shesellschevys

Although I recently gave up my sales job, I can vouch for slumping HHR sales. Especially when you can buy a 7-passenger van for $16,999 and the HHR starts at 21 and change... it didn't make sense for someone to give up that much $ for something so small. What GM could have done to make the HHR more marketible is made an AWD version of it and maybe re-worked the exterior styling a wee bit. In my last year with the dealership, I didn't meet one woman who liked the HHR - in fact, most women cringed when I made a suggestion that they take one for a drive. I love the looks of the Orlando. The Mazda5 is an awesome looking vehicle with seating for 7 and lots of wiggle room and flexibility in the seats - GM should use that as an example and move forward. Also, bring that decent 4 cyl engine out for it too w 6-spd tranny.

Received this at work today from a reputable source... gives us all something to ponder!! __ Come on North America … give your head a shake! Nothing more needs to be said, when the metal hits the meat, are you making the right decisions ... Ford, Chrysler and GM's contributions after 9/11: 'CNN Headline News did a short news listing regarding Ford and GM's contributions to the relief and recovery efforts in New York and Washington. The findings are as follows..... 1. Ford- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the same number plus 10 Excursions to NY Fire Dept. The company also offered an ER response team, services and office space to displaced government employees. 2. GM- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the same number and a fleet of vans, suv's, and trucks. 3. Daimler Chrysler- $10 million to support of the children and victims of the Sept. 11 attack. 4. Harley Davidson motorcycles- $1 million and 30 new motorcycles to the New York Police Dept. 5. Volkswagen-Employees and management created a Sept 11 Foundation, funded initial with $2 million, for the assistance of the children and victims of the WTC. 6. Hyundai- $300,000 to the American Red Cross. 7. Audi-Nothing. 8. BMW-Nothing. 9. Daewoo-Nothing. 10. Fiat-Nothing. 11. Honda- Nothing but did boast of having the second best sales month ever in August 2001. 12. Isuzu-Nothing. 13. Mitsubishi-Nothing. 14. Nissan-Nothing. 15. Porsche-Nothing. Press release with condolences via the Porsche website. 16. Subaru-Nothing. 17. Suzuki-Nothing. 18. Toyota-Nothing but did communicate high sales in July and August 2001. Whenever the time may be for you to purchase or lease a new vehicle, keep this information in mind. You might want to give more consideration to a car manufactured by an American-owned and / or American based company. Apart from Hyundai and Volkswagen, the foreign car companies contributed nothing at all to the citizens of the United States ... It's OK for these companies to take money out of this country, but it is apparently not acceptable to return some in a time of crisis. I believe we should not forget things like this. Say thank you in a way that gets their attention.. Wake Up North America … Pass it on, I just did.

Ha !! I love this quote so much "My complaint is with the aribtrary nonsense reasoning underlying GMAC's erratic actions." Well, thanks to their "erratic" behaviours in the past such as rolling in pull-aheads and shoving liability into the final numbers of the lease game, they've worked themselves (almost) right out of the business of financing. When you really stop and think about it, how can a company (erratically or not?) borrow money at 10% and finance it to it's customers for 0% over 72 months and be profitable?? How would that make sense to GMAC's lenders?? Would you borrow money at 10% to turn around and hand it to someone interest free??? Gone are the days when I can walk in with my GM discount, use a lease loyalty and a few Visa points and lease a $50,000 Avalanche for 400/month! but I'm not crying about that. I'll be happy to own what I can afford in the future. Maybe a shiny new Malibu with the freight & fees due on delivery. ~ j

1. How many new Chevrolets have you purchased/leased in the last decade ('98 model year and up)? 98 Venture van, 2000 Cavalier, 2002 Silverado (hubby's), 2007 Avalanche, 2008 Equinox. 2. Do you intend to purchase a new Chevrolet in the next two model years? I will break my Equinox lease once I can get into a Traverse for a decent monthly lease term!! Hubby wants a new Silverado, but his HD is paid for and does the job (it's barely broken in with only 86,000kms.). I couldn't live without the bow-tie! ~ Janette

I believe the Malibu buyer will not be someone looking to spend $2500-3000 just for a fancy screen. Who wants to rely on a 1 or 2 year old DVD to give maps when Turn by Turn (available through OnStar for only $199/year) will give them more accuate, up-to-date information at a *fraction* of the cost? ~ janette

