General Motors
297 articles in this category
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com November 8, 2013 Forbes had the chance to talk with General Motors' North American president Mark Reuss this week. Reuss talked about key gaps that he sees in GM's lineup and what could be done to fill them. We'll start with the Chevrolet Cruze. Since going on sale in the U.S., a lot of us have been wondering why there isn't a hatchback version. Especially considering the number of compact hatchbacks that are on sale has been growing and that C
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With Detroit only a month away, news has began to come/leak out of what will be premiering. Late last week, GM’s senior vice president of global product development, Mary Barra told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit the new ATS would make it's debut at Detroit. But that's not all, Chevrolet will be showing a production version of the Sonic RS and two concept vehicles from their GM North Hollywood Design Center. Buick will have the brand new Encore, a small crossover based on GM’s fron
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 12, 2012 General Motors CEO Dan Akerson is not happy with the media this past week. During the company’s Thursday employee meeting, Akerson criticized leaks to news media. "We have to stop leaking in this company. It's an act of treason — it really is," Akerson said. Akerson used the Ewanick departure as an example. As we reported last week, Ewanick was thrown out of GM due to internal frictions and failure to disclose the full $559 mil
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Blake Noble Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 3rd, 2012 At one point in the past, General Motors held a 49 percent stake in the Japanese automaker Isuzu. Over the years however, as GM’s market share eroded and the Detroit car company began fighting against the tides of red ink, it began selling off its shares in Isuzu until the alliance came quietly to an end. In 2006, it sold off its last 7.9 percent stake in the company for a reported $300 million dollars in order to fund restructuri
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 11, 2013 A new report from Reuters cites France's La Tribune story that General Motors is in talks with PSA Peugeot-Citroën about possibly selling vans in the United States. The report doesn't say which vans are in consideration, only saying that van would be sold under ofne of GM's brand, most likely Chevrolet. This news doesn't come as a surprise. GM currently has some of the oldest full-size vans on the marketplace and with fresh models
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com November 14, 2013 General Motors' current CEO, Dan Akerson, could be stepping down as early as next year, according to a report from Reuters. Sources tells Reuters that Akerson hasn't formally notified GM's board of directors of any plan to step down, but could come to fruition some next year. "I assume at some point he (Akerson) will decide he has done what he has wanted to do and will step down, but no one has a date for that," said a source
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Back in September, we reported that GM and BMW were in talks about an alliance. The possible alliance would have General Motors looking at BMW's lineup of gas and diesel engines, while BMW is looking at the Voltec powertrain. Now, a report from German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche says there could be more to this alliance. Wirtschaftswoche reports the two are in talks about jointly developing fuel cell technology for vehicles. The plan would allow BMW to access GM's fuel cell tech. In retu
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 16, 2012 Today, General Motors announced their results for 2011 and forth quarter. The company announced a profit of $7.6 billion for 2011, a large increase from the $4.7 billion profit in 2010. However, forth quarter results were not as impressive. Net income for the forth quarter was only $472 million, or about the same as Q4 2010. While this makes it eight straight quarters of positive growth, the earnings were weighed down by l
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com March 7, 2013 General Motors CEO Dan Akerson made some ambitious announcements at a energy conference in Houston, TX on Wednesday. For starters, Akerson said General Motors has a goal of reducing vehicle weight by 15% by 2016. This will be accomplished by using lightweight materials like aluminum, carbon fiber, and magnesium. Akerson says the move to lightweight materials could improve fuel economy by more than 6.5%. Akerson also said the c
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G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com 2014 GM Fleet Roll Out When I first got my invitation to attend the 2014 GM Fleet roll out I asked myself, besides traditional fleet purchasing and fleet options including the new Crew Cab CNG truck and police Caprice, what could really be worth my time of spending a day at this function? Boy was I glad I went as this is what I call a NEW GM FLEET! Let’s start with the fact that GM has reorganized the way they do fleet
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 22, 2013 Electric automaker Tesla has been a tour-de-force over the past year. Sales of the Model S have exceeded expectations; profits are though the roof; the company has been implementing free charging stations across the U.S. for owners and other things. These success have caught the attention of General Motors. More specially, GM CEO Dan Akerson. According to Bloomberg, Akerson has created a small team to study Tesla and how it could
