400hp for $35,000: Pontiac G8 GXP and Dodge Charger SRT8 after incentives

Whoever said the muscle car era was dead and gone? Right now you can drive away with more than 400hp (298kW) under the hood for around $35,000. The poor state of the economy is taking its toll on vehicle sales (GM just posted its worst sales figures since 1967 in February) but this is also [...]

Opel Escapes Clutches of GM

GM has had its hands full lately. As the automaker plans to get rid of or minimize a number of its brands, including Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and Pontiac, GM has officially announced that it will be spinning off Opel into its own brand. The German subsidiary of the American conglomerate has already asked the German [...]

GM sales chief says Saturn is safe

In the last couple of weeks there have been numerous reports that General Motors may be looking at dropping its poor performing brands such as Saturn, Pontiac and GMC, however the carmaker’s vice-president of North American vehicle sales, Mark LaNeve, has pointed out that the process is not so simple. One of the biggest challenges, [...]

Buick to shun large sedans in favor of midsize segment

The upcoming Buick LaCrosse, sitting on GM’s global mid-sized car architecture, represents a new direction for the brand according to the vice-president of Buick-Pontiac-GMC, Susan Docherty. Docherty claims that falling demand for full-sized cars means that GM will not be abandoning large cars altogether, but rather dialing down their importance in its lineup and investing [...]

GM Holden confirms plans to produce new compact sedan and hatch

Despite General Motors’ financial troubles both here and abroad, the carmaker today announced future expansion plans for its Australian subsidiary Holden. The maker of cars like the Pontiac G8 and the main development team for the upcoming Camaro has confirmed that a new compact sedan and hatch will be built alongside the current Commodore range [...]

Bob Lutz hints at Cadillac plug-in hybrid

The higher-ups at General Motors have been dropping hints that the Cadillac brand may get its own plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the Chevrolet Volt for some time now, but now rumors are emerging that Cadillac may in fact be the first brand (other than Chevrolet) to get the Volt’s technology, contradicting earlier reports that [...]

2009 Audi A4 Avant: Avant to Take it to Oregon, But…

You and I think a lot alike. Another Oregon holiday trip candidate I've had my eye on is our 2009 Audi A4 Avant. But I reluctantly had to dismiss this one even before the FX50's arrival. And the reasons are the same.
Rear cargo space with 4 aboard? Not good enough for [...]

GM selling 252 classic cars and concepts from Heritage Museum

General Motors’ cash struggles have forced the Detroit carmaker’s accountants to find creative ways of producing income, and the latest bid to raise extra capital sees the General auctioning off more than 250 new and old production models and concepts that up until now have been admired in the company’s Heritage Museum Collection.
The cars will [...]

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: Family Sedan Substitutes, Vol. 2

Awhile ago I exhorted family sedan shoppers to buy a G8 GT instead. If muscle cars aren't your thing, perhaps I could interest you in a 2009 VW Jetta TDI. I had the privilege of our long-term TDI's company for a couple nights this week, and I'm pretty much sold on this car as a family sedan substitute. It's fuel-efficient, it's quick, it's [...]

Small Cars Improve in Crash Tests Overall, but They Suffer Big Hit in Side Impacts

Small cars fare better in crashes than they used to, but they still lag behind larger vehicles in protecting passengers. Their disadvantages are especially clear in side-impact crashes.
———-Chrysler's PT Cruiser did poorly in the side-impact test.———-
Of the nine small cars recently tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, all [...]

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