Z-06

At 12:34:56 07/08/09.

Why fix something which is not broken? It is a great aircraft.

Pubes

Caddy has no good products spread to survive this market other than the CTS. It has consistently dropped over 30% over the past few months. Hopefully the wagon and SRX will tide it back. It needs STS replacement and Alpha car very soon before it because non existent in the market again.

Now you can get the vehicle you want. Glad to know your dad is okay. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Does that also include the brands which are going to be "killed"?

[source: Wall Street Journal] New GM to Be 'Fully Launched' This Month, Rattner Says By JOHN D. STOLL and NEIL KING JR. General Motors Corp. is set to emerge from bankruptcy into an economic downturn that presents a major challenge for the country's largest auto maker -- and for the White House that saved it. Sunday's late-night ruling from the bankruptcy court cleared away objections to the GM's reorganization. This week, GM Chief Executive Frederick "Fritz" Henderson plans to introduce a revamped GM as a greener, more customer-focused company with a leaner management, people briefed on the plan say. By one measure, the company's speedy reorganization marks a success for the government and the beginning of a new era for GM. Over the past five months, the government's task force has completed rescues of GM and Chrysler Group LLC more smoothly than many predicted. But the new GM has a rough road ahead. The company, soon to be 60% government-owned, continues to lose market share to foreign rivals, having shed nearly two percentage points of its U.S. share in the past six months alone. Some buyers have flocked to GM's chief U.S. rival, Ford Motor Co., allowing Ford to substantially narrow its market-share deficit with GM in June. GM, meanwhile, is spending nearly $500 more per vehicle than the industry average on sales incentives, and it carries by far the highest inventory levels among its peers, according to Autodata Corp. Plans to sell the Hummer brand and other operations remain in limbo. For the Obama administration, risks abound as voters and political opponents wait to see a return on the huge sums taxpayers have invested in the auto companies. By the end of the year, the U.S. government will have put $50 billion into GM and more than $12 billion into Chrysler, along with tens of billions more to suppliers, lenders and GM's former credit company, GMAC. Senior administration officials say from now on they will take a back seat, leaving day-to-day operations to the companies' revamped boards. "We are not going to micromanage," says Steven Rattner, a principal member of the Treasury-led auto task force. "We are not going to pick the color of cars." Mr. Rattner says GM could make an initial public share offering as early as the first half of 2010, though the government will be judicious in selling its own stakes to get the best deal for taxpayers. By shedding brands, dealers and significant chunks of debt, GM and Chrysler are better set to survive the sharp downturn in car sales. A deeper and longer slump, though, could upset their plans. The industry's car and light-truck sales last month came in at an annualized rate of 9.7 million vehicles, down from 9.9 million in May but up from earlier in the year. GM officials say the company should be able to break even if those sales are just above 10 million units a year. In a sign of how rapidly GM's position has deteriorated in the U.S., the auto maker said Monday that its vehicle sales in China in the first half nearly surpassed the 954,356 vehicles it sold in the U.S. With 82 days' worth of unsold vehicles stacked on dealer lots, GM has significantly more inventory than any major competitor. To clear the glut, GM ran a fire sale over the weekend, offering buyers 0% financing on 72-month loans. "The share loss has to stop at some point in order for the company to be truly viable," Mr. Rattner acknowledged. Mr. Henderson is racing to broker the sale of three brands -- Hummer, Saab and Saturn -- and a stake in its former German subsidiary, Adam Opel GmbH. People familiar with the sale of a stake in Opel say Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. is "a formidable bidder" for Opel. Such an offer could threaten an earlier accepted bid from Canada's Magna International Inc. Meanwhile, GM's effort to sell Hummer to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery awaits Chinese government approval. The Obama administration is putting great stock in its appointment of Edward Whitacre, former chief executive of AT&T Inc., as GM's first independent, nonexecutive chairman since the mid-1990s. Mr. Whitacre is expected to be introduced as chairman as early as Thursday. The administration picked him primarily because it didn't think GM's management team had proper oversight or could deliver quick results, according to a person familiar with the matter. "One of the key things that people will be looking for is whether they are going to manage the company any differently," Bruce Belzowski, a University of Michigan research analyst, says. "They were always way too optimistic about what they were able to accomplish."

Good vehicle in person. I hope GM sells these well.

Don't tell me that was in the SRX.

One of the bright spots in GM and Caddy portfolio considering that a FWD/FWD-biased AWD is on the horizon as the flagship for the "Standard of the World" brand.

