As if General Motors hasn’t endured enough turmoil in the last year, Pickuptrucks.com is reporting that GM North America president Mark Reuss is championing the idea of a stateside Holden VE Ute. Pardon us for thinking this issue was dead and buried in 2009, interred in the graveyard of stillborn ideas. Reuss, who ran Holden for GM during the VE’s development, has a soft spot for the admittedly excellent platform that we only shortly knew as the Pontiac G8. While that dalliance was only marginally longer lived than Jay Leno’s move to prime time (the promised G8 Sport Truck was announced and then canceled before birth), Reuss thinks that GMC or Chevrolet could proudly park the Ute in U.S. showrooms.

Rather than let all the hard work done to bring the G8 to fruition go to waste, Reuss is also reportedly looking for a slot for that car, as well. If GM can get the Ute classed as a truck in North America, it might play a significant role in Corporate Average Fuel Economy ratings, and that may be enough reason alone to offer a neo-El Camino. A revised G8 popping up under another GM moniker would be welcomed by the auto punditry, though may still fail to move enough units to make an impact. There’s no denying that niche vehicles such as the Ute and G8 have a following, but we wonder how much focus these efforts are stealing from the pivotal vehicles that must launch and continue to sell without a hitch. As exciting as a Ute might be, a flawless and successfully marketed launch of the new Chevrolet Aveo is likely far more important to GM’s financial health at this point than some hoon sled.

[Source: Pickuptrucks.com]

The history of the Chevrolet Camaro is littered with bold styling options and even bolder colors. “Bold” doesn’t always equal “good,” but there have been a lot of both since the 1967 introduction of Chevrolet’s original pony car. At SEMA this year, we saw more custom Camaros than we thought possible, a few of them done up by General Motors itself. The General even promised that we’d see some of those Camaro option packs on the regular production models in the future. One special Camaro that really caught our eye was the Synergy, mainly because of its eye-popping green paint.

Today, Chevy has made good on its promise to offer those SEMA-special touches to the masses by officially announcing the release of the Camaro Synergy Special Edition. We have no idea why GM’s announcement wasn’t part of media days at the Detroit Auto Show, but regardless, the Synergy will be available from February to May with a starting price of $26,790. It’s based on the 1LT, with its 304-horsepower, 3.6-liter, direct-injection V6. You can get it with the six-speed stick or an automatic, but the bespoke, specially-stitched shift knob will assuredly feel better when shifting for yourself.

The Synergy Green exterior color will be unique to this limited run and comes with Cyber Grey Rally Stripes, a rear spoiler, 19-inch painted wheels, Synergy Green instrument panel, door inserts and stitching. Synergy buyers will also pocket the Camaro Convenience and Connectivity Package, which add Bluetooth, USB port and remote vehicle start on slushbox models. By our estimation, that’s a lot of content and a lot of green for not a lot of green.

Is the Buick Regal GS the most important “maybe” of the 2010 Detroit Auto Show? It’s been more than two decades since performance enthusiasts cared about Buick in any meaningful way. The car at that time was the now legendary Buick GNX. Even if the proposed Regal GS makes production – a big if – it’s not going to be a GNX replacement, at least not in the hearts and minds of power-mad Buick enthusiasts. However, at this chapter in Buick’s story, every little performance bit counts.

That stated, here’s what we might get: Power comes from a beefed-up version of the direct-injected 2.0-liter turbocharged Ecotec four-cylinder making 255 horsepower and a walloping 295 pound-feet or torque. Compare that to the regular 2.0-liter DI Ecotec that we know and love in cars like the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Chevrolet Cobalt SS: 260 hp, 260 lb-ft of twist. Five horsepower less, sure (your lawnmower makes five horsepower), but we’ll gladly trade those ponies for the 35 extra torques. All that grunt gets routed through a six-speed manual before being kicked out to all four wheels. Speaking of wheels, the Regal GS rides on gorgeous 20-inch alloys that are hauled to a halt by big Brembos squeezing 14-inch cross-drilled and vented rotors.

One of the more interesting aspects of the Regal GS is its traction control system that Buick has dubbed “Interactive Drive Control.” There’s a Normal mode, a Sport mode and most enticing, a GS mode. That final setting changes the default torque split, routing most of the power to the rear wheels. Color us curious, excitedly so. The Regal GS also sits 10mm lower than the standard car and is further visually differentiated by twin intakes on the front clip and two through-fascia tailpipes. It’s even got sporty Recaros and a flat-bottomed steering wheel.

