From GMI.... Enjoy.

HHR
Deletions
(15U) Sandstone Metallic exterior color
(56U) Sunburst Orange II Metallic exterior color
(67U) Silverstone Metallic exterior color
(US9) AM/FM stereo with 6-disc in-dash CD changer
(N85) 17" painted aluminum wheels
(QP2) 17" forged, high-polished aluminum wheels
(J41) Front disc/rear drum brakes
(L61) 2.2L ECOTEC engine
(LE5) 2.4L ECOTEC engine
(K05) Engine block heater
(PDU) Enhanced Sound Package
(PCW) Enhanced Safety Package

New Features
1AU26 Panel SS Turbocharged model
(17U) Silver Ice Metallic exterior color
(51U) Gold Mist Metallic exterior color
(61U) Aqua Blue Metallic exterior color
(17A) Smoke accent single stripe color
(96A) Silver accent single stripe color
(47A) Smoke/Smoke accent double stripe color
(49A) Silver/Silver accent double stripe color
(ASA) Dual-stage, frontal driver and front passenger air bags with infant only suppression standard on LS and LT models
(AK5) Dual-stage, frontal driver and front passenger air bags with Passenger Sensing System standard on SS Turbocharged models
(UPF) Bluetooth for phone, personal cell phone connectivity to vehicle audio system and HMI (Human Machine Interface)
(UUI) AM/FM stereo with CD player and USB port
(UAF) Reconfigurable performance display available for SS Turbocharged models
(U2J) XM Satellite Radio delete
(P23) 17" Chrome-Tech cast aluminum wheels
(LE8) 2.2L ECOTEC engine, includes (E85) FlexFuel (gas ethanol) capability, uses gasoline or E85 fuel
(LE9) 2.4L ECOTEC engine, includes (E85) FlexFuel (gas ethanol) capability, uses gasoline or E85 fuel

Changes
(ASF) front and rear outboard head curtain side-impact air bags are now standard on all models
(U2K) XM Satellite Radio is now standard on all models
(US8) AM/FM stereo with CD player and MP3 playback now standard on all models
(JL4) StabiliTrak electronic stability control system is now standard on all models
(NW9) All-speed, full-function traction control is now standard on all models
(JM4) 4-wheel antilock, front disc/rear drum brakes now standard on all LS and LT models
Front console now has 3 front cup holders except on SS models with manual transmission
(AA5) Solid rear quarter panel is now available on 1AU46 SS
Window switches moved to door
Revised dome lamp placement
Seat bolster material change

 

Going, going, gone.

Deletions: (56U) Sunburst Orange II Metallic exterior color
K05) Engine block heater
(PDU) Enhanced Sound Package

Coming, coming. Here.

Changes: (AA5) Solid rear quarter panel is now available on 1AU46 SS

Seat bolster material change

 

I like the changes and even though I love my SOM I'm excited to see the new colors for '09.

 

Nice to see a USB port and bluetooth but still using the front disk/rear drum set-up bothers me. I want all disks. I don't see why it would be necessary to have three cup holders in the front. I'd like to see an overhaul of the front console design, it's just not practical or useful.

 

Be very interesting to see what that does to the bottom line base price.

Before even contemplating the SS, we planned on getting the base of base LS's, except it had to have automatic ($1200), side airbags and ABS (Safety Package $1200 option) remote start ($255), and block heater (those last two fairly standard on all Canadian orders). $23,700 MSRP CDN.

Very few LS's were ordered in Canada, there were 4 as of a few weeks ago in all of Canada with that Safety Package.

Now, with all that standard, plus XM standard and stabilitrak and traction control, in addition to the little things like bluetooth, the base price must increase by a couple thousand one would think..which for something that starts (in Canada) in the low 20K mark, a 10% jump is fairly siginifacant at that price point.

Nice changes though, Bluetooth is the only thing that I would be interested, as well as the preformance display, but no biggie.

No rear back up camera (in the r/v mirror) as rumored.

 

"(ASF) front and rear outboard head curtain side-impact air bags are now standard on all models"

Now that sux. That was one of the options I didn't want. Front airbags are bad enough!

 

I really hate to see ABS standard. Without that I feel in control while driving even if our brake rotors do warp, she'll stop quickly when needed. I've had a couple instances of close calls. And ditto to KP94ss. Can't wait to see the gold mist.

 

They are supplemental restriants and life savers! Why does that suck!?!?

 

Cant wait. This is going to make my decision much harder when my time comes.

And I do remember reading an article saying that car manufactures are going "back to black" basically they are going to make more options standard.

Here is the article from GMI:
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...k-black-62608/
Here is the article:
DETROIT (Reuters) - Henry Ford, who created the automotive industry's first mass-market hit with the Model T a century ago, was a proponent of radical simplicity.
In fact, Ford became famous for saying his customers could have the $825 Model T in any color -- so long as it was black.
In the century since the first Model T in 1908, Ford's vision of top-down efficiency has been swamped by thousands of feature and color combinations on new cars, trucks and SUVs.
The result, executives say, has been higher production and inventory costs and headaches for customers and dealers in sorting through a complex matrix of choices.
Now, Ford Motor Co and other embattled U.S. automakers are going back to black, embracing the spirit of Ford's notion in response to mounting losses and the risk of a deeper downturn in the United States, the world's largest market for new cars, in 2008.
Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said he was amazed by the number of variations Ford offered when he arrived at the No. 2 U.S. automaker from Boeing Co in 2006.
"I was looking at the (Lincoln) Navigator console," Mulally said. "We have 128 different options you could choose on the console. That's just the console."
With so many variations, a customer inevitably will want a vehicle that is not in stock, leading to a frustrated customer and pressure on the dealer to offer a discount, Mulally said.
"They're unhappy and we're losing money," he said of Ford, which posted losses of $2.7 billion in 2007 and $12.6 billion in 2006.
Ford's chief of marketing, Jim Farley, who was hired away from Toyota Motor Co last year, said he was stunned to find that Ford was offering 100,000 combinations of options on its entry-level Focus sedan. Some 80 percent of Ford's sales came from just 4,000 of those combinations, he said.
In response, Ford has cut complexity by reducing the number of "buildable combinations" of the 2008 Focus by 99 percent. On the 2008 Expedition, it has cut combinations by 95 percent.
"Coming from Toyota, I can tell you that the opportunity is there to reduce the complexity of our line-up," Farley told analysts recently.
It's a similar story at Chrysler LLC, where sales chief Jim Press -- another high-level defection from Toyota -- has also pushed the struggling automaker to simplify.
"Previously, we offered too many options," Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli told reporters. "That resulted in too much complexity in the plants that build them, too much confusion for the dealers who order them and no added value to the customers who buy them."
Nardelli said Chrysler had cut ordering complexity by 93 percent over the past two years by dropping some options and repackaging others.
Chrysler, which lost $1.6 billion last year, plans to go further, cutting models and trimming dealers. That represents a stepped-up restructuring under Cerberus Capital Management LP, which bought an 80 percent stake in the automaker in 2007.

More at following link...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080330/...c8XrgAd2r0kPUI

 

I think the bolster is what you call the outside panels on the seat cushion and seat back. You know, the part that wears out fastest, from getting in and out of the vehicle. I've heard them called wings by some people.