Michael Jackson revives the economy. US economy set to grow a staggering 9% in the next quarter. Who is the next celebrity to go ask FEDS.

Yes I use grove. It is a system hog and not pretty.

I'll get it for $25 from my friend in MS.

You mean Det-la not Northworst right?

[source: Motortrend] Comparison: 2010 Cadillac SRX vs. 2010 Lexus RX 350 Tailfin Attitude Takes on Near-Perfection First Place: Cadillac SRX Good dynamics with a nice ride-handling compromise overcome refinement shortcomings. Turns out that Cadillac style and attitude work in this segment. Second Place: Lexus RX 350 This is the benchmark for refinement and sumptuousness in luxury vehicles under $60,000. You will remember feeling coddled; you will immediately forget the drive experience. Lexus is the best-selling luxury brand in the U.S., and the RX crossover is Lexus' best-selling model. It's the vehicle for everyone with money -- the practical people-mover for people with a multi-car garage full of exotics; the entry-luxury model for the upper-middle-class leasing slightly beyond their means; the wheels of choice for those who were lucky enough to get a second mortgage on their McMansions before the credit market imploded. This Lexus is for old money, too, its anonymous, transportation pod styling whispering, "We're too cool for a minivan." Just imagine the profit margin for a model that starts a tad under $40k. In normal years, meaning before 2008, Lexus sold more than 100,000 RXes per year in the U.S. Lexus has been able to pour a lot of cash back into the relentless pursuit of beating less-reliable European crossovers into submission. The 2010 Lexus RX 350 is the all-new Mk III model, following the 1999 Mk I and 2004 Mk II. It will continue to lead its segment and it will continue to be the best-selling Lexus. Big, body-on-frame SUVs may be so 2005, but crossovers are the latest thing, as if they've just been discovered. They are a new discovery for Cadillac. The CTS aside, the GM luxury division's slow, decade-long comeback has rested on the back of its gargantuan Escalade body-on-frame sport/utility. The rear-drive Sigma-based SRX is classified as a crossover, but it's really more a tall, modern station wagon with optional all-wheel-drive. It's part of old, STS-Cadillac, not new, CTS-Cadillac. SRX sales were one-fifth of RX sales in 2007. With the 2008 CTS giving New Cadillac renewed attitude, it's time to go after luxury's big kahuna. And so, the all-new 2010 Cadillac SRX switches to a front-drive platform, one using large bits of Epsilon II (Opel Insignia and 2010 Buick LaCrosse) and Theta (2010 Chevy Equinox/GMC Terrain) and shared with the upcoming Saab 9-4x (yes, production is still on). Design is how Cadillac most seriously takes on the Lexus. Whereas the RX 350 is soft-looking and amorphous, the 2010 SRX is sharp, hard-edged and wedgy, playing Cadillac "Art & Science" design language to the hilt, from the vertically rectangular headlamp covers that extend to a point atop the front fenders to the LED taillamps designed to evoke 1950s tailfins. SRX's new profile is pleasing to the eye, and not just ours, judging from the reaction of fellow motorists. It's only the dead-on rear view that betrays the limitations of making a tall two-box vehicle look sexy. Inside, the RX 350 is visually unmemorable, defined by unsurpassed sumptuousness, fit, and finish. The new better-than-iDrive mouse-controlled navigation/audio control keeps fingerprints off the screen, and a steering wheel button that turns on a camera under the passenger side-view mirror is a true surprise/delight feature. The SRX interior, which borrows a lot from the CTS sedan, stands out for its looks. The stitched leather dash cover opens up to reveal brushed metal accents along the front part of the instrument panel cover, near the cowl. A slick instrument cluster control on the turn-signal stalk allows you to switch the center gauge between timer, average speed, fuel consumed, fuel economy, fuel range, trip odometer, speedometer, navigation, and a real-time readout that displays the speed limit on major roads -- including speed warnings for slower corners. It's a useful bit of what interior designers have come to call "theater." If you have the navigation system off, the CTS-monolith style nav screen pops up for the backup camera only as long as you're in reverse. The center gauge also features two light pipes built into the binnacle that are turn-signal indicator repeaters, blinking green when you use the signal. It's a minor thing, a nice bit of post-modern flavor inside the crossover, and it might get more SRX drivers to use turn signals. Here's the rub: The Lexus handily whips the Caddy's interior for quality, fit, and finish. The RX's soft, smooth leather would do an LS proud, while the SRX leather seems cost-controlled and maybe slightly cheaper than the CTS'. The SRX has