[edit] In the United States
Asian (see Asian fetish): Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Filipino [8]
South Asian:pornography features female performers who are of Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani & Sri Lankan origin.
European (normally only for a few specific fetishes): French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Scandinavian, and more recently, Eastern European women, particularly from the countries of Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania
In American pornography, Germans are often associated with sadomasochistic themes. Nazi regalia and black leather frequently occur in these depictions; a German or German-accented dominatrix is a frequently recurring figure. Films such as Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS play on these stereotypes.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Scandinavia was frequently depicted as a sort of sexual paradise, a utopia of free love. Successful films from Sweden and Denmark, featuring sexual sub-themes, such as I Am Curious (Yellow) and Swedish Fly Girls furthered this stereotype.
African: Black/African-American,
North American: usually Americans of European American descent…
Latin/Latina: pornography features female performers who are (or appear to be) from Latin America or Latin Europe. Most are of Spanish, Portuguese, Native American or Mestiza (Native American/European) ancestry.
Polynesian: Hawaiian

its the same reason why pontiac got the holden ute instead of chev. why would chev get the ute when its exactly the same (except for tray and stiffer rear springs) car as the pontiac g8. its dodgy rebadge jobs like that which are hurting gm.

which alpha car chev gets is another story

jay – ok, but what was the point of that? Everyone knows that
Chevrolet = mainstream brand, competes with Toyota, Ford, etc.
Pontiac = exciting youthful brand, competes with Dodge, Scion, etc.
Saturn = import fighter brand, competes with Hyundai, Honda, etc.
Hummer = off road brand, competes with Land Rover, Jeep, etc.
Saab = euro luxury brand, focus on safety, competes with Volvo
Buick = 2nd tier luxury brand, competes with Infiniti, Acura, Lexus
Cadillac = 1st tier luxury brand, competes with BMW, Benz, Audi

I think GM should bring back LaSalle as its hyperluxury marque

Buick- Entry to mid end luxury. Compete with Lincoln, Mercury, Acura and some other premium models. Possibly, Chrysler if they get they get their model lineup together.

Saab- Entry to mid end performance luxury, alternative fuel/premium showcase. Compete with BMW, Audi, Mercedes, and other premium automotive brands

Mainstream/ premium marks
Chevrolet- Bread & butter vehicles and trucks, possibly a conceptual showcase. Compete with Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford, Kia, Hyundai and Dodge.

Saturn- Just below entry level luxury, technology showcase for environment. Compete with Mercury, Toyota, Hyundai if they move upmarket, Chrysler, Nissan and other below premium marks..

Pontiac- Mild production sedans and performance oriented cars, situated between Chevrolet and Saturn. Performance oriented showcase. For the most part, compete with Ford, Mercury, Chrysler, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Infiniti

SUV’s/ Utility Vehicles

Hummer- Mild production SUV’S, off-road showcase. Compete with Jeep mainly and POSSIBLY Land Rover, keep production keen.

GMC- Full production SUV’S and trucks above Chevrolet but below Saturn (SUV stopgap). Compete with Dodge, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford and possibly Lincoln with it’s top of the line vehicles.

That’s what my lineup would be. Some models overlap some, but I wanted to add what they showcase, as they may change your view some.
I don’t see Chevrolet getting a rear wheel drive vehicle as bad, simply because it’s rear wheel drive doesn’t mean it will be low production or performance oriented. As I see it now though, it would be best if they left their models front wheel drive to maintain fuel efficiency.

Another thing I see is lowering the production of Hummer and Pontiac, to make them still mainstream, but niche vehicles. This would also be a safeguard if fuel prices go up, or if the market goes down. I’m not so sure about Pontiac competing with BMW, albeit performance maybe, but that would be stretching it’s luxury marks some.

This makes me feel better about the Cadillac as well. While they will obviously be a lot different, people would criticize using the same platform for a run-of-the-mill Chevy. When the sister car is a “new Pontiac” mid-sized performance-oriented car, it should quiet some of the complainers.

Oh, and more thread crap from LP640 as usual.

Everyone is right about Motor Trend too…I always get a good laugh when I read my old copies from the 70’s!

Pontiac should get an Alpha, and NO Cadillac! Or Maybe alpha can be a BTS (there’s one in the Middle East) and a Riviera.

The Lambda program should have stopped at two.

Solstice and Sky should stay on kappa, then go to a new Kappa platform.

cookie4me “Since when does Pontiac not need a volume car? Looks like the accountants are winning back GM decisionmaking. A very bad thing.”
I agree.

toh0705a: “why not just trash the cobalt platform, replace it with a RWD platform, and keep the name?”
Not a bad idea.

L-88: “They should trade the Ute for this sedan with pontiac, that way there can be a proper El Camino, and more RWD cars for Pontiac.”
That’s fine, as well.

Scarface03: “I never liked the idea of a Chevy Lambda.” I still don’t, and I’m hoping the company pulls the plug on it before it happens.

“The lambda cross-overs are quality vehicles.” That’s like saying the New England Patriots can play some football.
“The fact that the Kappa platform may go bye-bye might be a sucker punch GM doesn’t need.” True.

golf4me: “Basically a 1series competitor for 10k less, nevermind a Civic Si killer!” Far as I’m concerned, any car that starts up when I turn the key is a Civic-killer.
And you’re right that GM (and everyone else) is missing the boat on mini-trucks.

