,,,

:yumyum:

This doesnt make sense.......there were pics posted weeks ago along with a shipping date of 25th november, and that article suggests that they are only leaving the plant....not being loaded on a ship.

I live in Adelaide, and drive past the elizabeth plant alomst everyday and can say that there has been 100's of g8's sitting in the open air in a parking area for about a month now. The lot was full and some cars had their hoods up.. then the lot thinned right out from ~100 to ~20 cars... then 2 days later there was ~100 cars there again.. The lot is empty now but i think they have moved them around the side away from the road ready for the transporters.


Mostly Black, Silver and white cars... then some red and only a few orange ones, Seems the yanks have decided to stick with the safe colours...

Was on the news today that they were being put on the ship, with associated pics. So they are on the way.

Cool... anyone know the name of the ship...

I found this page which supposedly let's you track a ship...

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml

Cool... anyone know the name of the ship...

I found this page which supposedly let's you track a ship...

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml

I submit this link

What I can't see from a quick perusal of the schedules is a NYK Australia 'Vehicle Carrier" with an USA destination and in particular Benicia, CA

http://portmis.flindersports.com.au/WebFlinders/MOD_Public/MOD_PublicMD.aspx?MenuItemPressed=1


Mike

The article states that only 30K cars per year will be shipped to the U.S. That is not that many if you think about it. I think it is going to be hard to get one of these cars, especailly if they are as good as everyone is making them out to be.

The article states that only 30K cars per year will be shipped to the U.S. That is not that many if you think about it. I think it is going to be hard to get one of these cars, especailly if they are as good as everyone is making them out to be.

I'm hoping that's just for the first model year or so. The car the G8 replaces, teh Grand Prix still sells almost 100,000 per year. Completely giving up on 70,000 of segment vehicles makes very little sense to me. Will customers step up and buy that many more G6s?

I live in Adelaide, and drive past the elizabeth plant alomst everyday and can say that there has been 100's of g8's sitting in the open air in a parking area for about a month now. The lot was full and some cars had their hoods up.. then the lot thinned right out from ~100 to ~20 cars... then 2 days later there was ~100 cars there again.. The lot is empty now but i think they have moved them around the side away from the road ready for the transporters.


Mostly Black, Silver and white cars... then some red and only a few orange ones, Seems the yanks have decided to stick with the safe colours...







Please post some pics if you can get them....

The article states that only 30K cars per year will be shipped to the U.S. That is not that many if you think about it. I think it is going to be hard to get one of these cars, especailly if they are as good as everyone is making them out to be.

That's close to the same numbers as the Corvette.

I live in Adelaide, and drive past the elizabeth plant alomst everyday and can say that there has been 100's of g8's sitting in the open air in a parking area for about a month now. The lot was full and some cars had their hoods up.. then the lot thinned right out from ~100 to ~20 cars... then 2 days later there was ~100 cars there again.. The lot is empty now but i think they have moved them around the side away from the road ready for the transporters.


Mostly Black, Silver and white cars... then some red and only a few orange ones, Seems the yanks have decided to stick with the safe colours...

Good info. It appears they are running about 3 wks behind the initial schedule. However it also appears that GM padded the schedule by saying Q1'08.

I bet they had to make some last minute firmware updates which is typical for a new model.

I live in Adelaide, and drive past the elizabeth plant alomst everyday and can say that there has been 100's of g8's sitting in the open air in a parking area for about a month now. The lot was full and some cars had their hoods up.. then the lot thinned right out from ~100 to ~20 cars... then 2 days later there was ~100 cars there again.. The lot is empty now but i think they have moved them around the side away from the road ready for the transporters.


Mostly Black, Silver and white cars... then some red and only a few orange ones, Seems the yanks have decided to stick with the safe colours...
Better late than F__ked up.

I only hope that friggin' ship is turbocharged.

I'm hoping that's just for the first model year or so. The car the G8 replaces, teh Grand Prix still sells almost 100,000 per year. Completely giving up on 70,000 of segment vehicles makes very little sense to me. Will customers step up and buy that many more G6s?

You have to remember, a large portion (I heard as high as 70%) of Grand Prix sales were fleet sales (e.g. rental car companies, etc.). Fleet sales make no money for GM. The G8 will be mostly sold to private individuals, so 30,000 is not too crazy. The GTO sold about half of that per year.

Mostly Black, Silver and white cars... then some red and only a few orange ones, Seems the yanks have decided to stick with the safe colours...



The US market (thanks to poor GM research IMO) only has pathetic colors to choose from. I would love to see exciting colors, but there aren't any good colors to choose from. Black and Orange is about it. The consumer can't currently goto a dealer and order a car. They have to take what they can get from the "Pool" of cars.

