roopull

Without a doubt the Sonic group are a bunch of jerks... Jerks and/or shrewd businessmen. That being said, so are the salesmen. If they're truly worth the money they were earning, I'm quite certain they'd EASILY be able to find another employer who'd pay them the money Sonic wasn't willing to.... wouldn't they? Instead, they're going to try to strong-arm Sonic into paying them that money. If they're worth it, why go to such extreme measures? ...and don't even get me started on the Teamsters. Where's Hoffa? Is it a union or a gang?

I had a similar 'no camera frustration' moment when I saw a Dodge Ram based full size SUV. That was over a year ago, so I imagine it was for a foreign market or something. Nice to hear the RDX looks decent... I just wish they'd give their cars real NAMES!!! This alphabet soup business bugs the snot out of me!

GM sells the majority of what it makes over almost every nameplate, so the arguement made in the first post works for just about every brand (excluding Hummer, GMC, Saab...) In the long run, creating new brands (Saturn & Geo) was pretty lame. They offered nothing that couldnt' have been marketed as a Chevy, Ponty, Buick, or Olds. I think the name "Oldsmobile" just wasn't something you could easily market to young people... say it with me OLDS-mobile. That being said, I simply cannot understand why GM has more than three or maybe four brands... baffling.

Funny... my wife thinks the Vue is the best looking SUV on the market & if I'd let her get another Saturn, that'd replace her SC1. As far as the Green Line goes, I like the simplicity of the design & the low low price... Good on Saturn! Remember, that's an EPA figure, not a Toyota one. You can thank your idiotic government for using outdated & irrelevant testing methods that favor a hybrid. VW's TDIs get much better mileage than the EPA will ever give them credit for... as do just about any diesel. The backlash from that BS 60mpg claim is goint to hurt Toyo & all hybrids in the long-run. I understand, however, that the EPA is re-figuring their testing methods to better reflect REAL WORLD driving.

Yeah, Toyota is having a heck of a time selling any of those Scions And it's not like GM read Honda's Civic playbook & created the Cobalt, now is it? I don't have it sitting in front of me, but I just read an article that debates which of the three new mini-cars will sell best - the Fit, Yaris, or Versa. The article thought the Fit would by far outsell the others. Of note, however, the Daewoo - I mean Suzuki - I mean, Chevy Aveo wasn't evne mentioned. Ford had a good hit with the Focus, but went off & idiotically didn't update the US version when they did the Euro version. GM's Cobalt is a nice little ride, but not in the same class as the Fit. See, years ago, you could get a Chevette or Escort & they were about the size of these tiny cars. Over the years, GM & Ford's entry level models grew in size AND price. The same thing happened with the imports - it happens with just about every model out there. Chevy, to it's credit, realized there was a market for something in this bracket & dropped the Aveo in there pretty quick. Toyo followed with the Scion Xa. Sadly, the Aveo is simply out-classed... afterall, it's merely a rebadged, reskinned nearly decade old Daewoo. But, a quick re-model could rectify that fast... let's hope they do. Meanwhile, the Mopar boys are toying with this Hornet concept & trying to find a 3rd party builder for it. Face it fellas, these tiny tiny cars are here to stay!

Chrysler already makes this... they call it the GT Cruiser.

So many anti-Honda comments based off a crappy artist rendition & a photo of an SUV wrapped in plastic. What, did a Honda beat the crap out of you guys on the playground or something? Sheesh... Regarding the Aztek v. Ridgeline debate... the Aztek's concept version was actually rather attractive. When you compare the concept with the production version, you can see it was clearly a good idea gone horribly wrong. While the proportions & C-pillar on the Ridgeline are way-off, and I personally think it's ugly, nothing - absolutely nothing - not even a Gremlin or Pacer - comes close to the horrid ugliness of an Aztek. Concept Aztek... no beauty queen, but at least body panels line up & some of the lines continue for more than a few inches... Sorry... couldn't find a bigger pic. Compare that with the production turd... It's as if they looked at the concept & said, "How can we REALLY screw this up?" The Ridgeline, on the other hand, looked goofy as a concept AND production model!!!

Oh dear... the union mentality strikes! :Barf: You know, if I owned a company & my employees unionized, I'd fire every friggin' one of them. All the company wants to do is make money? Well no crap! Who the heck starts a company to lose money? Maximizing profit is what every company on the face of the Earth is started for. You don't start a company thinking, "Gee, I want to provide awesome jobs! I want to make sure my employees are paid more than the job market will bear! I want to pay for people's retirements, healthcare, childcare, tooth care, car care..." Sheesh! What a bunch of crybabies!

How can you tell if it's ugly with all that camo? For all we know, it could be the most gorgeous SUV ever built - judging by the photos.

Sting Ray certainly has more cache than Blue Devil... specifically if you're not a Blue Devil's fan! Mark this one down as a good decision.

An ideal GM... that was the question posed & I think it's a fun one. So... 1st... GM would be narrowed down to three - maybe four divisions. Luxury division (caddy, I suppose) a middle class 'catch all' division (Chevy, of course) an entry level 'youth' division (Pontiac or Saturn?) possibly a 4th division for commercial, trucking, & fleet interests. (GMC) I don't really care which ones would stay & which ones would go, but the idea that the same outdated minivan is sold as a Buick, Pontiac, Chevy, and Saturn is just stupid. There is no reason for Pontiac to exist, for example, if everything in their line-up can be had over at another dealership. GM is getting better at this, but still has a long way to go. 2nd... GM would attempt to focus more on cars (and the technology that goes with them) than trucks. I personally think the E85 is a dead issue (as soon as folks realize they'll lose 20-30% in fuel economy with it, it's toast.) They'd focus on things that'll make a difference quickly, like diesel cars & mini-vans, hybrids & possibly hybrid diesels. 3rd... the UAW would vanish. 4th... and probably most importantly, they'd do everything in their power to improve reliability. That means topping the JD Power VDS AND having 'recommended' over pictures of their cars in Consumer Reports! These opinions are worth exactly what you paid for them.