Search results for: cadillac
It’s Official: Goodbye, Saab.
General Motors has announced that, after a deal to sell the brand to Spyker Cars, Saab will be “wound down.”
Driven: 2010 Lincoln MKT
One of the most crucial things that American automakers—namely Ford and GM—are currently doing is working on building better individual brand identity within their larger portfolios. In years past, the Lincoln brand suffered by being written off as the grandfather-oriented luxury brand, offering soft vehicles with only a few more luxurious touches than similar products with Ford or Mercury badges. But recently, we’ve seen some really attractive things come from Lincoln, and Ford’s marketing representatives have a clear objective to bring new products to dealer lots that don’t plainly resemble the Ford vehicles that they’re based off of. Sure, you can look at a Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS side by side and see some similarities, but non-automotive media consumers won’t necessarily spot the similarities.
First Look: 2010 Saab 9-5
For a while, the future of Saab looked glum. Thankfully, the fine folks at Koenigsegg have scooped up the Scandinavian automaker and now the future doesn’t look so bad. The current 9-5 was a mess of General Motors influence on an aging platform and the end result was really quite bad, but from the details and images that we have on the new 9-5, it looks like Saab might be back in the game again.
Blog: GM 4.0 – Corvette to the Rescue?
I have noted in my previous blogs on GM 4.0 that GM’s remaining core problem is with branding, now that its’ former biggest problems – unit costs and scale costs – are being dealt with through bankruptcy. By branding, I don’t mean marketing B.S., I mean the entire set of perceptions and beliefs that consumers hold about your company or its divisions. Branding addresses the expectations customers have about things they can’t see on a spec sheet or a test drive. It also covers their understanding about how others will perceive what they drive. That stuff is very important.
Driven: 2010 Buick LaCrosse
On several occasions during this bleak period for General Motors, we’ve pointed out that GM has the engineering talent to go toe-to-toe with other high-volume car manufacturers (we already know they can do trucks). Exhibit A is the Cadillac CTS. Now we have Exhibit B: the Buick LaCrosse.
General Motors 4.0: What is a Buick?
Oddly enough, some of the most perplexing questions I get asked by normal people as editor of an automotive publication involve Buick. Most of them are along the lines of “Why did GM keep Buick?” and “What the heck is a Buick anyway?” Not a great place to be, if you’re GM. GM knows it has an issue here in the U.S. (Buick, remember, is a hot brand in China) and it is attacking the problem. Buick recently announced the new 2010 Buick LaCrosse, a car that gives us a chance to think about how GM is and should be thinking of the future of the brand.
Driven: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
Boy, has the E-Class Mercedes ever come a long way from being the world’s taxi cab. This latest W212 four-door E-Class is a proper executive sedan filled to the gills with technology, luxury, and style. What is already an edgier base model E-Class goes to the edgy-looking extreme here in the 518 horsepower, E63 AMG and you either mind that or you don’t. We do feel the edge is a little overstated, but it’s certainly not heinously so.
Blog: General Motors 4.0 – What is an American Car?
I suggested to Fritz Henderson (GM CEO) in my last missive on GM 4.0 that he buy a bunch of Hyundai Genesis Coupes to inspire his executive team. Toward the end of that piece, I mentioned that GM still very much needs to get a handle on what each of its cars should stand for in the marketplace. The first part of that exercise is coming to a strong understand of what an American car is (Alan Mulally might want to listen in on this conversation, BTW).
Blog: General Motors 4.0 – Pay Attention to the Genesis
By happenstance, we had the Chevrolet Corvette and the Hyundai Genesis Coupe in the office during the same week recently. I found driving these two sports coupes back-to-back a fascinating exercise with implications for GM 4.0 and GM CEO Fritz Henderson. Below is my (imagined) consultative letter to Fritz.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Equinox
General Motors, among financial turmoil and brand sell-offs, has decided to use its most well known brand to usher in the new generation of GM. The vehicle it chose to do it with, however is a crossover: the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox. Why? Because the company is confident that it will sell. The redesigned, reengineered Equinox, in the mind of the company, is the perfect package of comfort, safety, utility, and, most importantly, value.
Blog: Chevrolet Volt—Enthusiast Driver’s Car?
Reading the comments on our Tesla drive, and about the Volt’s roughly $32,500 pricing (after subtracting the $7500 federal incentive), got me to thinking that we may misunderstand the Volt and other battery-powered cars. I haven’t driven the Volt, so only time will tell, but here’s the logic.
First Look: 2010 GMC Terrain Shows Its Face
General Motors sure does enjoy badge engineering. We just saw the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox for the first time this past January along with Cadillac’s new SRX, but instead of making a replacement for the outgoing Pontiac Torrent, the General decided to add another vehicle into GMC’s product line — the 2010 Terrain.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, Decisions Decisions…
The obvious comparisons surrounding the all-new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pit the reconstituted pony car against the Mustang and Challenger. Well duh. We submit, however, that the obvious overlooks something right before your eyes; a Camaro versus Camaro face off.
List: Ten GM Performance Cars That Will Never Exist
The news has already broken that GM is putting all of its high-performance vehicles (save the Corvette) on an indefinite hold, so don’t expect to see anything new with an SS or V badge on it. That’s right — all SS-badged Chevys, V-series Cadillacs, and eight-cylinder Colorados are being suspended until further notice, leaving GM to instead focus on fuel-efficient offerings and bringing up the overall quality on its bread-and-butter models.
Driven: 2009 Dodge Ram 1500
If you’ve driven pickups much over the last thirty years, when you’re behind the wheel of the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500, the notion might occur that pickups shouldn’t be so quiet, ride so smoothly, carve corners so competently, accelerate so quickly, or have so many features. These were our prevailing thoughts as we drove a Laramie 4×4 through the Tennessee countryside, enjoying a driving experience so good that it provides a compelling argument to drive a full-size truck if you can figure out how to rationalize it.
Winding Road’s Top Twelve Cars Of 2009
Over the past twelve months we’ve driven or reviewed (and often both) something on the order of 250 vehicles. Be it on some far-flung and usually stunning road served up by an automaker for a new car launch, or on the slightly more humble highways and byways that surround our Michigan and Texas offices, we’ve had a fair taste of what was on offer in the automotive universe during 2009. We figure the very least we can do is to tell you which ones we liked best.