The US market (thanks to poor GM research IMO) only has pathetic colors to choose from.I would love to see exciting colors, but there aren't any good colors to choose from. Black and Orange is about it.

I disagree. I think GM picked the right colors. Being a four door car, a good portion of G8 sales will be to older, more mature individuals. The flashy colors typically do not appeal to this market segment. Thus, the color offerings of Panther Black Metallic, Magnetic Gray Metallic, and Hot White. However, there are still a few colors for the people who want the "flashy" colors (Ignition orange Metallic, Stealth Blue Metalic, and Liquid Red). I think it is a nice mixture of offerings.

The US market (thanks to poor GM research IMO) only has pathetic colors to choose from. I would love to see exciting colors, but there aren't any good colors to choose from. Black and Orange is about it. The consumer can't currently goto a dealer and oder a car. They have to take what they can get from the "Pool" of cars.

You have ot remember though that Americans go through cars like Brits go through cigs. They're obviously going to offer more colors that appeal to the broad base for resale purposes. I mean, yeah sure, a 2002 Firebird in Sunburst Orange Metallic is sexy as hell, but it just doesn't appeal to most people.

GM could of picked much better shades of blue and red. A flagship car should have beautiful and rich colors. I'm not talking flashy or gaudy. GM just *****ed up and picked *****ty colors In My Opinion.

I'm almost 40 years old and I know a good looking color on a car when I see it. I used to mix colors for a living and not at the hardware store so I know colors.

The current G8 colors lack impact and there aren't enough to pick from. A brown can be a good color if done correctly.

You can pick 10+ colors on a buick. You only get 6 on the G8; 2 are hideous, 2 are hard to screw up (black and white) and the other 2 could be alot better.


Popular colors:
http://www.performancecoatings.dupont.com/dpc/en/us/html/color/daf/doc/2006_color_pop.pdf
2008 colors:
http://www.performancecoatings.dupont.com/dpc/en/us/html/color/standox/doc/2008_DOMESTIC_COMPATIBILTIY.pdf

I like the current color choices, though I have to see them in person to be sure. The orange and red are interesting but I will probably go with black.

I was commenting that even a brown can be made to look good. I'm not saying brown should be an available color. GM messed up red and blue.

I was commenting that even a brown can be made to look good. I'm not saying brown should be an available color. GM messed up red and blue.

I disagree concerning red, unless they would have simply used the exact same red from the 'vette, Cobalt, G5, Solstice, Sky, and Chevy trucks. A little less lipsticky than the GTO, SSR, G8 (yeah all three are different, I know) but that's my drift - the current blah, dark reds don't do a thing for me. Now teh blue coulda been a nice dark navy, like my '03 GP, but I'm going red this time around and it will not be dark red.

Was on the news today that they were being put on the ship, with associated pics. So they are on the way.

You wouldn't happen to know if that news channel has a website where we could find more pics.

That's close to the same numbers as the Corvette.

Actually that is just a little less than the Corvette. Just over 34,000 were produced last year.

I submit this link

What I can't see from a quick perusal of the schedules is a NYK Australia 'Vehicle Carrier" with an USA destination and in particular Benicia, CA

http://portmis.flindersports.com.au/WebFlinders/MOD_Public/MOD_PublicMD.aspx?MenuItemPressed=1


Mike
It's not that simple.

A modern vehicle carrier freighter (refered to as "Ro/Ro" - ie roll on/roll off) has capacity of about 5000 vehicles and will simultaneously pickup and deliver them at all major ports in an area. It's extremely unlikley you'd ever see direct shipments from Adelaide direct to Benecia. The 3 most likely ships are the Tianjin Highway (ETD 12/16), Violet Ace (ETD 12/17) and Brussel (ETD 12/22). (all three are vehicle carrier ships at Port Adelaide on or about the time G8's were to be shipped). My money is on the Brussel.

All of these ships will hopscotch among a variety of SE Asia ports (Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Aukland, Thailand, Singapore) before heading to Benica. It's also likely the ship could do the same on the West Coast. (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Long Beach and Benecia).

It's also possible that vehicles could be transfered to other ships at major shipping hubs like Singapore or Tokyo before the swim across the Pacific.

I think it's going to be tough to track the G8's unless we get some insider info on the exact shipping logistics.

So how many G8s will be on the first vessel? Are the first 888 G8s covered in this first shipment?

So how many G8s will be on the first vessel? Are the first 888 G8s covered in this first shipment?

Rumor has it that the first batch will be approx. 1500 G8's including the 888's.

It's not that simple.

