GAL. These kind of generalizations are meaningless. If you have facts present them, but these kind of remarks are just a waste of your time. No one give cares about or believes anything presented this way. Besides there is a better then even chance that it will be a POS movie.

What does surprise me about this bit of "news", which I can find all over the web, is how easy it is for GM to get their future products posted nearly every day. It also appears that people readily believe anything even when it is not stated. For example I see responses from people about how this will be a 2010 model. I have never seen anything directly from GM stating that. From Automotive News and the Detroit News job 1 is scheduled for late 2010. Maybe late has changed, but I would call that Q4 (calendar) of 2010. This will be a model 2011, and not an early one at that. If sales do not start until 1/11, they can legally call it a 2012, which they have done in the past. Remember the 1st Chevy of the 80s. I'm sure no one wants too.

Toyota has said they will have a plug in hybrid about a year earlier. GM promised to be first to market with a plug in hybrid. Now GM is back peddling saying the Toyota does not have equal range, so they are in different classes. I guess that is fine print added after the fact. GM also was quick to point out that they will have a test fleet sometime next year, like this still makes them first. I believe Ford already has had a test fleet of plug in hybrids in service in CA. But I guess Ford does not count.

If you look at other GM promises, like the Cobalt will be a Civic beater, GM is the fuel mileage leader and always will be (2000, a response to Fords promise to increase fleet CAFE for trucks), Aurora would take beat the Eurpeans, the Malibu will be a strong competitor to Accord and Camry, etc. etc. It is very puzzling how GM can still get so much press, when they have such a track record of under delivering.

Of course the reason is obvious, no one spends more on car advertising than GM, and by a large margin. I don't have current numbers, but back a couple of years I it was reported in the NYT and other places that GM spent about $3 billion on TV ads. From the LA Times experience, if you don't give GM good press, they will pull all their ads and encourage their dealer to do the same.

I wish the auto press weren't such blatant whores. Can we please see more coverage of other attempts at environmentally sustainable vehicles? Maybe the Aptera, Phoenix, Green Vehicles, Venture Vehicles, Mitsubishi iMiEV, Nissan EV, etc.

There are many attempts at "green" cars that are better than the Volt and several will be out sooner. Could we please give them fair coverage.

• Fri, 08/29/2008 - 07:15
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