He said what about GM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJJKBbg4TA)

I came across this story on motortrend.com about GM being upset with comments David Letterman made while talking to guest Elon Musk and it really pissed me off. First off you want to know the reason we’re not farther along with electric car technology Dave, it’s because only a thousand hippies in California wanted an electric car in 1990, the rest of the public wanted SUV’s and to get rid of gas sippers because gas was cheap again. Oh and Elon Musk where do you get off cracking jokes about GM the last time I check you’ve only sold 1300 so called technologically  advanced Lotus’s with a battery pack strapped to them. And the audience why are you laughing do you find something funny about a struggling American company that is cutting 21000 jobs by the end of the year.  Again Dave you say the Volts 40 mile range is crap what would you rather have no electric car at all and for me a 40 mile range would be more than enough for me to do whatever I need to just so you know. And lastly do you really want to bash GM for mishandling their finances Dave, because the last time I check you couldn’t race in Indy Car this year because you couldn’t get a sponsor for your car. Maybe the car business isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Murphy’s Law for Third Gens

Coming home this weekend the first thing I wanted to do was drive my car, something you would expect to be simple right? Well apparently not, at least not when your car is about the same age as you and happens to be a third gen Camaro. After a two and a half hour drive home my Dad and I were going to take my car out and go get pizza for dinner. So we get home and after rearranging the cars on the driveway I get into my car and go to start her up. CRAP. She makes a noise that makes me want to vomit as I look at my dad with a look he gets a lot when I’m in my car. The, what the hell is this noise and is she going to be ok look. As usual my Dad informs me that it’s nothing serious just the normal pain in the butt Murphy’s Law for third gens. This time it’s a not quite dead but just dead enough to not start battery problem. So that would be a no go for taking the car out to go get pizza  and I would have to recharge the battery later that night if I wanted  to drive the car on Saturday. So after dinner my Dad and I go into the garage to hook up the battery to the charger sounds easy right? Oh good you caught on. CRAP. Well apparently my hood is just long enough that it won’t fully open before it hits the shelf above it. So I have to put the car in neutral and push it out. Then I forget the bolt on the ground to the battery is striped so I can’t unscrew it with the wrench in my hand and I have to go down to the basement and get a pair of pliers. After about twenty minutes we finally get the battery hooked up and it’s charging.  I can’t wait to see what happens when I go to start it in the morning.

G8 Lives?

Why the death of Pontiac shouldn’t include the death of the G8. 

While I’m sad to see the demise of the Pontiac brand I can’t say it’s not a good decision for GM.  Pontiac has always been the middle child for GM with it being too expensive to compete with the cheaper Chevrolet lineup but not luxurious and refined enough to compete with the likes of Cadillac and Buick. This is not to say that Pontiac didn’t have its bright spots, the Firebird, Grand Am, Grand Prix, and the new G8 were very popular and good money makers for Pontiac. However with the end of the Firebird and the Grand Am and Prix getting passed up for cheaper more refined import models the new G8 was the only real contender at Pontiac. GM knew this and in its restructuring plan had hoped to save Pontiac by designating it as a specialty performance brand with cars like the Solstice, G6 GXP, and G8 GXP. However the continuing economic slump forced GM to scrap the brand completely in order to survive and prevent falling into bankruptcy. So what does this all mean for the lonely G8? Well if GM has any sense they will continue the production of the car as a rebadged Chevrolet and there are several ways in which GM could do this. The first would be to directly insert the car into the Chevy lineup with nothing more than a  name change, this seem unlikely thought due to the fact that the car would come in direct competition with the Impala and upcoming Camaro. The other option for Chevy would be to swap the G8 for the Impala. The two vehicles have nearly identical dimension both inside and out and are in roughly the same price range. This option would also give Chevy another car utilizing GM’s rear dive Zeta platform which is currently being used on the Chevy Camaro. If Chevy were to do this there would be some minor tweaks that the G8 would have to undergo such as detuning of the V8 engine which currently produces only 15 less horsepower than the high performance Camaro. Either way GM cannot afford to close the book on this car it has been a solid producer at Pontiac and with a little less horse power and sticker price it could have the potential to do even better under the Chevy brand. If GM does indeed want to become a contender once again the G8 must live. (Image From Motortrend.com)