion." For full details of the report go to the link supplied above. Quoting the IIHS Award Winners Award winnersThe Volt, which has a basic-rated optional forward collision warning system, is the only car in this test group to earn a 2014 Top Safety Pick+ award. The C-Max Hybrid, Countryman, Mitsubishi Lancer, and the Scion FR-S and its twin the Subaru BRZ qualify for Top Safety Pick, the Institute's second-highest award. These models miss the "plus" award because they don't have an available front crash prevention system. To qualify for Top Safety Pick+, a vehicle must earn a good or acceptable rating for small overlap protection, a good rating in the Institute's other four tests, and a basic, advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention. To qualify for Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must earn a good or acceptable rating for small overlap protection and a good rating in the other four tests. "Consumers in the market for a small car now have six models to consider on our list of 2014 Top Safety Pick+ award winners, and an additional 13 that earn Top Safety Pick," Nolan says. "Consumers trading the inherent safety of a larger vehicle for the convenience or fuel economy of a small car should focus their search on these vehicles with state-of-the-art safety designs."

I really like the GMC far better over the Chevy. I agree I wish they had the final details up and going. Not sure what is taking so long. Get that truck here now.

If all she needs is a small car to get to and from the Grocery store, have her do the IQ, Their $99 month Lease is the lowest I could find.

Mazda made money on their Micro-Minivans, So a version that is also part CUV AWD tends to make sense and I could see those wanting a small or mid size CUV with minivan space buying into this. CUV/Minivan crossovers are the 21st century version of Station wagons.

Reservation down payment changes Sept. 2nd. If you do the basic $100 down, you get a $150 credit towards your auto when produced. Starting Sept 2nd they are requiring 25% down payment of the purchase price.

Why not just get her an 84mpg Elio Motors Trike? http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/83433-84mpg-elio-motors-for-6800/ She could surely afford to buy it and fuel it and still get around just fine.