GM DEALERSHIP MERGER ANECDOTE

What will become a more common story across the United States - in both rural and urban areas - can be seen at this link.  General Motors really, really wants its dealerships to have a broader brand base for buyers to choose from as GM attempts to individualize each of their subsidiaries.  GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab all compete in one way or another.  Bringing brands under one roof with cars that are distinct would dispose of the competition and breed a strong team approach.  

In other words, "Oh, need more truck than the Enclave? We have a Yukon Denali right over here."  In addition to that theory comes clear cost savings and greater long-term viability. 

Thus, in Albertville, a place I've never heard of in Alabama, Howard Bentley Pontiac-GMC is now Howard Bentley Buick-Pontiac-GMC.  No; that's Bentley as in the owner's last name, not the British hyper-luxury brand.  

Wayne Bentley's dealership will typically have an extra 40 cars on the lot.  Having started out with Oldsmobile and Pontiac in 1988, GMC came online and the Oldsmobile sign disappeared with... well, Oldsmobile.  

US CAR SALES RESULTS TO BE BAD FOR 02/08

Analysts believe the auto sales in America were likely 8% lower last month than in February of 2007.  It's worse for General Motors where the expected drop is 12%.  It's worse than that for Ford and Chrysler, with predictions for the two smaller American manufacturers to be -16%.

Last year, February sales topped an annual selling rate 16.5million automobiles and trucks.  The best hypothesis for the same period of this year pegs the annual selling rate at 15.3million.  

Meanwhile, gasoline prices averaged $3.16 in the States in February, the highest average cost per gallon since June.  Median home sale prices dropped 4.6% from a year earlier in January.  Mate this with Chrysler's truck-heavy sales structure (75% of their total) to Honda's 44% reliance on vans, SUVs and the Ridgeline.  

This means that even with the overall decline, Honda; Toyota; and Nissan will all - likely - make small gains.  

MORE LAPTIMES FROM evo

Superb British performance car mag, evo, has some interesting new laptimes published in issue 114.  The Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit is always the sight of evo's lap testing, a 1.8 mile circuit that the magazine testers call 'fast and technical'.  

Although the track was damp in places when the new BMW M3 took to the Autodrome, it's time of 1:26.60 is just two tenths behind its big brother, the heavier but much more powerful BMW M6.  That time is also slightly quicker than that put up by the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

An obvious M3 competitor, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, was just under three seconds slower than the M3. At 1:29.50 in conditions similar to that of the M3's drive, the Benz was three-tenths faster than the previous-generation BMW M3 CS and over a half-second faster than the old C55 AMG. 

If you were to give the Pontiac G8 GT a slightly different front end, a thicker bodykit, and a supercharged V8, you'd have the Vauxhall VXR8 Supercharged.  Its 'track damp in places' time of 1:30.00 gets close to that of the C63 AMG.  Even with an insane amount of power, the VXR8 can't generate enough get-up-and-go to overcome the slower corner exit speeds which are a result of the Vauxhall's size, more than anything else.  

For context, the fastest car evo has taken around Bedford's West Circuit is a Radical SR3 1300.  The Radical's radical time? 1:17.10, although that's just 2.5 seconds faster than the Ariel Atom 300 Supercharged.  Porsche's Carrera GT has an evo laptime of 1:19.70; that's 2.5 seconds faster than the Audi R8.  The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is a second slower than the R8 but posts a laptime 1-and-1 tenth faster than the Ferrari F430.  

Bentley's Continental GT is listed at 1:32.25, the Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C is 1:34.60.  Volkswagen's Gabbit GTI splits that gap. 

Check out another evo laptime post here.

LAND ROVER LRX IN MOTION

Is the Land Rover LRX (previously seen here) the future of sport-utility vehicles?  If emission restrictions and fuel economy standards continue to grow tougher and tougher; if the societal conscience continues to garner more members of society against the sport-ute; and if - at some point - sales begin to trend more strongly away from SUVs and crossovers, will all former SUV buyers flock to station wagons and small MPVs?

I believe not.  Sport-utility vehicles are perfect candidates for a weight loss competition.  There's no use betting against the use of engine technology in sport-utes.  So, why can't the future of SUVs be seen in the same fashion as the future of cars?  

Smaller.  Lighter.  More efficient.  

Land Rover, an SUV-only brand, builds highly desirable vehicles.  It appears as though luxury SUV buyers care not one whit about fuel prices or lowering emissions, at least judging by Land Rover's sales. Nevertheless, forethought never hurts.  And with forethought, Land Rover came up with the LRX.  Read about it here. Watch it below.