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Kicking Tires reports: First Drive: 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line. Build quality is off a bit? Crap!

Autoblog reports: GM intros incentives for full-size trucks. Incentives on the new truck? Crap! Well, yay for us buyers.

GM Teasin'?

Autoblog reports: GM refocuses on Volt, thinks 2010 sales are doable. We've been burned by GM too often to get excited over some neat idea that will probably never make it to be any significant production.

We'd love to see Prius and Civic competitor and hope that GM isn't just bullshitting again on this product. The Volt is moved by electric engines that run from battery packs that are charged by a gasoline engine. Battery technology current blows, so it remains to be seen if GM can make this even if they want to.

The Volt can run 40 miles on battery power alone. Is that enough for your daily use? It would be for us.

Hybrids Ain't-a Sellin'

The Detroit News reports: Gas prices up, but drivers not switching to hybrids.

The sad truth is that the vast majority of car drivers talk about swapping gas-guzzling machines for fuel-sipping hybrids, which combine an internal gas combustion engine with one or more electric motors that work together or independently to power a vehicle in a more fuel-efficient manner.

Yet, very few actually purchase a hybrid. Pickup trucks and SUVs still outsell passenger cars in the U.S.

R. L. Polk & Co. recently reported that hybrid vehicle registrations for 2006 comprised only slightly more that 1.5 percent of all new vehicle registrations in the United States.

Anyone out there considering a hybrid? We'd consider a hybrid when it comes time to buy a new car, but we're pretty sure we're still in the minority. Why are folks not interested in hybrids? Is it purely because of price?

That Thing Got A Hemi?, Says The Hippie

Edmunds reports: 2008 Chrysler Aspen 2-Mode Hemi Hybrid. Looks like Chrysler is lining up for some free dirty hippie lovin'. The enormous Aspen (haw, haw is gettin' a lit bit better mileage. It's still bigger than big. It's still sorta fug (good lookin' for a big pile, we suppose). And it's gas mileage probably won't get past 20 mpg. Everyone wins!

2007 NY Auto Show: The Rise of GM

Like subsidiary Cadillac, we know we have a schizophrenic opinion of GM. Why? It all comes down to products. We don't care who is running the place and we can easily overlook the price. But the if the product is a cat turd...

Take for example, the Cadillac CTS. First one? Weak! Now? Friggin' awesome! Go, GM! Oh, look, a Chevy (retch) Monte Carlo. What a piece of shite! At least GM smartened up enough to kill that car.

Anyway, as we walked around the NY Auto Show, we noticed that GM was finally getting its act together -- in most divisions (Pontiac is still weak and Buick is just slightly better): Saturn, Chevy, Cadillac. What products specifically are we happy about?

Cadillac

CTS
GM has paid close, close attention to rivals and, to its credit, has learned something. Cadillac took a weak product and turned it into something that we nearly ready to recommend and, get this (sad or not), it isn't even out yet.

With beautiful styling, available all-wheel drive and plenty of power, the CTS is making this sentence seem like a friggin' ad for Cadillac! While prices haven't been announced yet, we're pretty sure the CTS will be competitive with Lexus. Now how to change the public's perception?

For the record, there are few interior styling cues we'd like to see changed: the instrument cluster is sorta plain... whoa! That's it? Nice work, Cadillac.

CTS! CTS! CTS! A Car Redesigned. Only Betterer: 2008 Cadillac CTS

Chevy

Malibu
Right, we know! The friggin' Malisnooze? Look, not everyone is made of money. Or comes from money. Or has so much money that they can sell money. So, affordable cars are a very important segment to many, many people. Enter the Malibu.

It looks to be like the Saturn Aura, but less fancy and more affordable. This car is very important to GM because it has the chance to win back the hearts of the folks it totally, totally screwed for the last 20 years. We'll admit to being a bit naive thinking GM has totally turned it around but when the design is worth looking at, the prices are fair and the warranty is longer, well, we're ready to give them a fair glance rather than be totally dismissive.

Check it out and let us know what you think: 2008 Chevy Malibu

Saturn

Aura
Specifically we're talking about the Green Line. Yeah, yeah, it's not a "real" hybrid. But it's a good-looking car and it's priced right. It's priced to the point where maybe folks who would never, ever consider a hybrid will do so now. We're already pretty pro-Aura (the center mounted passenger airbag warning light needs to be moved... AND FAST!), but the Green Line is the potential icing on the Alison.

And if Saturn sells enough of these, it will spur GM to take more notice and invest even more money into hybrids and that is good down the road. Our challenge to Saturn: make the 2009 Saturn Aura Green Line get 40 mpg on highway. The non-hybrid Civic can do so now.

Green Lineageness:

Any thoughts on GM? They turning it around?

Make sure to check out all our NY Auto Show coverage.