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 22, 2012 Question: What do GM's European arm and Peugeot-Citroën have in common? The answer; both are in dire financial straits and are trying to turn their fortunes around. GM's European arm announced a $562 million loss in 2011. Meanwhile, Peugeot-Citroën's announced a loss of $121 million in 2011 and has cut 6,000 jobs. It seems fitting then that GM and Peugeot-Citroën are talking about an alliance. Reuters is reporting that the
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 30, 2013 In India, General Motors hasn't issued a recall since 1995. That trend ended this past week as GM announced the recall of 114,000 Chevrolet Tavera utility vehicles built from 2005 to 2013 and are equipped with the 2.5L and 2.0L engines. The reason? According to India's Economic Times via Automotive News, GM employees deliberately fudged emission inspections to meet the standards. "Over a period of time some employees of the compa
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 16, 2012 There is a new report from Australia saying Holden will be announcing a new export program to bring the next generation of the Commodore sedan codenamed VF to America as the new Chevrolet SS sedan. If and when this announcement, this could end the long running speculation, ranging from a U.S. trademark filling to an OnStar leak. The report from News.com.au also ties the announcement to it being the replacement for the current N
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General Motors Corp., which was 103 years old and was once America's largest company quietly died on Dec. 15, 2011. There were no ceremonies or anyone present to mark the company's passing. General Motors Corp. was founded in 1908, acquired more than 20 other companies in its life, including Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Opel, and Oakland. It would become the world's largest Automaker from 1931 until 2008 when it was eclipsed by Toyota. For much of the century it was the world's largest company, and a
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com March 20, 2013 Edmunds has learned from industry sources that General Motors is considering a three-cylinder engine for the Cadillac ELR and Chevrolet Volt. The reason for the three-cylinder is to help reduce fuel consumption and vehicle weight, something CEO Dan Akerson mentioned during a speech at a Houston energy conference a couple weeks ago. The proposed idea would have the 1.4L four-cylinder that is used in the Volt and ELR to be repla
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 5, 2013 Some surprising news coming from General Motors today. The Detroit Free Press reports that Cadillac's vice president of global strategic development, Don Butler resigned his post today. In a email, Butler explained that his departure is “a personal decision.” “As I've told others, I just need to take a step back to recalibrate, reassess my priorities. I know it’s time for a change but I don't know what’s next. I'm trusting that G
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 28, 2012 Last Wednesday, we reported on talks between General Motors and Peugeot-Citroën on a possible alliance. Now, Reuters is reporting the talks have gone into advance stages and General Motors could be buying up a small share. Reuters has learned from a couple sources at both companies that General Motors would purchase 5% of Peugeot-Citroën as part of their alliance deal. The stake could be worth $240 million dollars at Peuge
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 26, 2011 With GM's next generation pickups just around the corner, GM is planning a 21 week vacation for their truck plants to update them. GM spokesman Chris Lee told Automotive News the company will begin idling their Fort Wayne assembly plant for nine weeks from January to October. Following Fort Wayne will be Flint assembly which will be idled for seven weeks from June to November. GM’s Arlington assembly is scheduled to shut f
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 29, 2012 The rumor of GM and PSA Peugeot Citroën creating an alliance for the past couple of weeks is now true. Today, the two announced a new global alliance in which GM will buy a 7% stake in PSA. The alliance would have GM and PSA sharing vehicle platforms, components and modules. Plus, the alliance would give both stronger purchasing power for sourcing components, raw materials and other goods and services. The vehicle platforms
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DETROIT -- General Motors' first-quarter pretax profit surged 28 percent -- even while its global sales slipped -- as the company aggressively cut costs in troubled regions and sold pricier vehicles across its key markets. GM said today its pretax operating income -- the figure the company considers most reflective of its underlying performance -- rose 28 percent, to $2.66 billion. That amounted to a pretax profit of $1.26 a share, hurdling the $1-a-share average forecast of analysts, compil
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 17, 2012 While GM showed off the new full-size trucks this past week, they are still busy working on the new full-size SUVs. GM North American President Mark Reuss told the Detroit Free Press that redesigned versions of the automaker's full-size SUVs - Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL will be arriving in 2014. Reuss didn't give an explanation as to why there is a delay to the full-size SUVs. While the popularity o
