No more Pontiac. :(

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by PK198105

hihih my dad had one just like that except in the station wagon version, that thing needed the engine to be flooded to get it started lol. my dad would tell me horror stories about it.

If anyone checks the links the Trabant was to be equipped with a 1.1 liter VW engine meant for the Polo. Sounds like it would have run decently, without the need to flood the motor first.

GM probably won't make something that shoddy, more likely it'll be something so underpowered and weak to make the Yaris look like a Subaru WRX.

Gene

[Deltasix]

Originally Posted by supmet

The hummer employees losing their jobs is natural selection in action. If you couldn't see with global warming on the news every day, and gas hitting 5 bucks a gallon last year, that hummers were on the way out, I don't think your brain is working.

Originally Posted by MadMax

Why does everyone feel sorry for the employees who are losing their jobs....

I guess I feel bad for them because I was an employee of a company that went under recently, and despite the company not performing on a corporate level, I know that me and the employees that worked for me did a great job. And while we might not care for what these companies produced in the way of cars (I know I sure don't) I don't really feel the need to be an asshole about thousands upon thousands of people losing there jobs because of it.

And I'm not sure the auto workers union covers the marketing people, the sales people, and the mechanics that service the cars.

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by Deltasix

I guess I feel bad for them because I was an employee of a company that went under recently, and despite the company not performing on a corporate level, I know that me and the employees that worked for me did a great job. And while we might not care for what these companies produced in the way of cars (I know I sure don't) I don't really feel the need to be an asshole about thousands upon thousands of people losing there jobs because of it.

And I'm not sure the auto workers union covers the marketing people, the sales people, and the mechanics that service the cars.

+1. for a remarkably similar reason.
The hummer employees were not there because they loved Hummers, but because that was the job available in town. I'm sure they would build Yarii with just as much enthusiasm if that was where they were built.

[Shroomster]

I'm upset at the workers (union or not) who get paid astronomical salaries or hourly rates to install a few plastic trim pieces on a car then get mad when they can't afford their 300k home anymore.


or the ones who haven't worked in 5, 10, 20 years, just living off GM pensions

feel sorry for them? hell no I don't.
they are the ones 'building it' they get paid once to make it...I get paid to fix it, time and time again, because their engineers can't make it properly, and I am barely scraping by.

[Sabretooth]

Rumor mill is circulating that either Saab is gonna be purchased by either Fiat, or staying in Sweden by way of Koenigsegg... Which means we could see a really good Saab sports car is Koenigsegg buys em out.

[Deltasix]

The auto workers get paid a reasonable salary, its the rest of us that don't. The unions were what allowed the average American to buy their own car, their own house, and to be able to retire. Without them, people putting together cars might be making more like a dollar an hour, with no benefits, and no hope for retirement. Rather than be angry at union workers, I'd be happy of what they were able to accomplish, and, despite the fear of falling into some evil commie-pinko state, would see how to emulate that in other industries.

[supmet]

Sorry guys. I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I was 16 or 17, I called the housing collapse, and the collapse of hummer, followed shortly by GM. If you couldn't see it, you were greedy or retarded. I'm really, really tired of "feeling sorry" for a bunch of people that ruined a perfectly good country with their own ignorance. Everyone after vietnam has had the world handed to them on a silver platter and now they are learning how much work it actually takes to survive.

This is just the first of many millions of lay offs. You think its bad now? A computer could already make you your big mac(and actually get your order right more than 60% of the time), McDonald's is just waiting for the right time to replace everyone. People aren't quite ready to accept a world run completely by robots. I already have computers checking me out at the albertsons down the street(and to think the checkers and baggers had the nerve to strike a few years back). 90% of packaging, shipping, manufacturing, and assembly jobs will be gone in the next decade or two.

[staticorex]

Okay Karl Marx. :p

[Sabretooth]

Nostradamus lives, and he posts on Yarisworld!!!!

[MadMax]

Hummer's not dead, it's now Chinese! I wonder if Ahhhhnold is going to keep his now that the company is owned by Commies (Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company)!

[RHDVIPbB]

Originally Posted by k r a y z e e . j o j o

^Agree. The GTO, G6, G8, Solstice/Sky and all Saturns will be missed. Damn shame too

I guess if you want one you have to go to Australia now and buy a Holden.

[staticorex]

^ Yeah we can still buy a Commadore. :p

[anonymous user]

Originally Posted by staticorex

I was hoping they could save it. Now I'm sad. :( Anyone else sad about this? Or do the Toyota fans not care? :p

From CNN...
GM will shed its Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab brands and cut loose more than 2,000 of its 6,000 U.S. dealerships by next year. That could result in more than 100,000 additional job losses if those dealerships are forced to close.

Everything you read on CNN, please don't take it as spoken truth. Saturn and Saab are not going BK.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by supmet

This is just the first of many millions of lay offs. You think its bad now? A computer could already make you your big mac(and actually get your order right more than 60% of the time), McDonald's is just waiting for the right time to replace everyone. People aren't quite ready to accept a world run completely by robots. I already have computers checking me out at the albertsons down the street(and to think the checkers and baggers had the nerve to strike a few years back). 90% of packaging, shipping, manufacturing, and assembly jobs will be gone in the next decade or two.

I dunno.... not being a pain or anything but automating a task is still NOT quite that easy. I started in a product line with PLC - programmable logic controllers - and they're not that incredible.

McDonald's already has a lot of "automatic" cookers, especially in the grill area. Still cheaper to have people put the burgers together, for now any how.

Someday, sure.... I automated two thirds of my first job out of college, replacing data entry with a file transfer utility. Pretty easy there, but making a robot do something that requires fine motor control - and doing it cheaply enough to replace a minimum wage worker - that's not so easy.

Gene

[TLyttle]

"Turn the pod, HAL..."

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by TLyttle

"Turn the pod, HAL..."

Some day maybe... but not today.

One of Kubrick's better movies.



Gene

[staticorex]

Originally Posted by anonymous user

Everything you read on CNN, please don't take it as spoken truth. Saturn and Saab are not going BK.

I wasn't taking it as proof, just listing it as a reference. I saw it on Yahoo before checking my mail and looked up the first news site that came to mind to confirm it. I was just showing I didn't make it up. :p I'm sure some of the 4 will be picked up and survive, but as of the first day I posted this the media was saying it was so. :p