Lp640: why don’t you remove you’re own appendix?

mazdaman: seems like you’re always here talking sense. Example: “If GM doesn’t drop this practice, they will never be able to clearly define their brands. The misguided brand allocation and horrible brand engineered cloning practice are a couple of reasons their brands became irrelevant in the first place.”

and “They definitely need to quit stuffing products into lineups just to satisfy accountants.”

inline6 SS4Life: Motor Trend is irrelevant, and has been since late ‘05.

1) Is a rear wheel drive compact sedan really going to be a “volume” product? I believe front wheel drive is the preferred architecture for “volume” compact sedans. I think an affordable, compact rear wheel drive sedan could be an excellent niche product, but never a “volume” product. Since this is the case, wouldn’t it make more sense for the product to be developed for GM’s affordable performance niche brand (Pontiac) instead of their affordable mass market brand (Chevrolet)?

2) Where does this product fit in Chevrolet’s product portfolio? It overlaps with the Cobalt (and the Malibu to a lesser extent). If GM would kill off the G5 (which should have never been in Pontiac’s lineup in the first place) and the G6, then the perfect opening will have been created for this product in the appropriate brand. This product would be the perfect “little brother” to the G8 sedan.

I think they need to seriously reevaluate this decision. It simply does not make any sense. Having Pontiac positioned as the affordable sibling to Cadillac offers GM the perfect environment for GM to offer these rear wheel drive products. Dropping a compact rear wheel drive sedan into Chevy’s lineup for no other reason than to satisfy corporate bean counters shows a total lack of logic or appropriate product allocation.

The best case scenario would be for Pontiac to receive a family of compact rear wheel drive products that would include a sedan, 5-door hatchback, coupe, and convertible as well as the NG Solstice roadster and coupe. I see Cadillac offering a luxury sedan, wagon, coupe-cabriolet (hard top convertible), and possibly a crossover on this platform. The only other U.S. brands that might get a product on this platform would be GMC (compact crossover) and Saturn (NG Sky). This would help keep brand identities intact and establish Pontiac (affordable) and Cadillac (luxury) as the major “go to” brands for rear drive vehicles.

Right you are inline6. Haha I laugh when I see Motortrend’s rendition of the C7 corvette and all their spy news. Half their stuff is pretty far off, but I mean it’s just as much speculation as anyone can do. But yeah I turn to Motor Trend last for future automotive news.

That would be the day they make the Cobalt RWD. That day will never come and shouldn’t. As much as we all may contest including myself, a FWD subcompact for chevy is a must. It’s a high seller for their line up and drives volume. I don’t see why everyone is freaking out here over this. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Chevy too needs a RWD Sedan just as much as Pontiac does. Since the Malibu is probably never going to be RWD the Impala should and needs to be switched to RWD. That or come back out with the Caprice or Lumina and have that as their RWD sedan. The Middle east has that why can’t we? And a RWD vechicle for Cadillac priced under the CTS would also be nice. Nowadays you have to pay big $ for RWD hopefully GM can work around the future CAFE standards and do this. but as Commodore or whoever says they better be night and day, GM seems to somewhat be getting away from just rebadging vehicles that all looks the same, Only example where I think it’s working in is for their LAMBDA cross overs.

Pontiac is a MUCH better candidate for this platform, as are Buick and Cadillac.

Didn’t Lutz just say that Chevrolet ISN’T getting the Holden Ute/El Camino because the brand has “too many models”?

The RWD Alpha needs to be underpinning the new G4, Solstice, and G6. The next Sky should get this platform, as well as Cadillac, for a model to slot in under the CTS. Buick should also get an AWD crossover sportwagon out of this deal, too.

But Chevrolet? The only case I see for a Chevrolet version of this platform is if, in the future, they decide to base the Camaro off of it. Otherwise, it makes NO SENSE.

I thought the same thing as other forum members when I read this topic: Lutz has stated that Chevrolet has too many products in its lineup. Why in the world would you force a compact rear wheel drive product into Chevy’s lineup then? It is very contradictory and foolish.

GM needs to take a step back and really reevaluate their brands’ purposes and lineups. Then they need to form a strategy to make the lineups happen. They definitely need to quit stuffing products into lineups just to satisfy accountants.

I think moving off the Kappa is good too, and maybe the Pontiac version will just be the Solstice. The Kappa was a baby step in the right direction, but the ultimate execution was poor to say the least. No storage room, and a top that requires a mensa card to operate. They need to re-do these cars, and FAST. Sales are already slumping for the Kappas. Unfortunately for GM, this car HAS to be better than the Miata/S2000/Z4/Boxster for it to maintain decent sales in that segment. With the Kappa, all they did was get the people already accepting of GM products. You don’t see many here in the West, I’ll tell you. I don’t think they had much conquest from the established models.

I’d like to see Chevy’s version be very retro, having the HHR be replaced by a Nomad-looking vehicle, and building a sedan that looks similar to the early Chevy II/ Nova. I’d be pretty cool to have a retro/modern mix in several segments. Think Impala/Malibu, Cobalt/Nova, Traverse/Nomad, Camaro/Malibu Coupe, Colorado/LUV…yes even a possible super-light-duty pickup to replace the ailing Colorado. Something similar to the LUV / VW P/U, but with great styling, and a cheaper/stronger live axle. That’s pretty easy to do. Man, I want a pickup to replace the old LUV that gets the 25+ mpg I get, but there is nothing out there that really fits the bill. They are all too big & heavy & expensive & inefficient now, and have capabilities I really don’t need for runs to Home Depot and camping trips.

Blah blah blah…I just think it’s a good idea if it means the small RWD platform gets the “go ahead”…

hbcbob3, it happens in politics all the time. sickening isn’t it.