Drop, charge, and lose the cords
DETROIT--As General Motors Co. expands its lineup of rechargeable vehicles beyond the Volt, it will not brand them to be identified with the plug-in Chevrolet launching next year, a senior GM executive says.
That approach sets GM apart from Toyota Motor Corp., which is considering a range of hybrids identified with the Prius.
"Our thought is to take the Volt technology to other products," Brent Dewar, chief of global operations for Chevrolet, told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit this month. "The Volt was the original vehicle that we started, but I wouldn't see that as a brand marketing direction for us."
The Prius, introduced in the late 1990s, commands about three-fourths of the hybrid market.
Dewar said the Volt would pave the way for more vehicles based on the same technology--combining a rechargeable battery pack for all-electric driving with a gasoline-powered generator for longer trips.
But Dewar said the Volt name would not be identified with GM's future electric vehicles.
By contrast, Toyota's brand chief has said the automaker was considering a plan to put the Prius name behind a broad family of high-mileage hybrids.
Bob Carter, group vice president of Toyota's U.S. sales arm, told the Reuters Autos Summit that he thought the Prius had become synonymous with hybrid cars.
The Volt is on track to become the first mass-market plug-in hybrid in the United States. It is designed to run for 40 miles on a battery charge and can be recharged at a standard electric outlet.
When the battery is partly depleted, a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge it and power the vehicle. That will allow the Volt to make longer trips without what Dewar called "range anxiety."
Separately, the Detroit News reported last week that GM will produce the Cadillac Converj plug-in concept car it introduced last January at the Detroit auto show. The vehicle uses the same technology as the Volt.
A Cadillac spokeswoman declined comment.
The Volt will be sold in North America and Europe before it goes on sale in Asia, Dewar said. The introduction in Europe is to be in 2011.
Dewar said Opel will sell its extended-range Ampera, derived from the Volt, in Europe alongside the Volt.
(Source: Automotive News)
Yesterday's clip was all about some blazing hot custom made Ford Mustangs making their presence felt at the 2009 SEMA Show last week in Las Vegas. Chevrolet reportedly also got in on the act with pimpin' out Camaros a plenty for SEMA insiders and car enthusiasts alike. Well, if you're thinking Dodge didn't have something similar up their sleeves, then like Judas Priest says "you've got another thing coming."
Today's Web video features Edward Loh from Motortrend.com gushing over some flashy custom 2009 Dodge Challengers, and with damn good reason. These Challengers are spectacular to look at, and a hot green convertible in particular is given a lot of camera time for its blingtastic wheels and 560HP V-8 engine. Roughly half way through the video, we get to scope a red Challenger that's been infused with a Viper V-10 engine and all sorts of custom options built in. Anyone who thinks that modern American muscle cars aren't something to get excited about should probably think again.
Chevy built the Volt for a smooth ride, but now engineers are putting the electric car to the test at General Motors' Milford Proving Grounds. Watch the Volt tackle potholes and a long stretch of cobblestones called Belgian Blocks.
This last week saw yet another big auto show in the form of the 2009 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show ran from November 2 to Friday November 6, and boy, was there a ton of eye candy for us car enthusiasts. However, the SEMA Show was not open to the public--only auto industry insiders were allowed inside these doors full of what SEMA refers to as "automotive specialty products." This video is a teaser of some of the many automotive delights that were on display at this year's event.
Here we go with another quality highlight video from the folks at Inside Line courtesy of Edmunds.com. This highlight reel features Camaros galore, plenty of Ford mods, and the stateside debut of the $375,000 Lexus LFA. Other notable vehicles include the Hyundai Genesis (with the midcar engine), Kia's first foray into racecars, and the Brooks & Dunn sponsored Toyota Tundra with an onboard barbecue grill--yummy.
One good thing about when I get flamed on this blog is sometimes it gives me ideas for things to search for video to use within this forum. A couple days ago, a reader mentioned that I should go to the upcoming SEMA Show that will take place the first week of November in Las Vegas. Of course, I'd love to go but unfortunately my day job takes precedence and I won't be able to get away. Sigh. Anyway, I'd recently been writing about Camaros, and coincidentally I stumbled upon a Camaro vid taken from a SEMA event roughly a year ago. I thought this was all a sign, so it made it onto my blog for today - a perfect Sunday clip, and here it is.
I had mentioned before in this blog that my favorite Chevy Camaro was the 1969, and here we got a Camaro as restored by YearOne. Here Kevin King from Y1 discusses how they were approached to create basically a new car out of an existing Camaro, changed its color from blue to lightning yellow, dropped in the LSX engine and customized to Nth degree. While King does a good job explaining what all was done to this car, I think the images speak for themselves.
Wow. I write a piece a couple days ago about the 2010 and upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Camaro, and next thing I know a representative from Chevrolet communications is posting a comment to my blog. Yeah, it was regarding a discrepancy in the information relayed in the video blog, but to me that's still pretty cool. As this gentleman pointed out, there are custom car builders out there who are co-opting the Chevy Camaro make and putting out non-GM versions of the Camaro for the consumer who wants one done their way. Apparently, Hennessey Performance Engineering does just that, and they've splattered videos of their souped-up and supercharged Camaros all over YouTube. And here's just one of several videos they've done to hype their business of making bad-ass cars even badder.
