4gm

Agreed. There have always been tons of people who are more interested in more fuel economy than power.

Saturn/Opel had the perfect design with the Anatara and then we get this. Wtf?

With the 3 door GM finally has a car that will appeal to a large number of import buyers. That design is great. Too bad the initial production run will be so limited. I don't care for the 5 door. It already looks dated to me. I never thought I'd say this but I'd rather see GM's corporate radio instead of what's being offered. The interior is ok but could stand improvement.

One thing that has stuck with me about Lutz is how he publicly stated how much he hated the CTS when it came out. Why does no one else remember this? He was so clearly off the mark with that one it's not even funny.

And the way to do that is to give each brand it's own distinct design philosphy. GM is moving in this general directon but they're not even close to being there yet. Cadillac had the best example with A&S but they now seem to be backpedaling if the new CTS is anything to go by. It doesn't appear that Lutz has a broad design sensibility. If he did the designs coming out now that he's responsible for would be much more varied. I wouldn't say he's a one-trick pony, more like a two-trick pony.

It is scary. Until I saw them, I had high hopes the new Malibu and CTS would knock my socks off and show GM was serious about making "gotta-have" cars. Unfortunately, I'm less than impressed with those 2 cars. I see GM's retail share continuing to decline for the forseeable future. They'll cut costs and be more profitable but they'll have less market share.

Almost every Lucerne I've seen in Los Angeles is an Enterprise rental. Sad but true.

I'm with Poncho on this one. I don't think the new Malibu has what it takes to win over a large number of buyers. It is too bland. It has a distinctive grill but that is it. Nothing on the rest of the car stands out. As I mentioned in another thread, I do think this will do better than the current Malibu but any rise in retail sales will probably be offset by a reduction in fleet sales. The Epica or reworking the Commodore design for Epsilon would have been much better choices as Malibu replacements.

Is GM counting it's GM-Daewoo sales in it's sales tallies? I thought I read somewhere that they weren't doing that.

This design would make a great Malibu. It's a little too conservative for a Pontiac but if that's the only way itp get it here it'll have to do.

I don't think GM is getting it. To win over import owners, it needs stand-out designs that reflect each brand's image. Not only is this new Malibu somewhat bland but it resembles the Lucerne. GM should have taken the new Commodore's design and adapted it as close as would be possible for Epsilon. The Commodore is a great design for a mainstream brand - well done, clean and no frills. This new Malibu will do better than the current generation but with GM lowering it's fleet volume the uptick in sales might not be much.

The Cobalt, by most accounts, is competitive with it's class. It's not class leading nor is it bottom of the barrel. As late as earlier this decade it would have been unthinkable that GM would make something competitive in such a crowded segment. It really is quite an accomplishment. What GM needed to do, and didn't, was give the Cobalt a stylish design to bring in buyers who might not consider a GM product. Since then GM has found the power of great design. So hopefully the next Cobalt will be more stylish and less Japanese-generic.

Exactly. GM's entry level cars have all fallen short of the competition. GM basically sold the same Cavalier and Sunfire for God knows how long and the Ion was ugly from the get-go and needed more time in development before it's release. You can't ignore your bread and butter segments then wonder why you're losing market share. Duh!!

I happen to think those tailights are fine. They're distinctive and are much better than a lot GM's recent rear end light designs that look like afterthoughts - Cobalt, G6, Lacrosse. This is a really good looking vehicle that should do well.

I was hoping for something a little more adventurous but I still like it. It looks like it could easily be a Buick LaCrosse.

That thing is too good looking for GMNA. We want ugly minivans that don't sell so we can justify bailing out of the minivan segment altogether.

Is this a GM NA vehicle? At first I thought it might be the Astra hatch that's already available in Europe heavily disguised (though that wouldn't make sense) but the slant of the hatch window is too steep and the rear door cut isn't the same. But the overall shape seems similar. If this is a GM product, could it be the next Cobalt?

Buick needs it'sown version of Bentley's 2 door Continental. THAT is where Buick design should be.

Yuck. I like the rearend but everything else needs to go. And I actually like the new Sentra. I saw one on the freeway the other day. It looks good. The Versa is ugly. No question. Ghosn might be needing the heave-ho from Nissan shortly.

Once again GM takes a fantastic concept vehicle, the Antara, and dulls the production version down to a point that few people who saw the concept will be excited over the production version. It's not bad. It's nice in a very inoffensive way but with the Antara I saw something that could be an out of the box, unquestionable homerun. This is not even close to that. Thank God for Saturn's stellar reputation.

Weren't the minivans GM planned supposed to look fantastic? If so, I think it'd be a shame for them to be shelved. With a great looking minivan GM would pick up sales in the segment.

Note to GM: if you build a bottum run product, no one will buy it. This reminds me a discussion a while ago here on C&G. There was some data showing how much the market for 2-door cars had shrunk and, for that reason, it would be a good idea not to put resources into developing a car for that segment. And I was like, hold on minute, maybe the market for that segement has shruck because most of the 2-doors that are available are ugly. I pointed out that the BMW 3-series was attractive AND selling well. I don't remember anyone responding to my post.

It looks like it belongs somewhere in Eastern Europe. I'm offended by it's looks and I'm not sure why.

I meant U.S.

The Captiva looks infinitely better than the upcoming Antara/Vue. I think the center stack look good, not great, too. Too bad the Captiva isn't coming to North America. It would do incredibly well.