Cars! Cars! Cars!

Just One. Really?

Just one GM was returned during the 60-day guarantee? Meanwhile

He [GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz] says consideration for GM vehicles is up 15 percent and says its market share in September, 20.5 percent, is the same as last year.

Consideration, eh? We wonder how sales are doing this Oct…

But back to our first point… And it was an exchange, not a real return? Man, that sounds fishy. Also sounds like a good story that is just told to get picked up and retold… Damn you, GM!

Referenced articles
autoweek.com: A Chevrolet Corvette the only ‘authenticated' return under GM's 60-day guarantee, Lutz says

Ugly

Jalopnik reports: The 2009 Chevy Camaro Comes With 100 Extra Lives?

Man, the more we see of the '09 Camaro's interior, the more we wish we didn't. It's ugly.

The controllers that do something (HVAC? Stereo?) are terrible (round knobs, man, round knobs!), the whole center stack looks like it's about to pop the hell out and the "cool" gauges are tucked down low.

Come on!

Accord: 1, Others: Less Than 1

Well, Edmunds tested the family sedans (they missed the Altima, which is a little odd to us) and proclaim the all-new '08 Accord as the one that rules them all.

Edmunds reports: Revitalized Malibu Takes on Accord and Camry.

Surprisingly, the Camry came in third. Or is it surprising a Chevy beat a Toyota? In any event, neither of them were better than the Accord, so arguing who comes next is like (something funny here and make sure to link to Alison Krauss 'cause she's so purty).

We're still disappointed that cars seem to be getting bigger and bigger. The EPA's designation that the Accord is now a large car is a testiment to even green Honda getting sucked up in the bigger is better game. It's hard to argue, however, since the car, according to Edmunds, is still the best family sedan. Shame on Honda, however, since during the test Edmunds only saw 20 mpg from the 4-cylinder engine in the Accord.

That's a snap of the winner: 2008 Honda Accord LX-P.

Malibu: Cheapest Lexus You Can Buy

CNN reports: The black art of auto pricing. This article is actually pretty interesting since it talks about how manufacturers come up with prices and how the manufacturer judges the competition.

The only line we did find interesting was (we'll bold, but that's not how it is in the actual article)

Adds [Edmunds.com senior analyst Jesse] Toprak: "When you sit inside the top-of-the-line Malibu, it is like sitting in a $45,000 Lexus."

We wonder what it's like sitting in a $45,000 Lexus, then. It's like a $30k Malibu?

Hey, we're pro Malibu here (despite not getting one dropped off with a driver) and nearly anti-Lexus, but, come on! If the quote had been "... sitting in a similarly priced Honda Accord" we could have swallowed it. We wonder why the reporter didn't take the quote to task and ask why it feels as nice as a Lexus that costs 50% more.

That's a snap of the 2008 Chevy Malibu from our good friend Aaron Gold at About: Cars.

Muscle Car Wars Prediction?

OK, the price has been set for the Dodge Challenger and it's what everyone is talking about:

Jalopnik reports: The Muscle Car Wars Are On! Dodge Reveals Commercial, Challenger SRT8 Pricing To Start At $37,995.

Autoblog reports: 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 arrives at $37,995.

The fact the Muscle Car wars are heating up at this time fascinates us so much. And leaves us with so many questions:

1. With the recession on the horizon, is now a good time for a high-priced non-essential car?

2. With so many focused on reducing our dependency on foreign oil and the environment, is now a good time for a really powerful car that won't get particularly impressive on fuel economy or emissions?

3. With Mustang sales waning, does introduction a competitor make sense?

4. What sort of impact, if any, will the Challenger have on the Charger?

Yeah, those questions are totally one-sided, but that's OK. If you disagree, leave a comment. By the way, here are some stats:

For 2007, it looks like:

Dodge will sell about 130,000 Chargers, up about 2%

Ford will sell about 145,000 Mustang, down 18%

We predict good sales for Challenger and Camaro for maybe two years. After that, it'll be downhill. What do you think?

That's a 2008 Shelby GT. One of the 4,500 Mustang variations you can buy.

MaliEatItBitchSaysGM

Autoblog reports: GM exceeds Malibu sales expections in the first month by, oh, 2,500 cars.

We were pretty sure, based on the images we saw of the Malibu, that it was going to be a winner. We're not 100% sure long-term, however, since we thought the Aura was going to do a lot better than it appears to be doing. Also, the previous Malibu was soooo snore-city that the '08 was surely ready for some shopper love.

We did find this article Malibu delivers (as promised) a bit odd with the

Nothing is more boring for a newspaper than a company actually doing what it said it would do.

General Motors Corp. promised the world it was going to make a fantastic midsize sedan. We scoffed.

The company said this car would have a world-class interior. The press snickered, while toying with different headlines: "Malibu busts" or "Mali-Snooze."

We were wrong.

What's a newspaper? Who is reading them? Oh, no one.

Anyway, congrats to GM on successful launch of the Malibu. Even though it's only one month. And reliability is still an unknown. And Alison won't return our calls.

Oh, What A Feeling, Malibu!

The first hands-on reports are hitting the internets and, well, it's honestly too early to say for sure, the Malibu looks to be a winner.

As much as it hurts us to not poke fun at the Malibu, we feel inclinded to give a preliminary thumbs up to the folks at Chevy for trying to build the American car.

Here's a few bits of info:

Autoblog reports: First Drive: 2008 Chevrolet Malibu.

Edmunds reports: Chevy Delivers on the Hype.

About: Cars reports: 2008 Chevrolet Malibu photo gallery. Car reviewer Aaron Gold claims there'll be a review linked in from these pages tomorrow. But he's from California, so you know what that means.

Assuming the thing doesn't fall apart, we really feel Chevy has a home run on its hands. People want to buy an American car, from an American factory. And, we believe, that folks will take pride that it was union made.

So, will the Malibu take off like a rocket and just keep going or will it take off and sputter out like the Saturn Aura has done? Also, which competing vehicle is most at risk here? We're thinking Ford Fusion. Then Korean makes. Then maybe the big Japanese three: Altima, Accord and Camry. What do you think?

That's a snap of the 2008 Chevy Malibu from our good friend Aaron Gold at About: Cars.

Chevy Builds Car They Are Proud Of

Autoblog reports: Chevy budgets more than $150 million for Malibu ads. Oh, we're sure they are proud of the Corvette, too, but let's get real. The family sedan is where the booty is at, friends. By booty we your sweet family. By sweet family we mean screaming, spolied kids and a wife who just hates your friggin' guts. By wife we mean Alison.

Anyway, see what happens when Chevy builds a good ol' American sedan? They get all spendy and want to tell the world about it. The only way to top this is to spend another $100 million to apologize for ever building the turdific Monte Carlo.

Less Malibu

The Detroit News reports: GM's new Chevy Malibu will be scarcer in rental fleets. This is such a smart move, assuming GM follows through with this idea. If a car is relegated to the rental fleet it not only becomes a typical car you see on the road, we bet better engineering resources go to a different model and the "could be decent" car goes down the toilet. As in: Ford Taurus.

Best Act Of God Ever

Autoblog reports: Tornado destroys Vegas. Now that's how to take care of some bidness. We couldn't destroy 'em in high school, so props to the big man for showin' 'em how it's done, old school.