A modern vehicle carrier freighter (refered to as "Ro/Ro" - ie roll on/roll off) has capacity of about 5000 vehicles and will simultaneously pickup and deliver them at all major ports in an area. It's extremely unlikley you'd ever see direct shipments from Adelaide direct to Benecia. The 3 most likely ships are the Tianjin Highway (ETD 12/16), Violet Ace (ETD 12/17) and Brussel (ETD 12/22). (all three are vehicle carrier ships at Port Adelaide on or about the time G8's were to be shipped). My money is on the Brussel.

All of these ships will hopscotch among a variety of SE Asia ports (Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Aukland, Thailand, Singapore) before heading to Benica. It's also likely the ship could do the same on the West Coast. (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Long Beach and Benecia).

It's also possible that vehicles could be transfered to other ships at major shipping hubs like Singapore or Tokyo before the swim across the Pacific.

I think it's going to be tough to track the G8's unless we get some insider info on the exact shipping logistics.

The GTOs were sent direct from Outer Harbour to Benicia, CA on the NYK ships.

Mike

what is the typical ship time? 6-8 weeks? That would land them here mid February?

The GTOs were sent direct from Outer Harbour to Benicia, CA on the NYK ships.

Mike

And I don't think the G8's shipment would be any different.

what is the typical ship time? 6-8 weeks? That would land them here mid February?

The GTO shipments typically took 4 weeks at sea.

Someone posted their GTO's build and shipment status from start to finish on LS1gto.com. This should give us some sort of idea. Also, it took this guys GTO about twice as long to get across the country to Mass. as it did for mine to get to N.C.

Here's how mine went:
Event Code Event Date
1100 Prelim order accepted 10/9/2004
2030 Order re-edited 11/8/2004
2040 Mass order change 11/9/2004
2000 Accepted by GM 11/10/2004
2500 Preferenced 11/10/2004
3000 Accepted by production control 11/10/2004
3100 Available to sequence 11/18/2004
3300 Scheduled for production 12/18/2004
3450 Import vehicle produced 2/8/2005
3550 Import vehicle shipped from port of origin 3/2/2005
3750 Import vehicle received at port of entry 3/28/2005
3800 Produced 3/30/2005
4000 Available to ship 3/30/2005
4150 Original invoice 3/30/2005
4B00 Bayed 4/7/2005
4200 Shipped 4/7/2005
4V03 EDD updated 4/8/2005
4B00 Bayed 4/17/2005
4800 Rail ramp unload 4/17/2005
4B00 Bayed 4/18/2005
4300 Intermediate delivery 4/18/2005
4200 Shipped 4/18/2005
4V03 EDD updated 4/19/2005
4200 Shipped 4/19/2005
4800 Rail ramp unload 4/29/2005
4B00 Bayed 4/29/2005
4V03 EDD updated 5/2/2005
4200 Shipped 5/2/2005
4V03 EDD Update 5/3/2005
5000 Delivered to dealer 5/4/2005
6000 Delivered to customer 5/4/2005

That is complete from order to delivery. Car was delivered to South New Hampshire. Order was edited in November 2004 when GM dropped the appearance package ordered from factory option. 177 days from start to finish. Almost a month sitting on the docks in Oz. 26 days on the ocean. 37 days cross country on what appears to be 2 trains and 1 car carrier. Hope it helps. Be PATIENT. Ask Joe.........you can drive yourself and him crazy...Right Joe?

26 days at sea
2 in customs?quarantine?
7 days before actual rail ship out
10 more days unloaded off of a rail car
2 days twiddle thumbs realizing went to wrong section of country
10 more days on a new rail car before offload again
3 days to load on a truck
2 days to dealer and customer.

At sea is less than half the transit time for east coast.

I can understand that rail cars will not arrive in Baltimore attached to teh same engine or even other train-cars, but can't they at least fill one rail carrier for teh final destination ? Every off-load is a potential scratch and dent sale.

And I don't think the G8's shipment would be any different.



Except there are no ships leaving Adelaide with Benecia as the next port. If it's operated by NYK Lines the only possible candidate is Brussel which is bound for Singapore as the next destination. It's scheduled to leave Port Adelaide today.

Maybe Holden sent a full shipload of GTO's at first (approx. 5000 cars). This is obviously not happening with G8s if the rumor of 1500 cars is correct. That's only 30% of a ship's capacity.

We need some eyewitness reports from the big ceremony at the dock.

Except there are no ships leaving Adelaide with Benecia as the next port. If it's operated by NYK Lines the only possible candidate is Brussel which is bound for Singapore as the next destination. It's scheduled to leave Port Adelaide today.

Maybe Holden sent a full shipload of GTO's at first (approx. 5000 cars). This is obviously not happening with G8s if the rumor of 1500 cars is correct. That's only 30% of a ship's capacity. We need some eyewitness reports from the big ceremony at the dock.


