Blake Noble

Spied! New RWD Nissan coupe Another competitor serves itself to GM's lunch. Link to original Article @ Autoblog

You know, Mercedes sold one generation of the SL for over a decade with minimal changes. So is this why we do not have an all-new XLR? That still does not excuse the less than acceptable styling changes made to the car.

WTFOMFGBBQAT&T!!!

Our Aura was due for an oil change today, and I sat in a white VUE XR with the woodgrain interior trim at the dealership. The woodgrain pattern is a lot better, but the sheen still turns me off.

http://unusualkentucky.blogspot.com/ Pretty interesting to read about all of the strange, unusual, and odd things that are around this state. I used to work not more than two miles away from Jackson Lane. Sounds like an interesting place, maybe I will explore it a bit someday.

Read what Uncle Bob signed on the test mule at the top of the page, siegen. :AH-HA_wink:

If it is, it is indeed a small car from heaven. I have a thing for diesel BMWs, what can I say. I would love to own one if I could find one in the States.

Two-hundred and sixty bucks per rim, hmm? I will keep that in mind if I can't get something cheaper. Thank you, sir!

At Last: Behind the Wheel of Volt Test Mule Uncle Bob: "We are making history today." Link to original Article @ GM FastLane Blog

:rotflmao:

And so it begins, the flocks of GM faithful doing their business elsewhere, with other companies that build the products they desire, the products GM failed to deliver on.

How so? Yes, there are common "parts bin" pieces between them, but the two interiors are not blatant copies of each other.

Yeah, PCS, you may want to consider not doing that again. I would not challenge copyright laws and copyright holders if I were you. The lawsuits can potentially take you for everything you have. Ask Shaun Fanning, for example, what you will get. I don't mean to "pick at open wounds" here or extend a negative conversation, I am just saying don't do that again for your own sake.

Enzl is correct in that there are people with wealth that worked and worked hard and earned what they have. (That doesn't mean wealthy and affluent people should get tax breaks, but that is another story and another opinion ...)

monarchy

"Captive Honour" - Megadeth "Boy, your soul better belong to Jesus. Hmmm-mmm. 'Cause your ass belongs to me!"

Agreed. My aunt's boyfriend has a 1989 Buick Skylark with the same "woodgrain" pattern. It doesn't have the abrasive sheen of the Aura's interior plood, but it still appears cheap all the same. The lower dash in our Aura is tan, but it does not help to any significant degree.

Ooh! A diesel BMW! Please tell me that it has a manual.

All of GM's wood trim from right now and before seriously fails to impress me. There is way too much sheen and the pattern is not terribly convincing. I really wish our Aura did not have it. This is the pattern of wood, oak to be specific: This is the pattern of GM's plood, from a Saturn Aura to be specific: Cheap and unconvincing. I know what appearance GM was going for with the interior plood, and that is the appearance of burled walnut. But still, it is a poor imitation:

You know, dfelt, GM did make the older Suburbans with diesels. I have a friend who owns an '89 GMC Suburban with the Detroit Diesel and it will get 20 mpg (the lucky bastard does not have to pay one red cent for diesel, either).

I had to go all the way over to the CamaroZ28 forums to get this for you.

Spied! Subaru's new RWD coupe This one will be shared with Toyota Link to original Article @ Autoblog Another competitor is going to eat GM's rear-drive lunch.

oil

They'd better. :AH-HA_wink:

If conditions in the auto industry don't start improving soon, General Motors will have to start looking for coins between the seats of its vehicles. The automaker currently has $24 billion in cash and another $7 billion in undrawn credit lines--plenty of liquidity, it says, to sustain its global operations through 2008. But will it be enough to limp through the economic downturn swamping the company's recovery efforts? Maybe not, say analysts, who expect General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) may need to tap the credit markets for as much as $9 billion over the next two years. Not as easy as it sounds. While credit markets are loosening up a bit, GM might have some difficulty selling bonds, says GimmeCredit.com's Shelly Lombard, because lenders are already heavily exposed to automotive debt from Ford Motor (nyse: F - news - people ) and Chrysler. "There's a price at which they can raise bonds," she says--12% to 13% yield, she figures--"but they probably don't want to pay that price." More likely, she says, GM will seek less-expensive bank debt by offering assets (perhaps some of its healthier foreign subsidiaries) as collateral. Ford mortgaged virtually the entire company in fall 2006 to secure a $23 billion credit deal. "Even so, it's tough," says Lombard. "Banks are not in any condition to do a lot of leveraged lending right now. But if you can get anything done in this market, it's in the secured market." GM officials aren't commenting on the eve of Tuesday's shareholders meeting, at which Chief Executive G. Richard Wagoner is expected to disclose various strategies to curb spending and conserve cash. J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Himanshu Patel says these might include eliminating the $600 million annual stock dividend, making salaried job cuts and other restructuring actions. On May 29, GM said 19,000 hourly workers (25% of its total) had agreed to take early retirement packages, which Patel says will save the company an estimated $2 billion. GM keeps trying to adjust to a shrinking market, but the problem is that its recovery effort is running into severe headwinds company executives didn't anticipate: a worsening economy, higher prices for steel and other raw materials, and $4 gasoline, which is killing sales of its most-profitable trucks and sport utilities. On top of that, says Lombard, "they're being pecked to death by ducks"--a reference to the many cash outlays GM is facing in an attempt to put its legacy problems behind it. In all, GM has agreed in recent weeks to write $1.7 billion in checks to escape those problems--$200 million to help settle a strike at American Axle, $650 million to support bankrupt Delphi (other-otc: DPHI.PK - news - people ), $375 million as a potential backstop to GMAC's (nyse: GJM - news - people ) troubled Rescap mortgage subsidiary, and $826 million to repurchase its headquarters. GM predicts an uptick in the economy in the latter half of the year. But with sales of high-profit trucks and SUVs tanking, Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson expects GM to burn through $7 billion cash this year--potentially more, if steel companies hit the automaker with additional surcharges, as some expect. That would leave GM with $17 billion in cash at year-end, Johnson estimates. That would put GM's liquidity in danger. To weather a downturn, GM Chief Financial Officer Raymond Young says the company needs at least $18 billion-$20 billion in cash, plus access to another $4 billion-$5 billion in credit lines. With continued losses in North America, Lehman Brothers expects GM to burn about $10.3 billion in automotive operations between now and 2010, including $8.4 billion in cash and $1.9 billion in restructuring costs. Without refinancing its debt or drawing down the $7.3 billion credit line, GM would be down to $7.9 billion in cash by 2010, Lehman says. Since it needs $10 billion to $12 billion in working cash to fund operations, GM would need to find additional financing, Lehman says. GM has $9.1 billion in debt coming due by January 2010, including $4.3 billion of long-term debt and a $4 billion note owed to a new trust fund for retiree health benefits. If the company can refinance that long-term debt, "that would be huge," says Lombard. In the first quarter, GM did refinance $400 million of debt through foreign markets. It's a good sign, at least. http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/06/30/..._jm_0602gm.html