Are they going to build it? Our gut says “yes,” or something very close to it. As a brand, Buick needs a shot in the arm of something hot and bothered. Why not a hopped-up Regal? And will we eventually see an even more muscular version of the Regal GS, fitted with a 325-hp turbocharged 2.8-liter V6 from the Opel Insignia OPC, possibly called the Regal GSX? Maybe GNX fans will have something to look forward to after all.

Sometimes, we come across head-scratchers. What’s the meaning of life? Nancy Kerrigan’s anguished “Why?” Or most recently, “what is the point of the 2010 GMC Terrain?” The answer to the latter seems easy – it’s to sell, silly. It appears to be having some effect; GMC finished December 2009 four percent ahead of its 2008 numbers. We’ve driven the Terrain and find it virtually identical to its sister car, the Chevrolet Equinox. The biggest difference is that we find the GMC to be significantly harder to look at. The Los Angeles Times‘ auto pundit extraordinaire Dan Neil has gotten some seat time in a V6 Terrain and notes its stylistic hardships: “the Terrain looks like it has a a window air-conditioning unit attached to the nose.” Amen.

Other incongruities and letdowns crop up in Neil’s assessment, not the least of which is the entire vehicle’s raison d’être in GMC showrooms in the first place. After all, Neil notes, the Terrain is a relatively blatant example of GM’s historical practice of badge-engineering. Neil goes on to wonder aloud as to why General Motors bothers with a GMC version at all – especially when the money could have been better spent raising the vehicle up to excellent from a point that he contends is solidly mediocre. The majority of the automotive press has come away rather more impressed with the Terrain/Equinox package (heck, the Chevy was a finalist for the just-announced North American Truck of the Year award), and despite our misgivings about the GMC’s looks, we’ve found the platform to be quite competitive with its classmates.

Still, the badge-engineering issue with this vehicle is one we’ve discussed in-depth on our podcast, and it remains a nettlesome topic. But then again, no consumers appear to be concerned about it those issues, as both the Terrain and the Equinox are selling at a handsome clip.

[Source: The Los Angeles Times]

At this morning’s XTS Platinum and CTS-V Coupe debut here at the Detroit Motor Show, newly appointed brand manager Bryan Nesbitt announced to the media that that all Cadillac models will receive V-Series and Platinum models. However, during the media scrum that followed the conference, we sought clarification from Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell, and he stated that future Cadillacs will receive a V-Series or a Platinum model. Thus, if you had visions of an Escalade-V dancing in your head, well… don’t.

The prevailing logic behind which models will get a V or a P will depend on the model’s market segment and inherent sportiness. As Caldwell explained it to us, a model like the CTS has a foot in both worlds (and could probably pull off both), but models like the SRX or Escalade lend themselves more to the heightened creature comforts of the Platinum experience. Some Autobloggers remain a bit foggy on why General Motors’ luxury brand needs what is effectively a double-prestige trim level (shouldn’t all Cadillacs be posh by definition?), but we do appreciate the added accouterments all the same.

And as to the possibility of a CTS-V Sport Wagon? Well, we got a wink-wink, nudge-nudge when we suggested to Cadillac that we’d like to see it, and judging by the smiles all ’round, it’s all but certain that we’ll be seeing its debut on the show circuit later this year.

We kind of have the Aussies to thank for it, so we guess it’s all right that they get to keep it… but we can still be jealous. Four months ago General Motors’ Down-Under division unveiled the Holden VE Commodore SS V-Series Special Edition, essentially a Commodore with the front end from the late Pontiac G8, minus the Pontiac badges.

The old company line was that they would be made until the parts ran out. Then buyers started tripping over themselves to buy the sedan at a $1,000 Australian premium ($923 U.S.). The new company line is that Holden will offer the G8 look “indefinitely,” for the same premium. Dealers have also been ordering Pontiac and G8 badges to make the no-longer-limited-edition sedans closer to the real Yankee thing. The package will remain available on the three models in the line: Pontiac G8 SS-V ute, sedan, and wagon, all of which come with a manual transmission. Have a look at Australian fortune in the high-res gallery below, and excuse us while we drown our frustrations with the nearest hammer.

Feast your eyes on the next Pontiac Vibe GMC Granite concept. We have to wonder if this car was originally designed to slot into Pontiac lineup before that brand was axed, as it doesn’t really seem to fit into the Professional Grade image that GMC has used as a tagline for ages. Or, it could be that General Motors really is considering expanding its GMC brand a few notches down in size.

Whatever the case, we think the Granite is a pretty neat little addition to the burgeoning boxy-but-good small car market here in the States as currently defined by the Scion xB, Kia Soul and Nissan Cube. Unlike those production machines, though, the Granite is a bit tougher in execution, kinda-sorta like the Ford Synus concept from the 2005 edition of the Detroit Auto Show.