thegriffon

I know for a fact that Toyota has at least considered selling the Crown in the US recently; while all I know about the lwb Camry idea is—it's stupid, because it is already a lwb Camry.

The Vue is heavy due to issues internationalizing the original Theta architecture. GM more or less promised that wouldn't happen again.

Crossovers are not down 21% this year. Despite gas prices, lower compact crossovers are down 29%, but then it's a small segment that's never been popular—just the Sportage, Element and Tucson. True compacts are up 5.5%, led by the HHR and new models such as the Patriot and Rogue. The segment leaders, the larger CR-V and the smaller Escape are basically on par with last year. Midsize crossovers are down just 3%, despite the fact that last year's leader (the Honda Pilot, which actually lost its crown in the latter half of 2007) is down 21.5%, victim of an all-too successful association with true SUVs such as the Explorer and Trailblazer. Even fullsize crossovers are down only 10.5 %, despite big declines for some models with higher gas prices. Credit the Enclave, sales of which are growing despite the price of gas, and which wasn't available all last year; likewise the CX-9, although monthly sales are down compared to last year it too wasn't available for the full year; the Acadia, despite increased competition and a drop in demand for such large vehicles, is also up this year, by 6%; and the Flex has helped offset some of the decline in Taurus X sales (some of which it has caused). Compact luxury crossovers are down 27%, but there's not a lot of volume there, and well-publicized future entries such as the XC60 and Q5 are surely partly responsible, together with the lower-midsize EX35 (which is really more a hatchback than an SUV). Midsize luxury crossovers, from the EX through to the upper-premium X6 and Cayenne are down just 9%, despite larger declines by some of the volume models (XC90, RX and MDX). The EX has more than made up for stolen FX sales; the Cayenne, despite a late collapse, is up 4.5%, and sales of the MKX and X5 are down an insignificant amount. It's SUVs that are really hurting. The only volume models to post gains are the Mercedes GL (flat for the year but recently outselling the Escalade) and ML and the Toyota Sequoia (up from last year's nadir). Sales of the Durango were decimated last month, down 86%!! The LX and LandCruiser are showing big gains, but so far this year have sold less than most competitors still sell in a month. If a dealer sells even one he's doubled sales from last year.

The "Terrain" is far from compact. It should be at least as big as the Torrent, and that is just as long as the Highlander and Pilot, and in HFV6 form, almost as expensive. The new model should be wider and could easily accommodate a third row (Suzuki does on the old lwb version, GM does it quite nicely on the swb Captiva). A new truck 4-cylinder (Toyota is offering 2.5 and 2.7-L fours in competition) will be the base engine, and a DI HFV6 will be the premium option.

Several people. If you have the money you can buy one in both the US and Europe. I'm sure Alpha models will accommodate and be offered with a V8, it will not be "affordable" though.

PCS is right about one though: Vauxhall as a company no longer exists. Earlier this year it became General Motors UK Ltd.

Not that Suzuki's score was ever all that good to start with.

errr. A) Suzuki had nothing else to offer in that segment. Even the SX4 is a subcompact with an oversized engine and enormous overhangs. b). Suzuki owns a strategic stake in Daewoo, and supplied engines designs and platforms for the older smaller vehicles (the Labo and Damas minitrucks and the precursor to the Matiz). GM didn't force them to do anything. They bought in and asked for it. GM would have been happy to sell the Optra themselves as they did in Canada. c). Suzuki chose the specification and powertrain for the Forenza, Reno and Epica. Much better choices are on offer elsewhere, picked by GM. No-one forced them to use an old and out-of-date iron-block Family II. They did that to themselves by trying to sell the old Aerio as a compact with a big thirsty engine, and not a subcompact as it was everywhere else in the world (with a frugal 1.5 L engine just like the Yaris and Mazda2 and Colt). They would have looked pretty stupid if they then tried to sell the Forenza with a smaller engine, even if it did have just as much power and better fuel economy than the one they actually imported.

Enzl may say this is the chickens coming home to roost, and he's right, but there is nothing Wagoner or Cowger could have or can do to change that. This situation was set up decades ago. The current management have done more in the last few years than anyone since Sloan. It will be a slow recovery. Very slow. Now, I would make some radical changes, particularly to pricing strategies, but it will not help sales, or in the near term, profitability. There are just too many people who will never, ever under any circumstances look at an American car, and especially a GM, no matter how good. It has become an ideological position, a matter of faith, not reason. Until all those people are dead and buried (and that is decades away), GM is doomed to eke out a meager existence in North America as best they can. Profitability is at least 18 months away, and they have a lot of work to do to repair brand image in North America (decades worth). But the most immediate and pressing problem is the crisis in confidence. This is a crisis which by itself can destroy GM—buyer confidence in the company, not the product, investor confidence, the confidence of the financial markets in GM. Reports predicting and recommending shutdown and bankruptcy in these circumstances are self-fulfilling—even a strong company can't survive such sentiment (9 out of 10 car companies fail because they can't refinance debt despite operational and financial success). Several companies in other industries have failed in recent months because of the current debt crisis—profitable companies with adequate reserves who simply could no longer refinance the debt they needed to keep operating. If GM can raise cash and refinance, well fine, they'll survive and eventually prosper again. But if confidence fails, battered by negative reports, they will fail, and it will all be over. Sales will collapse, funding will dry up, and the lights will go out. And it will have nothing to do with business fundamentals.

