THE NEW 2012 CHEVY "DEATH TRAP"-A GOVERNMENT INSPIRED CAR THAT IS TOO SMALL AND TOO DANGEROUS PLANNED FOR INSTANT FAILURE

After revealing an eye-popping projected fuel economy figure for the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors took visiting journalists on a behind-the scenes tour of the carmaker's design studios for a look at its future product line-up.

There was just one rule: No photos could be taken. So the photos you see here are of upcoming products -- or ones just hitting showrooms now -- that have already been seen publicly.

The Volt is obviously the biggest news coming from Chevrolet, but an upcoming redesign of the popular Malibu will make plenty of news of its own. The current Malibu, named "Car of the Year" in 2008, has become an icon of GM's product turnaround.

Finally, here was a GM car with the performance, fuel economy and style to rival the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

The new Malibu will still be recognizable as the same car, but with sharper, more flowing lines. The back end of the car, in particular, is very different. The rear view on today's Malibu is bland, but the new version gets a BMW-like raised trunk lid with taillights that jut out at the corners.

"Our job is to make these vehicles look like $40,000 or $50,000 vehicles even though they're priced like Chevrolets," GM designer David Lyon said.

The trunk was designed to be bigger and easier to access in answer to customer complaints about the current car, a GM designer said. The car is almost imperceptibly larger, too, especially on the inside.

A Camaro convertible was also on display as proof that, yes, GM really is working on it.

A new Chevrolet Aveo small car was also on display right next to the sightly Spark subcompact. The new Aveo will look very much like a big brother to the Spark. Both, for instance, will have hidden rear door handles giving them a 2-door look.

In the next few years as we seek to collect back the "loans" to this company, it will be hard to imagine that PLUS SIZED Americans will be lining up to squeeze into these tiny death traps-cars that are likely not to protect their occupants in the event of a high speed crash...especially a crash with a large SUV or truck.

The government mandates to build small cars are absolutely going against the free market forces that dictate a need to comfortable larger cars...they can have smaller engines...but why would anyone in the car business think about that?

FIAT IS BACK!-NOBODY WANTED TO BUY ITS CARS FOR GOOD REASON IN AMERICA-THEY WERE CRAPPY! BONDHOLDERS BEWARE, US GOVERNMENT WILL TOSS ASIDE YOUR LIENS

FIAT whatever, now got a stake in Chrysler for FREE, while the secured bondholders got "fiatted".

If you are a secured bondholder, AND THE GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED, the Supreme Court will also seek to screw you in siding with the Chavez mentality of the new administration.

Secured bondholder, so what, you get nothing, and the UAW gets everything.

Will that be the fate of other companies? The stockholders get nothing, the bondholders get nothing and the employees take over for nothing?

Seems that way.

FIAT, an auto builder who last sold cars in the USA decades ago, you know the crappy little lightweight really rusty ones that would always break down, and there would be a lack or parts.....that FIAT, now will provide its "technology" to Chrysler. For that it got to own stock and its stake can grow further.

Basically, now the UAW, US government and FIAT own Chrysler.

Stockholders got the shaft, bondholders got the shaft, dealers who were tossed out got the shaft, and the taxpayers got the shaft.

Now what do you think of the future of such a company ?

Fiat SpA bought a stake in most of Chrysler LLC’s assets, creating the world’s sixth-largest carmaker in Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne’s plan to survive the recession by setting up a global alliance.

Fiat, Italy’s biggest manufacturer, will own 20 percent of the newly formed Chrysler Group LLC and is aiming for a 35 percent stake if certain operational goals are achieved, the companies said today in a statement. The United Auto Workers’ union retiree health-care trust fund will be the biggest owner, with 55 percent when Fiat reaches its target holding.

The combined carmaker would have sales of 4.5 million vehicles globally, ranking just behind Ford Motor Co. based on 2008 figures. Marchionne is pushing for consolidation in the auto industry because he expects only six global producers to survive the first global recession since World War II.

