[Stealth]

Two things:

1) The government has stated already that they have no intention on running GM - at all.  Actually, I believe it was Obama himself that stated that.  GM confirmed it.

2) I agree that the best thing they could have done is left their brands that were pulling them down.  The Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn were ridiculous.  Especially in the last few years.  Their remaining brands have HUGE potential.  The Corvette is known worldwide as an economy sports car (relatively) that can roll with exotics that cost 5 or 6 times what it does.  Chevy also had some excellent trucks, which are good (here in Texas every other vehicle on the road is a truck).  Cadillac - same thing.  they are still the standard of luxury in the world (i.e. people say "that's the cadillac of laptops", etc.  read: not the bentley of laptops, not the rolls royce of laptops, not the maserati, all of which, when it comes to luxury, blow cadillac away).  Chevy had some awesome fuel efficient cars too.  The cobalt is amazing - i think someone commented that they had one at one stage.  Good stuff

[Black Wolf]

Anybody know thew satus of Holden in all this? The rest of GM can fall in a hole as far as I'm concerned, but I do want to see Holden live on, if only to keep Ford honest. There doesn't seem to be much major disruption occuring, but I'd love to see more detail, and google isn't helping much.

[EDIT]Wait, never mind, Holden is fine.

Continue.

[Roanoke]

Hybrids are incredibly damaging to the enviroment. Clean and efficent (conventional) diesel and petrol is the only viable option untill somebody makes a decision on alternative fuels and implementing the required infastructure.

Two things:

1) The government has stated already that they have no intention on running GM - at all.  Actually, I believe it was Obama himself that stated that.  GM confirmed it.

2) I agree that the best thing they could have done is left their brands that were pulling them down.  The Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn were ridiculous.  Especially in the last few years.  Their remaining brands have HUGE potential.  The Corvette is known worldwide as an economy sports car (relatively) that can roll with exotics that cost 5 or 6 times what it does.  Chevy also had some excellent trucks, which are good (here in Texas every other vehicle on the road is a truck).  Cadillac - same thing.  they are still the standard of luxury in the world (i.e. people say "that's the cadillac of laptops", etc.  read: not the bentley of laptops, not the rolls royce of laptops, not the maserati, all of which, when it comes to luxury, blow cadillac away).  Chevy had some awesome fuel efficient cars too.  The cobalt is amazing - i think someone commented that they had one at one stage.  Good stuff

You've already been told about that Cadillac nonsense.  I can only speak for the uk but over here it's a just another poorly built american car with dubious quality and hurrendous depreciation.
Plus the Corvette usually sees massive mark-ups so it isn't that much of a bargain. Oh and see Cadillac.
Sorry.
I've always liked Saturn but I can't really offer much explanation as to why. 

[Turambar]

I'll buy some GM stock if the following conditions are met:

I want to watch the public execution of their body design team on my tv, followed by the executions of the people who thought selling hummers and SUVs while gas was $4 a gallon was a good idea.

[Scotty]

Last I checked, idiocy wasn't a crime.  However, If someone decides that they deserve to be laid-off, I will get behind that and push.

[Turambar]

Last I checked, idiocy wasn't a crime.

I bet you'd get a different opinion if you asked the citizens of Detroit on this particular matter.

[Scotty]

However unfortunate it may be, it is not an opinion that idiocy is not a crime.  It is to say that idiocy is indeed a crime.  I can't really say I feel the pain of people laid off, but their righteous indignation does not make for a correct assessment.

[IceFire]

I have some hope...they are replacing some very mediocre vehicles with vehicles that potentially exceed what the market offers right now.  The 2010 Equinox with its DI engines and excellent fuel economy and according to early reviews very good interior feel and a high degree of sound dampening is encouraging.  The Cobalt is good for fuel economy but little else...soon to be replaced with the Cruze which seems to follow the trend so far of being a much better car inside.  Hopefully a DI engine plus a good transmission and refined interior will make it a class leader...Toyota, Honda, and Mazda could use some competition in this segment.

These two are key...at least in Canada.

I'm also looking forward to the production Chevy Orlando.  Could be a VERY useful family or utility vehicle.

[Mongoose]

I'll buy some GM stock if the following conditions are met:

I want to watch the public execution of their body design team on my tv, followed by the executions of the people who thought selling hummers and SUVs while gas was $4 a gallon was a good idea.

Last time I checked, gas skyrocketed to $4 a gallon over the course of, oh, a year or so.  You want to figure out a way to swiftly temporarily turn over production on a massive scale without incurring an equally massive financial hit, be my guest.

[Scotty]

Bonus points to anyone who thinks that you don't put stuff on the shelf if you have it, even if it may not be the most in demand thing.

[Kosh]

1) The government has stated already that they have no intention on running GM - at all.  Actually, I believe it was Obama himself that stated that.  GM confirmed it.

Obama says many things, doesn't mean that it will be true. Only time will tell for sure.

[Stealth]

You've already been told about that Cadillac nonsense.  I can only speak for the uk but over here it's a just another poorly built american car with dubious quality and hurrendous depreciation.
Plus the Corvette usually sees massive mark-ups so it isn't that much of a bargain. Oh and see Cadillac.
Sorry.
I've always liked Saturn but I can't really offer much explanation as to why. 

