smk4565

I'll miss the Isuzu Ascender the most.

They love the RX mainly because of the badge on the front, and that Lexus has been #1 most reliable car for 14 years or so. Consumers feel confident that the thing will never break. Size also helps, the original RX was nearly a foot shorter than the current SRX, and small stuff is easy to drive. The SRX was too big, just like the STS was too big. If they built it to RX size on Sigma it would be better. If they go this route, they might as well put the next generation CTS on Epsilon II. I'd like to see Cadillac's development dollars go into an S-class fighter, but I doubt GM will spend $1.5 billion on a car that will sell 25,000 a year, when they spent $500 million on the Malibu, expecting to sell 10 times as many. GM's reputation is shot, Cadillac's isn't so great either, if they really want to be profitable they have to change that so they sell cars at sticker, rather than at $10,000 off red tag plus cash back fire sales. Only way to change perception is with a product, their lame "that's made by GM, are you surprised?" ads won't do it.

Cadillac is either wimping out, or GM is too poor, or both. Cadillac will be the $35-50k brand, Buick will be $25-40k. Neither of which are challenging those in the big leagues.

Giving the car a worse interior and poorer driving dynamics won't increase sales. SRX was plagued by looking like a station wagon. The new SRX will sell better because they will price it $10,000 less, not because it is a good vehicle. Cadillac can get loads of volume if they sell cheap cars, but they'll never get their image to rival Mercedes by doing that. The X5 is outselling the current SRX 2 to 1, and it isn't any better of a vehicle, just better look and better brand image. The X5 M just shows that BMW can put performance into every product. Cadillac really only puts performance into the CTS-V, the XLR-V is quick, but it is slower than a Vette for double the price.

I know they are aiming low, that is the problem. Cadillac is becoming more like Lincoln. SRX is like the MKX and Escalade like the Navigator.

The shape is way too similar to the Vue. Cadillac gets a front drive, V6 Vue look-a-like, BMW gets a 500 hp X5 M. The SRX may be above average for class, but it has no status to it, no great appeal or selling point that will make people aspire to own one. There was a time when people dreamed of owning a Cadillac, then for years Cadillac was a punchline and joked about, they have some credibility now, but still aren't a brand people aspire to, like BMW or Mercedes.

Who would have thought 10 years ago that GM and Chrysler would both be facing bankruptcy. The reason Chrysler won't ever be Mercedes is money. It costs well over a billion dollars to develop a car like the S-class. Chrysler can't spend $1.5 billion on a car that will sell 15,000 units a year. Chrysler is out of cash, doesn't make profit, and is deep in debt, they won't come up with the money. And to be like Mercedes they would need 5 or 6 models that are great, not just 1 sedan on the LY platform.

The XF's reviews rate it #1 in the class. Yes the AJ V8 is old, but it sounds good and the car is fast. But a new 5 liter V8 is coming soon. Jaguar ranks 10th in JD Power reliability (which studies 2005 cars, not the XF) but that was higher than Mercedes and Audi. They rank #9 in initial quality, higher than Cadillac, BMW and Audi. Jaguar is currently #1 in both customer service and sales satisfaction. If reliability is a problem with Jaguar, it is a problem with the 27 brands that rank below it as well.

Because Toyota spends 500 bajillion dollars on Camry marketing, and the car has a 20+ year solid reputation on top of that. GM has no choice but to advertise the Malibu a ton, because it is getting killed in sales by the Accord and Camry. The problem is GM has 45-50 models to advertise while Toyota only has 26. So Toyota can advertise each individual car twice as much.

I didn't, I said I was comparing GM's 8 brands to Toyota's 3 in North America. I brought up Opel/Vauxhall and Holden to compare them to Daihatsu, which is Toyota's only global brand. It is 8 to 3 in NA, and 11-4 global. I know Toyota's exact culture wouldn't work at GM, but their business strategy would.

They do have Jaguar, and the XF is the best mid-size luxury sedan on the market right now. Edmunds.com and Motor Trend comparison winner, Car and Driver 10 Best, Automobile Magazine All Star. Does Jim Press know that a 300 starts around $25,000 and the full size Mercedes starts at $90,000? Or that BMW and Mercedes aren't using the same V6 from 1997 in their 2009 cars? Or that M-B and BMW don't sell 60% of their cars to rental car companies?

Toyota doesn't own all of Subaru, and Dihatsu is rather small. I was comparing GM's 8 to Toyota's 3 in North America. GM has Opel, Vauxhall, Holden too, which is more baggage than what Subaru or Dihatsu are. Toyota posted an operating loss, but their net profit for 2008 is expected to be $550 million. Which isn't good, but they kept it in the black, which hardly any other automaker will do this year. They make generic, mediocre cars, but their culture and business strategy kills GM's. Toyota's brands are strong because they continually provide them with new product and market them constantly. GM's brands have to take turns getting new products, so certain brands and models get dated and create a poor image.

