And, every time, I want to pull my hair out. Worse, I know one of two of these talk radio hosts is doing it on purpose; they know darn well the Volt goes 40 miles on electricity, and then another 320 miles on gasoline. Leaf does not. But, because GM is Government Motors, some on talk radio use Volt as a halo car… to attack government ownership of American auto.

Ends don’t justify the means here, but that won’t stop people from intentionally lying about the Volt. So, GM has to step in and nullify that themselves.

Yes, I’ve heard GM is trying to trademark Range Anxiety ahead of a massive PR blitz. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s enough.

GM must, and yes I say must, quickly and strongly emphasize in ads that Volt does what I emphasized in the paragraphs above. That should constitute a major part of their advertising, and that should be the only thing communicated in many of the ads.

Americans are already getting a false impression about Volt. Negative first impressions can destroy superior products. GM cannot and must not let this happen with the Volt, or when Volt is actually economical for most customers… they’ll go for a plug-in Prius instead.

After the Pontiac division was deactivated, many thought the Zeta platform was going to be phased out. In fact, Ed Whitacre was quite clear on that when he referred to Zeta as being ‘dated’ and obsolete. Originally, GM planned for all future rear-wheel drive platforms to be based on the upcoming Alpha platform.

However, it appears Whitacre was saying one thing and designing another. Zeta now appears to be undergoing a redesign based on the R&D learned from Alpha, and will share the lighter, more fuel-efficient qualities that Alpha had. That’s not to say that Zeta really needed a redesign… in my opinion it blazes past the Chrysler LX and Ford D2C platforms already.

Now, with talk of both a Buick and Cadillac getting Zeta sedans, things get interesting. Add on top of that Holden testing mounts for the twin-turbocharged Ecotec engine inside the original Zeta (the Commodore VE/VF), and things get really interesting.

If you haven’t heard of the twin-turbo Ecotec, it’s because of poor marketing on GM’s part. That I4 engine gave the Solstice GXP up to 290 horsepower, helping to make Solstice the best-selling roadster in America. Alpha is a perfect fit for future Solstice replacements, likely a retractable hardtop built in the Solstice image. That car will probably land on Buick in retractable hardtop fashion for ~$35,000. While that’s $10,000 more than Solstice, it’s far less than a BMW Z4, with a free retractable hardtop thrown in.

Deciphering all this information, here’s how I see things rolling out. The following is based on the engines that GM is testing, and the CAFE standards they will have to accommodate.

Chevy Caprice – Based on the Commodore VE and Pontiac G8, this will be a short-wheelbase version for consumers. It will ship with the twin-turbo Ecotec and an optional V6 (likely the GM LLT Engine, same as Camaro).

Chevy Caprice PPV – Already announced, based on the long-wheelbase Holden Statesman. Same engines as Camaro.

Buick Grand National / Park Avenue – This one could go either way. If it’s a Grand National, it will probably be a rebadged Commodore. If it’s a Park Avenue, probably a longer-wheelbase Statesman rebadge. Either way, it will match Caprice PPV with a V6 standard, and optional V8.

Cadillac ZTS – Okay, I came up with the name… Zeta Touring Sedan. This is where things get interesting. With the ATS and CTS filling the “low end” of Cadillac, GM can price this vehicle with a standard V8 engine, and make the ZTS-V their new top dog. 551 horsepower enough to make you forget the Pontiac badge? Probably not, because this will likely be one of GM’s most expensive vehicles to-date. A ZTS could land for around $50,000 and a ZTS-V could be in the mid $70,000s.

Again, this is analysis, but not speculation. Holden wouldn’t be getting the R&D bucks to worry about fuel efficiency this much if there wasn’t some intent to take these cars to America. And, with three or four engines to chose from, GM can badge engineer in a sensible manner… free from the likes of Fritz Henderson and their “not a car guy / not a fan of rebadging” mentality.

My one suggestion for GM, follow the lead of Holden. Take the Pontiac badge and make it a premium option for high-end Chevy cars. A $2,000 body kit with an ECM tweak for more horsepower is nearly pure markup for GM. Chevy dealers will have no problem pushing those kind of upsales… especially with not having to worry about inventory.

I have suspected from day one (literally), that GM plans to offer the Caprice within a couple of model years after its police-trim launch. This would allow GM to continue to have a RWD, non-luxury sedan, and give Holden a major shot in the arm with production until the Alpha platform is ready.

