FUTURE_OF_GM

Supposedly... But he is 1) losing money right now and that has stalled the project 2) fighting Charlotte about building a structure taller than the BAC building.

Normally, I don't BS with anyone about the automotive world. I find that most dealers and people in the general public are too stupid to have a meaningful conversation with. (regarding the state of the industry and it's relationship to perception verses reality) And on top of that, I generally find that my opinions are so strong that they tend to be very abrasive to most people. When those two things combine, it's not a good situation. I usually end up getting all pissed off and stand off-ish and the other person usually thinks I'm just an asshole for "overreacting". Honestly, I try to avoid the subject at all costs. Then again, I've never been one to feel like I need (or need to make) casual conversation. Introversion will do that to you. I mean, I'll talk if someone talks to me, or if I'm in a jovial mood. But usually, I mind my own business and try to be as invisible as possible.

Seems like a fair article to me. The issue with the media isn't the NEWS they report, it's the manner IN WHICH they report it. That's what some people fail to understand. This article isn't biased and doesn't throw in any of the journalists own opinion or "knowledge" as fact. As a result, it's completely fair IMO.

+1 I had a transaction go wrong on eBay. So, I refunded the guys money. He kept sending me very angry emails about me ripping him off. Come to find out, it took PayPal almost 2 weeks to put the money back in his account. Unfortunately, a lot of parts people on eBay ONLY accept PayPal. Personally, I like the tried and trusted Postal Money Order method.

Yeah.. I was going to say that my friend who worked there went in the other day and noticed that they had raised the prices prior to discounting the items.

This one about made me fall out of my chair. LMAO! I laughed so hard that the GF even came in to "see what was going on"

Honestly.... This is what needs to happen with ALL GM niche divisions (READ: Saab, Saturn, Pontiac & Hummer) ACTUALLY, this would probably be a good thing for ALL GM divisions. Why not execute this plan at some level throughout the organization? Maybe even divisional partnerships. Chevrolet, Buick/GMC, Pontiac/Cadillac, Saturn/Saab.... Or, Cadillac/Hummer, Saturn/Saab, Buick/GMC, Chevrolet/Pontiac.... Or even GMC/Hummer, Cadillac/Buick, Chevrolet/Pontiac, Saturn/Saab.

LMFAO! Priceless...

Ya know... I have no specific football team (yeah, the Panthers are here and blah, blah, yay!) and I really want to adopt one. But in order to for me get into it, I hav to have some sort of vested interest. So, I told my co-worker that I'm going to start pulling for Detroit because I have a vested interest in seeing the city succeed and the football team is a natural connection. My co-worker said "Have fun waiting 10 years for a super bowl... In fact, you need to go to Detroit and play FOR them. They need any help they can get now." LOL. So, I might become a Detroit fan, suckage or not.

I'm really pulling for Arizona... I think they deserve some success. The Steelers seem to be pretty strong though (Unless they "loose" tonight)

LOL I worked at an Advance for about a year. It's kind of a double edged sword because, sure, I'm a shade tree mechanic. But I'll also be the first to admit that "I'm no professional and there is a lot that I don't know." And that's what people fail to understand. Sales people at parts houses are just that; sales people. They aren't mechanics and they don't receive any sort of training. That being said, my friends and I that worked at Advance were all on about the same level. It is a small town, so it also helped that we each knew local mechanics really well. If something stumped us and the parts pro wasn't there, we'd just give one of our friends a ring and *problem solved* I DESPISED that job.... People would ask me the stupidest questions and a lot of times, people didn't even know what motor was in their car much less what the car needed. I dealt with more ignorant and rude rednecks there (a product of the area) than I have ever dealt with in my life. I almost came to blows with one guy over 6 Autolite spark plugs one night. He backed down, but then said "Ima get my gun and see you in the parking lot when you get off." to which I replied "What the f*ck ever, man." In all honesty I was a bit on edge though. I saw the same guy in the local grocery store a couple of weeks later. He tried to speak and be nice, I however wouldn't have it. I have a related story from a couple of days ago as well. You all remember that my CD player got jacked in August of last year. Well, I've been waiting to put the new one in because the voucher that the insurance company gave me was supposedly only good in Asheville. So, Christmas rolls around and I bounce to the local Circuit City (Since I was to be home for a good number of days) They tell me the voucher is expired. I'm like; 'no big deal, I'll have the insurance company issue an updated voucher.' The insurance company says; "The voucher will be in your email within 48 hours." A week passes and I'm about to head back to Charlotte and I still haven't received a voucher. I call the guy at Circuit City and say; "Look man, I don't want to leave my car with you anyways because it's a big inconvenience. I can wire the CD player in 15 minutes. What say you sign the voucher and just give me the parts?" Of course, that was OUT OF THE QUESTION. And he also informed me that despite the insurance company telling me that the voucher was only good in Asheville, it's good in Charlotte as well. So all that time I've been riding around without music (months) I could've had my CD player installed (You all know how I feel about my metal ) Fast forward to last friday, still no voucher... So I say 'to hell with this, I'll just go buy the stuff myself and put the CD player in.' (basically take a loss on the voucher) FIRST STOP: Best Buy... The guy sells me a harness and a kit. I tell him that it isn't the right harness and that I remembered running into this before when I wired my previous CD player but I couldn't remember the part number. He basically calls bull$h! and insinuates that I'm an idiot. I get a little pissed (it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyeballs that this harness isn't correct) and demand my money back. I get refunded and head to the nearest Circuit City (a small town away) Circuit City guy is super cool and knows right away what I'm talking about. He says "Yeah, some Focuses use the european harness and yours is obviously one of those" Good deal. I pay and walk out to the lot. The harness still isn't right, so I go back in and the guy says "Pull it in here and we'll see what fits." Apparently he had just slipped up and handed me the wrong harness because the actual european harness fit (and it's the one I remembered) He says "Unfortunately, you're going to have to hard wire the harness into your CD player unless Best Buy has a harness that will connect this harness to the CD player, since they sell that brand." I did not want to hear this because delicate wiring is not one of my strong points. My old CD player plugged in perfectly, no hard wiring required. I head to the next nearest Best Buy ANOTHER town over (didn't want to go back to the one I was at, and I needed to go pay a bill near Best Buy #2 -- which ended up being very difficult to find) That Best Buy tells me that they do NOT carry a harness that will work and that I will have to wire it. So, off I go to Advance for some wire connectors. So.... 4 months on a voucher, one day and three towns worth of harness shopping and 15 minutes in the parking lot later I once again have tunage... What a pain in the ass. Cars are a fun hobby, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous.

I thought Sears was owned by KMart now? (KMart basically became a holding company for Sears) So, does that mean KMart might rescue them?

We can't evfen compete there, yet they now OWN our market. God bless america!

I think it was a SEMA car circa 99 or 00 Can't remember the name tho.

LMFAO!!!! I especially like the guy in the boulder thing. (Not sure what it's called) That guy had spirit!

The writing was on the wall. I had a friend in management at CC and he bailed a few months ago because he said things weren't looking good at all. It's sad... I can remember when they built the first Circuit City in our small town. It was such a "big deal". They closed one store here in charlotte a few months ago, but the bigger, better one remained open. CompUSA went out last year. So now all we have here (That I know of) is Best Buy.

Because the people who run GMNA are FAR too stupid to comprehend all of that 'common sense stuff'

Of course it isn't... It makes too much sense and is too good of a product for the idiots at GM not to eff with it in some way. It's times like this that I wish GM would just get it over with and either be bought or liquidated. Give the damn brands to SOMEONE that at least has a clue. they'll covet and nuture 8 year old Saabs all day long, but by god, the Camaro can't even hit the lots before someone is b*tching like a little school girl. (And no, I'm not drunk tonight... For some reason, I'm just really pissed off)

I agree... But no one cares about freedom of choice anymore... I have a hard time fitting in anything this side of a Crown Vic. But that doesn't matter as long as the anorexic college douchebag lib can have "Hope" that I'm not polluting the world for his kids. After all, he doesn't have to suffer and that's the whole idea behind the green/liberal mindset. "What doesn't affect me personally, doesn't matter. A to hell with you if it affects you."

+1 (And a media eager to see Detroit to it's grave) americans are so f*cking bitchy about everything these days. Get the hell over it! It's am minor issue (Is it really even an issue at all?) that isn't even worth getting pissed off about, much less a law suit. My Charmin didn't exactly do the job as well as I had hoped earlier, so I think I'm going to contact Yahoo, then hire a bunch of lawyers and WASTE EVERYONE'S TIME.

It's not... Especially if the mix continues to be as it was this year... CAFE won't even be a factor then.

Apparently so...

Exactly.... I highly doubt that... They usually don't let global janitors make product decisions (although, the janitors might do a better job than the execs have been doing)

*YAWN* ... Old news... This has been out for a few days now. And BTW, the quote that followed that quote basically said that GM will continue to work on RWD when it gets more $$$. I love how Sigma was "phenominal" last year when the CTS debuted, but is apparently "AgEing" now. Oh, teh noooz.... It's a whopping 7 years old! Don't most camry platforms go for about twice as long as this? 1) Zeta has been "dead" in the U.S. since the FIRST time Lutz rang the "death knell" (seriously... same wording used and all) 2) Word from insiders is that the Cadillac and Buick Zetas are merely delayed at this point, not dead. (Epsilon is being evaluated for those replacements but certainly has not been chosen, and the choice probably will not be made for another year as GM has WAY more important things to execute than LARGE cars right now.) 3) The G8 ST was killed because it clashed with what Pontiac is going to become, not because it mattered as a Zeta. Production, that has already been paid for, of about 5-7,000 units isn't anything to CAFE. And, FWIW, LaNeve even contended that the G8 ST could return if the market rebounds. Good... GM needs to focus on paying the bills, not being sexy. Well, considering that Lutz said the Commodore is safe for at least 2 more generations. And that the G8, no matter how much it sales is profitable (unless the dollar goes schizo) And that the G8 has been identified by almost EVERY exec as a keeper in the Pontiac line up... I'd say it's chances are pretty good. Sounds good to me... There have been many conflicting reports though.... People saying anywhere from 3 to even 6 cars. Hell, even Lutz contradicts himself in that quote. He says one or two cars, then list four. (He counts the Solstice coupe as a separate entry) That should've been a no brainer from day one. Hell, even if regs hadn't gotten in the way, it's not like they would've sold in the volume that GM wanted to sell them in. Alpha or the newly prophesized Zeta-lite This article is like 2-3 days old...

We camp a lot at Myrtle Beach, that makes it tolerable because we're pretty much on the outskirts -- almost into Surfside beach, actually. I mean, I love it there (especially camping) but it's become such a "party town" for stupid HS students and frat boys that I think it's getting a bad rep. Hilton Head has quite the reputation with the 'high brow' around here. I've never been, but my GF has and says that it's not appealing at all. She thought the place was really run down, dirty and boring. The surf is usually pretty calm unless a storm is somewhere close. The water is murky and a dark blue to mud brown kind of color. It's pretty, but it's not the gulf by any means. LMAO... Yep.