“Marchionne will be focused on restructuring Chrysler, but he’s still looking for other possible mergers and acquisitions,” said Karim Bertoni, who manages the equivalent of $18.5 billion at Banque Syz in Geneva and doesn’t own Fiat stock.

Fiat rose 36 cents, or 4.9 percent, to 7.79 euros in Milan trading, the biggest gain in five weeks. The shares have increased 70 percent this year, valuing the Turin, Italy-based carmaker at 9.39 billion euros ($13.1 billion).

The Italian company isn’t providing any cash for its stake, instead contributing technology such as engines and vehicle designs that Chrysler has valued at as much as $10 billion.

Russia, Latin America

The U.S. government will hold 8 percent of the new Chrysler and Canada will own 2 percent, the companies said. Fiat will help Chrysler, which is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, sell cars in Russia and Latin America, they said.

Until Fiat gets its additional 15 percent, the ownership breakdown is 20 percent by the Italian company, 9.85 percent by the U.S., 2.46 percent by Canada and 67.69 percent by the UAW retiree medical fund, according to bankruptcy court documents.

The transaction is Marchionne’s first toward his goal of selling 6 million cars a year, the minimum he says is required to be profitable through the economic contraction. Chrysler, which shut its 22 U.S. factories on May 1, didn’t receive any other bids for its assets.

Marchionne already realigned Chrysler’s management, installing a new chief financial officer and putting new leaders in charge of the individual brands.

Opel Offer

Fiat also made a non-cash offer in May for General Motors Corp.’s Opel and Vauxhall brands in Europe. Magna International Inc., Canada’s biggest car-parts maker, was chosen at the end of last month as preferred bidder for the GM Europe division and is in talks on completing the takeover.

Most of Chrysler’s operations will be shifted to the new company, excluding eight factories, dozens of pieces of real estate, equipment leases and contracts with 789 U.S. auto dealerships. Among the agreements excluded are vehicle-assembly and wholesaling ventures in Canada and Mexico with Daimler AG, its former owner, and a contract hiring investment bank Lazard Ltd. to help sell the Dodge Viper sports-car operations.

Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection on April 30, using the reorganization to retain what it considers its strongest assets and form an alliance with Fiat. The U.S. and Canadian governments are financing the Chrysler sale with $2 billion and are loaning the new company $6 billion for operations.

Performance Goals

Fiat has the option of raising its stake to 35 percent by meeting performance goals, including building a Fiat car in the U.S., selling Chrysler vehicles in foreign markets and offering a car that gets 40 miles per gallon or more in the U.S.

The sale will let the U.S. carmaker revive its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands with less debt and lower wage costs as Fiat provides technology, platforms and knowledge. Fiat built just over 2 million cars last year, ninth worldwide.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned objections to the transaction by Indiana state pension funds and U.S. consumer advocates, ruling yesterday that the challenges didn’t meet the legal standard for an emergency stay of the deal.

Marchionne becomes the CEO of the new company and Robert Kidder, former chairman and CEO of Borden Chemical Inc. and Duracell International Inc., is chairman. Jim Press, one of Chrysler LLC’s two presidents, was named deputy CEO, while Peter Fong, director of the Mid-Atlantic Business Center, will be group sales chief and run the Chrysler brand.

Michael Manley, Chrysler LLC’s international sales chief, will oversee the Jeep division and Michael Accavitti will lead Dodge, where he has been head of marketing. Richard Palmer becomes Chrysler Group’s chief financial officer, shifting from the same post at Fiat’s automotive group.

The pairing of Chrysler and Fiat brings together companies with largely different products and markets. Chrysler gets more than 90 percent of its sales from North America through its three brands. Fiat has almost no presence on the continent.