And, with that, I’ll show you the first appearance of the Chevy Caprice PPV… “detective unit” trim. This was originally meant to be an “undercover” trim, until GM realized that anyone looking for undercover cops need only look for the one car on the road that civilians cannot buy… the new Caprice. Realizing that mistake, GM now markets it as a car for detectives, instead of billing it for undercover use (used G8s work great for undercover work in that case).

Click to enlarge…

If only they’d market it as what it should be; a long-wheelbase Pontiac G8. Hey, Holden sure does over in Australia.

Holden Commodore Sportwagon SS V Series Special Edition… if only American GM would match Australian GM.

We’ve got the car people, we’ve got the tech people, and we know how to make bad decisions sting enough to reverse them.

First, after being told by great leaders that GM wouldn’t be managed by the government, then it was. Then government started telling GM how to act. GM wanted to keep Pontiac a niche brand, and the government said it wasn’t eco-friendly-small-car-ish enough for “New GM.”

No, I’m not holding a grudge, can’t speak for the rest of the staff though. But, we are going to circle the wagons and get Pontiac customers to stay in the GM fold. GM is a good company, it shouldn’t fall apart because of some really bad decisions in the past. Do we expect Pontiac to come back tomorrow? Nope. But, we do expect to get enough customers backing GM through the rough patch. When GM gets back on its feet, we expect them to sell what their customers want to buy.

Case-in-point, even six months after being killed off, interest in the Pontiac G8 continues to spike past the Chevy Camaro (per Google Trends). Granted this was after Bob Lutz commented that the G8 has a chance yet again of becoming a Chevy Caprice. But, it shows that America’s lone sport car brand needs to fit somewhere in the GM landscape.

To be honest, I don’t care too much how GM makes it work, and that’s a sentiment around the office. The public has come up with a lot of ideas over the past six months that GM hasn’t answered… tactily admitting they didn’t/couldn’t/were-prohibited from thinking these ideas through. From offering Pontiac as a sport-tuned option, to selling them as a sub-brand of Buick, there are lots of choices there.

Finally, look at Holden. They’re selling $1,000 Pontiac options left and right on three of their most popular models. That’s $1,000 customers in America, the home of Pontiac, would be willing to pony up. The company that invented E-REV technology will, at some point, have to give up on hiding behind fuel economy regulations, and give sport car buyers what they want.

And we’ll be doing what we do best; informing while organizing the community to get what customers want.

ETA? After iConsole Alpha 1.

As if Facebook didn’t need any more issues, after their latest privacy meltdown… here comes something else. In case you were living under a rock, Facebook decided to capitalize on everyone’s profile on search engines. They did so by presenting users with a Privacy Wizard. Users that “skipped” the wizard, unknowingly unlocked all privacy options, putting their entire profile up for view.

Well, here’s the new debacle. Companies (a key revenue generator for Facebook) are locking down their walls. Ordinary fans can continue to post comments (hidden replies that require multiple clicks to appear). But, fans can’t make new threads on the company’s wall.

Two big culprits that I’ve seen are General Motors and Sega. However, there are many, many more. I suspect this was the call of a couple of social media companies that manage dozens… if not hundreds of company blogs.

Facebook needs to step in here and explain that this won’t work in the long run. It turns off fans from interacting with the company’s wall, and thus, Facebook in general.

I know Facebook has taken pride in giving more control over access to people’s walls, but this is just going to hurt Facebook, and if they can’t force companies to have open walls… they can at least work to head off such lockdowns. If I were Facebook, I’d be calling some social media managers right now.

Well, after doing some digging, we have some results. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety posted rear crash ratings for the G8 on their Pontiac rear crash page.

Unfortunately, these don’t give the whole picture. The IIHS considers very few cars to be good or even acceptable in a rear-end collision. They have been a bit more liberal in their ratings for SUVs, but that’s understandable considering the design of an SUV.

The real problem is that this could leave a bad picture in the mind of people looking for a G8. Not that GM cares really, since they’re a rare breed. But, since the G8 is in every way safer than a G6, and the G6 does in the end get a Good front and Acceptable side impact rating… you can rest assured knowing you’re not less safe in a G8.

On a side note, I can see why the IIHS would only do rear impact tests. Each test requires killing a G8. There are only 80,000 G8′s in America. That means paying a lot of money to crash-test a limited car (that never really got a chance to sell in a good economy, but anyways…). Insurance companies care a lot more about rear-impact tests, because they cause more injuries (whiplash, etc) and insurers are more defensive about them in general.

It would have been nice though to see the G8 shine in the side-impact tests. Just the added sheet metal versus a G6 could have given it a Good rating.