Shoot everyone over 40.

The Fit is as outdated a product as the Aveo—more so. The new model can't arrive soon enough (this fall). While they were still building them (Japan and Europe are already producing the new model), they couldn't match the Aveo and Yaris in sales (a high price didn't help). If sales are restricted by limited inventory, then now they should be starting to fall off as inventories dwindle—they're not building any more 2008s after all. But no, instead they've shot through the roof!! That can only happen if Honda had plenty of inventory on hand. So no, someone obviously had more than enough Fits on hand. If we see sales plummet in the next couple of months, then yes perhaps after last month they're now running low. As for the Aveo, well a low price has helped keep sales growing even as competition intensifies, but supply problems have crimped GM Daewoo production, and GM can't get enough to meet demand. The Yaris too is in high demand, the sales leader all year, helped by great economy, but production has not been able to keep up and inventories are getting low, and sales actually fell last month, IIRC. All this has enable Honda to clear out the final 2008 inventory faster than expected. If they have another bumper month in August, then clearly there is not yet any shortage as there is of the Yaris. Whether many Passat or Avalon buyers look at the LaCrosse doesn't matter, as far as segment comparisons go (obviously it does in winning and keeping buyers though). They are priced similarly for comparable specifications, are similar in size, and sell at similar rates. As far as sales go, the Avalon, Maxima and LaCrosse are the segment leaders, and the difference isn't that great down to the MKZ. Believe what you like, I have the data. Despite its age and continued reductions in fleet sales, it's held up well. The new model will do better, but in that segment sales of better than 4000 a month are very good. It will never be a volume model like the Century, but then neither will the Maxima or Avalon. That's one very good reason not to build a unique model just for the US market like the current Avalon and Maxima. Toyota certainly won't continue to do so, and they have no need to either, with a number of other midsize sedans sold more widely to choose from.

GM is better prepared than you seem to think, the problem is that to a large extent, it doesn't matter how well prepared they are. As fir Honda, well the reason the Fit is now outselling the Aveo and Yaris is because they're the only ones with any left to sell. People weren't buying them before and now they have plenty left, while Chevy and Toyota do not. That is not good preparation, that is just dumb luck. The Malibu arrived just in time for the shift from trucks to cars and yet, nothing. Sales are still low compared to anything except last year's nadir. The LaCrosse is still selling well for its segment, despite its age, keeping pace with the Avalon, MkZ, Passat and Maxima. If, like the new Maxima they can gain a modest boost with the new model, they will be doing well. Toyota meanwhile, may dump the Avalon for something more like the Hyundai Genesis and G8. After all the car (the new Toyota Crown) already exists and it will save on development costs, tooling and free up NA capacity.

Possibly is not probably, and far from certainly. In the securities industry, if someone profits from spreading news such as this, they can go to jail (perhaps you're all too young to remember Wall Street). An analyst doesn't necessarily profit, they should be paid the same no matter what they predict, but the media do profit, not from the damage they do GM, but from increased circulation—bad news sells, e.g. I doubt this piece would have made it here if it had said, "GM is facing tough times, but should weather the crisis;" which it probably will (although at great cost). I can identify several critical things GM has done and still is doing wrong, from not selling Isuzu to International to not hanging on to Fiat; from bad product positioning (selling vehicles against competitors a segment smaller and at too low a price) to not firing PCS and others deliberately undermining the company, etc. etc.. I am not so arrogant to think that anyone could have done a better job overall, given the immense obstacles GM has faced, and which irresponsible journalism is only amplifying. For one thing no-one predicted the market to do what it has, not Toyota, which is laying off staff not just in the US but in Japan because they expected to sell a lot more trucks; not Kia, which is bring out a BOF SUV as the market is tanking; nor Mitsubishi, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, VW or Honda, each of which could have offered a modern, segment-leading subcompact (or two) even before GM did, but either gave up (Ford Festiva), arrived late with an eleventh hour upgrade to meet US standards (Honda), or have not shown up at all, despite doing all the preparation (VW has a subcompact, developed and even named with the US market specifically in mind [the VW Fox], but where is it? Still in Brazil). Where are the Mitsubishi Colt, Mazda2, Ford Fiesta, Suzuki Swift, VW Fox, Nissan Cube (GM's version will be here by the time Nissan's arrives) or Nissan Note? Where is the Toyota Corolla Verso, the Honda Stream, the VW Touran, the Mitsubishi Dion (and why in a booming segment Mitsubishi invented 25 years ago is their only current entrant stuck in Japan). Why isn't there a diesel Tundra (Toyota [or at least former parent Toyota Industries] already has a 4.5 L V8 diesel, even if it isn't as good as GM's will be) or a diesel Tacoma (and an even better 3.0 L 4-cylinder)? Things are going to be very tough, and if perceptions do not change in NA, it may never get better, but the technical ability and product portfolio is already in place to manage the transition to small cars. Indeed in many ways GM is in an even better position than Honda and Toyota, neither of which is even in a position to consider bringing a car such as the Beat to NA, and neither is in a position to replace V6 engines with an existing, 2.0 L DI Turbo 4.

