Gas Is Spendy
Yeah, we all know gas is currently floating around the $3/gallon range and it's harder than hell filling up the Tahoe or F-150. CNN/Money reports: Consumer Reports: Gas prices having big impact. Over 1/3 of the people Consumer Reports contacted said that they plan on getting a more fuel efficient car. What we found even more interesting:
Most Americans, about seventy percent, according to the survey, do not think $3.00 a gallon is "too expensive" for gasoline. In other words, $3.00 a gallon for gasoline would not cause them to take serious measures to curtail their usage. About half think $4.00 a gallon would be "too expensive."Wow. That sure sends a signal to Exxon Mobil that $3 is just fine, so don't bother lowering the prices. We wonder when $4/gallon won't be a major problem. Summer '07?
Jill For President!
Man, what's up with Jill Lajdziak kicking ass all over Saturn? What's up with Jill Lajdziak kicking ass all over her dealer network? What's up with Jill Lajdziak giving our tush a pinch during the Aura unveiling? It was totally uncalled for. OK, we asked her to. And we had to sit on her hand to make it happen. Call us, Jilly!
First, Autoblog reports: Saturn announces pricing for 2007 Vue Green Line hybrid. $23k for a Saturn Vue hybrid SUV? Now we're talking green. Let's assume for a minute that the Vue is even in the running (it's really only OK when compared to competition), add in the hybrid component and the Vue has an open road. Kudos to GM (it was Jill) on keeping the price from hitting the stratosphere. Next, Jill comes down on her dealers: Edmunds reports: Saturn dealers won't be allowed to add ADMs to the Sky. No price gouging! Now this is how to win and keep customers. What's Jill have to do next? Well, get more Skys made. Mr. Lutz keeps going on and on about the manufacturing plant has more capacity, so Jill needs to pin him down to make another 5,000 Skys for 2007. Then Jill needs to boot the Ion and personally approve of the next model. If it's that Opel we saw, we're cool with that. But we sure want to see/read/hear Jill say, "I've personally approved even detail in the upcoming new Saturn. I take full responsibility on the quality of this car. It will be the best small Saturn we've ever made. And if it's not, I will resign."
False Hope
The Detroit News reports: Outlook: GM rises, Ford falls. This isn't us crapping on GM for no good reason. Really we're crapping on Wall Street here since... well, ever since they booted us out for walking on the trading floor yelling, "Enron's full of shit!" Poor Wall Street dudes. Enron imploded and took away their dreams of stealing from everyone. Wall Street was so bummed they had to go get some law passed to make it OK to hide money.
Anyway, in The Detroit News piece, Wall Street is bullish on GM because people are buying up them thar new big SUVs. And GM's got some new, big pick-ups coming. And? Lots of people are already looking to get a smaller vehicle. And the Japanese manufacturers are banking on it with the Fit, Versa and Yaris. What's interesting is that Ford is making the same big crap and its stock drops. We know that it has a bit more to do with the what vehicles are coming out, but we just found it interesting.
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