G. David Felt

As much as I would hate to sell an American Company to the Chinese, this is actually a good idea. Sell them the current stuff and run. As I ahve said in many other threads, GM only needs to be a Entry, mid level and Luxury high end 3 tier company. Keep Chevy with the Eco box auto's start the Highschool kids and keep the hardworking blue coller crowd with these and show them the options of growing into the GMC Brand. Rename the 2010 Buick Lacross to the GMC "New Auto Name" Have GMC since they have the professional Grade and Luxury Denali line add a mid level luxury line of cars to compete against Lexus / Infinity. Then Caddy can totally focus on BMW / Mercedes. Benefits is bigger marketing dollars to 3 units that can grow. Add all the great technology as options from the old dead name plates to these three. Chevy and GMC could offer the same killer offroad handling packages that were part of Hummer as an example. I can see LOTS of good coming out of this and in the long term, GM could really focus on a Solid Single Global brand and auto story that could trump Toyota and others.

+2 If they did this right, they could have a complete stepping program for getting High school kids into their first auto at a chevy dealership and move right up the line into BPG and then Caddy and keep a customer for life. Best of luck to them.

Death A coworker died from cancer last night, now I have a funeral to go to. Man what a sucky thing to happen as she was an amazing person, the nicest I had ever known. I wish her family all the best.

Yup started with the caddy's, then will get the suburban and hummer cleaned up and finally the kids Durango and Dakota. Once they are all cleaned inside and out, be all set for spring and summer. Course this coming weekend I am hitting the slopes for some sunny spring skiing. Time to work on the pre summer tan.

Hummer, Saturn & SAAB is what really is the dead meat here and would become vapor. Caddy, Chevy and BPG would be the survivalists. After all you need an entery point, mid point and top end and these three give it, the others do not.

Here is a response from my daughter who is looking to retire her 1999 Dodge Durango to her little brother and get herself a new ride. She wants a mid size SUV/CUV that is AWD. I emailed her the pictures and GM press release about the vehicle. Her response to me: Hi Dad, I really think the car is kind of cute. do you think it will look good with a little lift? and i take it that it isn't a hybrid huh? So here is a 25yr old Female that likes the look. Blows me away as I do not think GMC felt this look was Cute but my daughter does.

for me at 6'6" tall 275lbs I have tried both and do not fit into them comfortably. They are made for smaller people. My cousin has the Vibe, nice auto but not for me. I would have to go with a CUV from Pontiac, but if I could choose any, I would go full size SUV.

Where at one time I did NOT want to think of GM as going Chapter 11, I am now thinking it might be the better option to truly make the rapid fast change needed to get the company right sided and out from under the debt and stupidity of past mgmt decisions including giving away the house with the interior fully furnished to the stupid UAW. I do not blame the UAW for going after as much as they could get as it is their right to ask. I blame GM mgmt for giving in and the Union Reps for not being realistic in setting expectations. No union member should expect to earn high 5 or 6 figure income for a job of assembling on parts. The engineers in GM who design these auto's do not have the income or benefits the Union line people have. This really got messed up in the 80's for giving in to the unions. Piss poor mgmt with the instant gratification and lack of long term planning and thinking is what got them into this mess.

Yup found the above on Yahoo web page about this also. Weird that they say Pontiac and no mention of Buick or GMC. I drove last week on a trip from Seattle to Yosemite National Park. Everyone should visit, Damn that place is awesome. Along the way stopped and checked out dealerships when I stopped for gas and I never once found any Buick or Pontiac dealerships on their own, all were in the now what I would consider is a traditional GMCBP dealership. So What about the rest of those dealerships? You cannot just cut out Pontiac and leave Buick and GMC, maybe you can but then GMC or Buick will need to bring in Performance auto's. I would love to get an updated Syclone or even a new Typhoon. Imagen a new 3.6DI twin Turbo in a Terrain type package!

