Next Suzuki Verona caught in California: Spy Shots

From the The Car Blogger @ Blogspot:

GMDAT and Suzuki share alot of components and it seems that the partnership will continue on with these latest shots of what appears to be the Daewoo Tosca with Suzuki badges spotted in Southern California. Suzuki suffered poor sales from its rebadged product of the Daewoo Magnus mid-size sedan, which was introduced for the 2004 model year. Both the Chevrolet Epica sales in Canada and Suzuki Verona sales were discontinued for the 2007 model year.
Last year, GM Daewoo introduced the Tosca, the successor of the Magnus that spawned a different name in South Korea. It was also an in-house design, different to its predecessor which was designed by Giugiaro Designs. Not long after the ceremonious debut, Chevrolet introduced their rebadged variant of the Tosca, consisting of the Epica name. It was intended for European markets only. Nonetheless, it sparked alot of rumours of Suzuki introducing their variant of the Epica and reintroducing it in North America.

[Source: CarSpyShots.net]


Car Blogger / More Photos, Information: http://thecarblogger.blogspot.com/2007/03/spy-shots-next-suzuki-verona-caught-in.html

UAW says GM has "Gotten Enough"

Another reason why GM needs to extricate itself from the "Union-Made" anachronism while companies like Toyota, Nissan and Honda operate largely without any kind of Union presence (and the joint NUMMI venture doesn't really count) in their U.S. factories:

UAW head indicates GM's gotten enough

Source: http://www.theeagle.com/stories/032907/business_20070329025.php

DETROIT - The head of the United Auto Workers said Wednesday that the union already has made health-care concessions to General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., and he implied that it won't give any more.

At the close of the union's two-day bargaining convention in downtown Detroit, President Ron Gettelfinger said the UAW made major concessions in 2005 that saved Ford and GM billions in long-term retiree health-care obligations.

Detroit's GM Fans Have no Daewoo-built Buick on their Radar

Recently I've posted quite a bit on my favorite car forum regarding my desire to see Buick import an Excelle or a Tosca as a Buick to combat the steep 40% decline in Buick sales in the USA.

GM fans at GMInsidenews.com will have none of it.

Narrow thinking, in my opinion has lead to the problems Buick is having as a brand. Buick has more than a few opportunities around the globe to bolster its product portfolio, but is stuck with styling duds like the Terraza, and clone cars of other traditional GM brands already offered sometimes in the Pontiac dealership next door.

In the last few years that Buick has dropped like a rock in sales, Suzuki has risen at least that much on the back of GM Daewoo product sales, specifically the Forenza, sold as a Buick in China and Taiwan.

The GMI guys generally hate my suggestion, mostly due to the "Daewoo-Stigma" I expect that they have, but I think its worth restating the option when GM fans spout that "there is no other choice, they're doing the best that they can, Buick can only reskin Chevies and Pontiacs and hope for the best with new styling".

A radical change could help Buick, if only GM were brave enough to give up the silver-haired set mentality and give an entry level car from GMDAT a try. Certainly it couldn't HURT sales. And image? You've got to be kidding me. People around my workplace consider the new Hyundai Azera to be a better car than "A stodgy old Buick".

It would indeed be able come out of "thin air" because the products have already been sold by Suzuki here in the USA, and countries like Australia and Canada seem to have no problem importing the Epica.

The best of Buick's offerings now is a reskin of the GMC sold in the showroom next door at BPG dealerships (Enclave). And all it really offers is better (subjective) styling.

And from the responses to my idea, my guess is that most people at GMI just want more reskinned Epsilon(II) s, Lambdas for Buick.

Formula: reskin, rehash, QuietTune, and hope it sells along with 5 other stablemates. Like the Rainier. Or Terraza. Or LaCrosse. Such HUGE hits...(sarcasm intended)

Its a stale, dated 1980's GM-style approach to selling cars that might have worked once, but not since that little thing called the 

Internet caught on.  And Buick deserves to fail if that's all GM (and its fans) can come up with - more reskins of mechanical quintuplets of every new platform GM North America makes.

More tired excuses, or action and revitalization and a Buick that really attracts younger people with value-packed pricing? The best "entry lux" cars that Daewoo can offer, or a continued slide in sales with promises that newer, better styling alone will save the day with a reskinning and heavy chroming of less expensive models, essentially a Mercury-like (gussied up Fords available at the dealer across the street) strategy?

We'll have to wait and see.

Photo above: Taiwanese Buick Excelle (Forenza/Lacetti-based)