HarleyEarl

In all due respect to Flint....it ain't no Vegas.

FOR RELEASE: 2006-01-25 GM Restoration Parts and Chevrolet donate $2,500 in genuine parts to restore Corvette returned 37 years after being stolen DETROIT – GM Restoration Parts and Chevrolet have donated $2,500 in genuine parts to help restore the 1968 Corvette convertible that Alan Poster recently had returned to him after being stolen 37 years ago. Alan Poster, who made a number of headlines last week for having his stolen Corvette returned just before being shipped to a would-be buyer in Sweden , was surprised by the gift during an interview with Cruise Control Radio, a national automotive talk radio show. Harlan Charles, Corvette product manager, called to congratulate Mr. Poster on having his Corvette returned and informed him that GM Restoration Parts and Chevrolet were giving him $2,500 credit to use for genuine Corvette parts. “We’re happy to help Mr. Poster restore his long-lost love,” said Charles. ”We understand what it’s like to fall in love with a Corvette and to get it in your blood. Corvette enjoys a 70 loyalty rate, which means 70 percent of people who buy a Corvette purchase another one.” It turns out that Mr. Poster had just purchased a 1974 Corvette prior to having his stolen 1968 Corvette convertible returned. GM Restoration Parts offers more than 25,000 parts that meet stringent quality standards. Many of the program’s licensed parts are produced from the original GM tooling. Approximately 2,000 parts are available for Corvettes. You can see which parts are available and learn more about GM Restoration Parts at www.gmgoodwrench.com. Mr. Poster’s Corvette was returned missing several original items such as a gas tank, carburetor and a transmission, and its original International Blue paint scheme had been changed to silver. Mr. Poster said he plans to restore the car, repaint it blue and give it to his 17-year-old daughter. The 1968 Corvette that Poster had returned ushered in the third generation of Corvettes created in the “Mako Shark” concept design. Several classic design cues from that era can be found in today’s sixth generation 400-horsepower Corvette coupe and convertible as well as the 505-horsepower Corvette Z06. "Anytime you have a chance to put a great piece of American automotive history back on the road you have to try to make it happen,“ said Cruise Control co-host Fred Staab. “I am glad to have had the opportunity to bring Mr. Poster and General Motors together." Cruise Control engages in discussions of automotive news of the week and offers in-depth interviews with leading car industry executives, designers, engineers and product managers. Information about subscribing to the Cruise Control Radio podcast or downloading an MP3 copy of the show can be found at www.cruisecontrolradio.com.

