Nissan... I gotta give them props for the looks of the 370Z... I love it. It's just muscular enuff to make me forget about the boring ass 350Z it replaced and the horribly awkward looking Altima Coupe.. not to mention the ugly ass GT-R. Performance is admirable as well... even tho the Camaro SS will beat it. I will also throw some props over to the G37S Coupe... altho I liked the G35 Coupe more. The Camaro kinda answered my prayers in relation to the Nissan/Infiniti Sports Coupes, as the Solstice and Sky were slated for death when the 370 was announced.
Honda... The Accord Coupe V6. Pretty much makes me think that Honda has done a better thing with the Mid-Size offerings than Chevy does with it's magnificent Malibu. And while the Malibu triumphs the Accord Sedan... the lack of having a coupe in the segment automatically gives Honda an edge... especially since the G6 has both a coupe and a convertible (as did the 9-3). It's simply no reason why GM didn't switch the G6 Coupe over to Chevy.
Benz. The CL and S-Class. With the ATS coming soon... I feel as tho Cadillac will finally have a proper entry car to run with the C-Class... but word is that the upcoming XTS will go more against the Lexus LS than the S-Class. Meaning that a coupe variant to give U a Cadillac choice against the magnificent CL is not gonna happen :(
Audi... The R8. Ok let me clarify... I don't actually like the R8 one bit.. but I feel that Cadillac should still have a CIEN or revised XLR to compete with it. The CTS-V currently outperforms the V8 R8... and will actually equal the V10... My bet is that the CTC-V will actually rip the V10 Audi R8 due to probably having less weight and even better aero.. But it still does not escape the fact that both Audi and Lexus will now have SPORTS CARS and Cadillac will not. Using the Corvette STILL as the basis.. in better times I could see that C7 Concept debuting with a Cadillac Emblem more so than the Corvette Flags.
The Taurus and Fusion. Let me get this one straight. The Fusion is a nice car... but I don't see it as superior to the Malibu.. quite the opposite in fact. In looks, interior materials and design.. the Malibu beats the Fusion. Where the Fusion beats the Malibu tho is in it's offerings. Namely the Hybrid, the DIRECT-INJECTED 4 Banger, and the option of AWD. Ironically these are all things that GM is perfectly capable of giving to the Malibu. The AWD system from the 9-3Aero is aligned for Epsilon I, while the 2.4L DI engine from teh Equinox allows the heavier, larger CUV to achieve just one MPG less than the Malibu and 2 less than the Fusion... if Chevy were to put taht very same engine in the Malibu U would more than likely see the Bu's MPG go from 33MPG to 35-36. The Hybrid notion is obviously being worked out in the upcoming next gen, using BASII.
Bringing me to the Taurus... which is nothing more than a restyled MKS... with less leather, and 10 less HP in non-Performance trim. The MKS isn't even as good as the Buick Lacrosse, certainly if Chevy followed the same FORD FORMULA with the Lacrosse to Impala point of view we would have a Taurus competitor to seriously be proud of.. all with out having to resort to the 6 year old Commodore platform
As I said before... I for one have always believed that the Impala, based on it's current sales, and Chevy's true direction (pertaining to Family cars) should remain FWD, and AWD literally a dumbed down version of the Lacrosse.
As much as I LOVE the idea of the PERFORMANCE GM... Chevy can and should produce mass products that feed the needs of the masses, still offering stellar performance and value. The RWD side should be left to the Cadillac brand and some NICHE Chevys. The Chevy brand sold almost as many cars as any other maker last year in the U.S. This is where CAFE numbers will be drawn from most. It also houses the majority of it's SUVs and Trucks. Direct competition dictates that Chevy offer a Large Car, a Mid-Size, a Compact and derivatives, and a sub-Compact.
The Impala is a MASS market car, and even with the Malibu selling next to it, could continue to garner sales if the updates are put in place to insure it's survival... Leave the heavy performance to the Chevy NICHE and Cadillac brands. The mainstream Chevy and Buick brands should remain FWD/AWD and cater to the mass and LUXO mass markets. That's IT...
GM should look at the Impala's 290K sales from 2006 (not including MC 35K)... then looked at it's 311K in 2007 (not including MC 16K) see growth in that segment. They should see that the Accord has now grown in size and considered that there was a necessity to stay in the Large Mid-size market with FWD.
ONCE AGAIN... I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE RWD vehicles.. my stable is full of them, with only two FWD vehicles, both Epsilons.. but trying to meet 30+MPG CAFE is not doable as long as we are completely contingent on having cars that don't need to be SUPER-PERFORMANCE... be that.
Shoot.. U want a RWD GM vehicle.. go get an Effin G8, Camaro, Solstice, Sky, Corvette, CTS, STS.. or truck/suv
How the eff do people expect GM to survive if all they build are Niche products.. and don't it twisted folks.. RWD is NICHE. The mainstream passenger cars... the ones that sell in the 150K+ arena.. are all FWD
The current Impala lost sales because it's ANCIENT at this point and it's fleet sales numbers have dropped tremendously.. so much so that the Nissan Altima is now selling more to fleet than it. The Ancient part is very significant tho.
The current Impala is actually a reskinned version of the same car that was available in the year 2000. The platform goes back even further.
Bottom line is that RWD is not the only answer to performance. Our visions of the Epsilon II platform's weight, BTW, is not indicative of the actual issue at hand. Looking at the Buick Lacrosse as the gauge is not a true indicator of what an Impala's weight would have to be. Looking at the G8, the CTS, and the Lacrosse shows very little in difference in weight until U look at why. The GM luxos are heavier due to the addition of luxurious amenities including various techno features and a great deal of sound deadening to better isolate the driver from the road noise. Not to mention new safety regulation requirements. Also keep in mind that the Epsilon II platform has cars like the Insignia weighing less than the Epsilon I based Malibu.
But that's null... as the issue for me is about continued sales. The driving public does not, in majority, see or desire RWD vehicles as the norm. The Pontiac G8 as great as it is.. and despite it being available never came close to selling in numbers necessary to make it a sales leader. The Charger and 300c are heavy fleet as well. Not to mention that I seriously believe that GM is setting up a great deal of it's vehicles to be capable of using VOLTEC. To this point I have only seen it in FWD/AWD application possibilities.