Z-06

Stiff clutch is essentially not a bad thing. I have never driven the lesser Cobalts other than the 2.0 SS (both Turbo and Super) and I thought the clutch effort although heavier than the TSX was on par with my 2002 Z-06 and the 330i. I personally prefer stiffer clutch lets as it lets you calibrate with better precision, which a clutch with lighter effort cannot.

NISSAN NORTH AMERICA SALES INCREASE 35.1 PERCENT IN APRIL - Nissan sales rise 33.8 percent on across-the-lineup growth - - Infiniti performance increases 46.2 percent due to launch of M, strength of G lineup - Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) today reported April 2010 sales of 63,769 units versus 47,190 units a year earlier, an increase of 35.1 percent, compared with April 2009. Nissan Division sales rose 33.8 percent for the month, while sales of Infiniti vehicles were 46.2 percent higher than a year before. "Customers are coming back into the market, and our combination of quality, safety, value and performance are drawing them into Nissan and Infiniti showrooms," said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing for NNA. "Though there are still challenges in our industry, the market is showing signs of life, and Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are resonating with more consumers every day." NISSAN HIGHLIGHTS Nissan vehicles posted sales of 56,558 units in April compared with 42,258 units sold in April the previous year, a 33.8 percent increase. April marks the Nissan division's seventh consecutive month with a year-over-year sales increase.The Rogue crossover was up 38.3 percent over last year, and set a new April record. Eleven Nissan nameplates had double-digit increases over April 2009. "With seven straight months of sales growth, we're building a strong foundation for success in the rebounding market," said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manager, Nissan Division. "Nissan is building momentum across a wide range of segments this month, with car sales up 33.5 percent and truck sales up 34.4 percent." INFINITI HIGHLIGHTS Infiniti sales for April 2010 were 7,211 units, up 46.2 percent from the 4,932 units sold in the same month a year earlier. The Infiniti M continues to perform well, up 174.8 percent, with strong sales of the all-new 2011 model that started in March. The Infiniti G lineup was up 51.4 percent (sedan sales up 54.4 percent; coupe sales up 44.9 percent). "Customers are recognizing Infiniti's efforts to lead the luxury pack in performance, technology and refinement with the all-new Infiniti M," said Ben Poore, vice president, Infiniti Business Unit. "With the M and G lineup, we now have one of the freshest lineups in the U.S. luxury market." NOTE: To ensure consistency in global sales reporting, Nissan North America calculates monthly variances on a straight-percentage basis, unadjusted for the number of selling days. Both April 2010 and April 2009 had 26 selling days, so there is no variation between the two calculation methods. In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program 2010, whose key priorities are reducing CO2 emissions, cutting other emissions and increasing recycling. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.nissanusa.com and www.infinitiusa.com. Link

General Motors Delivers 183,091 Vehicles in April Ford continues to maintain strong sales. April 2010 Sales General Motors - 183,091 Ford Motor Company - 162,996 Toyota Motor Sales of America - 157,439 American Honda - Chrysler LLC - 95,703 Nissan Motors - 63,769 Hyundai Motor America - Kia North America - Subaru of America - Volkswagen of America - Mazda North America - BMW North America - Mercedes-Benz - Audi USA -9,319 Mitsubishi Motors -