FOR RELEASE: 2006-01-24 General Motors Unleashes “Autotainment” On Las Vegas Scene GM to Open Unprecedented “The Drive” Facility Offering Performance & Off-Road Driving Experiences in Spring of 2006; GM also Becomes a Marketing & Advertising Partner of the Las Vegas Monorail Company Additional information and photography LAS VEGAS – With tons of dirt and a dose of speed, the corner of Paradise Road and Sahara Avenue will be transformed in spring of 2006 when General Motors opens the doors of “The Drive,” a unique hands-on driving experience that will be the first of its kind within the United States. Featuring two professionally-designed driving courses – including a high performance loop and an off-road adventure over a dirt terrain – The Drive will provide a unique “autotainment” experience adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip. The land to be utilized for the facility will be leased by General Motors from the Sahara Hotel & Casino. For the duration of the project, GM will also be a marketing and advertising partner of the Las Vegas Monorail Company including having the only brand presence at the monorail station at the Sahara Hotel & Casino – currently the most northern point of the Las Vegas Monorail system. “The Drive provides a unique platform for General Motors to showcase its vehicles in an unprecedented way,” said Steve Tihanyi, general director, marketing and entertainment alliances for General Motors. “With two fun-filled courses, consumers will be able to enjoy one-of-a-kind driving experiences in a variety of our products without any pressure to buy.” The performance course will feature a half-mile paved route with jogs and turns complete with chicanes to enjoy both the speed and handling control of pure sports car driving thrills. Vehicle choices to be unleashed on the Performance course will include: the legendary Chevy Corvette; the Pontiac GTO, the 400-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V; the Pontiac Solstice, a roadster exhibiting thrilling Pontiac performance; the luxurious and powerful Cadillac STS-V; and the impressive Saab 9-3 convertible. “Guests of the Sahara Hotel & Casino and fans of NASCAR will now have the opportunity to actually feel the thrill of putting the pedal to the metal just steps from our hotel and casino,” said John F. Morocco, director of operations for the Sahara Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. “The partnership with General Motors offers our guests a new thrilling attraction unlike any other near The Strip.” Keys to the rugged yet refined HUMMER H2 and mid-size HUMMER H3 will be available to consumers looking to navigate the adventurous off-road course encompassing a tunnel, hill climb, v-ditch and sloped banks, moguls and obstacles. The off-road trail is available to test out the Chevy Silverado Diesel, and once available, the redesigned 2007 models of the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon Denali, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Suburban. Select large SUVs will be E85 fuel compatible as well. “This commitment from GM and the Sahara shows that the monorail is more than transit system, it is rapidly becoming an icon level attraction of the most-visited city in the world,” said Curtis Myles III, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Monorail Company. “While The Drive at the Sahara monorail station exemplifies the experiential marketing environment of the monorail’s advertising program, we also believe the project will create incremental ridership and revenue. We’re proud to welcome General Motors to Las Vegas and we’re looking forward to building a long-lasting marketing partnership with them and the Sahara on this incredible journey.” With the addition of General Motors, the monorail expands its high-profile advertiser portfolio to six along with Sprint/Nextel, Hansen’s Beverage Company, Paramount Parks, BankWest of Nevada, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The Drive, which will encompass 11 acres at the corner of Sahara Avenue and Paradise Road, will be open for a minimum six-month period. The Drive will utilize a variety of local vendors for the build phase, and will hire approximately 100 locals to help with operations once the project opens. The Drive hours of operation (once open) are preliminarily set to be 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. seven days a week, including holidays. The Drive is accessible from the GM Monorail station at the Sahara Hotel & Casino, and parking is available at the hotel’s self parking structure or valet. Pricing and ticket locations for the driving experiences at The Drive will be announced at a later date. Drivers must be age 18 or over, and present a valid driver’s license. Professional drivers (as passengers) will accompany each driver to help them get the most out of their driving experience. For the safety of all guests, on-site breathalyzer tests will be part of the mandatory registration process before guests can enjoy The Drive experience. For those wanting to watch, The Drive will feature special viewing locations to capture pictures and witness drivers navigating the courses offered. About General Motors Corp.: General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 325,000 people around the world. It has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 200 countries. In 2005, GM sold nearly 9.2 million cars and trucks globally. GM’s global headquarters are at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com. About Las Vegas Monorail: The Las Vegas Monorail is privately funded and operated, using no tax dollars for its construction or operations. It connects eight major resorts, linking more than 25,000 hotel rooms and about 4.4 million square feet of meeting and convention space, including one of the world’s largest convention centers. The 4-mile route stops at the following seven stations: MGM Grand; Bally’s/ Paris; Flamingo/Caesars Palace; Harrah’s/ Imperial Palace; Las Vegas Convention Center; Las Vegas Hilton; and the Sahara. The $650 million transportation system runs along the Las Vegas resort corridor, traveling at a top speed of 50 mph. Up to nine trains consisting of four cars each run on a single rail that rises 20 feet high in most areas, its highest point reaching 70 feet above the Las Vegas Convention Center. The system is electric and has improved transit along The Strip without impacting air quality. Each year, it will take more than 4.4 million automobile trips off the major roadways and reduce carbon monoxide by 135 tons. The monorail operates Friday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. and Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. For more ticketing options, call (702) 699-8200 or visit www.lvmonorail.com. About Sahara Hotel & Casino: Sahara Hotel & Casino, home of the NASCAR Entertainment Center, opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 1952. This world class resort features 1,720 rooms and suites, five restaurants, two showrooms, and the Casbar Theatre Lounge. NASCAR Entertainment Center has a free exhibit of authentic racing equipment on display, including several stock cars and a memorial to driver Dale Earnhardt. Here you can ride the fastest roller coaster in Las Vegas called SPEED-The Ride, experience racing simulator Las Vegas Cyber Speedway, see the world’s largest race car “Carzilla,” dine at the NASCAR Cafe, buy official clothing and souvenirs from the Racewear Shop, or play video games in the 24 hour Pit Pass Arcade. All are convenient to the monorail station and free parking. For room reservations, call the Sahara Hotel & Casino at (888) 696-2121 or visit www.saharavegas.com.

