Transformers 2: Revenge of the Prepositions

This article goes to show how little importance most of the country puts on even remotely acceptable grammar. With one of the worst literacy rates in the industrialized world, director Michael Bay is here to remind us that in America, the ability to speak or write coherently is not required. Amusingly, he does this all while lambasting his marketing team for failing to perform up to the last Transformers movie's numbers. Perhaps, Mr. Bay, it's because your instructions were unclear. Or perhaps it's because the GM doesn't have as much money to spend on the tie-in as they did for the first Transformers movie...you know, the kind that includes lots of co-op advertising dollars, in-store merchandising and the like? That fact won't, however, stop me from going to see the new movie. I just hope this hot little pink/purple number to the right is in it.

Getting profitable by cutting the profitable

Anyone can speculate or make statements based on anecdotal evidence or familiar talking points. That's one reason I try to back my opinions up with real data when I can. I'm glad to say that with some new numbers, my opinion has once again been validated.

The Big Three American automakers have seen their sales slip nearly 50% year over year. In trying to get the company fit and trim, GM is pruning several makes, Saturn being one of them. In a somewhat recent post, I complained that GM is cutting profitable (or at least better selling) vehicles, like the entire Saturn Line, while keeping redundant makes like GMC (essentially gussied-up Chevrolet trucks and SUVs, but not as nice as Cadillac). Well, a recent report found that while GM's sales figures have slipped phenomenally, the Saturn Astra's sales were up more than 30%.

Let me repeat that. At a company that's seen sales plummet by nearly half, in an industry that's tumbled by nearly a third, GM considers the most prudent move to cut a vehicle that's actually seen a 30% gain.

There's simply nothing more to say about it. I rest my case.

Should they stay or should they go now?

If you're wonder what makes and models of cars are going to stick around and which are going to get the axe, here's the latest from Yahoo Autos. While talks and plans change every day, this list is probably pretty close to where things are going. Getting rid of under-performing products. Who'd of thought it would come to this?