GM in "intense" preparations for bankruptcy: source Buzz Up Send By Chelsea Emery and Soyoung Kim Chelsea Emery And Soyoung Kim – 44 mins ago NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp is in "intense" and "earnest" preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters on Tuesday. A plan to split the corporation into a "new" company made up of the most successful units, and an "old" one of its less-profitable units, is gaining momentum and is seen as the most sensible configuration, said another source familiar with the talks. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. Shares of GM fell almost 14 percent on the New York Stock Exchange and its bond prices declined. If the plan goes through, the new GM would be expected to assume some previous creditor debt from bankruptcy proceedings, such as secured debt, said the second source, adding that GM bondholders were likely to lose substantial value in bankruptcy. Certain GM dealer and litigation claims would also be hurt if the new company structure is used as part of a company bankruptcy, said the second source. GM declined to comment. GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson has said the company prefers to restructure out of court but that it could go to court if needed. GM, operating on $13.4 billion of government loans since the start of the year, has until June 1 to complete a reorganization plan. The government has warned that the alternative would be bankruptcy. The company is under pressure to cut unsecured debt by two-thirds, turn half its remaining payments into a union healthcare trust in the form of equity rather than cash, and reduce hourly wages and benefits to match those paid by foreign automakers. Chrysler, owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, is also facing possible bankruptcy. The automaker has until April 30 to complete an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat. Moody's Investor Service said in a note dated Monday that it maintains its view for a 70 percent risk of bankruptcy for Detroit's three automakers given the difficulty of restructuring out of court. BANKRUPTCY NOT AN EASY ROUTE Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement said on Tuesday that the Canadian government must be prepared for GM or Chrysler to enter bankruptcy protection. Some bankruptcy experts say a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could help GM reorganize by allowing it to restructure its debt and force changes to contracts with dealers, unions, and suppliers. But the process could be disruptive, or derailed, said Patrick Carothers, a partner at Thorp, Reed & Armstrong LLP. For example, if auto-parts makers lose the ability to collect money owed, the industry as a whole could suffer. In addition, GM could lose control over its restructuring as the formation of a new company would be in the hands of a bankruptcy judge, not corporate executives or their advisers. "The dangers of a bankruptcy are significant," said Carothers, who has parts suppliers and car dealers as clients. "I don't believe a bankruptcy is inevitable. There's still a lot of political pressure to save it." GM shares were down 13.66 percent, or 31 cents, to $1.95 in midafternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, after reaching a session low of $1.95 earlier in the day. GM's bonds were steady to slightly lower in late morning trading. GM's benchmark 2033 bond slipped, with the 8.375 percent bond trading at 12 cents on dollar, compared with 12.75 cents before the news came out, according to MarketAxess data. The bonds closed at about 11 cents on Monday, according to MarketAxess data. Last month, GM offered bondholders 8 cents on the dollar in cash, 16 cents on the dollar in new unsecured debt, and a 90 percent stake in the automaker, one person with knowledge of the term sheet told Reuters. (Reporting by Chelsea Emery in New York and Soyoung Kim in Detroit; Additional reporting by Dena Aubin, Walden Siew in New York; Editing by Derek Caney, Matthew Lewis, Toni Reinhold)

Bizarre

Funny as my sister has gone hell bent on Organic food and there was a story I read not long ago that I passed to my sister that mentioned about how 50% of organic foods are worse than foods grown on traditional farms even with modified seeds. Seems some people have taken up land to use for Organic farming without realizing that land was already full of pesticides and other stuff that the plants picked up and boom, you have higher toxic food than the so called normal foods. Organic = Marketing way of charging you more for your normal food. Total BS.

Lets add a poll to this thread and see how many think it will sell well compared to a bland middle or total bomb. 1) Out Sell all others in this category 2) One of the better stars in the category 3) Average, equal to other CUV's. 4) Worse than average CUV 5) Total Bomb, what was GM thinking? Thoughts?

This I can see having a place in congested smelly cities like NY, Chicago, LA. But for most people it will not cover their need.

:rotflmao: Thanks DF you have proven the point that Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, while this chrysler product is clean and bland from some angles in looks, I also find it ugly for that very fact. The GMC product I find distinct. Just like I love my 2006 Escalade ESV, but feel the new Escalade is bland and just so so. While I can see the better quality in the interior and the over all auto, I prefer the look of the old Escalade as superior to the new Escalade. No contradiction in statements or facts, just the reality of how I see an auto compared to how you see it. Could the fact that you label yourself DodgeFan color the glasses rose colored to this very Minivan like CUV in comparison to the GMC CUV? Maybe your a closet case that has yet to step out and profess your love for GM like the rest of us since you are here in a GM focused site. Keep up the great work your doing DF, it is a fun time to debate with you and discuss the merits of this industry that is going through major changes.

Love my 2004 SRX and very excited for this baby as one of the kids will probably get the old one and I get a new one for the wife.