Issue Date: January/Febuary 2006 , Posted On: 1/25/2006 Can GM Fight Back? Wagoner says it can with some help—not a bailout—from Washington. by william J. holstein General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner, who has announced plans to cut 30,000 jobs and close nine factories by 2008, says the Bush Administration is making a mistake by targeting China’s currency, not Japan’s. Here are highlights of an interview conducted originally for The New York Times: Q. Is GM going into Chapter 11? I think we’ve got a good plan to get the business turned around. I think as we’ve sat back and looked at where we are this year as things turned south, I think we have a pretty clear understanding of the areas where we needed to make significant progress. We are now executing those, and we have a lot of confidence that we’ve also been driving hard on the revenue side. If we execute the plan as we intend to, we’re going to see that things will turn and I hope all of this conversation around Chapter 11 begins to subside. Q. What’s it like personally to be in the eye of such a big storm? I’d rather not be in the financial position that we’re in, but I would use an analogy from when I played sports growing up. Is it more fun to play in a game that you won by 40 points? Or to play in one in which your backs were against the wall and you really had to use all of your capabilities and assets and your teammates’ capabilities and get the game moving in the right direction? The latter is clearly more energizing and more satisfying when you get it done. Q. Can you sleep at night? I probably have had less sleep this year than I normally have but when I do, I sleep just fine. Q. What would you say is the psychology now at GM? I would say that our people understand this is one of those few defining moments in the history of our enterprise. Q. What are the crucial elements of your strategy? First, we’re focused on product. I invite you to look at the next generation [sport] utility. The improvement is simply stunning. We need to keep that pace going. Second of all, we obviously have to step back and relook at how we’re going to market from a sales and marketing strategy. The third area is basically a frontal assault on all areas of cost to make sure we are driving to be the absolute most efficient manufacturer in the world. That’s hard because it’s meant significant capacity reductions and it means continuing to trim down work forces in the high cost countries, like the U.S. and Germany. Fourth is the very challenging issue of addressing health care. We have a breakthrough agreement with the UAW. It’s historic in its nature, but I would say it’s a very important first step to getting health care costs and particularly the legacy aspect of those under control. It’s a massive competitive disadvantage which we simply as an enterprise cannot carry. Q. 2005 was the first year you sold more vehicles outside the U.S. than inside. What are the implications? The implications are good and bad. It’s good that we’re growing so much outside the U.S. It’s bad that we’re selling less in the U.S. this year than we were last year by a small margin. That disparity is going to continue to grow. I want it to grow because we do well overseas. As the famous bank robber Willie Sutton said, “You rob banks because that’s where the money is.” Q. When you say you want a “level playing field” from Washington, what do you mean by that? The issue that has been particularly grating to us has been the policy of allowing the Japanese government to manipulate the yen valuation to provide export advantages. Japanese manufacturers are very competitive. They do not need currency manipulation to protect them. That policy has been followed for 20 to 30 years and it continues to be followed. It seems the U.S. government should be cracking the whip on them. Everybody’s running around excited about China. It’s fair that we should have the right kind of exchange rate policy out of China. But it all starts with Japan. Q. Why are we not hearing a drumbeat out of Washington about the Japanese currency? I don’t know. Start with the global trade balances of the countries. Japan has a massive positive trade balance. This is a fully developed country with the second largest economy in the world, and they have a massive positive trade balance. That’s relatively unusual, and a huge amount of that trade balance is in one area: vehicles. China has a huge surplus with the U.S., but it is basically in total about imbalance with the world. I think a case could be made that a lot of the things that are purchased in China by the U.S. have simply slid to China from other countries, maybe from Korea. So it is interesting to see the specific focus on China. To be honest, I’m not sure I can give you a logical reason. It’s easier to pick on them. China has begun to move on its currency and I think that’s the right thing to do. But what they’re doing is not unusual. Developing markets, including Japan, have ridden a relatively undervalued currency as part of their economic development scheme. By any measure, China is still a developing economy. Japan is none of those things. I don’t see why they just give Japan a complete free pass. Q. Would changing the value of the yen have any impact on the transplant factories in the U.S.? Massive. They have huge imported content. Don’t forget that out of total transplant sales, a significant percentage, if not a majority, are exported into the U.S. If you look at their financial results, they acknowledge that a one yen move against the dollar moves their financial results by hundreds of millions of dollars. Q. Are you saying that Washington is focused on the wrong target? There are no Chinese auto sales in the U.S. at this point. What degree of factor difference is there between China and Japan? It’s a million to zero. Q. Where do you see the China market going? Booming, growing again this year. It won’t surpass Japan as the second-largest market in the world [this year]. But it will next year. You and I may not be in this business long enough, but at some point your successor and one of mine will be talking about China being the biggest market in the world. It’s now shifting from a sprint into a steady gait that it can continue. Rather than this huge growth at the top of the market, which was driven by state enterprises buying vehicles, now it’s moving to individuals buying cars. They’re just getting into retail financing. So we’re seeing the economic growth and the rise in real incomes in the big cities and those people are beginning to buy cars. It’s the only place in the world that could be for our industry what the U.S. was from the 1930s through the 1960s or 1970s. That kind of extended growth opportunity is what we see for China. We see domestic Chinese manufacturers coming up and being big players. But unlike in Korea and Japan, where we were very skillfully sealed out during the growth period, we are able to participate in this growth. (Chief Executive)