By the way, nice works on these sites, GM. The sites are simple and show off the product. Try to go to see the Volvo C30 (which we friggin' love) and get all vomity at the site. What a POS site. Let us see the fucking car! Sorry for the weak-ass snaps... GM is still working on getting really good snaps for us hacks.

Canada: We're Puttin The Hate Your SUVs, Ya Hosers

The Detroit News reports: Canadian 'incentives' will hit U.S. automakers, analysts say.

Auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers said Tuesday the Canadian government should be concerned with how automakers might react to its budget plan, which favors hybrid cars with a rebate of up to $2,000 on the purchase but puts a $4,000 tax on SUVs and other vehicles that use large amounts of fuel.

In other news, President Bush declares war on BorderTerrorists.

Everybody's Talkin' 'bout The Aura

It's true! Everyone is talking about the Saturn Aura Green Line. Here's why. Jalopnik reports: One Hybrid Priced Below Them All: Saturn Aura Green Line Lowest-Priced Hybrid At $22,695. Whoa! Car of the year is now a (mild) hybrid, yet cheaper than the competition? That's some kind of good!

In fact, GM is so confident in its Aura Green Line, that it's going up against the big boys in the hybrid market: GM pits hybrid Aura vs. Toyota.

Even U.S. president George Bush is starting to take a bit of notice. The Detroit News reports: Bush 'reaching out' to Big Three.

What do we think? Like the Mustang was for Ford and Impala was for GM, the Saturn Aura Green Line has the very real potential to be the defining car of its time for GM. Pricing the Aura Green Line below the Prius and Camry Hybrid (and when comparing the Aura to Camry, we're talking well below) is great move that will surely get more folks into the showroom (especially as gas prices creep back up to $3/gallon). Do you think we'll see a new "King of the Hill" because of the Saturn Aura Green Line?

Helpfully, CNN reports on: Clearing up hybrid tax-credit confusion.

That's a snap of the 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line and its ugly wheels. GM really needs to redo its media site. That's the best picture of the thing? And why isn't Saturn's site updated with Green Line information? Do we have to kick everyone's ass?

Yum

Winding Road reports: Honda’s Small Hybrid Sports Concept.

Ladies and Gentleman, we present the Small Hybrid Sports Concept.

GM: D'oh!
Ford: D'oh!
Chrysler: D'oh!

No, there's no pic here. You have to do the clickin'. We were gonna snag a snap, but Honda's lame-ass press site didn't have one and we didn't want to just go stealin.' Mmmm, stealin'.

Japan: See? It's Easy Being Green!

CNN reports: Greenest cars. CNN done listed the cars that the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says are the greenest. Here's the list:

Honda Civic GX
Toyota Prius
Honda Civic Hybrid
Nissan Altima
Toyota Yaris
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Camry Hybrid
Honda Fit
Kia Rio
Hyundai Accent
Hyundai Elantra
Honda Civic

Where're the GMs and Fords? Where are the V8s? Where are the... oh, right. V8s = bad. Except in the Dodge Charger. That thing is so friggin' sweet!

Kudos to Honda and Toyota for making the greenest dealies around. Funny that the Civic made the list three times, yet Toyota got four different models up there (and the Corolla is sorta old at this point -- wait until they update it).

That's a snap of the 2007 Dodge Charger with the V8. Yeah, baby. Alison's riding along with us while me mow down some hippies! Should Alison Krauss turn out to be a hippie, we would like it known that we are open to be reformed. A long, hard, sweaty reformation process.

We'll Be Green, Baby. We Promise

The Car Connection reports: GM Says Coming Back in Hybrids.

While General Motors clearly lost the lead in the hybrid-electric vehicle market, the U.S. automaker intends to come back strong, with a goal of surging past its Japanese rival and hybrid segment leader, Toyota, said GM CEO Rick Wagoner. "This is nowhere a lost cause," insisted the former college basketball star, turning to a sports metaphor. "It's the first five minutes of a 40-minute game. No way, in any shape, is this a lost cause."

Well, it's good to see that GM is looking to reinven... former college basketball player? What's that have to do with anything? Can you imagine if old stuff was brought up all the time? GM VP Bob Lutz, former gigolo, said in a press conference, "Oh, how I miss old Mrs. Reynolds. Which leads me to Cadillac..." Or "Cars! Cars! Cars! editorial staff, former chronic masturbators, were found guilty of trespassing..."

CNN reports: GM tries to change image to Green Motors. This is another fluff piece that mentions the Volt (a car that won't be sold and the technology that inspired it isn't even available yet). Look, we're all for GM making more fuel-efficient vehicles, but shit or get off the pot. Toyota's been selling a hybrid since 1999... GM? Hello?

Hey, Toyota's not all green by any means. The friggin' V-8s they sell use plenty of fuel and now with that load of a Tundra, they're making the biggest vehicles they've ever made. But Toyota does offer an alternative whereas GM doesn't. GM should have fixed that by now. Speaking of Toyota, however, TTAC has a good piece: Two Faced Toyota?. We enjoyed reading it.