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 9, 2013 'Government Motors' is no more. Today, the U.S. Treasury sold its remaining shares of General Motors, ending a four-year ownership of the automaker. The Treasury says it recouped $39 billion of its original $49.5 billion investment into GM. “The U.S. Treasury’s ownership exit closes just one chapter in GM’s ongoing turnaround story. We will always be grateful for the second chance extended to us and we are doing our best to ma
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 10, 2013 January 15, 2014 will be an important day at General Motors. Current CEO Dan Akerson will retire and Mary Barra, the executive vice president for global product development, purchasing, and supply chain will become the company's CEO. This announcement just comes a day after the U.S. Treasury said it had sold all of its shares in GM. Akerson planned to stepped down from the automaker sometime in 2014, but pulled ahead his succe
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 1, 2012 General Motors is expected to announce today the closing of the Oshawa Consolidated Line. The line currently builds the Chevy Impala and overflow production of the Equinox. General Motors told workers this morning the closure will happen on June 1, 2013 and layoff around 2,000 people. Chris Buckley, president of CAW Local 222 is not happy with the decision. “GM announced to us this morning their plans to close the plant. We are
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 18, 2012 GM's full-size hybrid pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid have offered the best fuel economy in the class since being introduced in 2009. However, they haven't been a sales success as GM had expected. Last year, GM sold 3,114 Hybrid trucks and SUVs, from a high of 8,797 vehicles in 2009. Last week at the press introduction of the new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, GM North America President Mark
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 19, 2012 General Motors announced today that they will be buying back 200 million shares of stock from the U.S. Treasury. The buyback will cost GM about $27.50 per share - about $5.5 billion in total. GM says the $27.50 share price represents a 7.9% premium over the closing price on December 18. The share buyback is expected to close by the end of December. After this buyback, the Treasury will still hold close to 300 million shares o
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 21, 2012 The folks at Camaro5.org got their hands on General Motors service document on decoding VIN number on 2014 model year vehicles for dealers and found some interesting information. First is the 2014 Camaro which features a listing of the 7.0L LS7 V8 engine from the current Corvette Z06 (505 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque). Speculation has it being for a new Camaro model, the rumored Z28 model. Next, the document references
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 27, 2012 In the past few generation of its full-size SUVs, General Motors used pretty much the same interior design across all brands. That looks to be changing with the next-generation SUVs. “In the past we shared SUV and (pickup) truck interiors. That is not the case going forward,” said Chris Hilts, creative manager of interior design at General Motors to Car and Driver. Hilts cites two reasons for this change. One is that SUV owne
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I am a huge Disney Parks fan - My favorite attraction to visit at Epcot in WDW happens to coincide with my passion for all things General Motors - the GM Test Track (formerly GM's World of Motion pavilion). Mouseplanet's weekly WDW news update reports that the GM Test Track attraction is scheduled to be closed from April 15 through September 21, 2012 for an upgrade to include a name change -Test Track presented by Chevrolet: …Our friends over at TouringPlans.com are reporting that Test Track m
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William Maley Editor/Reporter- CheersandGears.com March 7, 2012 Last week, General Motors and PSA announced a new alliance that would have the two sharing components and give stronger purchasing power for both. The deal is "an additional tool to the toolkit in Europe" said GM Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky to reporters. When asked what would come next in GM's plan to save Opel, Girsky declined. "We can't tell you what our play is in Europe. We will tell you when it plays out over the next peri
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The Detroit News is reporting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ended the daily fine of $7,000 to General Motors after the company turned over the docements and answered the 107 detailed questions about its recall. A Transportation Department spokeswoman said the daily fine ended on June 5th when GM handed over the 315-page internal report from Anton Valukas. “We have what we asked for. The (GM) report is consistent with what we said a few weeks ago, which is there are
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January 3rd, 2011 by "black-knight" CheersandGears.com Good news doesn't always mean great news, especially if you're in GM's shoes right now. Despite the fact GM is closer to snatching Toyota's global sales crown away, Chevrolet is very close to eclipising its all time sales record, and more new models are on the way, GM's stock has been trading somewhere between $20 to $21 bucks a share the last few days. Compare that to around this time last year when one share of GM's stock would have set
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 8, 2012 Ford has been having a resounding success with the EcoBoost option one the F-150 pickup truck. With new full-size trucks on the way, you would think GM would be heading down the same route. Not so fast. "I wouldn't say that's a huge priority. I think there are other answers to that, which they don't have, for us that make a lot more sense," said GM North America President Mark Reuss. Reuss believes the full-sized pickup can't