The Italian automaker has the most fuel-efficient lineup of vehicles in Europe while Chrysler is known for V8-powered large sedans, sport-utility vehicles and pickups. Chrysler may begin selling the first Fiat vehicles in as little as 18 months, executives at both companies have said.

Just what we need more cars nobody wants to buy.

KISS THE AUTO INDUSTRY GOODBYE-NEW FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS ARE GOING TO KILL IT FOR THE FUTURE-WILL ANYONE BUY MINI CARS AGAIN?

Wow, what an announcement today by the government. Billions of gallons of fuel will be saved by forcing consumers of the future to buy small cars, but why? Who says that we want to buy less oil from the oil companies and less gasoline?

We only buy less when the price gets too high, so the free market allows a natural ceiling for what we are willing to pay for gasoline. Must the government again decide what we should pay?

First of all they will be less safe, and therefore more people will die in car crashes due to being in smaller vehicles. The good news is that larger vehicles will be hoarded for later sale to people who do not want smaller vehicles. Just watch even now, how many small cars are purchased, and who wants them!

Unless GM and Chrysler make all their cars in China, and make them all Hummers and RAM trucks, it is not likely that small micro cars from China that have a pack of mice for an engine, are going to be big sellers for American consumers.

We want a big car, and we want to buy it when the mood strikes us. We will buy gas for it until it is no longer the "right" price, and then gas prices will fall allowing us to drive our big cars around again.

See that is the natural order of the free market. It fixes itself.

Now the government, the people that have never run a real business, or actually know what it takes to make an automobile with all the restrictive filters, and government mandated attachments, have come up with a new number; the miles per gallon figure for private industry to jump to. never mind that no such cars yet exist!

Oh I wonder if the various committee chairmen and other POLS who are usually driven in limos will have a MINI limo?

New fuel economy rules announced by President Obama Tuesday have already gained support from major automakers, but the challenge will be getting consumers to play along, especially if gas prices remain relatively low.

The Obama administration estimates these rules will add about $600 to the cost of a car. That's on top of an estimated $700 added by changes to fuel economy rules that have already been enacted. All this may keep consumers from buying a new car, some say.

Also with fuel prices still low, consumers may want larger vehicles, but these will never be as efficient as small cars. Without soaring gas prices pushing drivers to conserve, it will be difficult for makers of larger vehicles to meet the administration's efficiency goals.

"You could achieve the standards today with ultralight, really small cars," said Jeremy Anwl, chief executive of the automotive Web site Edmunds.com, "but how many people are really going to buy those?"

A call for higher gas prices. Experts say what's needed is a rule that will raise fuel prices. The proposed rules deal only with vehicles being produced, without pushing changes in consumer behavior.

"They're continuing to focus on the wrong program," said Todd Turner, an analyst with Car Concepts Automotive Research.

The proposed new fuel economy plan will require passenger cars and light trucks to get an overall average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. By that year, cars will be expected to average about 39 mpg and trucks would be required to get 30 mpg. Current fuel economy standards are 27.5 mpg for cars and 23.1 mpg for trucks.

The plan accelerates by four years new fuel economy standards passed by Congress at the end of 2007. Fuel economy will be increased gradually beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2016.

Before the proposal is implemented regulators need to seek public comment. Because this is an adjustment to existing rules there's no need for Congressional action.

Trying to create a fair system. Not all automakers will be treated as equals in order to avoid unfairly penalizing some automakers more than others. Depending upon the types of vehicles they produce, the plan sets different goals.

So-called "full line" automakers like General Motors and Toyota - companies that produce full-size trucks and SUVs in addition to small cars - would have lower fuel economy goals than car makers like Honda and Mitsubishi which produce only smaller vehicles.

Under current fuel economy goals, automakers that beat their set fuel economy goals would be able to earn credits to spend against penalties they may earn in later years. Fuel economy targets will be ramped up gradually in the early years of the plan. That means that automakers are likely to work hard to hold on to credits during those years.

