FUTURE_OF_GM

This seems to be what is emerging from well placed source around the net. (That Cadillac will adopt LS power) That's fine by me as long as it has 1) exclusitivity and 2) IS ACTUALLY BETTER TECHNOLOGY THAN THE UV8 or at least incorporates a lot of the ground breaking technology that a new UV8/Northstar program would've used.

Remember Rick's tactic; Under promise - over deliver. This tactic is working well for GM, and it will bode well for the Volt. Yeah, it's pretty obvious by the tone of the piece where this authors loyalty lies.

I don't get it... Since when has this become such an invasion of GME and how did they supposedly get so much power?!?! It seems that yesterday we were GMNA running the company and then all of the sudden today, GME seems to be the tail that's wagging the dog? What gives?

5 comments. 1) I really hate that GM probably wasted a lot of money on this and isn't going to use it (Something they do way too often) 2) The current Northstar stopped being a "stellar" engine a few years ago... Is it good? Sure! Is it STELLAR (Like it used to be) Hell no. 3) If indeed Cadillac is now being planned without V8's then the division, as well as it's renaissance, is a joke and they might as well just start cloning Chevrolets (a la Ford and Lincoln). 4) If GM has in fact given up on Cadillac competing on the global stage, then nothing ever changed within the company in the first place and I will enjoy watching them crash and burn sooner rather than later. 5) If this is the future of GM (overreacting and just plain giving up -- all the while on the verge of greatness, as always) then it is a sad day and I would think the company deserves the shallow grave it gets. I personally hope VenSeattle is right. Isn't this what happened with the UV8? Another program (Maybe this one) won out over it and therefore it was discontinued.

I know... I just figured I'd be random and irritating as well.

And the conclusion says it all... Instead of admitting that the Tahoe Hybrid is an EXCELLENT piece of engineering that allows us to literally 'have our cake and eat it too' this surrender monkey goes on a tirad about how we should roll over, give up and limit the buyers choice just because 'people shouldn't buy these, it makes me uncomfortable and I feel that it isn't right' I just don't get it.. Why does this faction of our society feel that it needs to police our buying habits and constantly correct our habits on EVERYTHING we do. I can't smoke, because it's bad for me... I can't buy a big SUV, because it's taboo.. I can't buy clothes from Wal-Mart because it kills small industry... What's next? Oh, wait, I know... I can't VOTE for who I want to lead the country, because it's not the correct decision. (Get where I'm going with this?) There is nothing free about a society like this. I really don't care if my driving an SUV endangers your kids, because guess what; you certainly didn't care when you bought Chinese goods and endangered my kids when my job went overseas. I really don't care about some kid in China because they didn't care about my kid when they shipped him lead painted toys in a effort to make a quick buck. I really don't care about a war torn community in the middle east because they didn't care about my community as the terrorists flew planes into the buildings. We, as americans, (yeah, it's a joke, I know) should be free to do whatever we want, whatever the cost (Within limits of course) Why should we CRIPPLE OURSELVES to promote OUR ENEMIES (Pretty much every society in the world wishes our downfall on one level or another) Dan Neil is a f*cking idiot, as are his followers. P.S. These liberal 'do-gooders' will start with SUVs, then they'll attack "luxury cars" meaning TRADITIONAL, AMERICAN and euro brands. Next they'll attack "sports cars" (Anything larger than an S2000 and more powerful than a MazdaSpeeed 3) and then they'll go after "old clunkers" to seal the deal and get rid of the evil once and for all. It's almost as if, after 5 years of trying to kill our industry financially and FAILING, they've determined that they will just regulate and limit it to death, then erase any trace of history.

:rotflmao: Yep, as always it's good 'ole bleeding heart america that has to bend over for everyone. Yep, what else are they good for?

Maybe THIS is factoring into the RWD/FWD debate...

WHAT?!?!? GM is phasing out CADILLAC?!?!?!

Is there a source for this?

