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What do you mean? That is the plan. The only thing besides shares in NUMMI, Isuzu and Suzuki is GMAC. And there are plans to sell a majority stake in GMAC. This is GM's last chance.

Buickman is right. Wagoner is absolutely to blame (along with Smith, Stempel, and Smith - sounds like a law firm). Sure, GM is and has been in a number of non-automotive businesses since forever, but GM is dismantling nevertheless to pay off obligations. Not a good place to be. About the only businesses left to sell off are remaining stakes in Suzuki and Isuzu, the NUMMI stake, GMAC Bank, GMAC Insurance, GMAC Residential Mortgage, and GMAC Automotive Dealer/Consumer. GM (and later Ford) should have stayed in crisis mode back in the 70s. But that would have required a change in culture. Game just about over. Toyota's continuous improvement philosophy culture has won.

The GTP has 240hp and 241 lb/ft torque and weighs in at 3428 lbs. The 325i has 215hp and 185 lb/ft of torque and weighs in at 3285. In the real world there's at least a $10,000 difference between the two. And no matter what Car and Driver says, the power/weight ratios make them look like liars. At the very least, there's probably no real difference to the driver in real world driving. The real difference however, as with all BMWs compared to lesser cars, is the snob factor. There is a huge level of envy with BMW ownership. There is none with a Pontiac.

Rick Wagoner is of course directly responsible for this. After all, he's been at the helm for 5 years, an eternity in the business world. Who can honestly dispute this? Worse, though, is the inept intractable board of directors. How are these people helping? Are they trying to put GM out of business?

Actaully, he didn't say this. He said that GM wasn't big enough to affect the market meaning the stock market. Different than the economy. Big difference. GM's market capitalization (basically the number of shares outstanding times it's market price - the dollar value of the company as a whole) is miniscule compared to other measures of size such as revenue. In fact, GM is 15 times smaller on a market cap basis than Toyota and 16 times smaller than America's largest company, Wal-Mart. An extra $2B loss added to already dismal results has no short-term effects on the economy (loss of jobs, wealth, productivity) in general. However, a bankrupt GM would be a tremendous blow to the economy for those reasons and perhaps more when you consider the amount of GM debt tied up in derivatives.

Thanks for the reply. It's interesting that the Malibu Maxx is not listed as a separate vehicle.

When does Fairfax typically start shipping the next model year? I want an idea of when we'll start seeing as many or more '07s than '06s in the showrooms.

I have lived on both coasts (LA now) and I can tell you that's true. The Tahoes and Corvettes are popular in LA, but you don't see many new GM cars here without "Enterprise" license plate frames. Unfortunate because the Malibu and Impala look like great alternatives to Camry and Accord for less money.

Like a lot of folks here I think about what GM should look like a lot. It's almost an obsession. One thing, though, that a lot of us armchair generals seem to omit from our thinking is why is GM losing money??? GM's public financial statements don't reveal what part of the business is hemorrhaging. So, while talking about ditching brands to clear up brand identity is fun it doesn't really help in terms of knowing if it will put GM back in the black. On the other hand, if one knew that "Saturn" or "Pontiac" was consistently unprofitable or that one car line within those brands made them unprofitable then action could be taken. Car lines (aside from Chevrolet and Cadillac) that are consistently unprofitable should be purged. The best way for GM to handle the dealers in that situation is to starve them of product. If the profitability problem with GM only lies with pensions and health care then why should we be talking about killing brands at all? Bottom line, opinions like those from DeLorenzo would be more interesting if we knew the full financial story.

http://www.autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant

If those trucks are so great and Holden can't make more money engineering, designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling it's own small truck then fine. But GM could just as well buy the trucks from Isuzu WITHOUT having to own a piece of the company and tying up capital.

Too bad the praise has to come from Motorweak's John Davis. His show was a lot more interesting when they had less money.