Toyota has been cleaning their clock with 3.

MKS starts at $37,600, $39,500 with awd. It will never boom because of its size. It is 204 inches long and the Lincoln website doesn't even list weight because it is no doubt high. When the economy turns and the Town car is gone and it picks up some of those sales, maybe they'll hit 3k a month. 35,000 sold in a year is probably the best they can hope for.

Not sure, but the 2011 300 gets a refresh and a new interior. Problem is that car came out in 2005, so it will be getting a mid-cycle refresh at 6 years old. Sebring came out in 2007, maybe 2013 is their MCE year.

Jim Press is delusional, never in a million years will the best Chrysler product be on par with the worst BMW product. Chrysler can't even build a product as well as Hyundai, how will they compete with Mercedes. Chrysler will serve out the next couple years as a top supplier to Avis and Enterprise before going into liquidation.

The new Equinox is a mid-size (as was the old one), this will be getting the old Trailblazer/Envoy crowd and competing with the Edge and Highlander. I am guessing they make base price around $24,990 and run it to $35k with features like nav system and back up camera. It is too big and will be too pricey to compete with the Escape or CR-V. Which is fine, mid-sizers do well, and I suppose the HHR will serve as their compact utility vehicle.

"We have a very successful consumer brand with Saturn. We need to find the right business model," said LaNeve, adding that the company has received hundreds of letters from Saturn customers supporting the brand. "We are completely behind Saturn." The brand has never turned a profit, that isn't success. They have had 18 years to find a business model and have yet to do it, too late now. GM management may be behind Saturn, but their bank account is not. This is discouraging to me because it shows how much GM is refusing to change. They still want to keep all of these brands and think they can be viable with them. Market share is 19%, they don't need 8 brands or even 5 brands with that little amount of market share.

I too like the Gran Turismo a lot, it is a phenomenal looking car. The front on this looks pretty good, but the back is too Lincoln MKS. The front looks like it should be on a coupe, not a sedan much like the Aston Martin Rapide and the Porsche Panerama don't look right. Some things work on 2-doors, but not on 4 doors.

What they should look at and copy is: Ford-Mercury-Lincoln Honda-Acura Scion-Toyota-Lexus Nissan-Infiniti Mini-BMW-Rolls Royce VW-Audi-Bentley (and Bugatti and Lambo) 3 tier brands work. 8 brands with 5 or 6 operating in the same segment of $20-$30k cars does not.

They sold 1,958 MKS in November, it was Lincoln's best seller that month. They have sold 11,000 to date. I suppose that is as good as it gets for a big front driver in a bad economy. Buick would only get $40k for a car if it was fully loaded with stuff like back up camera, head up display, maybe adaptive cruise control, ultraview roof, etc. The average sale price of the car would be low $30s. Much like the Lucerne now, it can touch $40k, but the bulk of the sales are closer to $30k.

The 3-series, A4, C-class, IS250/350, Jetta, Mini, TSX, would disagree om there not being a market for small premium cars. The 3-series outsold the Cobalt the last couple months. Even the 9-3 and Volvo S40 and S60 find buyers and they aren't even good cars. I agree though that any thing with Buick written on it could be a tough sell. Buick's small car shouldn't be aimed at young people wanting a racer like the GTI, but rather the middle aged demographic that wants something comfortable but doesn't need a big family car. They can target people that had a Cobalt or Civic and are trading up, or people that had a CamCord but don't need as big a car, but want some luxury feature. Gas will likely go back to $3-4 a gallon one day, so a small premium car will find buyers. If GM doesn't have them, it will be a repeat of the summer, when GM truck sales died and they had no desirable fuel efficient cars to sell. Autoblog is reporting the LaCrosse will be the biggest Buick, and the Lucerne will die.

Saab is as good as dead, there probably won't be a next 9-3 or 9-1 or anything else.

I think they should have done some evolution of the rectangular headlights that the Trailblazer has and Silverado used to have. It looks too rounded and like a Saturn up front, Chevy trucks used to look at little more rugged. The headlights look like they are from a Pacifica or Acadia, the Equinox could get lost in the crowd a little bit. Same with the Traverse, it doesn't say Chevy to me.

The profile view and C-pillar on the new Equinox is similar to the first generation Lexus RX as well. Ford website lists the Escape as an SUV, not a crossover, but I looked up the CD2 platform which is a unibody design.