I've "already been told" about that cadillac nonsense?  please clarify?

See that's just it - you're "only speaking" for the UK... this is a discussion about an American company.  Thus your opinions really are moot.  I know you don't see many cadillacs in the UK, why? because i travel to the UK all the time... shoot, half of my family lives in the UK.  In the US, you do see a lot of cadillacs, and they are still the benchmark of american luxury.  period.  that isn't really debatable.  thanks for trying though

Corvette usually sees massive markups!?  Where do you get this information? 

[IceFire]

Cadillac doesn't have the presence in Europe that it does in North America so Roanoke I think your perceptions (unless you've done some serious reading) may be a bit off...sales of most American cars are very limited in Europe.  Cadillac does actually make some decent vehicles now...it had fallen seriously behind but its coming back and they have some solid new stuff either out already or coming shortly.  They are aimed squarely at their German rivals now.

Lexus is still the benchmark for the comfortable and reliable performance.  They win on these year after year in Consumer Reports but in recent years the performance luxury side of things has been muddied by some really great competition between BMW, Audi, Cadillac, etc.

Still quite some way for GM to go yet...I'd still be hesitant to buy one of their products.  But by the time I need to buy a new vehicle maybe that will have changed. They need to prove that they have changed their attitudes, their quality levels over the long term, and that they will stand by their product (even their cheapest product).  Historically they haven't done any of these but maybe those left have learned their lesson.

[Roanoke]

How you getting on with the Corolla (it was a corolla wasn't it ?) Ice ?

You've already been told about that Cadillac nonsense.  I can only speak for the uk but over here it's a just another poorly built american car with dubious quality and hurrendous depreciation.
Plus the Corvette usually sees massive mark-ups so it isn't that much of a bargain. Oh and see Cadillac.
Sorry.
I've always liked Saturn but I can't really offer much explanation as to why.  

I've "already been told" about that cadillac nonsense?  please clarify?

See that's just it - you're "only speaking" for the UK... this is a discussion about an American company.  Thus your opinions really are moot.  I know you don't see many cadillacs in the UK, why? because i travel to the UK all the time... shoot, half of my family lives in the UK.  In the US, you do see a lot of cadillacs, and they are still the benchmark of american luxury.  period.  that isn't really debatable.  thanks for trying though

Corvette usually sees massive markups!?  Where do you get this information?  

You stated Cadalliac is a mark of quality the world over but because I'm on the uk my opinion isn't valid ?
That's a contradiction.
I forget the price of Corvettes when they were sold alongside Camaros (In Vauxhall dealers) but it was cheaper to import them privatly.

[IceFire]

Ahh yes I've heard about the Corvettes that were sold in the UK...extremely expensive to the point of it being ludicrous.  Export/import issues...its what happens when you have something that is already low production I suppose.

My Corolla XRS one year on has so far been a solid vehicle.  A couple of rattles here and there but aside from that its pretty much rock solid.  Had it out on a road trip this weekend.  Put another 1500 km on it and its ready for some more.  Love being able to pass a truck on a hill in the passing lane in sport mode with the 2.4L revving up to 5000 rpm and then dropping back into automatic for another comfortable few hours cruising.

[Aardwolf]

I wish that even half of the things Liberator is afraid of had any chance of coming true.

Seconded.

[Liberator]

Hmm Let's see...

Government taking over Wall Street....check
Government taking over the Auto Industry...almost there
Government taking over the Oil/Energy Industry...before the end of the year
Government taking over the Medical Industry...yayoubetcha
Government cracking down on Free Speech rights...it's coming(but only if you are against Government)
Government raising taxes on everyone that makes over X amt(which they consider rich) to 80% to pay for entitlement programs to buy votes to keep them in office...check

You seeing a theme here yet?

This one's for my fans:
Godless Atheists providing a legal beatdown anytime someone expresses a belief in God...every major Christian holiday...er, check(I wouldn't complain if they *****ed about Ramadan or a Jewish one, but they don't').

[Spicious]

Hmm Let's see...

Government taking over Wall Street....check
Government taking over the Auto Industry...almost there
Government taking over the Oil/Energy Industry...before the end of the year
Government taking over the Medical Industry...yayoubetcha
Government cracking down on Free Speech rights...it's coming(but only if you are against Government)
Government raising taxes on everyone that makes over X amt(which they consider rich) to 80% to pay for entitlement programs to buy votes to keep them in office...check

You seeing a theme here yet?

You're paranoid about the government because all the right wing governments do their best to **** up everything they touch? Maybe the government should take over the oil industry to balance the oil industry taking over government for quite a while. Do you have any idea of how much better a public health system works in so many other countries? Are the democrats going to call everyone who doesn't agree with them cowards and traitors too? Are you aware that governments usually try to do things to help the people who voted for them? I know Bush kinda screwed everyone over but most of the time it's what happens.

[Mefustae]

Godless Atheists

As opposed to all those Godfearing Atheists.

[Titan]

You Americans don't know what's good for you:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html