Wednesday Snippets
If there were any concerns about the authenticity of the 9-4x and 9-5 engine information that I posted last night, those concerns would be based on the fact that they came from a new, as-yet unverified source.
I can confirm that the 9-4x information agreed with info I’d previously heard from a completely independant and very authoritative source. After I published the 9-4x information last night, I received further confirmation that the numbers were accurate from another person in a position to know.
Given that both the 9-4x info and the 9-5 info has come from the same source, and the 9-4x info has been verified by several others, we should be able to trust the 9-5 info in terms of accuracy.
Whilst it might be taken as accurate, we don’t know yet whether or not the info is complete. I can’t believe that there’s plans to top-out the new 9-5 at 260hp, especially when the two cars ‘below’ it would make 280hp and 300hp respectively.
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David Kiley from Business Week treads on an old path:
Eventually, though, I predict that by 2020, GM will probably be lighter by at least two brands—either Buick or Pontiac will be gone, and Saab will be gone. It will happen as dealers go out of business, and then GM can kill off what’s left of the channels…when…hopefully…financial times are better.
It’s actually an interesting read on the brand challenges that various car companies face. It raises that old spectre of Caddy in Europe once again, but I’ll leave that alone.
And imagine how pleased I was to scroll down and see a comment from Kroum in response to the article. Go get ‘em, Tiger!!
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The Truth About Cars are bleating once again about GM buying bloggers with drive experiences etc, and the bloggers obligingly withholding from critique as a quid pro quo. The possibility that the cars could actually be good (as Eggs just found with the Turbo X - a trip sponsored by GM) doesn’t bear thinking about.
RF recalls the time he snuck into a Q&A with Bob Lutz and how astounded he was that everyone there seemed to just lap up what Bob was saying. Given that RF has it in for GM so bad, and that Lutz is one of his main targets, you’d think that he would have peppered Lutz with all the hard questions during that session.
Nah. He asked one lousy question about pensions.
The only reason TTAC doesn’t go on GM-sponsored trips to test drive cars is because they’re not invited. It ain’t that hard.
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Keep callin’ it like it is, Swade- yer doin’ jes’ fine. I could read this stuff all day.
You go, Kroum!!!
I welcome the day GM sells Saab. The mismanagement of the brand is just beyond me. I hope PSA or the Indians (hey, Jag gets money thrown at it on the daily under TaTa) buys Saab, and transforms it into what it SHOULD be.
Indian Trader: I giv’ 1 billion dolla’ fo’ Saab. 1 billion.
GM: Really? I was just expecting a quarter. hmph.
GM DOESNT KNOW SAABS WORTH!
No doubt the 9-5 Aero model will be higher than these numbers, but it would not surprise me if the Aero was delayed a year — like they did in MY 2000, a year after the other 9-5 models debuted.
That would be a mistake - the “halo” model should debut with the rest of the line. But it is a possibility.
Nice post, Swade.
Seriously. I cannot see GM selling SAAB. Especially with the new CAFE mandates in NA. SAAB is the only small engine performance division they have. All the rest are gas gulping V-8’s.
GM has 8 brands in NA (the place they are not making money). With the infusion of product coming SAABs way I see them being profitable for GM…..FAST. The new 9-4X, 9-5 & 9-1 will put them on the map. An all new 9-3 would bring them to profitability and then….maybe then….we’ll see an AeroX.
Until then it still boggles my mind where Pontiac & GMC fit now that they have Hummer. If there are any divisions I see dying off its these two.
They should kill Pontiac and Saturn, and leave SAAB alone…. What are the chances of someone buying SAAB from GM if this happens???
Spaz: That would be the only realistic way that GM would divest of Saab — selling them. Sweden’s socialist system wouldn’t let GM simply close them down, for one. Additionally, there will always be some value in every brand that can be recouped. However, I don’t think that Saab is going anywhere anytime soon.
Actually, I don’t think that any of the GM brands are moving on in the next 3-5 years. GM is doing a MUCH better job at making each brand distinct with different product. They are reconciling the distribution channel. Worst case scenario, they contract the channel and continue to sell the full complement of brands in a smaller network. That is, they are better off combining all Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers into a truly single channel, cut the one or two low-end Buick models and let them act as one channel with two brands of cars (GMC is trucks).
However, if they HAVE to cut a brand, Buick has to be the one. They overlap with Caddy, Pontiac and Chevy to different degrees. Their average buyer age is freakin’ pushing 70, so they may dry up anyway. That’s my opinion.
Maybe that’s why GM seems to be investing and moving some concepts in to production with the view to make Saab a more sellable concern, This is not such an unthinkable prospect/plan after all.
”Sweden’s socialist system wouldn’t let GM simply close them down”.
Yeah, right, Dubya…
eggs…
You are confusing Sweden with Germany and France. And Sweden probably has a more right-wing government than the US will have one year from now… Please stop building your view of the world outside the beltway on what you read in the CIA World Factbook.
ctm: I am basing my facts upon 8 years of tenure with a division of ABB (at the time), Fläkt. The practice of releasing workers during down turns in the market was something only done in the US division because in Sweden, one simply didn’t release workers because the company essentially had to pay an unbelievably long “job search” unemployment salary. Additionally, when the company was later sold to the French firm Alstom, the Swedish division was slated for elimination, but the Swedish government blocked the action and force it to stay alive. I was gone from them by then, but I know that it happened.
So, quit being such a smug know-it-all and recognize that every location has faults, including yours.
And, the CIA World Fact Book is pretty good, for the record. No spin allowed.