Uhh… LLN, have you ever seen a Colorado or Canyon? GM needs a Tacoma derivative for their Chevy/GMC line that’s not a POS.

The Colorado is a half baked piece of junk.

I am a GM backer, but you are right, the Colorado/Canyon could use some help.

i have to agree with JakeK66, when toyota redesigns the next tacoma, at least let Chevy and GM collaborate so the trucks aren’t just triplets or copies of one another.

Please, Dear God; kill the Canyon/Colorado abominations upon your Earth. Bring forth a new, well built pickup with a reliable GM engine in a reliable Toyota body.

And before some wise-ass says that Toyota engines are more reliable than GM engines, you need to go do some research. GM produces the best engines on the planet that don’t have Honda stamped on their rocker covers.

How can GM not be introduced in the Tacoma? The Colorado/Canyon are the weakest part of their line-up, except maybe the Aveo.

They’re probably not interested because it could become a dying segment when these CAFE regs take full effect.

dood, they dont even offer the canyon/colorados with an auto transmission… do they?

big problem that GM is so slow transitioning from producing engines with “rocker covers” instead of valve and/or cam covers.

not sure if i’m sold on them not rebadging the Vibe as something else. they’ve been masters at that, and it’d be cheap for them to do. we’ll see i guess.

Kaizen – That’s exactly WHY they’d be interested. CAFE Standards would cause them to be interested in smaller, more competitive Trucks in their lineup. Not everyone buys them for fun or personal use, I ordered hundreds for businesses that are all work trucks.

eff1Fifty – Are you serious? Of course they offer an automatic – out of those hundred or so Colorado’s not one was a Manual.

Could this be the rebirth of the Nova?

JakeK66.. have you seen a Tacoma lately? It’s bigger than the Colorado/Canyon.. and maybe even slightly larger (in some configurations) than Toyota’s last generation Tundra!

So… when the Cruze comes out the Cobalt and Aveo are going to be replaced by a reskinned Corolla? Wait, or was that Geo?

Get serious people, GM is not going to build a Tacoma clone. For an American manufacturer to even think about using a Japanese Truck as a template for one of their own could only be viewed as an admission of guilt- even failure. Oh… wait.

Soooo, who knows how to Photoshop?

How about a tC-like car for Chevy?
Coupe/hatchback.

They used to sell a Geo-Storm(Isuzu car, rebadged), from the late 1980’s, until /around 1993….and I had talked with a Chevy salesman(guy has been selling cars 20 years), and he claimed that those cars sold Almost As Well as the old Cavaliers, but after Isuzu quit making cars, GM just quit selling coupe/hatchbacks..sporty fwd car.
That car had 120 HP, iirc.
I saw 2 last Summer…still running around. One was at the store, and I looked at the odometer…and it was around 100,000 miles, and looked decent enough, still. No rust.
Anyhow,
they could even call it the Storm, again…. except it would be Toyota, not Isuzu, this time around.

Have a good week, everyone.

LJ, good call except for one minor problem. You’re precluding the possibility that Toyota even remembers what a sporty car is.

LUV

one are not discussed on LLN, which should be obvious, is now that Pontiac is gone what will GMC/Buick dealerships live on? Obviously with the forthcoming MPG regs and possibility that gas prices will double once we get past this recession the GMC/Buick chain will need some smaller vehicles. Buick will need something smaller than the Eps II Lacrosse which is a mid sized vehicle. They really need a premium compact vehicle around the size of an IS.

The china Regal(Opel Insignia) is too close to the LaCrosse to be considered a smaller vehicle, though it could be sold alongside the LaCrosse as a sporty replacement for the G6. Now that Pontiac is gone I could easily see that happening.

But something still needs to be sold at Buick that is smaller.

what about next generation sienna?

or the next generation

scion tc / toyota celica / subaru coupe

That would be a cool…. a TC-like coupe that would become the Cruze Coupe since there doesn’t appear to be a 2-3 door version coming out in the future. They should be able to sell 2-3,000/month of those just like the Vibe has been doing.

Or something small and AWD using the Vibe AWD components and give Subaru/Suzuki a run for its money at the low end. There isn’t much out there for small AWD available domestics but the Vibe and Dodge Caliber. Might position them well when gas goes up again

well maybe since they r killing off the solstice/sky gm would wanna fill the slot with another hotrod… the platform did sell well

Sales of tC hit around 80,000 in either ‘06 or ‘07, iiirc.
Compare that to(same year…I think that it was in ‘07)…Mazda 3 sales of the sedan and wagon, of around 94,000 units.
Coupes(”3 doors) weren’t supposed to sell like that.
Tiburon sold what(old fwd model) maybe 20-24,000 units per year?
Eclipse, same time frame..maybe 30,000 units per year?

tC isn’t selling but maybe 30-36,000 units a year now because it has remained unchanged(pretty much) since 2004.
Scion might not be making the tC(fwd) anymore.by 2010(who knows?Toyota changes the story on next Scion products every few months, it seems )..so a fwd Cruze/(2 door coupe/hatchback) would be a good idea.
Have a good week everyone.

I found Fritz Henderson talking about the decision to drop Pontiac and keep Buick: http://www.newsy.com/videos/pontiac_bids_farewell/ Do you think Buick can continue to do well here? In China? I just still see a bleak end to this whole American automakers story even if they are teaming with Toyota/Honda/Whoever – I don’t think it’ll matter.

>Get serious people, GM is not going to build a Tacoma clone. For an American manufacturer to even think about using a Japanese Truck as a template for one of their own could only be viewed as an admission of guilt- even failure. Oh… wait. <

The Colorado/Canyons are built on an Isuzu platform. That’s why they suck.
I would rather have the Tacoma Platform than anything by Isuzu.

GM’s diesel is made by Isuzu, the same company that makes diesels for large sea vessels, sure you don’t like Isuzu?

Besides, GM and Isuzu JOINTLY made the truck, not just Isuzu. For that matter, the Ford Ranger was built with Mazda.

But, this is the USA, nobody wants useful efficient trucks, they want trucks that make up for their lack of… Nobody wants a V6 in a full size truck; they just sit there on the lot.

Chevy Spectrum?

Chevy Spectrum, it was an Isuzu I-Mark, rebadged for Chevy, iirc.

The “Geo” Prism, sold by Chevy,was a Corolla,and cost less…iirc, 750-1000 dollars less than a Corolla.
Not sure why… if the Chevy was decontented, or if Toyota just charged more for the Corolla, the Prism was based upon?
Have a good week, everyone.

I think the reason why GM is keeping its joint venture with Toyota is the possibility we could see a small MPV come out of the plant in the next few years.

I’m sure some of you have seen the JDM Toyota Wish, which is based on the Toyota Corolla platform. Imagine a Chevrolet-badged version of the Wish for the US market, powered by the 2.5-liter 2AR engine used on the Toyota Camry plus six-speed automatic; it would be surprisingly strong seller here because the fuel economy will be reasonable and you could seat five adults and two children, just like the current Mazda5 and Kia Rondo now on sale in the USA.