Now that's funny.

Honestly Balthazar, you should seriously think of doing a book on past concept/showcars and all their adventures and the people around them. You have such a wealth of knowledge on the subject.

Earlier cars may not have had cupholders (although there were aftermarket gadgets) but they often had little round indentations in the glove box lid, when opened, to set your drink on. The cups did not stay upright in the corners though.

Saturn is doing just fine and will be fine without plastic panels....hardly something that that division hinges on.

The Buick's interior is not what it will be in production. Similar but not exactly. This is a showcar. Production is to have less of the 'wood' thing.

Great info Balthazar...love the convertible version, and appears driveable.

I never understood the success of the Altima. Completely escapes me.

That's the other thing, there is so much more room for sexual stuff in console-free cars....

Balthazar, I so agree with you regarding the centre console.....I can't wait for it to go away. It's so predictable. I love linear, horizontal dashes and bench seats....gives such a feeling of spaciousness...

That would be Brazil.....not a good sounding name. Sounds like choking.

Very interesting design for the time. The '86 Gurgel G-800. A little coupe from Gurgel.

Incredible luxury in an Oldsmobile in 1965. Even an illuminated vanity mirror in the back seat! The Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight.

I like to take things in context. The Lucerne interior is like night and day compared to the LeSabre that came before. It's not perfect but it's perfectly acceptable.

Quite amazing the amount that the Futurliner got....wow.

Pictures don't really do this car justice. It's so much better in person....I wasn't always that enthusiastic about the Lucerne. Now I am.

A 1969 Corvette L-88 just sold for $220,000.00.

So unexpected and didn't know it was available here yet.....saw a Buick Lucerne V8 on the street in deep burgundy, in Calgary, Alberta. I have to admit, this car has the 'it' factor...it looks very good.....eons beyond the LeSabre in street presence...not even in the same galaxy. They may be on to something here.

You may have something there...although right now a '69 Camaro Z-L1 has just sold for $450,000.00!

So agree, Razoredge....I have always loved this car!! I would have thought it would have got closer to a million. It's a beautiful, iconic Pontiac showcar.

It's interesting that Canadians have historically embraced the Pontiac brand more than Americans...maybe there is a book in there somewhere, as to why that is. My family liked Pontiacs as well.