The Cars GM Needs To Make

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

In the first quarter of 2009 Chrysler will go into Chapter 7. GM couldn’t swing the deal and Carlos Ghosn only offers fifteen cents on the dollar of its liquidation value.

Ford and GM will have burned through their remaining cash and will go into Chapter 11.

Obama could find himself presioding over the end of the US auto industry. One out of every fourteen people in the US are associated with this industry.

What does he do?

As strange as this may sound, it will be GMAC and Ford that will pull us out of this recession. Those two will never go out of business. This is what I predict will happen.

GMAC and Ford will convert their financing entities into banks. By doing so they can go to the Fed window and ask for assistance through the $700 billion dollar bail out. By borrowing money @ 1% they can essentially begin to offer interest loans as low as 1.9% for lets say 60 month, making it easier for consumers to buy new vehicles.
That type of move will kick start car sales which will eventually begin the slow crawl out from this recession.

The auto industries liquidity for loans comes from bonds, which is a tanked market currently. Thats why they will convert themselves to banks and seek assistance to infuse cash into the economy.

But what do I know .. LOL

[bgd73]

hey. I gripe about the 3 main boxer gone missing all the time, but here is another benz engine that could be whipping up a can of whoopass in 4 liters:



Can I call of you idiots at gm/american autos until worldwar3? J/K.
We all know the value and benefits of engines that aren't efficient and mastered or balanced or simplified for longevity with prerequsites of Perfect Math. I would swear they want to kill us...uhh. Yeah. Great benefits. Like talking out our butts is the primary goal.

Don't forget to add vtec and egr for something that can't butn it in the first place. Fargin Iceholes.

[Frank Lee]

They broke the mold after you didn't they?

[bgd73]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

They broke the mold after you didn't they?

and then fear invented religion as an excuse for the lone truth to be altered...

I must be Crazy.
crazy as an emoticon.

[UK Mark]

Guys, sorry I've not been back recently. Very busy at work and no time to do much else. I just hadn't realised how long I'd been away! Anyway, Big Dave, you replied to my bit about Euro Diesels giving details of what's needed stateside. Just to keep you up to date, most Euro diesels now have particulate filters (my Fiat certainly does) to meet the Euro4 regulations. Euro5 is due soon and there are already large trucks being built to that standard. Some are using urea injection (mostly Mercedes trucks) to meet that standard, but a few are doing it without. I don't have the details of the Euro5 regulations, but I would guess they are going to be similar to the stricter current US regulations, so it is possible that Euro diesels could be brought into the US relatively easily. As for crash testing, you would be surprised how good a small car can be if it is properly designed. Again, not knowing the US or Euro tests I can't make a proper comparison, but I do know that with most Euro cars today it is possible to walk away from a crash at 30mph (that's head or or side impact) and crashes at much higher speeds are survivable.

I have not really looked into it, but I did hear about a catalyst filter a couple of years back that dealt with NOx and particulate emmissions. In essence it was a particulate filter with an added catalyst that burned the collected particulates using the NOx emmissions instead of oxygen. The result was it lowered both NOx and particulate levels. I don't know if it got beyond prototype stage or whether it proved to be less effective than first thought, but I don't know of any vehicles actually making use of such a catalyst.

[Unforgiven]

Sadly the unions have put much of America into the prediciment it is in today. Unions are outdated, outmoded, and grossly out of touch. Follow the bottom line of all the woe today = GREED. Greed wants more, wants different, wants wants wants. Hopefully diesel engines will become more prevelant but I wont hold my breath on it. Hopefully hybrids become more prevelant, but I wont hold my breath on it. Hopefully the government shifts from corn ethanol to switchgrass/sawgrass ethanol, but I wont hold my breath on it. Many many things should be done, but are not getting done, simply due to greed. Power for towns and cities would be a lot cheaper and more readily available if solar and wind power generators were allowed to be built. Rolling blackouts in California, could be totally offset with the application of those same units. Americans have been duped for a long time into doing the "bigger = better" routine. Even today, there is a measure trying to be passed into Congress allowing tractor trailers to have bigger, heavier trailers with longer dimensions. Our roads cant take what we have now, and still "bigger = better". haha. Now, if we can get GM, and Ford and Mopar to make the proper vehicles, this would be a much more interesting and better place to be. Sadly, Mopar has been at the back of the pack for decades on fuel economy, and at last count (unofficial personal opinion) only had 2 hybrid choices, while GM and Ford have quite a few more. Lets see more Malibu hybrids, more smaller vehicles like the Aveo with a micro diesel and manual transmission, and tag all those 15 passenger vans with diesels instead of gasoline engines. Oh, and the new Pontiac G5, G6, offer hybrid versions or "XFI" type versions for those that actually want to save fuel.

Just a rambling opinion.

[1.5Ldave]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

I think they might be doing better to start from the Corvette. It's got a low profile, and I think will fit two people comfortably. (I've never actually driven one newer than the '60s models, though.) You no longer have to try to shoehorn a 4-500 hp engine in it, so you can shrink the nose and save weight. Do a body design with a low Cd, and aim it at the Miata/Mini market.

They already did that, the saturn sky and the pontiac solstice. I havent heard much about either one, not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing.