A Breath of Fresh Air

Yesterday's visit to the Toronto Auto Show had a surreal feel to it.

The crowds.

The GM workers picketing outside complaining about...what were they complaining about?

The Cadillac Escalade - all $90,000 of it - wrapped in some 'designed for the environment' packaging.

The goofy GM stage announcer promoting the 'new GM'. This is a company that is what?...less than a week away from declaring bankruptcy? That will certainly be new.

The $40,000+ price tags on anything larger than a Smart car.

The blatant use of the environment as a marketing ploy.

The almost complete lack of anything new, creative, practical, fun, safe, environmental...or whatever. As someone with me said....'they were cars'. Almost....

Tucked on the second level of the Rogers Center (why don't they just call it the Skydome?) was a cool display by a company called Electro Wheels.

Disguised as 'scooters', these electric bicycles have everything going for them. Get this - because they are 'bicycles' - NO INSURANCE AND NO LICENSE. Electric, SO NO GAS. Ride them anywhere LEGALLY THAT A BICYCLE GOES. Lease one for the summer FOR $600. Buy one FOR $1200.

Other than the significant risk of getting killed by someone driving an environmentally friendly Escalade, I got the distinct sense of a company and a product that is going places.

Josh, the very knowledgeable sales rep pointed out that although Electo Wheels are everything a tree-hugger would crave, it's not what sells them. What sells them is the no cost and the fun. He kept saying "get one and I guarantee it won't stay in the garage".

Sounds like a gas.

GM....Just Wondering?

Last week I got an interesting email from my GM dealer. All it had was the title: Polite Service Reminder. My reaction: what a nice, polite service reminder. I was impressed...although given how polite it was, I naturally chose to ignore it.

Then, yesterday something happened that's never happened before. The information center in the middle of my Enclave's dash was ablaze with warnings that my left rear...and right front, tire pressures needed checking.

You know if it had been one or the other, I might have fallen for it - but both at once, out of the blue....hmmmm. I checked. They were both fine.

And when I drove home in the evening, the warnings had stopped.

Then, last night I got a VOICE MAIL FROM GM telling me to take my car in for service.

You'd have to be in a coma to know GM is likely only days away from going down - which is probably as good a reason as any for getting my car serviced - but has it come to this? Is GM attempting to force its customers into dealers for service so they can pick up a bit of extra cash?

I never thought about it, but given that OnStar sends me monthly emails with my tire pressure and lots of other information, I presume manipulating my tire pressure warning system isn't too far fetched? Is that possible?

Will I take GM down if I don't get my car serviced?

If they do go down, will I ever be able to get my car serviced again?

Just wondering.