Hey All, I suggest you whip Mark by Emailing him your feedback: [email protected] Here was my email to him: Mark, Have you ever really bothered to learn something, anything about the auto industry? I have never read the worst written article bashing a company with nothing more than hearsay, lies, ignorance all for the sake of your own personal agenda. If this is what the SF Chronicle is wanting for journalistic stories based on Zero Fact, then you no wonder our newspapers are dying. Try the following: 1) Research the actual auto before bashing it and state REAL facts instead of assumptions. 2) Research the market again stating facts and not assumptions. 3) Show the facts of a fair comparison of apple to apples rather than a wild eye dream of an auto that might or might not ever really hit the road on a drastically different power train versus a coming to market auto with efficiency and world class quality in build that will drive sales for the company. 4) Based on the way you wrote your story, it would appear you are possibly a Prius or Civic hybrid driver that can only think everyone should drive like you, be like you, and think like you. Reality check, not everyone can fit into these hybrid / electric coffins. Not everyone wants to drive that type of auto. If you DID any research, you would find that the pollution to create these so called battery packs is greater than driving a fuel efficient Camero for 10 years. Prius or Civic Hybrid might make you feel good until you look at the large amount of CO2 put into the air during production of the battery pack, More than what 4 normal auto’s produce in 5 years. Get some research before you write a story that has no facts.

WOW This is so poorly uninformed written piece of junk that my mind truly draws a blank. Now that my mind has returned some of it's ability to think, I realize this guy must luv his Asain auto or Euro Trash cars so much that he is one of many stupid journalist that not only cannot think for himself, but really does not understand auto's, quality or anything to do with the auto industry. Sad Sad Sad, May he wither and disappear from society so we are no longer stunk up by his stupidity.

From the front, it is totally bland, no emotion evokes from looking at it head on, you see this bland front grill with an over done chrome area up to a pretty flat bland hood etc. Just like the current Mini Vans Chrysler makes. From the side, the tail area reminds me of the weird ugly angle cut that Subaru has on their CUV, just seems that someone took the metal chisel and waked at it to get some angles and left it as is. Also the fender flairs look as an after thought, side profile screams MiniVan, not CUV and again very bland look. From the rear, I actually find it funny that this model is tagged as an RT model. Sorry but no MiniVan will ever handle being a performance sedan and this is for sure no Jeep Cheeroke SRT8. Over all bland clean look but Ugly IMO. Nothing on this auto seems to make sense of where it is. Reminds me of a last minute effort to throw something together.

QUOTE (ocnblu @ Apr 5 2009, 06:15 AM) WICKED. I applaud GM for spending the money to truly differentiate this exterior from the Equinox. Yes, I was shocked on first viewing, but when I blew up the photos and looked again, I can see this is the production version of all those recent GMC Concept vehicles so many of our members wanted to see. Silver, once again, to show maximum contrast so we can see all the body lines, but in real life, in a different color (white, brown, green for example), this thing will look good. I think I'm gonna like this. Dodgefan: your bias is showing. Yes, the Terrain is squarecut, but have you seen the current Grand Cherokee? The Patriot? Both of those designs are just as linear. And the '10 Ram HD? That truck's grille is ridiculous. Actually I think he got confused as the Chrokee is not the Brick, but the Commander is the total Brick for Jeep IMO.

This is a clean but still ugly representation of a MiniVan. NO THANKS! GMC Terrain is much better and while it does remind me of the Ugly Honda Pilot, I think this is a far superior take on the CUV segment than the Pilot will ever be.

:rotflmao: I totally agree but for a monday your post made be crack up. Thanks I needed a good laugh! :rotflmao:

I love this look, the face is beautiful! Yes I know most of you think it is ugly, but have you looked at the HIDEOUS Honda PILOT????? This is way better than the Honda Pilot, I really like it. Like the news says, it is a hate or love approach to sell more. I think this will actually be a big hit. Look at the current Yukon, I personally think it is ugly and is way worse looks wise than the older Yukon and yet it is selling very well. Dodge proved that a hate or love body styling tends to bring out buyers who want to stand out from the crowd. Who cares that if you look at some of the other vehicles in GM stable the interior stack is identical, it is GM after all. But for GMC this clearly stands apart and will sell IMO.

Personally I would be ready to buy a couple vehicles, but then they screwed up and killed the baby Duramax. I want a Suburban with the Duramax in it. The other vehicle I just might bit if the discount is good enough. GMC 1 ton Dually with Duramax in a 4x4 setup. This is my new play toy. Throw a kit camper on back and out camping I go.

Stirfry, I am getting hungry!