So where the heck did GM find this yankee doodle idiot?

http://www.youtube...atch?v=J2ltL9Y34pg

"car for car, when compared to the competition, we win...simple as that"

HAHAHA! It must be true, because he says so!

"Put us to the test. Put us up against anyone, and may the best car win."

Come on now, Ed Whitacre. You are writing checks your company cant cash.

GM sets itself up for embarrassment and failure.

GM has the capability of building some of the best cars on the planet, much like Anheuser-Busch could brew the best beer on the planet, but they don't.

GM's new slogan is incredibly ballsy, (actually having them that is) which is what it takes to succeed in business.

I just hope they plan on backing it up.

GM has some good cars on their lots right now. People don't give them a fair chance. This isn't the 90's.

BTW, a similar pitch has saved Chrysler in the past. I can see it working again.

Even I'll say it... the cars we have now are ten times the cars we had even last year.

We have a Canadian commerical with some guy taking a bunch of the cars around a race track, testing them... and although the new Equinox is a great, well built and efficient little crossover, the scene where he "wants to take it on the track again!" is just fucking DUMB. Camaro, sure! But not the 4 cylinder soccer-mom-mobile.

Posted by bandi ...and although the new Equinox is a great, well built and efficient little crossover...

Ohhhh the stories my mom has from CAMI...

You should hear her OTHER stories!

Posted by bandi You should hear her OTHER stories!

I have. And now I can't look at the fenders of your ever AGAIN.

Posted by bandi You should hear her OTHER stories!

Ohhhhh snap!

BTW TRAINS... MASSIVE EPIC NEW YEARS PARTY AT MY PLACE. you in?

GOD YES SIGN ME UP RESERVE ME A BEDROOM

Bandi and TRAINS....talk about an unholy alliance...

"May the best car win" should have been GM's corporate ideal at least a decade ago. Instead, what we've been hearing with every major release is that "GM has finally caught up to the competition". A year later Toyota releases their new model, which makes the GM car look inferior, though it's only at the beginning of its life cycle. They've admittedly made inroads. The Malibu, for instance, is still quite competitive, as is the Cadillac CTS which shares the platform. Also, GM in Canada should use metric numbers when advertising the fuel usage of their products (litres per 100km).

I think Volkswagen's new ads in which they boast of making their competition's engineers weak are similar in that they just can't back up their claims. The likes of the Golf and Jetta are not quality leaders, they no longer have that segment leading edge in terms of exterior styling, and they're the most expensive cars in their class.

Posted by Hi/Po A year later Toyota releases their new model, which makes the GM car look inferior, though it's only at the beginning of its life cycle.

i don't see that happening any longer.
yota is a victim of their own success.

of course, no matter what GM does or builds there always be the people out there cheering into their brie and wine that GM is inferior and not to be taken seriously... these are the same people who criticize the quality of interior plastic.

I criticize the interior plastics in cars. My Saturn has some of the best plastics I've felt. The Fit we test drove has some of the worst. It felt as cheap as our '92 Camaro.

The 2000 Impala my father in law drives has pretty ok interior plastics. I'd call that car pretty on par with the Toyota Avalon of the time. Not bad considering it was priced with the Camry and had the size and features of the Avalon.

this may come as a surprise, but plastics all come from the same plant. You see, GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan... these companies don;t make their own interiors. They are contracted out to 3rd party companies (like my former employer Textron Automotive) for manufacture. The plastics and powdered vinyls all out of the same bins, bags, gaylords and silos... the manufacturing processes are all the same for dashboards, door panels, and instrument panels.

in the one factory I worked in we made interior systems for:

Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Venture
Chevrolet Malibu
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Oldsmobile Silhouette
Oldsmobile Aurora
Cadillac Deville
Ford Mustang
Ford Crown Victoria
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Impreza
Nissan Altima
Nissan Maxima
Toyota Camry
Toyota Corolla
Freightliner/Dodge (Sprinter program)

all in one plant...
so the old argument over cheap plastics just grates on me.

Posted by Samurai this may come as a surprise, but plastics all come from the same plant. You see, GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan... these companies don;t make their own interiors. They are contracted out to 3rd party companies (like my former employer Textron Automotive) for manufacture. The plastics and powdered vinyls all out of the same bins, bags, gaylords and silos... the manufacturing processes are all the same for dashboards, door panels, and instrument panels. in the one factory I worked in we made interior systems for: Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet Venture Chevrolet Malibu Oldsmobile Cutlass Oldsmobile Silhouette Oldsmobile Aurora Cadillac Deville Ford Mustang Ford Crown Victoria Subaru Legacy Subaru Impreza Nissan Altima Nissan Maxima Toyota Camry Toyota Corolla Freightliner/Dodge (Sprinter program) all in one plant... so the old argument over cheap plastics just grates on me.

My Uncle, who have mentioned before worked for both Ford and later Visteon, worked mostly in plastics and what not and dealt with Textron directly when there was a quality issue they could not figure out.

He told me Ford still does manufactures some of its own plastics at a plant shared with Mazda in Japan.

There was a contractor over in Dayton TN (near where I was living) that had the contract for some Saturn interior pieces.

Posted by bandi Even I'll say it... the cars we have now are ten times the cars we had even last year. We have a Canadian commerical with some guy taking a bunch of the cars around a race track, testing them... and although the new Equinox is a great, well built and efficient little crossover, the scene where he "wants to take it on the track again!" is just fucking DUMB. Camaro, sure! But not the 4 cylinder soccer-mom-mobile.

Hmmm... said guy is actually Bobby Orr. MAYBE they should have mentioned that in the ad since nobody under the age of 40 knows what he looks like.

I feel that plastics come more down to how much is spent on them than who makes them. The same company that builds the VW Beetle builds the Bentley Continental.

It comes down to what the company wants. In my example with the Fit compared to my Astra, you're comparing a $17,000 with a $22,000 car. They're still in the same market segment, but not the same pricing segment. With rebates, our Astra was on par in price with the Fit, though. But because Honda has to build the Fit so cheaply, they allow cheaper plastics to be used. They also don't seem to put them together as well. No matter how good your plastics are, if they're put together poorly, they will rattle.

does it matter that my 14 year old Chevrolet Beretta still doesn't rattle, nor does my 2007 Cobalt SS?