In this Web video HPE puts a reportedly specialized 2010 Chevy Camaro SS up to a dyno to see what kind of power this beast can bring to its wheelbase, and its horsepower is certainly impressive. (Love the hum of that engine!) Then a little after the 2-minute mark we get to see that same Camaro roar by on a two-lane highway. Like Borat would say, the view is "nice!"
DETROIT -- General Motors Co. will spend $202 million to renovate its Flint Engine South factory to build 1.4-liter four-cylinder engines for the highly anticipated Chevrolet Volt--and for a small car that likely will be even more crucial to Chevy's future success, the Cruze.
The automaker also will spend about $28 million on three other plants in the Flint, Mich., area to help build the 2011 Cruze compact and the Volt.
A 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine will power a generator to create electricity for the motor that propels the Chevrolet Volt, above, and will drive the Chevy Cruze.
(Credit: Automotive News)GM is scheduled to launch the Cruze next spring. Production of the Volt, a plug-in hybrid sedan, is scheduled to start in November 2010.
The Flint engine plant will produce 40 engines per day when production starts late next year. Output will rise to 800 engines a day by fall 2011, GM officials said.
The engine for the Cruze will be turbocharged. The Volt's engine, which will power a generator to create electricity for the motor that propels the car, will not be turbocharged.
The initial batch of engines for the Chevy Volt will be imported from a GM plant in Aspern, Austria, until the revamped Flint plant begins production.
The other GM plants that will be updated and retooled are the Flint Metal Center, Flint Tool and Die and Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center.
GM says the key functions at the plants will include development of automated equipment and tooling for the Cruze and Volt assembly plants. The Cruze will be assembled at Lordstown, Ohio, and the Volt at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
The operations will develop dies and stamp body panels and components for Lordstown and Detroit-Hamtramck.
GM is spending about $30 million on the Grand Blanc plant to build robotic weld tool cells that will assemble the Volt body at Detroit-Hamtramck.
(Source: Automotive News)
About a week ago, I read an article online about how automotive industry insiders were recently given a sneak preview of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, which is reportedly slated to begin production in the near future. With all the dire financial straits General Motors has found itself in the last few years, this is definitely good news--I'm sure that I'm not the only who would hate to see such a classic American muscle car tradition bite the dust.
In fact, there seemed to be a lot of rumbling amongst industry reports that the 2010 Camaro might have been a concept-only vehicle not for sale to the general public. Thankfully, that has turned out not to be the case, and based on an online search, the 2010 Chevy Camaro convertible seems to be readily available at many Northern California dealerships. And while the general public has yet to get a glimpse of the 2011 model, we can however marvel at the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro convertible via Web video, and here's one that will give you the low down on what this newest edition is all about.
This brief synopsis vid comes from those geeks at Edmunds.com (whose videos and analysis are almost always succinct and top notch) where they take the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro convertible for a spin along a Pacific Coast Highway. And Edmunds notes that at the time of this production, the Camaro was still a giant question mark in the mass sale plans of GM. Is it the most amazing Camaro you've ever seen? Uh, no (the '69 Camaro gets my vote for baddest Camaro ever). But I'd rather have a modest modern Camaro running the streets than not to exist at all.
Chevrolet Caprice police car returns in 2011.
(Credit: Automotive News)The Caprice name will return to Chevrolet in 2011 on a rear-drive police car, shown as a concept. It will be manufactured in Australia and is based on the platform used on the Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet Camaro. The rear-wheel drive Ford Crown Victoria has the bulk of the U.S. police car business, but Ford is dropping the Crown Vic in 2011. A front-wheel drive Taurus police car is under development. General Motors is determining whether all Chevrolet dealers will be eligible to sell and service the car.
(Source: Automotive News)
Consumer Reports tested the Toyota Venza's brakes with a wide-open throttle.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)After the Toyota recall over loose floor mats interfering with gas pedals, Consumer Reports tested stuck throttle scenarios with a Toyota Venza, Chevrolet HHR, Volkswagen Jetta Wagon, and Mercedes-Benz E350. The nature of the test was simple, but probably a bit harrowing: the drivers floored the gas pedal until the cars reaches 60 mph, then, keeping the gas depressed, pushed down the brake pedal to see if the car would stop.
The Jetta wagon has Smart Throttle technology, which idles the engine when the brakes are used.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)The test wasn't quite fair, as both German cars had a tech trick, called Smart Throttle, for just such a situation. When the brakes are applied, the throttle lifts, no matter what's happening with the gas pedal. According to the Consumer Reports blog post, both cars easily came to a stop, and the engines idled even with the gas pedal floored.
With the Toyota and the Chevrolet, the drivers performed this test at 20 mph the first time because the cars did not have the Smart Throttle technology. Both cars downshifted quickly when put through this test, and the drivers had to struggle to keep pressure on the brakes, fighting engine torque. But they were able to bring the cars to a stop. Repeating the test on these cars by running up to the full 60 mph, the drivers were able to slow to about 10 mph, but brake fade kept them from coming to a complete stop.
Consumer Reports concludes, as Toyota said in its advisory, that the best thing to do if your throttle is stuck is put the car in neutral. The engine will continue to run at horrendous speeds, but the rev limiter will keep it from burning up over redline. When the car is safely stopped on the side of the road, you can turn it all the way off.