To earn those credits, automakers will take relatively easy steps right away to increase fuel economy as much possible, said Eric Fedewa, head of powertrain forecasting for industry consultants CSM Worldwide.

"What the new CAFE rules will increase is the penetration of traditional, lower cost technologies," he said.

What kinds of vehicles will be coming? Expect to see more six-speed, seven-speed and even eight-speed transmissions and more use of smaller, turbocharged engines replacing bigger V-8 engines.

With technologies like these, automakers will be able to quickly raise fuel economy without having design whole new vehicles .These technologies will add to the cost of cars, though.

While automakers will try to improve the fuel economy of every type of vehicle, each manufacturer's fuel economy target will be an average of all the vehicles it sells. Manufacturers will try to sell some vehicles with very high fuel economy to offset sales of those that where fuel economy improvements are harder, Fedewa said.

Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will also have a big role to play, Fedewa said. An electric car like the Chevrolet Volt, expected in late 2010, or the Ford Focus electric car, expected soon after, can earn triple digit fuel economy ratings in federal tests, Fedewa said. A handful of electric car sales can offset a lot of SUV sales, so manufacturers should be willing to sell these high-tech cars at a loss just to earn mileage credits.

How it will hit consumers. In order to pay for this sort of strategy, automakers would have to raise the prices of large vehicles, something that will penalize America's rural families said Randall Filer, a professor of economics at New York City's Hunter College who studies the auto industry.

"In effect what you do is penalize rural families and large families and use the increase in price those families to subsidize city dwellers and rich families that tend to use smaller cars," he said.

Higher truck prices are also going to keep families in their old vehicles longer.

"One thing we do know is, as long as you increase the severity of the standard and, particularly, as you increase the price of pick-ups and SUVs, that makes owners hold onto them longer," he said.

Keeping those old vehicles on the road will offset some of the gains that could be gained from drivers switching to newer trucks and SUVs.

Buy and keep that BIG car or SUV it may very well grow more in value than your stock portfolio. Just imagine how much someone may pay for that HUMMER in 2020....when there are only pedicycles and cars like the one that Fred Flintstone drives.

DEATH SENTENCE; GOVERNMENT MANDATED SMALL CARS KILL/INJURE OCCUPANTS THE MOST

(ABOVE IS THE SMALL CAR CRASH TEST DUMMY SHOWING SERIOUS INJURY IN CRASH, HONDA FIT AND TOYOTA YARIS WERE THE WORST IN TEST CRASHES)

Again our government is at it...telling us and the auto industry how to build cars and which ones to punish and which one's to reward.

First, it was the mandate to have airbags in cars.

Then it was proven that children would be killed or injured in the vehicles due to the force of the airbags deploying.

Then it was shown that the drivers who might be wearing glasses or contact lenses in crashed would be blinded by having the airbag push the glasses into they eyes.

Then, and worst of all the automobiles which had in addition to the front airbag, (as extra safety feature) the autos had side airbags or curtain airbags that opened up on the sides, caused such a build up of high pressure in the cars, that they exploded the ear drums or worse, of the occupants.

Thank you, big hand of government again, causing more injuries and adding expensive airbags that tend to kill and injure, not help.

Also, it appears that as the cars get older, the airbags that are in them may deploy at random, causing fatal crashes or injuries to not just the occupants, but to the drivers on the road around them as they crash from the sudden deployment and sudden shock.

Now, the worst statistics yet.

The small cars touted by the government as being fuel miserly, tend to be so small that they cause injury and death as "death traps" when involved in accidents, especially with larger vehicles such as SUV's, pick up trucks and full size automobiles.

So as you though you could save the eco system or something like that, you put yourself and your family instead into a death trap vehicle which now will clearly cost you, not just in added insurance but medical costs as well.

What will they mandate next? Smaller SUV's, smaller pick up trucks?

Remember that old quote, " I'm from the government, and I am here to help you." ????

Another government statement that is really a joke, in real life......