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As we reported a couple weeks ago, General Motors has decided to pull Chevrolet from Europe to give Opel and Vauxhall some breathing room. But with this pullout comes a problem for GM in South Korea. The continent produced most of the Chevrolet models for Europe. With Chevrolet saying pulling out in late 2015, production volume is expected to drop 20 percent. This has GM thinking about cutting jobs. Reuters reports that GM Korea is planning to launch a "voluntary retirement" the 6,000 salaried
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 18, 2012 The U.S. Treasury said no to a plan from General Motors to sell their remaining shares in the company according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Earlier in the summer, GM floated a plan to the Treasury department to purchase the remaining 200 million shares the Treasury hold. Under the plan, the Treasury would sell the remaining shares through a public stock offering. The Treasury wasn't so thrilled with GM's plan,
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General Motors has brought back a concept idea from their past for the modern era. This is SURUS (Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure) which takes the hydrogen skateboard platform from the GM Autonomy and Hy-Wire concepts from the early 2000s and supersizes it. The platform uses GM’s new Hydrotec fuel cell system that is comprised of a gen 2 fuel cell, storage tank that can provide a range of 400 miles, electric drive units, and a lithium-ion battery. This is placed onto a commerci
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 13, 2012 If you been shopping for a Chevrolet Equinox or GMC Terrain with a four-cylinder and been wondering why there is a lack of them on dealer lots, blame a supplier. Automotive News reports that for the past two months, GM has put order limits on the four-cylinder Equinox and Terrain. That's due to a tier 2 supplier having problems with certain parts for the 2.4L four-cylinder engine. GM spokesman Jim Cain said dealers were told
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 4, 2013 General Motors announced today a new investment of $331.8 million in four manufacturing sites to produce more fuel-efficient engines and transmissions. GM said in a press release today that some parts of the investment will help prepare its factories to produce a new eight-speed automatic transmission and increase capacity for an existing six-speed gearbox. Other parts will go towards support the production of a new V6 engine (
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 18, 2012 Buick and GMC have announced to their dealers today that the two brands will collectively launch nine new or revised products over the next 12 months. Some of the products have already been shown. Those products include, Buick Enclave Buick Encore GMC Acadia Others have either been talked about and/or been caught in spy shots. Those vehicles are, 2014 Buick LaCrosse 2014 Buick Regal 2014 GMC Sierra 20
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 10, 2013 Its nice whenever spy shots show a group vehicles undergoing some testing. Its even better when the group has the all the different models in one group. Case in point, Automobile Magazine has some new spy shots featuring the new 2015 GM full-size SUV lineup. The test mules in the pictures look to be wearing the production-ready bodies. The differences between the mules are dependent on the headlights and grilles. The Escalade
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 12, 2013 General Motors has unveiled today its next-generation of full-size SUVs, including the 2015 Chevy Tahoe, Suburban, and the GMC Yukon, Yukon XL, and Yukon Denali. Much like the Silverado and Sierra, the Chevrolet and GMC SUVs have different styling on the front ends with different front clips and headlights. From the A-Pillar back, the SUVs are the same with inlaid doors that tuck into the door sills to provide better aero an
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com January 12, 2012 GM is retiring one of their workhorse engines. The 2.4L four-cylinder found under the hoods of the Buick Regal and Verano, Chevrolet Equinox, and GMC Terrain will say farewell. In it’s place will be a new 2.5L DI four-cylinder. The new four-cylinder will make its debut in the regular Chevrolet Malibu, due out this summer. The engine is rated at 190 hp and 180 lb-ft of torque. This is a decent size bump in power compared to t
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 17, 2013 It's no secret that General Motors has been keeping a very close eye on Tesla. Back in July, we reported that CEO Dan Akerson created a group to study Tesla and how it could effect GM. Now it seems GM wants to take Tesla on. According to the Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, General Motors is working on a electric vehicle with a 200 Mile range and a pricetag of $30,000. This information came from GM's vice president of glo
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While the focus on the electric vehicles have been on the ultra plush and quick models from the likes of Tesla, Audi, and Jaguar, there is a lot of work being done for electric delivery vans. The combination of reduced maintenance, low fuel costs, and an abundance of torque to deal with heavy loads make them a perfect to do deliveries in urban areas. Rivian is the most-well known player here with plans to build out a fleet of electric vans for Amazon. Another player is ready to join the fight.