I doubt the ship carrying the G8's can hold 5000 cars. That is just a little less than 1/3 of the total GTOs produced for 2004. I can't see them shipping all 04 GTO's to the U.S. on 3 ship loads. 1500 sounds about right, but I'm not sure where you are getting your information as far as how many cars a ship can hold.

Like you said, we need someone who was at the docks or photos so we can get the name of the ship.

I think some of those ships can carry that many cars. I think the Cougar Ace had over 5,000 on it when it almost capsized with all those Mazda's on it.

Someone should have pics of the cars being loaded.

Someone should have pics of the cars being loaded.

+1

I would like to see this!

Perhaps a couple on board will make it to the Detroit Auto show in Jan?

And 26 days sailing time sounds a bit long...must be some transloading or additional stops in that schedule.

Heres a photo of the boat that the first shipment of GTOs came on.

http://ultimategto.com/2004/04_00087_2.jpg

And 26 days sailing time sounds a bit long...must be some transloading or additional stops in that schedule.

It's about a 7955 mile trip by sea from Melbourne to San Diego. So just looking at the map I'm going to say it's Approx. 9000 miles from Adelaide to Benicia, CA. I'm not sure what speed these large ships run at but I will guess 15mph would be average. If so, then that would put it in California in about 25 days.

I don't know much about ships, but 5000 cars seems like a lot. Have they produced that many yet? If one ship has left, it would imply that 5000 cars have already been produced.

I hope it doesn't sink or we'll be waiting another 6 months to receive anything.

And lets hope that something like this doesn't happen either.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11493

http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/1127914135735447.JPG?0.8307860163475117

Only pics I could see were these GM official ones, Which I think we're posted before. Couldnt find any news footage online of the g8's being loaded.

I can't wait to get a look at one in person

And lets hope that something like this doesn't happen either.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11493

http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/1127914135735447.JPG?0.8307860163475117
OK, I'm going to throw up now.

Photo of G8's been loaded on the boat
http://upload.imgspot.com/u/07/362/21/g8.jpg

Photo of G8's been loaded on the boat
http://upload.imgspot.com/u/07/362/21/g8.jpg

Thanks for the pic.

I love to see the G8 on it's way into the ship. Kind of like the presents under the tree all wrapped up - I can't wait for "Christmas Day" when I finally get one.

Is this the G8 ST that is not 'official' yet on the transport headed for cold weather testing w/ G8 wagon and Camaro? It looks 'holden-ish' still w/ HSV side vents and crazy wheels....prolly not? Nothing official yet of the ST!
http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/scrapbook/original/5706.jpg

I don't know where you came up with that pic that sized, but I think you made my day.

I'm hoping that's just for the first model year or so. The car the G8 replaces, teh Grand Prix still sells almost 100,000 per year. Completely giving up on 70,000 of segment vehicles makes very little sense to me. Will customers step up and buy that many more G6s?


It is indicated in the article that they can produce 620 cars per day.

620 cars per day * 12 months * approx 20 working days per month = +/- 150,000 cars.

It only depend how many units will be shipped where ...

It is indicated in the article that they can produce 620 cars per day.

620 cars per day * 12 months * approx 20 working days per month = +/- 150,000 cars.

It only depend how many units will be shipped where ...

That facility isn't building cars just for the US though. They have a domestic market, and foreign markets to build for.

Anyways. With the new CAFE standards to take effect soon, GM will move Pontiac to more of a niche status if they wish to keep performance cars alive. Limiting their availability will do just that.

It is indicated in the article that they can produce 620 cars per day.

620 cars per day * 12 months * approx 20 working days per month = +/- 150,000 cars.

It only depend how many units will be shipped where ...

Not quite. The factory where the G8 is made produces other vehicles besides the G8. Out of those 620 I'm going to guess that around 150 of those are G8's.

Forum member Asylum works at the factory in Australia, he might be able to give us a better estimate.

That ute on the transporter looks to be a HSV Maloo

That ute on the transporter looks to be a HSV Malooolly, the white sedan on the stretched chassis and the wagon on the back are both wearing Goodyear eagle LS all season tires, probably for the USA. The white sedan may be the Chevy version of the VE, is that the Caprice in Oz?

Other photos on the net show the tires close up on both of those, no, I do not have super vision - LOL and they are wearing the 18" V6 wheels for the states (the G8 V8 gets Goodyear RS-A rubber, so these are different than even those)

The white sedan is a statesman.........my vision is worse than yours so I can't determine if it's a Statesman Caprice. It looks to the base statesman though I am sure that if I am wrong then you will see posts stating so.

:yumyum:

http://upload.imgspot.com/u/07/362/21/g8.jpg

Oh, there's mine there. Now if that guy would just get his arm off the top of the door. :D