Autoblog

General Motors' ongoing financial problems mean that the company Gulfstream won't be shuttling executives to the LA Auto Show next week. After canceling plans to unveil the new Buick LaCrosse and the production version of the Cadillac CTS coupe, it became clear that there really wasn't anything else to discuss in LA. As a result, there won't be a GM press conference at the show.

GM spokesman Scott Fosgard told the Detroit News that with all the bad financial news and discussions about a bailout, any product news would simply get lost in the shuffle. Instead, GM will still show the Saab 9-X Air concept from the Paris Motor Show along with the production version of the Chevy Volt.

Now, two questions remain: 1) Will GM last long enough to make it to the Detroit Auto Show in January, and 2) Why are they spending cash on a driving "experience" at the Alabama "International" Auto Show?

[Source: Detroit News]

General Motors honcho, Rick Wagoner, is holding a 9AM (EST) news conference tomorrow at which he will make an announcement (or announcements?) on what changes the automaker will make as it adjusts to current market conditions. GM's press release has no details beyond that. So, what are we going to hear? The fact that GM is being so nebulous leads us to believe that this will be a significant announcement. Is a brand getting killed? Could we hear of a particular vehicle line getting scrapped? Are there going to be more closings? Will we hear that something new is getting greenlit, like the Chevy Beat? This should be very interesting, and we'll have the news for you tomorrow as soon as it happens.

So, what do you think the big presser's about? Weigh in below and see how right (or wrong) you are tomorrow.

[Source: GM]

UPDATE: Video of the live reveal in the rain added after the jump

click above image to see some great views of the new Jeep Liberty

What better way to unveil a new Jeep than in crappy weather? Chrysler PR honcho Jason Vines joked to the assembled journalists that he seeded the clouds this morning to bring the rain down on our heads, and then a few minutes later got pressed into umbrella-holding duty. Karma really sucks, eh?

But enough schadenfraude - let's talk about the 2008 Liberty. Gone are the cute round headlamps, now replaced with something a bit more congruent with Jeep's other SUVs. Everything under the skin gets some refreshing, with the wheelbase stretched a couple inches and the spare tire moved up underneath the vehicle. The interior gets refreshed as well, and while hard plastic still dominates many of the surfaces, the seats are now covered in some fairly nice perforated two-tone leather.

One truly unique feature is the sliding canvas roof, which Jeep calls "Sky Slider" (our condolences to the driver who had to demonstrate open-roof technology in a downpour). As our own Dan Roth points out, it's interesting that a sliding canvas roof is being touted as some kind of innovation when VW Type 1s had sliding canvas sunroofs. Everything old is new again, eh?

You know the drill - live shots are in the gallery that can be accessed below and a compilation of New York Auto Show posts can be found here.

The 2006 L.A. Auto Show had only been officially open to the press for an hour before all hell broke loose at the show's keynote speech given by General Motors CEO, Rick Wagoner. Despite GM's laundry list of green related announcements and reveals this morning, two protestors from Global Exchange stormed the stage during his speech and demanded he sign a big cardboard contract that said the following:

I (RICK WAGONER) CEO of General Motors hereby pledge to make GM the most efficient automotive company in the industry by 2010.

According to Chris Paukert at Winding Road, Wagoner's response was that his speech commited General Motors to that very thing. Other reports say that after the initial stun of seeing people on stage who weren't supposed to be there, Wagoner was smooth and handled the hiccup with grace.

The video above shows the one of the protestors, Mike Hudema, having a healthy debate with Don Fuller from MAWG who also contributes to Kelley Blue Book. Hudema started the discussion by claiming that GM should not have "killed the electric car" because there was a demand for it. Fuller disagrees... repeatedly, over and over again.

[Source: Winding Road]