Your future delivery vehicle may be electric and from GM
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Ahead of releasing this month's sales numbers, General Motors has announced that it will start reporting sales quarterly instead of monthly. “Thirty days is not enough time to separate real sales trends from short-term fluctuations in a very dynamic, highly competitive market. Reporting sales quarterly better aligns with our business, and the quality of information will make it easier to see how the business is performing,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations in a stateme
To begin after March's numbers come out
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General Motors' self-driving unit, Cruise got a huge boost today from Honda. Today at a press conference, the two companies announced a new deal where Honda will invest $2.75 billion ($750 million upfront for a 5.7 percent stake and the remainder to be invested over the next 12 years) and will work together on developing a purpose-built self-driving vehicle. Speaking at GM's technical center in Warren, MI, CEO Mary Barra said Honda would provide "additional engineering, design, and technolog
The two will join forces to build a new autonomous vehicle
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General Motors took a page out Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' playbook by continuing the build the outgoing-generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra alongside the next-generation models in an effort to keep sales up. But sooner or later, the previous-generation models will end production. When is that? During GM's third-quarter earnings call, CFO Dhivya Suryadevarat said the automaker would begin winding down production the K2 crew cab models early next year, followed by double cab and reg
The end of the previous-generation Silverado and Sierra will begin early next year
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General Motors got a rude awakening if they picked up a copy of the Detroit Free Press or Detroit News. Right on the front page is a large ad by Canadian union Unifor accusing GM executives of having the lack of support toward Canadian and U.S. plant workers after announcing certain products would be "unallocated" and bringing up the possible worry of plant closures. One ad says, "U.S. and Canadian workers made GM," that follows with the question, "Why should our jobs and our products go to
That's a bit of rude awakening
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By the end of next year, GM's self-driving car unit was planning to have a fleet of self-driving taxis available those in San Fransisco, California. But a new report from Reuters casts some serious doubts on this goal. Speaking to a number of current and former GM and Cruise Automation employees, and autonomous vehicle technology experts, Reuters' report paints a picture of various issues that could derail Cruise's goal. The driverless Cruise vehicles (Chevrolet Bolt EVs) have strug
That 2019 goal seems so far away
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Aside from announcing fourth-quarter sales numbers, General Motors had another big announcement today. GM's Product chief Mark Reuss will succeed Dan Ammann as the company's president. The appointment is effective immediately according to the company. “I am very proud to have spent my entire career at General Motors, and to now take on this new role is truly a great honor. With our current lineup of outstanding cars, trucks, and crossovers around the world, I’m looking forward to keeping ou
Succeeds Dan Ammann who will be heading up Cruise Automation
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“General Motors has developed an all-new digital vehicle platform necessary for its next-generation of vehicles, EVs, active safety, infotainment and connectivity features, and the evolution of the Super Cruise driver assistance feature.” To quote their press release. GM-2020-ElectricPlatform.mp4 We have heard that GM has their next EV platform that will cover multiple new auto’s and that GM has their global ICE auto platform. The one thing that no one has talked about is the
Software is the Next Battleground in the auto war and GM is ready to win it with a new electrical platform.
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GM reported an income of $2.5 Billion for the third quarter of 2018 today with strong showings in North America, China, and GM Financial. Automotive operating cash flow was up by $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion. Overall earnings per share diluted was $1.75. In North America, margin is up to 10.2% driven mostly by sales of all-new full-size trucks and continued good sales of crossovers, China reported equity income of $0.5 billion, while GM Financial reported revenues of $0.5 billion. Du
Revenue and Income both up strongly
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General Motors' announcement to idle and possibly close five plants next year comes around the same time that the company begins their negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW). Already, the UAW has said they would go "through every legal, contractual and collective bargaining avenue open to our membership," to try and keep the plants. GM's rationale for the move is to improve profitability and help reduce the underutilization of its plants. As we reported last week, GM represents 1 m
Removing products may have caused a Pandora's box to be unleashed before negotiations between GM and UAW begin next year
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"Yesterday, General Motors met with representatives with Canadian union Unifor - the second in less in two weeks. Talks centered around Oshawa with Unifor pleading to reconsider plans of phasing out products at the plant to keep 3,000 jobs. But those talks went nowhere as GM is moving forward with their restructuring plans. "Unfortunately, all Unifor’s proposals would involve substantial incremental costs and a further deterioration of GM’s competitive position. Having completed an analysis
Remember how we said it may get ugly? Yeah..