Smart Charging is a hotly debated topic today. Many believe it is necessary to help keep power grids online, faced with ever-increasing demand. Opponents feel that it adds an additional layer of onerous government control, allowing governments to control when and how you life your life. Smart Charging, in power emergencies, can allow utilities to control thermostats and large utilities, reducing their effectivity or shutting them down completely. Utilities and companies like IBM argue that this could even be used to modify consumer behavior, to be better for the environment. Conservatives and libertarians oppose this kind of government “lifestyle shaping.”

Yesterday, a CNET article ran demonstrating OnStar’s EV lab technology for the Volt. It casually noted that the Volt will be in constant communication with the utility company, allowing them to decide when the Volt would be charged via Smart Charging on the OnStar network (in order to get the “best rate” as utilities switch to per-hour charging times for consumers).

Obviously, this got me a little outraged, as originally the first-gen Volt wasn’t going to have this kind of control from your utility.

So, after a couple of messages of concern to that effect, GM responded to me personally. The 2011 Volt will have Smart Charging, but you will always be able to tell it to charge immediately, even in a power emergency. Smart Charging on the Volt will never ignore the commands of the consumer.

Let’s hope GM keeps it that way. The Volt needs an Emergency Mode that lets you access its remaining battery power, not an Emergency Mode that lets your utility company… disable your car. That’s the last Volt I’ll suggest to a consumer.

The Pontiac G8 saga really couldn’t get any weirder at this point. The G8 is based on the Commodore VE, which is sold in Australia. Now, Holden will be selling the G8 in direct competition to its own, essentially identical car. Meanwhile, shipments of the G8 to the United States, have come to an end.

Meanwhile, GM and the U.S. Government’s Auto Task Force don’t find that to be a viable option here. The Pontiac brand is completely badge engineered, with the G3, G5, G6, Torrent, Solstice and G8 all badge engineered on various levels. However, Holden appears to have found a market, for those that want cars in clothing that actually matches their style.

Unfortunately, GM doesn’t seem to want to listen to their American customers, who don’t have the option of buying a Commodore VE from their local dealer (let alone anything else Pontiac in about 12 months). GM Detroit feels you’ll be fine with a Camaro, Malibu, or something Buick.

The Pontiac G8 ST will also be released, again only in Australia. The sport truck was supposed to be released in the United States, but was scrapped when the economy declined.

It is not clear how long Holden will be able to sell Pontiac-branded cars, possibly through 2010 as limited edition units. However, backlash from American executives might kill the plan entirely. Those executives can’t feel good knowing there are enraged, driven, organized Pontiac supporters… who are continuing to organize.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the pricetag comes to $1,000 Australian to have your Commodore VE order turned into a Pontiac G8 order.

I would love to hear an explanation as to why Pontiac can’t become a branded option, or a sub-brand of Buick… while Holden begins direct sales of the Pontiac G8. Why is it good for Australia, but not for America, where Pontiac is headquartered?

Update: As CarSales.com.au reports, Holden does not appear to be allowed to use the Pontiac badge. However, the cars will be identical to G8 units, with all G8 parts and styling. It’s not clear why Holden is choosing to do this, either to use up remaining G8 supplied parts, or as an internal corporate protest to the discontinuation of the G8 export program. Either way, Holden clearly believes there’s a market in Australia for what Pontiac had in the United States.

Granted, one of the first announcements out of the Saturn/Penske deal was that the Sky roadster was going to be cut from production immediately. But, we already knew that was coming down, as GM didn’t want to continue original models for Saturn (at least, until the dust settled). Enter Holden.

The Commodore VE (aka Pontiac G8) can’t seem to find a place in GM’s lineup, due to fuel economy and issues with it taking up a spot in the CAFE standard lineup, which would need to be reserved for a pickup truck or SUV (where GM really makes its money). But, Penske’s Saturn no longer has such an issue. It’s not GM. And, it doesn’t have the same gas-guzzler ratio concerns.

I expect on the low-end, Penske will use fuel-efficient cars from Korea and, eventually, China. But, they’ll use the top spots for cars sourced from GM and Holden directly. That would give them sporty drives along with economy drives. With the loss of Pontiac, Penske has a rare opportunity to sell GM Sport cars… even when GM can’t or won’t in the United States.

Especially with GM Holden saying that the Zeta platform will be replaced with a lighter, more fuel-efficient remix of Zeta, I can’t see any reason for Penske not to pass on such an opportunity. Let’s hope that Penske will do what Henderson won’t, and rebadge a great car so it can be sold here.