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Automotive News & Views GM News, New Models and Market Share
8688 messages, Last post on Dec 08, 2009 at 7:57 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: dave8697 (Feb 19, 2009 9:01 pm) |
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Replying to: dave8697 (Feb 19, 2009 9:01 pm) That is what turned me off on the 2007 Cadillac Escalade. ROCK HARD SEATS. The previous models have great seats. I guess they ran out of foam and just use cardboard for their seats. That is also my complaint on the new BMW X5. |
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Looks like parts of GM are already going to Ch11 equivalents...this sounds a lot like Ch11 to me. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idAFLK48614820090220?rpc=44&sp=true STOCKHOLM, Feb 20 (Reuters) - General Motors' loss-making carmaker Saab Automobile on Friday sought legal protection from creditors to allow it to restructure and seek new funding for continued production. Faced with mountainous debts, parent GM is itself restructuring, and in a plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury this week it said Saab would become an independent business as of Jan. 1, 2010.. Saab made a loss of about 3 billion Swedish crowns ($340.1 million) in 2008, according to documents filed by the company with a Swedish court. It expects a similar loss this year, blaming falling demand, ageing products, excess capacity and high costs. "We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab, and it was determined a formal reorganisation would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment," Saab Managing Director Jan-Ake Jonsson said in a statement. Saab said its reorganisation plans included concentrating production and that it would seek funding from public and private sources during the reorganisation process. In its court filing, Saab said GM has said it "would not fund further the projected losses of the company (Saab)", but would provide liquidity for the company to pursue a reorganisation. It was not immediately clear whether GM would cover this year's projected loss. Saab will hold a press conference on Friday at 1330 GMT. The court will now assess whether Saab's turnaround plan is viable. AID Swedish daily Dagens Industri said on Friday that Saab parent GM is prepared to pump in $400 million to help make its Saab car unit profitable if the Swedish state guarantees a further loan of $590 million to Saab. The aim is for annual sales of 120,000-130,000 vehicles and profitability in 2011 or 2012, the newspaper said, quoting unnamed sources. The firm sold just over 93,000 cars in 2008. Many analysts believe Saab would need much more money pumped into it to turn it around and question whether the brand has a realistic future. Sweden said late last year it would provide its vehicle industry with up to 25 billion crowns in aid to help it through the current global crisis. The government said this week its talks with GM over state aid for Saab lacked a realistic basis, but a senior Swedish official told Reuters on Friday the state had not closed the door to providing loan guarantees to the carmaker. "That will depend on what the plans look like," said Joran Hagglund, state secretary at the Swedish Industry Ministry. "If you provide loan guarantees to someone, you must be sure the company has a future." Saab and Volvo have helped shape Sweden's image abroad with a focus on safety, family motoring and high engineering standards. However, the current economic crisis has plunged the auto industry worldwide into crisis, adding to problems for carmakers in countries with high production costs like Sweden. Volvo Cars has been put up for sale by owner Ford Motor Co. . Saab and Volvo employ more than 20,000 people in Sweden with thousands more jobs at suppliers tied to the two companies. ($1=8.820 Swedish Crown) (Editing by Will Waterman and Simon Jessop) |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Feb 19, 2009 4:44 pm) Nah, Intrepids have always used home-grown Mopar engines. The 1993-97 models had a 3.3 pushrod or a 3.5 OHC. The 3.3 was a good, durable engine, but the early 3.5's could be troublesome. The 3.5 also wasn't a ground-up OHC engine, but rather based on the 3.3/3.8 pushrod. GM did a similar thing with that 3.4 DOHC V-6 they had, which was based on the old 2.8/3.1/3.4 pushrod. I think the GM OHC was a better performer, but Chrysler got the kinks worked out of their 3.5 more quickly. The 1998-04 models used either a 2.7, which mine has, a 3.2, or a 3.5. The 2.7 is DOHC, supposedly prone to sludging, and VERY expensive to fix when it breaks. But I've gotten about 144,000 miles out of mine, so I'm not complaining. The 3.2 was a smaller-displacement, all-aluminum version of the 3.5. The 3.5 itself went on hiatus for 1998, but returned, in all-aluminum form, for 1999 in the 300M and then for 2000 in the Intrepid R/T. For 2002-04, a detuned version replaced the 3.2. FWIW, the 3.2/3.5 of this generation were considered good engines. The biggest achilles heel of the Intrepid was the transmission. But again, at 144,000 miles, I've never had any problems with mine. As for the Mitsubishi 3.0, the 80's and early 90's version was pretty bad, but in later years, I believe it was actually a pretty good engine. And as for why my Gran Fury tended to eat those Honda-spec starters? Well, I do imagine that a copcar 318 is going to put a lot more stress on a starter than a little Honda 2.2 4-cyl, or whatever the Accord's displacement was around 1989. So it's really not Honda's fault. If anything, that really falls on Mopar, for putting in an under-sized part! My mechanic also told me that Mopar did something to the V-8 in those later years, as well, so you couldn't just swap in the older-style, larger starters. But, FWIW, my '68 Dart and '79 Newport, both 318's, ended up eating a starter as well!
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Replying to: jae5 (Feb 19, 2009 2:49 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Feb 19, 2009 3:59 pm) Nippon-Denso? |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Feb 20, 2009 5:46 am) |
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 20, 2009 8:13 am) Taking more of a risk with buying GM today with re to parts and service availability, resale value. There is nothing unknown about Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Acura, Infiniti, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes. Lots of info on these cars in Edmunds, car magazines, CR. Annual April car issue of CR will be out soon. Will be interesting to see latest ratings, trends on GM quality, reliability. Are they gaining on or falling behind leaders Honda and Toyota? An "unknown" quantity might be buying a Chinese Buick if/when it is first imported into U.S. Some Saturn dealers said recently that they might consider selling Chinese and Indian cars. Perhaps they will sell the Chinese Buick, Chinese Chery, etc. Rocky could maybe get an Edmunds poster a good deal on Chinese Buick.
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Feb 20, 2009 10:22 am) They're unknown to me. I could follow CR's advice, purchase one of these imports, and get burned. My experience tells me to stick with GM. |
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Replying to: lemko (Feb 20, 2009 8:13 am) Haven't actually made it to PA "officially" (just in/out to pick up the '86 Cutlass about 2-1/2 years ago) but heard of the conditions (past couple years you guys were getting all of our snow). With such great luck with GM cars, why should I risk the unknown? Understood, if you've had that much luck with GM, why change.
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