Another Bunch On Cars

Rick Todd had been busy with his bar exams (and maybe still is for all I know), but he somehow found time to fix some annoying technical problems with Autoguy, which leads me to drop a bunch of links today from his blog:

• A really good summary of where GM's brands are headed. It looks like they really haven't figured out Saab, Saturn is going upmarket, Chevy will continue to be everyman's car, and Cadillac will bolt down the top of the line. "Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer and Saab will exist as "focus brands" with more limited portfolios."
• Despite Standard & Poor downgrading Ford's paper to junk status, the company has real direction and has not been caught unawares by the side effects of high fuel costs.
• Coming low sulfur gasolines combined with direct-injection engines could render the cost/performance improvement of hybrids immaterial. (Of course, the Engineer-Poet would probably hasten to add that the reason you have a hybrid in the first place is to recharge the batteries at home every night, thus giving you miles and miles of electric -- rather than gasoline -- powered travel every day.)