POWERPOINT Linkity A PowerPoint diagram meant to portray the complexity of American strategy in Afghanistan WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, center, in Kabul in March. He gets PowerPoint printouts the night before staff meetings. "When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war," General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter. The slide has since bounced around the Internet as an example of a military tool that has spun out of control. Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan. "PowerPoint makes us stupid," Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat. "It's dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control," General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. "Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable." In General McMaster's view, PowerPoint's worst offense is not a chart like the spaghetti graphic, which was first uncovered by NBC's Richard Engel, but rigid lists of bullet points (in, say, a presentation on a conflict's causes) that take no account of interconnected political, economic and ethnic forces. "If you divorce war from all of that, it becomes a targeting exercise," General McMaster said. Commanders say that behind all the PowerPoint jokes are serious concerns that the program stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making. Not least, it ties up junior officers — referred to as PowerPoint Rangers — in the daily preparation of slides, be it for a Joint Staff meeting in Washington or for a platoon leader's pre-mission combat briefing in a remote pocket of Afghanistan. Last year when a military Web site, Company Command, asked an Army platoon leader in Iraq, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, how he spent most of his time, he responded, "Making PowerPoint slides." When pressed, he said he was serious. "I have to make a storyboard complete with digital pictures, diagrams and text summaries on just about anything that happens," Lieutenant Nuxoll told the Web site. "Conduct a key leader engagement? Make a storyboard. Award a microgrant? Make a storyboard." Despite such tales, "death by PowerPoint," the phrase used to described the numbing sensation that accompanies a 30-slide briefing, seems here to stay. The program, which first went on sale in 1987 and was acquired by Microsoft soon afterward, is deeply embedded in a military culture that has come to rely on PowerPoint's hierarchical ordering of a confused world. "There's a lot of PowerPoint backlash, but I don't see it going away anytime soon," said Capt. Crispin Burke, an Army operations officer at Fort Drum, N.Y., who under the name Starbuck wrote an essay about PowerPoint on the Web site Small Wars Journal that cited Lieutenant Nuxoll's comment. In a daytime telephone conversation, he estimated that he spent an hour each day making PowerPoint slides. In an initial e-mail message responding to the request for an interview, he wrote, "I would be free tonight, but unfortunately, I work kind of late (sadly enough, making PPT slides)." Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates reviews printed-out PowerPoint slides at his morning staff meeting, although he insists on getting them the night before so he can read ahead and cut back the briefing time. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and says that sitting through some PowerPoint briefings is "just agony," nonetheless likes the program for the display of maps and statistics showing trends. He has also conducted more than a few PowerPoint presentations himself. General McChrystal gets two PowerPoint briefings in Kabul per day, plus three more during the week. General Mattis, despite his dim view of the program, said a third of his briefings are by PowerPoint. Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was given PowerPoint briefings during a trip to Afghanistan last summer at each of three stops — Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Bagram Air Base. At a fourth stop, Herat, the Italian forces there not only provided Mr. Holbrooke with a PowerPoint briefing, but accompanied it with swelling orchestral music. President Obama was shown PowerPoint slides, mostly maps and charts, in the White House Situation Room during the Afghan strategy review last fall. Commanders say that the slides impart less information than a five-page paper can hold, and that they relieve the briefer of the need to polish writing to convey an analytic, persuasive point. Imagine lawyers presenting arguments before the Supreme Court in slides instead of legal briefs. Captain Burke's essay in the Small Wars Journal also cited a widely read attack on PowerPoint in Armed Forces Journal last summer by Thomas X. Hammes, a retired Marine colonel, whose title, "Dumb-Dumb Bullets," underscored criticism of fuzzy bullet points; "accelerate the introduction of new weapons," for instance, does not actually say who should do so. No one is suggesting that PowerPoint is to blame for mistakes in the current wars, but the program did become notorious during the prelude to the invasion of Iraq. As recounted in the book "Fiasco" by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin Press, 2006), Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who led the allied ground forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, grew frustrated when he could not get Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander at the time of American forces in the Persian Gulf region, to issue orders that stated explicitly how he wanted the invasion conducted, and why. Instead, General Franks just passed on to General McKiernan the vague PowerPoint slides that he had already shown to Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time. Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters. The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as "hypnotizing chickens." Helene Cooper contributed reporting.

So the Russian and Balkan illegals who reside in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and much of North Washington state of others are off the hook because of the lack of the two skin colors?