power lumbar support for both driver and front passenger, but the SRX has a manual leg bolster for the driver and not the passenger. And when we pulled out that driver's bolster, the finish was sub-standard. Velcro for the inner leather (or, more likely, pleather) piece was undone, showing off some hard plastic pieces that were meant to be out of sight. The piece should have been sewed together at least. The Cadillac driver's seat automatically slid back to its farthest position when we shut off the engine, even after we tried to reset it. And this revealed poorly finished seat tracks, exposing a connecting bolt. The Lexus' rear seat moves fore and aft and reclines. The Cadillac's rear seat only reclines, and the ratchet control for it is on the seatback, inconveniently above the passengers' outboard shoulders. There's much more headroom in the RX, the result of both a thinner bottom cushion in the Lexus and the huge, optional vista sunroof in the Cadillac. The Lexus has heated and cooled front seats, while the Caddy's are just heated. The price difference between the two could account for this (although a fully equipped 2010 Buick LaCrosse comes with cooled front seats, at less than $40k). The front-drive SRX starts about at $34,155. The Haldex all-wheel-drive comes only with other standard equipment, bringing base AWD models to $40,230. The SRX features several different packages, and so our tester begins at $45,820 and ends pretty nicely equipped, if sans cooled seats, just $1,295 more. The RX 350 base is $39,075. Our tester totaled $8,580 more than the Caddy. No doubt we could option these two out with similar equipment for similar pricing. Point is, adding all the equipment to the Cadillac won't solve the shortcomings in refinement next to the Lexus. The RX 350 is more isolated, with road impacts notably quieter and less harsh. The SRX's optional 20-inch wheels don't help. The Lexus is quicker, its 3.5-liter V-6 making just 10 more horses than the Cadillac's new 3.0-liter gas direct-injection V-6, but making 34 foot-pounds more torque, with better EPA and observed fuel economy. The SRX is slightly longer and 127 pounds heavier than the RX 350, and feels like it. The Lexus accelerates out of turns more quickly, though the Cadillac feels pretty willing, its 3.0-liter giving off a pleasing snarl. The premium SRX engine, a 2.8-liter turbocharged gas direct-injection V-6 built in Australia and available only with AWD and the FE3 suspension, will be added in early fall, and will certainly bring both acceleration performance and price up to Lexus levels. Which brings us to the turning point of this comparison, the Perry Mason moment. Remember how Mason could suddenly wear down a witness and gets him/her to confess to the murder? How his grateful client would be quickly, cleanly exonerated? The Cadillac SRX is more fun and rewarding to drive. While the Lexus RX offers plenty of cornering grip, the Cadillac is more sharp-edged, a crossover designed to unwind the esses. Shift the much less-sporting RX's six-speed automatic into "sport" mode and it doesn't hold lower gears or behave differently than in normal mode. It does switch off the "Eco" mode, though. The SRX's six-speed automatic's sport mode holds whichever gear you choose, and it changes the Sachs shocks' damping, as well. It's firmer than the RX without venturing into BMW X5 territory in terms of ride harshness. Steering provides good feel and feedback and is quicker than the RX 350's numb steering. The Cadillac's brakes are better and firmer than the Lexus' brakes. Simply put, the new Cadillac SRX drives the way it looks: sexy, fun, apart from the pack. It's full of brand flavor, even if budget shortcuts reveal ragged edges under some of the covers. The Lexus RX 350 drives the way it looks, too: almost annoyingly competent. Cushy and comfortable, reliable and unobtrusive. Those of you who value Lexus' "relentless pursuit of perfection" will puzzle over our values in choosing this comparison's winner. Those of you who understand how we value entertaining driving dynamics over all else will understand. The '10 Cadillac SRX is refined enough to overlook its shortcomings and take over the Lexus RX 350 because it's the luxury crossover we'd prefer to look at and drive, every day. If Cadillac could close its refinement gap with Lexus, the new SRX crossover would be unbeatable in the marketplace.

I was talking about Carlisle.

No G3's?

GMC Spirit with a Chevy logo on steering wheel?

Great pics guys. Both the blue and black Chevy pickups are pristine. What is special about that white GMT 800 GMC single cab? :useless: of Members.

Danke. I am seriously looking into one. December date is a bit long. How will they manage the 1,000 sales for the FIA championship prerequisites?

Sad

I hope it is better than the barn burner of the previous generation. I like simple design.