Oshawa plant closing??

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

yeah...but go figure, who's getting all the bad press?

The other morning the local "shock jock" and his crew were going off on the american auto makers. Keep in mind that this guy and his crew all drive Toyotas because the local dealer does commercials on the show and the main guy drives a Sequoia (big honkin' Toyota SUV).

So, I wake up to my alarm with this show on the radio and the first thing I hear is how the oil companies were in league with the U.S. Car makers and somehow they were in bed together conspiring to make big wasteful trucks and SUVs and it is an outrage that this could go on. The jocks were acting like we had no choice and this was all a "plan".

I never heard such ignorance in my life and nobody corrected them. It was all "US automakers made us addicted to big oil, etc."

I wanted to punch the radio because anyone with any brains whatsoever would realize that the US auto makers built trucks and SUVs because THAT'S THE VEHICLE TYPE THAT PEOPLE WANTED TO OWN. They were catering to the customers desires.

Face facts, Americans like big cars and big engines and big stuff. The government made it hard to build these kinds of cars with CAFE and all that crap, and people found a loophole that let them make "trucks" with less strict rules. Trucks got car-like amenities and quality and people snapped them up like hotcakes.

No "conspiracy", just supply and demand.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by unkbd

The H3 is actually made in Shreveport, LA. My heart and prayers go out to all those losing their jobs.

Is there any truth to the speculation that the Colorado/Canyon sales are jumping up thanks to commercial truck purchases scaling down from the full-size trucks to the smaller ones?

I think the market for these trucks may be growing.

[LS9CamaroSS]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Is there any truth to the speculation that the Colorado/Canyon sales are jumping up thanks to commercial truck purchases scaling down from the full-size trucks to the smaller ones?

I think the market for these trucks may be growing.

you know i was wondering the same thing. Could the Full size truck of tomorrow be the light duty truck of today? there must be a way you can innovate a truck of this size to carry the huge loads that silvys and tundras pull... you never know maybe one day there will be a Colorado type dully truck with a super output V6 or diesel 6... It'd be interesting to see that IMHO.

[joes3rdcamaro82/91/2010]

Originally Posted by Captain Awesome

Is there any truth to the speculation that the Colorado/Canyon sales are jumping up thanks to commercial truck purchases scaling down from the full-size trucks to the smaller ones?

I think the market for these trucks may be growing.

In my own personal sells, yes small trucks are in higher demand!

[Captain Awesome]

This is good news, because the midsize trucks from GM are a little on the Cheap side as far as the interiors go. Maybe they will get some lovin' in their next iteration because they will be the important part of the truck segment instead of the afterthought!

[Design1stCode2nd]

GM is beginning to put out some good products and is making some good decisions the problem is they have made some seriously bad decisions in the past. Not having a viable vehicle in all segments is pretty bad for a company GM’s size. Ignoring interior design and cheaping out on materials is unacceptable. Seriously the Aveo, like that competes with any of the other sub-compacts, same goes for the cobalt/g5 (its getting better) but it doesn’t compete with even the 5 year old Mazda 3 let alone the Civic. The cobalt and the focus are selling much better but that is due to good highway mileage and the economy. Many still want to but from an American manufacturer regardless if they could get a better vehicle from a transplant.

The main problem facing GM now is they have too many brands and can’t afford kill any of them (See oldsmobile). They have too many dealers from back when they had over 50% of the NA market, now they have what 25% and the same number of dealers? That is just not supportable. Honestly what purpose do GMC, Pontiac, Buick, and Saab serve? Or even Saturn? Saturn sells cars that directly compete with Chevy and Pontiac. GMC sells rebadged Chevies. GM only really needs Chevy and Cadillac but they won’t be able to do that unless they file Chapter 11, which unfortunately is a possibility.

I see either the government changing the franchise laws or tax payers paying to buy out dealers and killing brands or GM eventually going belly up. I doubt the government would allow that to happen so expect a bailout.