Off the top of my head... 1) Get healthy and 'ripped' again. 2) Become a better musician 3) Stave off the desire to do anything I would regret (I have a bad temper; still) 4) Continue to become even weirder 5) Build my independence even more (Dark times are inevitable)

In many ways, I don't see it being any worse than the 90s and Zarella. At one point in time, performance was all but dead at GM, even the Corvette was in jeopardy. I think we'll hopefully sooner rather than later engineer our way out of this.

And why the f@#k should we NOT be entitled to the standard of living that our fathers enjoyed? OR BETTER? It's pretty sad that america is now full of bleeding hearts that are willing to sacrifice their way of life (Excuse me; the way of life of their fellow americans, because the changes likely won't affect these people, which is why thy're endorsing it in the first place) for the sake of some bull$h! propaganda war. We, as americans, are to sacrifice our lifestyles. our jobs, our industry, our STANDARD OF LIVING even for the sake of WHAT exactly? I don't know about the rest of them, but this "corn-pone fattie" is getting mighty damn tired of sacrifice and there will come a point where I will not sacrifice anymore. Fact is; technology WILL save us. It always has, always will. Luckily not all americans are so self defeatist as to roll over and die like many of you would have us do. And what exactly is wrong with that? We fought our way to the top and unless they can take us down, then so be it. THAT'S RIGHT! I am a part of the growing group of people in this country who really don't care who they step on to get what they want. It's really too bad our V8s don't run on blood, because I can think of MANY places we could 'mine' throughout the world to quench our thirst.

Restoration is rarely 'worth the investment' in monetary terms... But when you drive that car, and know that you shed the blood sweat and tears to bring it back to the top of it's game, that's a high that nothing will ever match IMO.

Yet again you are spot on... I just don't understand how anyone could cheer about the WTC... Innocent people are innocent people regardless of their origin. I really hate to see war torn countries and overseas violence but sometimes I just want to say to hell with everyone else and blow it all off the face of the planet.

That's awesome! I wanted to go to Times Square for New Years, but a friend of mine enlightened me to what a pain in the ass it is. I think I can find better things to do.

At one point, Toyota was planning on making "Prius" into a division for all of it's hybrids. I can't wait to read the articles on this thing... "Beware Detroit" et al. Just like when the Ridgeline came out and every insider here/media member declared it the end of Detroit's trucks. It's pretty sad that we live in America and the pick up truck has acquired a 'negative image' I mean, I can see a bit of a negative image with the SUVs and soccer moms. But a negative image with trucks and the honest hard working people that drive them who use them to make a living??!?! Oh wait, I forgot, the negative image is actually conotated with honesty, hard work and being 'american' in general.

I feel the same way. Our country will learn this lesson the hard way, I fear. At least, I certainly hope it falls hard. LOL, funny you should mention Starbucks because I think coffee shops and the coffee shop culture is the embodiment of what america has become. In short; paying WAY too much for a product that the people working there "service" because coffee is coffee, no matter how you top, filter, boil or spit in it. Or, worst case scenario; paying way too much money for a cup and then servicing yourself all the while taking in the technological, trendy, FAKE environment that everyone seems to love to hang out in, eventhough I can think of at least 1000 better things to do with my time. It even smells like the bull$h! it's peddling. All the while, the fat cat coffee shop corporations IMPORT the goods and profit off of something you can buy at a gas station or Burger joint 1 mile from your house for $.99 (Instead of the 5-6 miles you drove to SBUX & Co.) It's a scam, just like most things americans buy into this day and age.

I want to see Hairspray.. I'll add Sweeney Todd to the list as well. Phenominal movie and probably on my short list of favorites. Johnny Depp is, as usual, amazing. The musical score is one of the best I've EVER heard and the style is good Tim Burton (Original Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetle Juice, etc.) not the lame "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" stuff. In my book, the movie also gets bonus points for featuring Alan Rickman (Snape in Harry Potter) because he is one of my favorite actors. A lot of people say Depp has too much "Jack Sparrow" in him still for this role. But I thought Depp was excellent, he fit the part perfectly and nailed ALL of the mannerisms and such.

