Here is more info on the GMC Granite, one of the top picks for me from 2010 NAIAS.
General Motors is offering select bloggers a very broad ranging tease of forthcoming vehicles. The event is tied to the ‘230’ event that GM has scheduled for tomorrow, August 11.
What exactly are people seeing? Well, unfortunately yours truly was not invited to the event, so it’s off to Twitter for the latest and greatest in updates.
View this slideshow for images of GM's latest and greatest.
2012 Chevrolet Malibu: Folks who have seen it say it looks much better than the current and sports a very nice interior. Given that the current model was a huge leap from its predecessor and how good the Buick LaCrosse looks, one can only imagine how tasty this morsel will be.
2011 Chevrolet Aveo and Chevrolet Spark: The Aveo could use a serious refresh and the Spark will be a new entry for Chevrolet here in the US. We know about the Spark, but the Aveo redesign is newsworthy. Without seeing it, it’s hard to tell how much of the gushing we read on Twitter is the free champagne talking.
Visitors are also being shows a pre-production Chevrolet Volt to help dismiss the moon landing conspiracy theorists who say the car isn’t real.
Cadillac is showing its wares as well. In addition to a mock up of the DTS/CTS replacement tentatively called the XTS, bloggers are being shown a sub-CTS model along the lines of the long discussed Alpha project called ATS. Would this actually be the Alpha project or something lower cost?
Buick is also joining the game. First up was a rebadged, slightly tweaked Saturn Vue. Think mini-Enclave. More than likely, journos were also shown the Opel Insigna rebadge as a Buick Regal that should go on sale next year here in the states. Also on tap was the next generation Saturn Astra which will now be a Buick here in the States.
GMC also had a concept on display that was a “blend of old and new” according to one Twitterer.
A quick chat about the event with GM's Director of Global Social Media, Christopher Barger, revealed that tomorrow's "Will offer a sneak peek, but will only feature a few of the vehicles on display today." From what this author has read elsewhere, the new Buick crossover and the Caddilac XTS will probably be the models shown.
If you read accounts of this event on various automotive blogs, there is a mixture of excitement about new product with a touch jealousy that traditional journalists did not get the scoop first. How did GM come up with the list of invitees? I posed that question to Mr. Barger. According to Christopher, the group of the people invited today were people that GM has "met" on Twitter, a few were consumers who wrote in to "Tell Fritz," some were moms GM invited off of moms' message boards. Other invitees were college radio DJs or station managers. The idea was to go as "real people" as GM could. Today the concept was CONSUMER first.
Traditional media will get the same tour tomorrow, but as previously noted the webcast available to the rest of us will not include as much material.
If you have a bumper sticker that says "Boxy does it best!" then this is the crossover for you! General Motors has taken pains to separate the Terrain from its sister vehicle, the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, but as your high school synchronized swimming coach may have told you: different doesn't mean better.
“The Terrain allows us to build on the evolution we started with the Acadia, applying the distinctive styling and capabilities that have always been a part of the GMC DNA to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles that customers are seeking in today’s rapidly changing market,” said Susan Docherty, GM North America Vice President, Buick-Pontiac-GMC. “We think Terrain is a bold statement of GMC’s key role within the reinvented General Motors.”
Both the Terrain and Equinox present a lot of value for the money with a nice compliment of standard features. The Terrain comes with a backup camera as standard on all of its models, a commendable decision and one that I wish all manufacturers would follow . Besides the camera, is the Terrain's unique styling worth a $1,810 premium over the Equinox? That is a question only you can answer.
General Motors has taken its lumps as of late, but GM told about 900 workers today that they were headed back to work due to rising demand for the Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia crossover vehicles. The large crossovers have proven to be very successful for GM as they arrived into a burgeoning segment. The company correctly sensed that demand was dropping for minivans, a product it never excelled at making, and put its efforts behind the crossovers. In addition to the trio of models made at the Delta Township plant in Lansing, Michigan, GM also manufactures a sister vehicle called the Chevrolet Traverse at its Spring Hill, Tennessee facility (which formerly manufactured Saturns). The company has decided not to shut down the Spring Hill plant the week of August 8 because of an increase in demand for the vehicle. However, GM will be shuttering the Tennessee plant and moving production for the Traverse to Michigan as part of its cost cutting measures.
General Motors announced today that it has decided to wind-down its medium-duty truck operations. In 2007 GM said that its medium-duty truck business, whose products include the Kodiak and TopKick, was being sold to Navistar International. However, the financial crisis took its toll and in August of last year both GM and Navistar announced that their memorandum of understanding for the purchase had expired and was not renewed.
According to Wikipedia, the Kodiak and TopKick were introduced in 1980 as stronger versions of GM's existing medium-duty C-Series trucks. "Kodiak" followed the pattern of "frontier beast" names given to heavier trucks such as the Chevrolet Bison and Chevrolet Bruin, while "Top Kick" came from military slang and tied in with GMC's heavy truck names of General and Brigadier.
Through May, Kodiak sales were down 48% at 2,075 while the TopKick were down 69% to 1,806. Production of the Chevy Kodiak and GMC TopKick medium duty trucks will cease by July 31, 2009.