The author misses the point. The absurdly low jab is more to the inability of people getting H1-B visa. H1-B visa lack is not why illegals are here. Given the context of illegals, these people and the employers who hire them have to go through a lot of red-tape for obtaining H1-B, they thus would rather stay illegal or hire illegals. I agree with DF and Olds for the points made. Especially Olds point - cut the demand or make it difficult, the supply will fall. An example, one of our liner installers' crew was caught in Ohio by Border Patrol. What started up being a bar brawl ended up being a deportation spree. 29 of its 32 members were illegal. The installer pays minimum wage for new-hires and the foreman with 20 years experience gets paid close to $11-12/hour, imagine giving that wage to a UAW foreman with similar experience. When the helicopters fly on the job sites, these people go hiding for bushes, thinking it is Federally helicopter. It is a hilarious site, but it is not funny in broader context.

One advantage of coming to Clinton Twp - A look at lot of old cars. Too many in past week to remember, right from Delorean convertible to a 1957 Corvette.

If you read online overwhelming majority of people is actually supporting this bill, contrary to what politicians are making it out be. If you are in legally, you have nothing to fear, just show the papers and go do your business.

Congrats truck guy. We now have three people who went from cars to trucks. Yeah GM discontinued the manual trans option on the 5-cylinder when they increased the displacement from 3.5 to 3.7 in 2007. Too bad it could not compete with the V6 6-speed option of the Tacoma and Frontier.

I see that. But performance wise it will be closer to the Camaro and will have more utility. Plus its torque vectoring will help in snowy conditions and ability to put transfer 100% power at the rear will give Camaro like excitement. My guess is that will start at $32-33k.

Von-vee, that color is probably the most prestigious color in Vette history. Known as Lemans or Daytona Blue during various stages of Corvette life, the color signifies Corvettes more than other colors.

Have a pair of accountants analyze the cost-benefit including assigning fixed asset costs and amortization of the bone, including the "goodwill of having no tooth above the other". Get a lawyer to sue and protect just in case things go south. Get media to hyperbolically report your events. Have a pair of lobbyists to justify your case. And finally get a congressman to write a bill to approve the decision. In short you will never get it done.

I think the concept did not share any platforms but was based on the skateboard chassis. It had motors for both front and rear wheels essentially making it a 4WD as GM boasted.

SMK complains about the depreciation STS goes through. The S500 4Matic was close to $90-95K brand new. Now in 4-5 years residual value is less than 40% of the MSRP. Talk about depreciation! I personally think Regal GS if they can wait a little longer, if not go for the 2.0T.

Chevrolet to Unveil Volt MPV5 Crossover at Beijing Auto Show The Chevrolet Volt MPV5 concept will debut at the Beijing Motor Show. The five-passenger crossover rides on the same Voltec architecture as the Volt. Discuss what do you think of the concept here.

While he cannot fill in shoes of Bob, he is the best guy in GM post Bob-era when it comes to having great one-liners. I vote "YAY".

Not bad. More volume than the Volt and better vehicle for soccer moms.

It has an Audi V8.

That is Tyrrell P34, which by the way has a V8, not a V12. March 2-4-0 was another F1 prototype with 6 wheels which however, never made in fruition. I do not know what engine did they propose for that. I thought of Panther 6, which had 6 wheels, but also has a Cadillac V8.

Dwight, I have following questions: Is there any way to fudge more in the engines to get better fuel economy without sacrificing the power? I know we can have displacement on demand, but before we take that option can the engine be tuned for more fuel economy? Can the peak of the torque curve for the V8 be made higher and the curve flatter without sacrificing other salient features. What would be implications of going regular unleaded for the V8?

Yeah Pentards in your area are 7-ophiles. I have seen more 7ers in the few times I have been there than my entire time in Orlando. Bangle has destroyed BMW and even after he is gone the legacy moves on. I do not find one BMW exciting since the last E46.

Same here. I almost bought one instead of the Lumina. Mitsubishi butchered the car in the next two iterations. The turbo ones still have a cult following. The bizarre idea of replacing the Turbo 4 with a V6 destroyed its loyal fanbase.

A high quality cloth will do wonders. I hate leather.

Interesting. The red is a rare interior for that vehicle.

America was always there, yet credit goes to Columbus for finding it and making the region prosperous.