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Rick Wagoner, Buick General Manager Steve Shannon, and Tiger Woods with the Enclave

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

The Los Angeles Auto Show is under way in southern California, and General Motors has a high profile at this year’s event, now moved to November from early January, which I think was a good move on the part of the organizers.

It began last night with the introduction of the Buick Enclave by Rick Wagoner, with an assist from Tiger Woods. The Enclave, which we first showed as a concept at the 2006 Detroit show, is now ready for production. I think it’s a great example of what we’ve been discussing all year right here — the renewed emphasis on quality and craftsmanship and attention to detail at GM Design. But I’ll let you investigate it for yourself and tell me if you agree.

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By Dave Rand
Executive Director of Interior Design

In about a month, Chevrolet will unveil an all-new Malibu. I believe it will be unlike any Malibu you have ever seen, inside and out. My focus is the interior, not just in the Malibu, but within all GM products. GM is committed to producing interiors that rival the best from around the world. We have made a lot of progress in that area and have begun to deliver on a promise I made four short years ago.

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By Bill Betts
Manager, web services

GM’s Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and Tiger Woods introduced the 2008 crossover SUV Buick Enclave last night at the Los Angeles Auto Show. See the video for yourself on GMtv.

Alba and Jimmie

By Alba Colon
GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

I don’t think it has sunk in yet that Jimmie Johnson just won the drivers championship for Chevrolet! I haven’t stopped working yet, so I haven’t really taken it all in. I think it might take me two or three days to realize the magnitude of this weekend, but I couldn’t be happier for such a great driver like Jimmie, and a banner season for the Chevy Monte Carlo SS. This year has been special and definitely one I will not forget.

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Saturn PreVue

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

I’m often asked about Saturn, and although I’ve talked a lot about it over the past year, it’s worth revisiting because it seems every time you turn around there’s something new to say.

Later this month, Saturn will launch the all-new Vue SUV at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The industry got a preview of it last April in New York with a concept called, ironically enough, the PreVue. And more was revealed at the Paris show in September when we unveiled its cousin, the Opel Antara.

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Kevin Harvick

By Alba Colon
GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Like the Will Smith song says, “Welcome to Miami!”

I’m really excited to head to Miami. It’s the last race of the season, Chevy can win one more race, and we’re leading the points. But personally I’m looking forward to it because going to Miami is like returning home. It’s one of the few places where I can go and speak Spanish 24/7 and everybody understands what I am saying. The weather is warmer there than it is here in Detroit, and I will have my wonderful husband joining me. I think this will be a good weekend.

Before I tell you about the fun things I did in Phoenix, I have to say last weekend was a huge deal for Chevy. After being so dominant at Phoenix, Kevin Harvick won there for the second time this year. Second, Jimmie Johnson has a 63-point lead in the points. That’s a pretty good margin, but the championship isn’t secured yet because there are still five guys in the hunt for the Chase. Chevrolet also broke their own win record, so now we have 23 wins this season. It was definitely good for us all around!

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Tony Stewart

By Alba Colon
GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Last week, I mentioned that Texas was not one of my favorite tracks. But after the Chevy sweep at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, I have a new admiration for the Longhorn State. We love Texas!

This weekend we had three huge racing wins for GM. Clint Bowyer won the Silverado 350K, his first truck series victory and our first truck win here since Chevrolet came on as the race sponsor. On Saturday, Kevin Harvick scored his ninth Busch Series win and is one away from tying the Busch Series record for most wins in a season. And on Sunday, Chevy swept the top six spots in Texas. Tony Stewart got his second straight win and we tied our own record for most wins in a season: 22. That also makes it our second straight sweep of winning all three races in NASCAR’s premier divisions. Talk about an awesome weekend!

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Secretary Rice and Bob Lutz

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

I usually blog about cars and trucks, because that’s my responsibility, but today I’ll make an exception, to briefly point out something that we are very proud of at General Motors.

Yesterday I had to go to Washington to represent our chairman and CEO, Rick Wagoner, at the U.S. State Department. GM was awarded the State Department’s highest award for American companies operating overseas. I was honored to accept the Award for Corporate Excellence from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recognized GM for our social responsibility programs in Colombia, South America.

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By Bill Betts
GM Blogs Manager

I’ve seen a lot of online buzz about GM vehicles at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) convention in Las Vegas — especially the Jay Leno-built bio-diesel powered EcoJet Concept car created with the help of GM Design Studios. We produced short video walk-arounds of Jay’s car and two GM-built specialty vehicles displayed at SEMA. We also made a video describing the range of brand-new GM crate engines available to anyone who wants to re-power their car or truck. Just the idea of being able to buy a sparkling, fresh 500+ horsepower Corvette engine for your personal vehicle gives some people goose bumps.

You’re reading this because you’re interested in cars and trucks, so I think you’ll really like these short video streams.

Jay Leno bio-diesel EcoJet Concept Car

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “Big Red” Silverado Ultimate Off-Road Pickup Truck

Reggie Jackson 1969 Camaro

GM Crate Engines

We were experiencing some issues with our servers during the past 24 hours, so you may have encountered difficulty accessing FastLane or leaving a comment. The problem has been resolved, and we’re accepting comments again. If you experience other problems with the blog, please feel free to let me know: editor@gmblogs.com.

-Alicia Dorset, blog editor