Cars / Saab, Saturn & Pontiac

Saab, Saturn & Pontiac
GM's plan to get a government bailout

When the big three went to Capitol Hill looking for a $25 billion dollar government bailout, Congress had a clear message "No plan, no cash". They were given until December 2 to come up with a comprehensive plan of action and if reports out of Detroit are correct GM's plan could call for drastic action.Sources familiar with the plan say the company is studying the elimination or sale of Pontiac, Saab and Saturn. Selling or eliminating the brands would help cash-strapped GM cut production costs and reduce product overlap. The plan also includes measures to cut debt and reduce costs for both current and retired union workers.

The oldest of the brands up for review is Pontiac which has an 82 year history as a General Motors brand, in the past year the brand's sales were down 21 percent. The recent dealership tie-up of GMC-Buick-Pontiac could also work against the brand as it would still leave dealers with products to sell if the brand were to be killed off. An elimination of Saturn seems less likely as the brand features a full portfolio of fresh products and strong ties to GM's Opel division.

Company officials are currently scheduled to begin reviewing the proposal after the Thanksgiving holiday and then they will present their plans to Congress on December 5.

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Car review and newsReview of news on the market of cars becomes more incredible every month.
Here is a short description of greatest series production cars of last time.
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Car News Test DrivesBefore you and me see new models of cars or modifications of old one, they pass through the stricked control in laboratories, garages, on streets and platforms. Everything thing is called test drives. There cars are tested on a great number of points – power, safety, control, easiness of driving, protect from damages and other features. Tests can be made not only for the whole car, but for its separate parts also – wheels, air bags, hardness of base, suitiness of wheels to the type of road, protect from temperature and many others. For each, even smallest detail, scientists have couple of test.
In special laboratories techniques create situations and observe how car will show itself. How will these situations will influence passengers and driver.
It helps producers to identify all problems and disadvantages due to correct them before mass production. In case of low quality test drives, innocent people can be harmed.
While cars are tested instead of passengers, soft manikins are used. Numerous appliances are based on them, and at the moment of artificial crash it will memorize the force of hit, speed, possible damage on other characteristics, needed to be clarified.
When parts are tested they may be separated from the car structure or be on their place. These test also show what material is better to be used on this or those detail, how long will it serve and how it should be treated.
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As I came up fast over the crest just before the sharp right-hander, I felt the race car begin to understeer away from me. "No worries," I thought, forgetting what exactly I was driving, "I'll just get on the power and get it straightened out." A tank-slapper later I was facing the other direction on the edge of the grass. I had just spun out on my first lap ever in a race car. A front-drive Kia Rio B-Spec race car, at that.