I'm in Canada - specifically Ontario

Of the two, I prefer the jogger. I don't understand why GM wouldn't just use the 30 seconds to educate the public on the vehicle itself?? 6 standard airbags, standard OnStar, ABS, stabilitrack availability on all models, A 6-SPEED V6 and the HYBRID version. I understand the message but it is hidden. Some people (myself included) look away during commercials. If the only thing I'm going to hear as I avert my eyes is "A car you can't ignore", then I've already missed the humour in it. I think they are both a big missed opportunity. ~ janette

I think they introduced "black tie" when they added the MP3 auxillary input jack - just to give the radio an "upgraded" or sophisticated name. I have the black tie in my Avalanche and love it. These radios integrate very well into the dashboards of all of the vehicles, so hopefully they're just losing the name 'black tie' but they're still keeping the great functionality. The DAT products don't have the black tie radios (Aveo & Optra) - just the Cobalts and 'up'. ~ janette

Here in Ontario, the drop in lease rates and big credits have only been on the CTS for the past couple of years. From what I've been told, someone in a current 3 or 4 yr lease who is due back in the next 6 months will not notice much of a leap in lease payment - if they purchased a 2003 or 2004 my CTS which had lots of bells and whistles on it. Janette

SMK - last weekend's Toronto Star article, Jim Kenzie's review stated it was like buying a 5 series BMr at a 3-series price (don't quote me on that). Last week, we (as sales staff) had the opportunity to test drive the 328i against the CTS4 and I must say that although the BMr seemed to be great around the track, the interior I found rather sparse (not unlike an old Skoda). They brought the 3 series in as it was most comparable in price. When you compare the CTS against the 5 series BMW, however, it is almost the identical size. In addition, they also included the Infinity G35 - likely the worst performer. I can vouch for the versatility of the AWD system. We started on the track in a pool of soapy water to simulate ice and the guy giving me the signal warned me: "Hold on, cuz you're just gonna launch outta here". He wasn't too far wrong. By far the CTS4 was the fastest one of the group to pull away. Definitely heavier than the CTS (rwd) but not in a sloppy way... more in a planted-on-the-ground-go-ahead-and-give-er kind of way :AH-HA_wink: We got our first CTS4 on the lot last week and there has been a flurry of people in to see it already. Enjoyed reading this thread, it should be a great seller and I'm looking forward to getting a lot of people into this luxury car, J

We have two white LS' on the lot -they've been on the lot for almost 2 months now. I've had a couple of bites. One from a guy who got tired of waiting for Chev so he modified his PT - he's got a tonne more room than the Panel HHR as his floor sits a lot lower. GM wasted a lot of space on the panel... like why does the floor have to sit so high? It seems to sit just about as high as the utility version with the back seat folded down. So purchasing a panel just means that you've lost the ability to carry 5 people (if the occassion arose) for two rinky-dink storage pockets (they're not that deep honestly). Price wise, they're pretty close to the utility version anyways. I'd rather go for more flexibility and skip the panel. Will keep you posted on my sales numbers LOL, Janette

Saw my first one IRL today coming off the car carrier. Definitely looks more proportionate in person. The orange one in the pics (love the colour) looks like it's gonna tip over in the wind. Interior looks very nice and they've put the pwr window controls back on the doors !!! I can't believe a 3.6L is going in that little thing! People really liked that there was a Honda engine in them... definitely looking like a Hyundai Tucson imo I'm sure they'll move quickly off the lots tho - would be interested to know how the interior room compares to the current model.

Saw my first one IRL today coming off the car carrier. Definitely looks more proportionate in person. The orange one in the pics (love the colour) looks like it's gonna tip over in the wind. Interior looks very nice and they've put the pwr window controls back on the doors !!! I can't believe a 3.6L is going in that little thing! People really liked that there was a Honda engine in them... definitely looking like a Hyundai Tucson imo I'm sure they'll move quickly off the lots tho - would be interested to know how the interior room compares to the current model.