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We've known for some time that both Tesla and General Motors would soon be reaching the 200,000 sales mark for electrics, meaning that $7,500 tax credit would begin phasing out. Yesterday, we reported Tesla cut prices on their 2019 model year vehicles to soften the blow. But what about GM? A source told Reuters that GM hit the 200,000 model milestone during the fourth quarter of last year - most likely happening in December. This begins the 15-month phase-out which will see the credit drop
Joining Tesla in the 200,000 EV sales club
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General Motors' upcoming restructuring plan where more than 10,000 jobs will be cut and five factories losing products has caused many politicians to become very upset. Yesterday, CEO Mary Barra traveled to Capitol Hill to try an mitigate the social damage by this announcement. Those expecting Barra to backpedal or balk under pressure from various lawmakers on moving production of certain vehicles out of Mexico to plants in the U.S. would come away disappointed. “I want to make sure that t
Hoping to mitigate some of the damage caused by the announcement
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When General Motors decided to study the Ford F-150 to help make the next-generation Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra, they sent engineers to the front door of where the F-150 is built. According to Reuters, engineers went on a public factory tour of Ford's Dearborn truck plant to study how Ford was building them. Special attention was paid to workers attaching aluminum body panels to the trucks. After watching and timing the fitment of parts with stopwatches, GM engineers found some problem
Hiding in plain sight
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Yesterday, we brought forth some spy photos of a new GMC subcompact crossover. At the time, we couldn't be certain to this as the two mules caught were under a lot of camouflage. But today we are confident in this as a fresh set of spy photos have come in revealing next Buick Encore and Chevrolet Trax. Both of the mules seen in the photos were caught testing on General Motors' proving grounds outside of Detroit. The Encore appears to be taking the evolutionary approach with its redesign. Th
GM's other subcompact crossovers come into focus
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This morning, General Motors announced an overhaul of its operations in 2019 which will involve cutting more than 10,000 workers and possibly closing five plants by the end of the year. GM said the cuts should boost cash flow by six billion by the end of 2020. “The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future. We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions an
Five factories are on the chopping block
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Today is not a pleasant day if you're a white collar employee at General Motors. Last Friday, reports came out that GM would begin significant layoffs on their white-collar workforce. Back in November, GM announced that it would be slashing 8,000 white-collar workers as part of plans to reduce costs. Already, 2,250 workers have agreed to voluntary buyouts. This leaves 5,750 workers waiting to be cut. But a GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said the number of people being laid off will be roughly
Expected to take a couple of weeks
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General Motors is recalling 1,015,918 pickup trucks from the 2015 model year due to a problem with the electric power steering (EPS) system. In a letter published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yesterday, the EPS may momentarily lose assist before regaining it. "If EPS assist is lost and then suddenly returns, the driver may have difficulty steering the vehicle, especially at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash," wrote NHTSA. The models affected include,
Deals with the electric power steering system
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If you happen to be an owner of a General Motors vehicle and are looking to earn some cash, then a new pilot program might be of interest. Bloomberg has learned from sources that GM is planning to launch a program where owners can rent out their vehicles when they aren't driving them - think AirBnb for cars. This will be launch through GM's Maven car-sharing service sometime this summer. A GM spokesman declined to comment. This appears to be another part of GM's plan to transition from manu
Could take on services like Turo
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Since the launch of Super Cruise on the 2018 Cadillac CT6, General Motors executives said the technology would expand to other brands. But they didn't give a timeframe as to when. Today at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America conference in Detroit, GM product chief Mark Reuss said Super Cruise would begin rolling out to Buick, Chevrolet, and GMC models after 2020. This will follow Cadillac's expansion of the technology to other models beginning in 2020. Super Cruise is "a fe
Cadillac will begin rolling out Super Cruise on other models beginning in 2020
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Tripower is one of General Motors' most revered names. Used on Pontiac V8 engines from 1957-1966, Tripower referred to the use of three two-barrel carburetors on top of the engine. GM is bringing back the name for the next-generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. But in this case, Tripower carries a very different meaning. At the CAR Management Briefing Seminars yesterday, Mike Anderson, GM's executive director of global transmission and electrification hardware engineering said Tripo
But not in the way you might expect
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It has been a tense couple of months at GM Korea. Back in February, the company announced a restructuring plan for the division which included the closure of the Gunsan plant (one of the four plants operating in South Korea), and voluntary redundancies for 2,600 workers to stem the hemorrhaging of cash. Recently, GM has been pushing its workers’ union for concessions that would total $80 million. This is part of an effort to get a $500 million injection from the South Korean government to pay su
But for how long?
