Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Phelan, California

I keep repeating, what has REALLY changed at GM? One of the bigger mysteries of the auto industry has been how the Chevrolet Impala has managed to survive. It's a little larger than a Chevy Malibu -- just a tad, really -- and it's been a favorite of rental car fleets, not individual buyers. So imagine the surprise when Chevrolet announced that the next generation of the Impala will be built at the Hamtramck plant, right alongside Malibu and the Chevrolet Volt wonder car. It took Mark Phelan from the Detroit Free Press to ask the obvious question: Why? Why build a car that isn't all that popular with individual customers in a segment that seems to have lost its appeal? Ford isn't having any more luck with the full-size Taurus than Chevy has had with the Impala. "It's in a dying segment," said analyst Rebecca Lindland of IHS Automotive. "Midsize cars have gotten better and bigger, while large crossovers have squeezed the market for utilitarian large front-wheel-drive family cars from the upper end." Makes you wonder about all the promises General Motors made to rewrite the rules, break the mold and altogether become a different kind of car company when it reformed after its bankruptcy reorganization. Here it is, once again, staying in an underperforming segment just so it can say it's there. Go Kia! Regards, OW

http://www.freep.com/article/20110428/COL14/104280377/Mark-Phelan-AWD-helps-sell- -luxury-Ford-GM-use-systems-build-top-brands?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRON- TPAGE Bob

Homers. The DFP are homers when it comes to home-grown cars, and Chevy hit a home with the Volt: http://www.freep.com/article/20110414/COL14/104140481/Mark-Phelan-My-suprisingly- -pleasant-week-Volt?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE The Chevrolet Volt is not like any other car. Among countless other differences, the fuel gauge adapts to your performance, like a teacher grading a class on a curve. Based on the behavior of its last few drivers, the Volt test car I drove predicted I could cover 30 miles on a charge. I didn't consciously change my driving style, but I got 35 or 36 miles every time. My editor, who squeezes inches out of a gallon of gas like he wrings excess words from my news columns, covered 41 miles on a charge. Volt prices start at $40,280, but a smart customer would ignore that figure and concentrate on the three-year monthly lease payment of $350. That's comparable to what you might pay for a conventional car. The Volt I tested had a few options and would lease for $389 a month. Both leases assume $2,500 down and include the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. The Volt's electric motor produces a relatively mild 148 horsepower, but the 3,781-pound car accelerated confidently on metro Detroit surface roads and highways. That's because electric motors generate their maximum torque -- the force that most directly affects acceleration -- as soon as you depress the accelerator. The Volt's motor generates a healthy 273 pound-feet of torque, more than some big V6 engines.

Where was the first Equus (a bizarro world parallel universe copy of a 90s LS) "competitive"? In the rabidly nationalistic homeland? Or the third world? It looks like something from China. Is the Genesis really a "luxury" car? Many don't consider the midline Euros to really be there...why would the Genesis be higher? I'm won't deny it's a nice car, although initially lacking in handling and design. Who knows what will come next, I guess. Better hold off to get the polished version. Who knows this and who knows what? Who knows how the competition will react, and advance even more? Those with a track record for driving competence, design competence, and prestige. Setting sights on the beigest luxury isn't the end all be all of the higher end. Trying to sell an Azera for 40K Euro (and failing laughably) doesn't bode well for really getting it as the market gets higher and the pressure does likewise. Nobody has denied H has undergone a shocking transformation from third class to a mass market competitor. But, some seem to want to admit that other segments are the same, and I can't see it that way. That Phelan "article" is something...only in America...

Lots of good quotes in this story: Mark Phelan: Quality makes Hyundai surge (Detroit News) "the fastest-growing automaker in the world, and it's poised to accelerate in 2011." "Quality was our undoing in the early '90s. Now it's our strength" "Hyundai has performed one of the most amazing brand transformations I've ever seen, and they've done it the right way: with great products," IHS Automotive analyst Aaron Bragman said." "Hyundai has looked strong only to run off the rails before, however. It caused a brief sensation with low-priced cars in the 1980s before poor quality nearly ran it out of the country." "Hyundai has the right vehicles and they have their finger on the pulse of the market" "Not every vehicle Hyundai has added succeeded. The Azera large front-wheel drive sedan and the $58,900 Equus luxury sedan are sales disappointments." "While nearly every review asks whether Hyundai needs a car to compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-class, most call the Equus a pretty good car and a very good value." "People aren't used to paying $60,000 for a Hyundai, but 10 years ago, the $35,000 Genesis was unimaginable. The Equus may be testing the waters to see whether the market is ready for a separate Hyundai luxury brand." Alabama is loving Hyundai too. (Herald Tribune)