Saw my first one IRL today coming off the car carrier. Definitely looks more proportionate in person. The orange one in the pics (love the colour) looks like it's gonna tip over in the wind. Interior looks very nice and they've put the pwr window controls back on the doors !!! I can't believe a 3.6L is going in that little thing! People really liked that there was a Honda engine in them... definitely looking like a Hyundai Tucson imo I'm sure they'll move quickly off the lots tho - would be interested to know how the interior room compares to the current model.

The CTS is gonna be one of those cars that just looks fast as it sits still on the showroom floor. We took our satellite course on this new one last week and the nav system ejects upwards out of the dash. The new interior is head & shoulders nicer than the last CTS. The one thing I found hard to explain was all of that "black stuff" around the CD slot. No more 2.8L engine (where's my happy dance icon??!!). And 300+ hp in the 3.6direct-injection engine - hang on, let's go for a test drive before we commit to anything Need to address this. (In Canada anyways) the DTS is a lot cheaper than an STS. The DTS is the distinctive "old fartish" design that many people consider the sort of flagship of Cadillacs. Lots of Lincoln drivers want these cars and they probably outsell the STS (at least at our dealership) by about 20:1. I have never sold an STS and have only seen 1 go out the door in my year and a half at the dealership. It's just not that much bigger than the CTS and, in my opinion, the only advantage to going up to the STS is the availability of AWD (which they're going to be offering now on the newly remodelled CTS!). I would cancel the STS in an instant and continue the DTS. Yes, the Lucerne is a tremendous value but it's not a Caddie and doesn't come with all of the Cadillac owners' priviledges. Enjoyed this thread! Janette

Who in their right mind gave this thing the go-ahead? Pontiac hasn't outdone themselves like this since the Aztec appeared! What is wrong with people's common sense? Did they design this thing in the dark? It looks like a Lego project gone bad... like they had to make an entire car with only half the parts. Nobody can see out the back window of a 2-door G6 to begin with - forget the damned spoiler! Jeesh... people who can afford a GXP will not be hormonally challenged, drag-racing 17 year olds!! Come to think of it, I don't think any 17 year olds would want to be seen driven to school. Love the "buck tooth" comments !!! C'mon Pontiac. Get your act together. Glad I'm sellin' Chevys! Janette

can hardly wait to start selling this car!!! GM nailed it on so many levels with this - definitely a more luxurious looking car from the Malibu we're currently selling. If they can keep their price-points decent, this will be a much more marketable vehicle. While the ride and comfort in the current Malibu is nice, it's definitely missing the 'pizzazz' this has. It has a very Euro almost Volvo-appeal to it. Way to go GM! Janette

I can sympathize with you. Our "AJAC" awards were recently announced (the Automotive Journalists of Canada). I think AJAC should change their acronym to the ILC ... Import Lovers of Canada. How can they get in these cars and consider them the best??? yuck, Janette

P.S. Is the Camry really that hot?!?!?! I thought sales were a little timid (At least at first) and I certainly am NOT seeing many of them on roads. 230235[/snapback] Got to climb through a Camry at a recent training event. The back seats were like glorified cardboard and were actually quite "pliable"!! The styling on this vehicle would be considered BLAND at best. Who would pay that much for a vehicle that has absolutely no character or style to it whatsoever. The dash looks like a lego project gone bad too,

GM's market share does seem to be a bit lower than some of their competition, but I don't really agree that they should dump the vans entirely. I think there is definitely a market for the base model vans (cheap, reliable transportation for a family with 2 or more kids). Why does GM oversaturate their own market, as small as it is? Why have FOUR VANS?? To have a Saturn, Buick, Pontiac AND Chevrolet doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Instead of having 3 versions of both short and long wheelbase, offer fewer options - have an LS and LT and be done with it. Have one or two (maximum) and do them BETTER. Have a luxury end with HID headlights, adaptive cruise control, front & rear park assist, back-up cameras, NAV systems, etc. If we put that kind of vehicle together, we could charge as much as Honda! Please do something with the seats. The fact that we don't have anything like "stow and go" or *easily removable seats* means that we're not competitive. Want to flip & fold the middle row, hold on a minute while I call in the muscle men. GM could do so much more with these vehicles. For instance, what if they offered a 3.9L with active fuel management and got 40+ mpg? Saying that the vehicles have OnStar doesn't really push them off the lots. hoping to still be able to sell the Uplanders as up-level, comfortable people-movers, Janette