It's not just "prissy" west coasters (whatever that means). The Southeast and Northeast gave it up a long time ago to the Japanese and Germans. GM only has itself to blame for not being cool. As far as the dealers go, it's surprising more haven't left GM. Money talks, bs walks - been the same in any business endeavor for a long time. By the way dude, no offense, but your avatar is really freaky. If I saw that coming towards me on the street I'd punch it in the nose.

Excellent. Sounds like a Chevy version of Kappa with old-school Corvette styling cues. Those of us who demand exclusive cars for each of the divisions (while ignoring the fact that Chevy has by far GM's largest dealer body) will hate this. I love it. Chevy and Cadillac should split everything GM offers.

It seems just about all you see here are "Toyota" billboards on nearly every corner. And on TV. The dealers are even stronger here advertising-wise. I can't help but imagine what a difference it might make by advertising Chevrolet and Cadillac here more. Unfortunately, you can forget about trimming Pontiac/GMC/Buick/Saturn to get the money: they don't advertise here either.

GMDAT is the one foreign venture that seems to be working at the moment. Daewoo will stay within GM's orbit. Hello, they got a hell of a deal on it! How could they lose at this point??? Suzuki, on the other hand: GM doesn't need it. But they do need the cash a Suzuki sale would provide. Now, if they can ditch the other two albatrosses, Isuzu and Saab, they'll be on the way to shoring up their future.

Don't forget Ralph Buick which was bought by Sherwood Pontiac-GMC across the street. If I recall correctly "Sherwood" himself is actually Sherwood Sheehan, the same Sheehan from Ft. Lauderdale.

I read the article, but I don't understand the headline. If GM were to truly "channel" its eight brands separately, it would allow new stand-alone retail stores for Buick or Pontiac. This isn't the plan nor has it been for some time. Good idea, though, to have the field sales people concentrate on one nameplate.

Congrats. Looks like a nice ride.

Buickman is right. Wagoner's performance has been terrible on just about every metric. Yet, strangely, he still has a job. And what's all this talk about Buickman seriously thinking he could be chairman? If he wrote/said this it was probably meant as hyperbole. I'm sure Jim Dollinger (like all of us) would be satisfied with any American executive who understands the car biz and who can get the job done with integrity. I guess I don't understand all these attacks on him. He's on our team after all. Why attack him just because you think he's smokin' crack?

I'm from the east coast but live in LA now. My feeling is that GM and Ford dealers out here have consolidated in a big way. In the San Fernando Valley, Galpin and Vista are the dominant Ford dealers, and Rydell is the dominant GM dealer (they carry everything even commercial). There's hardly anyone else in this part of LA, which is so big it would constitute the country's 5th or 6th largest city if it broke off from the rest of the city. Rydell is so large that I believe it uses part of the old Van Nuys GM assembly property to store a sea of vehicles. Again, GM's and Ford's dealers are probably each company's greatest strength.

The Monte Carlo boats of the mid '70s rode on a 116 in wheelbase. Those were good looking cars for the time. Of course, the overhangs on the Zetas would be much shorter consistent with modern design. I would think the production Camaro wb would be closer to the Mustang's 107? A MC or new Riviera could then take on a 112 or 113 in wb with short overhangs. On a separate note, I wonder if Zeta means the end of column shifts and bench seats?

This has been discussed in various places, but I'm wondering if anyone has any solid info about the 1009-10 timeframe? Seems like the W and G bodies could be easily replaced by "Zeta" as such: Impala (LWB) Monte Carlo (LWB 2 door) Camaro (SWB) G8 (LWB) GTO (SWB) Lucerne (LWB) Velite/Riviera (LWB 2 door) DTS gets moved over to Sigma while LaCrosse gets moved to Epsilon II. Input?

Yep. Just what we thought. Jerry York is NOT YET positive on Saab: http://detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../603010381/1148

Hmmm. Sounds like York is "agreeing" with Lutz for the time being. But it's doubtful he's for allowing Saab another 2 years of losses. If the Delphi/Tower situation deteriorates and Saab does not post a profit this year then Saab is on the block.