The General's reaction? Early this morning, the Detroit automaker came out with a press release stating that from May 2009 (the 2010 Camaro's first full month of sales) to May 2010, Chevy's pony car posted 99,872 total sales, outselling the Ford Mustang by nearly 20,000 vehicles (80,340 units total).
The company added that the Camaro has led the pony car sales race for 11 of the last 12 months.
Way back in September, GMC ran four-page ad in People's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue. Nothing special there. However, a part of the ad used Einstein's face on a model's body, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has the rights to his image (which earned $10 million last year)
Now the university is suing GM for $75,000, claiming Einstein's likeness was fraudulently used in the ad. GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney defends GM by saying the automaker bought the right to use the image from a known firm, and that the ad itself (which only ran in that issue) was created by the Leo Burnett agency.
The standard CTS Coupe comes with a 3.6L Direct Injection V6 engine that delivers 304-horsepower and is available with a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission as well as rear-wheel and all-wheel drive.
Pricing, including destination charges, starts from $38,990 for the RWD model and from $40,890 AWD. That's a few thousand dollars less than one of its closest competitors, BMW's 300HP 335i Coupe and xDrive Coupe that start from $42,650 and $44,550 respectively.
Google has some add-ons in development for version 2.0 of the upcoming Volt app. There will be a navigation tab that uses Google Maps with a lojack-type setup, showing owners' proximity to the car (and possibly solving the Seinfeldian parking problem for good).
Here's a look at the timeline:
In 2007, per-vehicle labor costs for GM were $1,400 more than Toyota, its largest international competitor. $950 of that was for retiree benefits.
In 2008, Detroit's Big 3 manufacturers (Ford, GM and Chrysler LLC) were reportedly paying their hourly employees $69,368 per year on average versus $70,185 being earned by employees at foreign-owned plants. Salaried employees at the Detroit automakers were making $122,963 versus $81,506 earned by foreign-based counterparts.
Instead of shooting for the moon with 1,000 horsepower or some such nonsense, Geiger has put its powers through a different filter to "get even more economic and environmentally compatible".
The three new vehicles are expected to help it move into 47% of the market, which will help Buick in achieving its goal of doubling sales "in the next few years".
The brand will also cease using trim-level designations, continuing to shake things up. Why? "Trim levels imply there is a hierarchy of the premium vehicle," says Craig Bierley, director of Buick-GMC advertising/sales promotion director.
According to the Associated Press, Buick will be continuing its barrage of new products with an Aveo-based crossover to be built in Orion Township, Michigan.
This is refreshing; the brand formerly known as OLD has not only reinvigorated its lineup, but will be releasing more products in the near future - the Chinese-market Excelle and this new mini-Enclave - to help pull in younger buyers (Lexus and Acura fans, too).
Here's how Margaret Brooks, head of small cars/crossover marketing explains it like this: "The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we've already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and, soon to come, the Cruze. We feel that with those vehicles, Chevrolet has plenty of options for the modern family."
The Detroit automaker gives a lot of credit to its launch vehicles: Chevrolet's Camaro/Equinox, Buick's LaCrosse, GMC's Terrain, and Cadillac's SRX. According to the General, the "new" GM's launch vehicles account for a quarter of all GM retail sales.
According to Straightline's special GM contact, "most of the upgrading work will go into the dash and...that big expanse of blackness in front of the passenger."
A revision would be a huge help in making the interior less concept and more daily driver, addressing other details people have had complaints about as well. These issues include the funky steering wheel and gauges (issues with readability have arisen with both primary and auxiliary gauges).
He explains that the $8 Billion that GM gave back was clearly nowhere near the $80 Billion of TARP funds US taxpayers "invested" in GM and Chrysler. Instead, taxpayers received 61% of GM ("and a block of stock for the UAW").
Dunkelberg slams GM by saying that such a loss hardly represents the returns necessary to drive up the stock price "needed to insure a return of taxpayer money", hinting that he really doesn't believe GM will be able to pay everything back.
The Daewoo Alpheon, a LaCrosse in everything but name, recently debuted at at the Busan Motor Show. Powered by GM's 3.0 liter V6 and hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission, the Alpheon is meant to be "a stand-alone luxury product brand in GM Daewoo's product portfolio".
At a press conference today held in conjunction with the opening of the Busan International Motor Show, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology President and CEO Mike Arcamone announced that the firm will introduce its Chevrolet brand into South Korea in 2011.
"I knew this wasn't a popular decision. But it was the right one," Obama said. Without the bailout, the American economic outcome could have been much more disturbing.
"General Motors and Chrysler...were on the brink of collapse. The rapid dissolution of these companies -- followed by the certain failure of many auto parts makers, car dealers and other smaller businesses -- would have dealt a crippling blow to our already suffering economy."
Usually when cars that were never meant to be convertibles get their brains blown out, it turns into quite an unattractive mess.
While this version - originally done by Coach Works and featuring a manual top and boot - doesn't look too shabby with the top down, I'd have to see it with the top up to get a better idea of what we're dealing with.
General Motors said that the it build more pre-production Amperas in the coming months. The pre-production vehicles will not be sold at dealerships, but used for testing and validating the production intent design as well as developing the final vehicle software and control.