And they can have the interior any way they damn well want.

Looks like the concept to me, given the bad lighting. As for the name, not even C&D said GM has confirmed it will stay "LaCrosse". They are just calling it LaCrosse themselves, fair enough as GM has not announced the name of the NG sedan.

No, but it's called a self-fulfilling prophecy—articles such as this make it ever more difficult for GM to persuade people to buy their cars, until they have no choice but to shut down operations in North America. It's happened to other companies, and indeed other automakers, and there is no reason it can't happen to GM. Oh, and I wouldn't be surprised if no-one at GM had ever heard of this b— until now. There are just too many would-be experts calling for GM's blood for PR to make any dent at all. GM's media relations is among the most open and broad-reaching there is. I understand that Toyota and now Ford (having poached Toyota's top guy) is far better at influencing the mainstream media, but GM has been superb at making life easy for new/social media, and encouraging fan sites such as C&G; of which there are a multiplicity thanks to all those brands and the company's long heritage.

The HHR is now GM's most popular SUV, and third most popular truck after the Silverado and Sierra.

The HHR (all variants) is selling well—hey it beat the Escape last month, its best month yet.

Euro5 is not quite as strict as the latest US standards, that is the major problem.

Apparently the Groove will come to the US, but as a subcompact related to the next Aveo, not a minicompact like the Spark and Beat.

They are planning a smaller engine for the Volt, but it will be in the same family as the Family 0 1.4 Turbo used in the compact cars. Earlier GM press releases indicate that the chosen plant will build engines from 1.0 (3-cyl) to 1.4 L in capacity. The current Family 0 engines include 4V per cylinder DOHC engines in 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 L (smaller than the new turbo) with intake port shut-off at low rpm for better combustion, and are built in Austria.

Only the Malibu, Aura, G6 and 9-3 are offered here. Counting both the Insignia and Aura you also have to include the Aurion and Asian Camry in Toyota's lineup. The 9-5, LaCrosse and maybe the Impala will replace existing models. The 9-3 switches to a smaller model you can't count as midsize or Epsilon. Where is your "more than 6" come from? That's all I'm questioning. If you have to bolster you're argument with falsified data, you undermine it. The Impala is redundant in it's current form. It's not, nor should be, a premium model like the LaCrosse. The next Malibu should replace both Chevy mid-large sedans, offering the Impala's space with the Malibu's footprint and powertrains. Honda does it with the Accord, and even the rwd G8 has the same space in a similar package to the Accord and Malibu silhouette. The G6 should be downsized, a lot. A roomy mid-compact sedan based on either Delta or Alpha is needed, at the same price as the current model (a true Grand Am replacement). In the current environment they should sell just as many if not more. Even the compact Grand Am sold more. The current G6 is too close in size to the outgoing Grand Prix and the new G8. I could go on.

The Aveo is still #3 in the segment, not far behind the Yaris recently. Sales have remained strong and are still growing, despite now being the oldest model, in an increasingly crowded segment. If they can maintain sales growth with the facelift and new engines they'll be doing well. What they really need is the new model due soon enough. If they add the Groove, upsized to a B-MPV like the Cube Cubic and former xB; Corsa and 9-1, they'll have a strong lineup. A Luxury (not sporting) model for Buick is not a bad idea. Lancia does good business with the Ypsilon.

You're only gaining one more, that makes 5 in NA, and the Insignia is still the next Aura, you can't count that twice. On that measure, Toyota is offering: 1. Avensis 2. Mark X 3. Crown Athlete 4. Crown Royale 5. Crown Majesta 6. Camry (2 different designs as well) 7. Avalon 8. Aurion 9. ES350 10. GS 11. Reiz And I may have left some out. There certainly used to be a lot more not so long ago (Windom, Cresta, Chaser, Mark II, Corona, Carina, Camry Prominent, Vista etc.).

You still don't have 6 Epsilons, and certainly not in the same market. You might eventually get 6 in future of which we could do without the Impala and G6 (too close in size to the G8). I would agree the Outlook should never have been a Saturn and go one further—they should never have been developed as competitors for "midsize" crossovers—they are simply too big to attract the same volume as a true midsize 5- or 7-seater. They would have been better positioned as replacements for the Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade.