Recent Comments:
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy {Autoblog}
Jun 20th 2008 1:58PM ZingKing:
Trying to push Cadillac into China wouldn't work all that well. Buick's history there is very long (1920s or 30s I believe) and storied.
"By the 1920s, Buick was becoming the car of choice for kings, sultans and political leaders and winning competitions from South America to Australia to the Soviet Union. Adventurer Lowell Thomas used a Buick in the first motor expedition into Afghanistan in 1923. British royalty favored Buicks - they could claim they were buying "Empire" cars as Buicks were built in Canada. And Buicks were said to be favored by the leaders of Shanghai, China."
If I remember right, the first car bought by the emperor at the time was a Buick, and since then, has been a car of choice for the well off. To take away the heritage of Buick and say, "Here, have a Caddy instead" would be a cultural faux pas.
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy {Autoblog}
Jun 19th 2008 11:41PM Tossing Hummer is probably a good idea. And broadly differentiating or selling SAAB back to the Swedes would be a good idea too. GMC as the utility line doesn't really get in the way of 90% of the car buying public, because they don't need what GMC offers. It may be just a name, but the name comes with an image, and it is probably strongest on its own - even if the vehicles are tweaked Chevys.
However, I have to disagree with you on the Buick front. For GM to kill Buick entirely, would be a very bad idea - it's by far their biggest brand in China, highly in demand, and growing as the Chinese start to demand better cars.
Second, Lexus has the styling and good clean looks and quality to be a luxury car for everyman. IMO, Cadillac is very edgy compared to Lexus, and has a much different audience than it once did. Personally, I wouldn't want a modern Caddy. If I wanted an American luxury car (and I do) I would go for a Buick. The look is friendlier, less threatening. The current Caddy style will forever remind me of The Matrix and bling, for better or worse.
Third, Buick has pretty consistently rated near the top in the CR overall brand quality ratings, up in with the Japanese makes, and quite a few steps above Cadillac and other US brands. Take it with a grain of salt if you want, but I think that's pretty good.
(I admit to being a bit of a Buick fan - I own one, and really like it. And I'm well under 30.)
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy {Autoblog}
Jun 19th 2008 11:24PM At least around here, the different brand dealerships are near enough - sometimes even next door - that they're basically under one roof. Maybe a 30 second jaunt from one to the next, but close enough (and often under the same dealership name) that it doesn't matter too much. And it's been that way for a while.
The biggest change, which does seem to be working, is to have products people want to buy, as carbuzzard said.
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy {Autoblog}
Jun 19th 2008 9:40PM I think your list is pretty realistic, but I do see some sense in what GM is doing right now. They obviously won't kill Chevy, or Cadillac, or Opel/Vauxhall, and Buick's future is looking brighter, especially considering what they're doing in China.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with GM keeping the Pontiac brand in the US (as long as they keep bringing over Holdens and the like - anything better than the 90's wavy plastic). Combining Opel and Vauxhall, and selling them in the US as Saturns is also a good idea.
In more of a response to the column, I think it *might* be silly for GM to take the Honda/Toyota approach. I was going to list and compare everything, but that's taking way too much time, so I'll summarize:
Chevy's lineup is the most like Toyota's. They have a little bit of everything, about the same number of cars, trucks, and SUVs, and about the only thing that Chevy has that Toyota doesn't is a fullsize van and a sports car. Chevy's American (yeehaw), and some people won't buy anything else, so they DO have to have a bit of everything, IMO.
Buick is obviously targeting the Avalon, less expensive Lexus sedans and SUV, as well as a more stylistically conservative crowd. Cadillac covers the rest of the Lexus stable, with its more upper end cars, edgier designs, and the inclusion of a performance coupe and fancy SUVs.
Pontiac seems to have been given the job of combating Scion, but also comes into the same class as Chevy and Toyota's midsize cars, with a sportier twist. Saturn is in the same territory as Pontiac and Chevy in this area, which causes a lot of toes to be stepped on - but people DID ask for the Holdens and Opel/Vauxhalls, and that's what they got. It would be a bit silly to bring them over as Chevys, for the reason stated above (yeehaw). I don't think Saturn and Pontiac could be combined - Euro style cars and Aussie/performance don't go together all that well. Neither could you stick current Saturns in with Chevy/Buick/Cadillac/etc. This is a tricky situation to solve without insulting someone, but having two different names in different markets isn't such a bad thing. If Opel = Saturn and Holden = Pontiac, that would satisfy most people.
I agree with Aprime's double post: GMC has too much 'cache' to toss, but they're essentially a clone of part of Chevy, with some extra heavy equipment added on. GMC being the utility brand sounds like a good idea. And that's something that Toyota doesn't really even touch in the USA at all.
GM can either turn SAAB around and sell them in both Europe and the USA, or sell them back to Sweden - as long as they keep their genes. To me, SAAB seems like the Euro version of Lexus or Cadillac. Which isn't such a bad thing to have, when GM is trying to fight Japan as well as M-B/BMW/etc. My logic on this one is probably flawed.
It's a lot, and quite a mess sometimes, but complex situations can require complex solutions.
My opinions are my own, I'm not stating them as fact - it's all speculation anyway, I just felt like rambling about it a bit.
Lenovo's X300 gets photographed in the wild {Engadget}
Feb 14th 2008 11:47PM I'll admit to being a Thinkpad fan. They aren't perfect, and a few models have their problems here and there, but by and large, Thinkpads are built extremely well. I'm a few years behind the curve, and still own only pre-Lenovo Thinkpads, but they are still some of the best laptops out there.
Some people say "If you want the best laptop, get a Mac. If you want the best windows laptop, get a Thinkpad." With Apple switching to Intel, that may not be as true as it once was. They are very nearly on an even playing field. Both Apple and Lenovo are making thin and light fully featured laptops (MacBook Pro vs Thinkpad T-series, now the X300), and have been for a considerable length of time.
I think it comes down to a few simple decisions:
- Choice of pointing device
If you recognize the Trackpoint as the superior pointing device, the Thinkpad is a natural choice. (Everyone I know who has used one for more than a week does.)
- Operating system
At this point, with Mac OS being BSD based and running on Intel machines, it's not as polarizing a decision as it once was. These days, even if you don't like a trackpoint but have to have windows, you can have it on a Mac - so much the better!
- Design aesthetic
Apple has cornered the market on simple and hip (chic?) designs. This started with the iPod and iBook (2nd gen, not the clam), and spread from there like wildfire. There's no questioning their ability to make a sharp looking and functional piece of art.
Lots of people don't seem to understand the Thinkpad design aesthetic. To these people, it seems to be a throwback, or dated design decisions. The Thinkpads are modeled after the Japanese lunch box, also known as the Bento box. It's a simple, flat, black lacquered wooden box. The reason they haven't changed this design as a whole, is because it looks professional, and provides maximal usable volume in the smallest space. It's not an '80s throwback, as the first Thinkpad came out in 1993. Before that, laptops were beige monsters.
This is why modern Thinkpads look like the first Thinkpads.
People don't fault a modern Porsche 911 for looking like an old Porsche 911... yet they have the same basic design, and is recognizable as such. It's all about the incremental improvements.
Both Apple and Thinkpad laptops say something about their owners. Usually the owner's taste, and desire for a piece of technology that works well. As such, it seems to me that Mac and Thinkpad fans are often at opposite ends of the same boat, trying to escape from the other by paddling as hard as they can.
It must not be too far from the truth - look at the increasing numbers of companies copying both Macbook and Thinkpad designs.
Why the Transformers movie is terrible (no, it's not because Michael Bay is directing) {Autoblog Green}
Jun 27th 2007 1:22AM They really should have stuck hybrid badges on all of them - what is more of a 'hybrid' than a vehicle that turns into a 25 foot tall walking robot? *grin*
Just Askin': If you were a newbie today... {Second Life Insider}
Jun 26th 2007 2:44AM I joined back when the total number of signups was less than the average concurrency today...
Personally, I probably would stay, because I like working with odd platforms and with restrictions - it makes it a lot more challenging, plus there are things nobody has done yet, and I get a chance to do them.
The things that would make me not want to stay: a lot of the wonderful places and groups that drew me into SL in the first place have disappeared (either have been dismantled or fell apart), and performance is a lot worse now than it used to be, even with a slightly upgraded computer, because of some of the new features.
I don't complain though, because I have learned why it seems inexplicably slow at times, but that still hurts the experience, and would certainly hurt it more for someone who just joined, and seems to get totally random slowdowns, and doesn't know what to do about it.
Reader Essay: The Origins of Power - cellulosic ethanol vs. solar {Autoblog Green}
Jun 25th 2007 5:19PM Thank you all for your comments and insights! I do plan on writing further essays, which will hopefully be a little more mathematically simple and take costs into account, as well as other sources, storage losses, and the like.
And yes, there's a reason I compared 'cutting edge' technologies, neither of which are perfectly feasible today - we have to be looking ahead. I'm assuming batteries will get better (high volume hydrogen production is a possibility), and that cellulosic ethanol will become widely available.
Again, thank you, I'll write some more. The encouragement is great!
VIDEO: Yet another possible alternative fuel - this one with about 60 percent water {Autoblog Green}
Jun 24th 2007 4:09PM Certainly interesting - but I agree with the first commenter that something fishy looking is going on. In the video, they mix the metallic sand substance with water, and a bit of waste oil - stating that any lubricant will do - and then strain off the sand.
If I had to guess, it would be that the water was reacting with the metal sand to produce a combustible byproduct.
Are cars getting cheaper or are we getting paid more? {Autoblog}
May 10th 2007 10:50PM http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:mPGVNTeg37AJ:cta.ornl.gov/data/tedb25/Spreadsheets/Table10_10.xls+average+price+of+a+new+car&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
Cars appear to be staying about the same price. 'We' (whoever that is) must be getting paid more. I wish I were getting paid more. :P