Once upon a time the United States made things. We harnessed the energy of coal and the power of mighty rivers to run factories. Steam engines spun and generators hummed and we used the electricity to smelt iron and aluminum, to light homes and shops, and to power chemical plants and mills. Cities sprang up. Cities with names like Cleveland and Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Newark. In these cities the iron was made into I-beams and thumbtacks and Buicks, and the chemical plants turned out dyes and plastics and penicillin. The wheels of industry turned. Cities grew. AMERICA PROSPERED. We made everything from a pocket watch to a battleship, and we were proud of it. But things changed. Industry, which had never worried about it's byproducts, faced new laws limiting pollution. Foreign competitors, not hobbled by such laws or the need to pay their employees the high wages that American workers enjoyed, began to garner a greater share of the market. Eventually money-hungry capitalists began to move their factories overseas to take advantage of this same laxness, thus profiting at the expense of their workers and the cities that they had called home. Now the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Cleveland are dark; their blast furnaces and coke ovens gone cold. Massive steam engines and dynamos stand still and silent, when they stand at all. Now we live virtual lives in an "information age." We've convinced ourselves that we are somehow above the mere manufacture of goods and that only backward countries still "make" things. Gazing down from our Olympian perch, we forget that cars are still made of steel, that somewhere mills must weave the fabric for our clothes, and that even computers have to be built by someone, somewhere. It's just not us -- and it isn't here. So let's follow the old railroad siding and the fallen power lines to the base of a lonely brick chimney that used to darken the sky. From the book: Ghostly Ruins - America's Forgotten Architecture by Harry Skrdla. My GF (Architecture major) and I are both into history and preservation, especially old industry and industrial sites (After all, we DO live in a refurbished 1902 textile mill ) She picked up this book on a whim and neither of us could believe what an excellent read it was. A majority of the sites in the book are in and around Detroit. But I thought it held significance for our cause here at Cheers & Geers as well.

Honestly.... I'm just tired of the smoke and mirrors. I want GM or the industry to tell me exactly where we stand and exactly what that means I WILL NOT be able to buy. If Congress just single handedly euthanized the american auto industry (Which I'm sure was the intent of AT LEAST half of it' members as well as MOST of the 'green' lobbyists) then I want to know. I want a promise from SOMEONE that we will continue to innovate and do our best to have a CHOICE to buy what we want instead of taking the easy road out and giving up (Which is what it means to be an american now) I have no problem driving classics for the rest of my tenure, but I want to know now so I can prepare a fleet of cars and an arsenal of guns. As far as Pontiac, which is the elephant at the top of the thread that no one wants to talk about, it does not need Zeta to survive as long as Alpha pulls through and GM continues to put effort into the division. The Zeta volume is minimal in the first place. I personally think GM can still pull Zeta off, and I don't know what the damn big deal is. We have flex fuels, diesels, electricity, d.o.d. and a lot of other fuel saving technologies at our expense -AND- CAFE is already measured higher than window stickers. As someone else said, if GM can't meet this improvement with a bit better mix of product (Which should be here from a sales/business standpoint anyway) then they might as well just close up shop now.

+1 more.

Technically, they did for a couple of years when Jason (the bassist) left and James (lead singer) went into rehab. Then when they re-united they finally finished "St. Anger" (2003) which is, to many, their worst effort to date. The new CD is supposed to sound like the missing link between "... And Justice For All" and "Metallica" (The Black Album) which means it won't be as one dimensional as the last 2 or 3 records. Those are the words of James Hetfield, the lead singer of MetallicA

Little bit of bad 'Car-ma' maybe? At least you're not in much pain. Oh, and how much is that GM discount again? :AH-HA_wink:

AWESOME! First gen Auroras can be picked up for pretty cheap now. (I've thought about it myself) but most have had the wheels driven off of them. I think this is a great idea! You should post some pics. P.S. That Shelby motor sounds sweet! Is it pretty much a Shelby Series motor minus the supercharger? (Or were they turbo-ed when the car finally got produced?)