Drew Dowdell

Strangely, from reading that, I'm getting the idea that he might be gay. Seeing as he asked you that many times, and was eager enough to drop the rent...

..and such.

The Toyota/Honda/Nissan 2-brand brand model has won.

1. Who said the game is over?

2. Toyota has 3 brands in the U.S.

3. The Terrain and the Buick "Vue" would be substantially different vehicles.

4. Have you looked at Toyota's sales lately? They are tanking just as hard as the domestics... they just had a cash horde to help them through.

GM as Chevy, Pontiac/Buick/GMC, Cadillac makes sense and easy to reduce/eliminate model overlap.

We can just leave it at that!

No no... I can post pics.

A Modest Proposal?

We could put them to good use......

suction out the fat to make biofuel.

"Honey! The Suburban is below a quarter tank. Have a double whopper with cheese and hook up the shop vac!"

Beef: It's what's for dinner.

Don't I know it.

From the mouths of babes.

comes spittle.

I'm not in favor of taking choices away at all. I just want the costs to go up.

It might be that the individual was born that way. With a predisposition for shoving things down their throats.

Even if they are born that way, we can change them, we'll just have to put them into special camps and make them pray a lot.

That is so wrong...

So is shoving greaseburgers down your throat even after you can no longer fit in an airline seat.

and then get stripped of your admin powers.

Happy Birthday Walt!!!

*still holds the keys to the server*

Actually, I think Walt would appreciate it.

Plenty at my local dealers.

Happy Birthday dear leader.

*really wishes he had a pic of Walt so he could turn it into an Obama style poster*

Yes, because you're so perfect.....

Not at all.... but I also don't eat a triple bacon whopper with cheese, a bucket of fries, and wash it down with a gallon of cola just because I can.

We as a society have lost the ideas of moderation, self control, and self responsibility.

"It's not my fault I'm obese, it's those McDonald's cheeseburgers that are so so good!"

"It's not my fault I'm obese, McDonald's fries their fries in fat."

"It's not my fault I'm obese, McDonald's increased the size of the medium fries and it's only 35 cents more for the large... it's such a good deal!"

"It's not my fault I'm obese, the only time AmericanIdolWantstobeaMillionairebystudyingLawandOrdertobeaSurvivoronCSI:Miami is on are the 7 hours after I get home from work so I really don't have time to exercise."

I'm not fat, but it seems to me that people have way too much to say about those who are.

You'd think that they were all terrorists or something.

It's just another symptom of our (on average) gluttony.

50 hours a week? That's my standard work week for my day job... then in the evenings and weekends I manage my rental properties... somehow in between all that, I have to come on here and babysit you miscreants. *shakes cane*

The Autoblog story doesn't mention it, but the Motor Trend article, mentioned on C&G's front page, does: it looks like after the Chevrolet Volt and the Cadillac Converj, Buick will get a "Voltec" crossover.

According to Motor Trend, "Our source says GM will follow up the Cadillac with a people-mover/crossover utility vehicle based on the Voltec architecture . . . As for the Voltec people-mover/CUV, our source believes a Buick badge is most likely . . . The Voltec CUV could have two or three rows of seats - the compact Delta platform is related to the midsize Epsilon II platform, so this model could be larger than the Chevy and Cadillac, with more battery mass to handle the extra weight."

Which would you prefer: that they name it Buick "Electra" or Buick "Voltec"?

Electra of course

Does GM make cube shaped mini vehicles that fit the Japanese market? Also, GM is at a competitive disadvantage because they pay for healthcare where most other countries that's paid by the govt. Your not proposing turning the US into Japan are you?

Aveo, Agila, Corsa, Astra, Meriva, Vivaro, and Zafira

Hyperbole aside, the government healthcare amounts to a huge subsidy for these foreign companies.

Airbus is a wonderful example of this. They receive huge subsidies from the EU membership not just in healthcare, but in grants, low interest loans, etc. just to compete with Boeing.

For now, Boeing is still the leader, but how long can they compete like that?

And more to the greater argument, how is this situation anything resembling free trade?

My point is, we haven't had free trade for a very very long time.

And you don't think our EPA/CAFE/Safety laws are any different?? Please!

Those laws apply equally to both Toyota and General Motors.

Cars manufactured in Japan, by Toyota, for Japanese consumption do not have to go through the inspection process (and associated fees) that cars manufactured in the US, by General Motors, for Japanese consumption do.

Japan has the second largest automotive market in the world. You think GM is selling in Europe, China, and the Middle East but not Japan because they just didn't get around to it yet? You think that Opel and GMDAT couldn't have scrounged up enough Aveos, Agilas, Corsas, Astras, Merivas, Vivaros, and Zafiras to at least make a go at it? Please!!

Interesting theory, but would never work as all other counteries would retaliate in same and you end up with protectionism that will lead to world wide economic decline.

Better to keep free trade and force the American companies to start thinking long term with quality products and then you gain market growth.

Keep free trade? What is your definition of free trade? Trade hasn't been free for a long time. Oh sure Japan, Korea, and China can dump product here all they want with relatively minimal regulation or taxation. Watch what happens when the US tries to export to those countries.

If the U.S. imposed the same restrictions Asian imports that the Asians have on U.S. imports, Japan, China, and Korea would declare war.

I agree. And if we have been in a trade war for decades, how has it harmed us? We are still the largest consumer of foreign made goods by far. Do we really want the rest of the world to be much poorer than us? Look at our southern border and the drug wars going on down there. Is that desirable?

Fixed that up there for ya....

It has harmed us because we have been unable to export our goods at the same rate that other countries do.

Now I don't expect Japan to have as big a market as the U.S., but GM should be able to have more than a .5% market share there. GM didn't even bother because of the draconian import laws the Japanese have that are disguised as safety inspections.

China is another great example. They limit the amount of imports they'll accept. You wonder why GM builds things in China? It's not just the cheap labor.... it has to be built there to sell there in any great number.

We became the powerful nation we are because of our ability to build ANYTHING. We've sold that power in order to have low low prices at Big Box Mart.

I would argue that a charismatic, well known figure like Iaccoca would do wonders to help GM's image.

Get Jobs, or Gates, or someone like that.

Imagine if they put Gates, with all his ruthlessness, at the head of GM.

Well you know, the rental has already been bought and paid for. So the "damage" is done. Whether you rent it or not won't make a difference to the automakers.

Doesn't mean I can't reward the company that purchased the way I want them to. It all trickles down. Both the Solstice and S2000 are halo cars at rental places. Placing more demand on the Solstice encourages the rental company to buy more of them.

About a 100 point increase in the average IQ of the country.