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This past year has seen General Motors not be shy with scaling back operations in various international markets. The company sold off Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group, ended sales of Chevrolet vehicles in India, and closed down their operations in South Africa. Now, GM's Korea operations are on the chopping block. Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra revealed that company officials were in discussion with minority owners and union officials that could lead to "some rationalization actions or restructurin
Another one of GM's International Operations Could be on the Chopping Block
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On Wednesday, General Motors invited a number of media to their tech center in Warren, MI for their EV Day event. The company is making a big bet on electric vehicles with 11 new vehicles rolling out by 2025, featuring a new electric modular platform and battery tech. Here's what we know. Third-Generation Electric Vehicle Platform Underpinning this massive push is GM's new third-generation EV platform (BEV3). The new platform was designed to provide flexibility for different vehicle types -
11 Vehicles, New Platform and Battery Tech
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GM has announced total investments of $56M for capacity expansion to be spread over two of its existing manufacturing plants GM said in a press statement. $20M will be going to its Romulus Michigan propulsion plant to expand capacity of 10-speed transmission manufacturing. The investment will be used to purchase additional machining equipment. GM 10-speed is used in their full-size rear-wheel drive SUVs and trucks. The Romulus plant currently employs about 1,350 people and also builds V6
Transmissions and Traverses.
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General Motors is launching a new brand to sell electric bikes in Europe. The brand, ARĪV (pronounced Arrive) will launch first in German, Belgium, and the Netherlands, countries where lithium-ion powered bikes are already popular. Two models will be offered, the Meld at 2,800€ and the foldable Merge (shown above) at 3,400€. Both bikes include Bluetooth technology for riders to track metrics such as speed, distance, battery level, and more. A USB port is included to help charge rider
Starting price 2,800 €
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The Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Volt have entered that great used car lot in the sky as of February 15th according to a GM announcement. The Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala were originally scheduled to end production in June of 2019 but have now had their production schedules extended until January 2020. GM states that the reason for the extension is to allow for continued availability of the CT6-V, Blackwing Twin-Turbo V8, and Super Cruise. The Cadillac CT6 is also built in Jinqiao, China.
CT6 and Impala live on to January 2020; Lacrosse and Volt ended February 15th.
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After announcing the closure of 5 plants back in November, General Motors ended production of the Chevrolet Cruze at the Lordstown Ohio assembly plant last week. Now, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has said that in his discussions with General Motors, that the company has plans to make an announcement in about 4 to 6 weeks. DeWine said that it is his understanding that GM is looking to sell the plant, but that he doesn't know who GM is talking to. While he reiterated his uncertainty, he said
An announcement could be coming in four to six weeks.
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There will be one less engine option for the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain come the 2020 model year. The Car Connection first reported the news on the Equinox yesterday morning, while Autoblog followed with the Terrain news later in the day. Both stories reported the same reason for cancellation, they didn't sell. "We did discontinue the diesel engine option in the 2020 Chevrolet Equinox due to low demand," said Chevrolet spokesman Kevin Kelly. The news doesn't come as a shock to u
..Slow sales caused the demise of the diesel option..
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General Motors will be bringing back the Hummer name to sell a new electric truck as part of the GMC lineup. The Wall Street Journal first broke the news yesterday with GM moving forward on plans to bring Hummer back that was first reported back in June. The report also said that the company would tout the return with a Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star LeBron James. GM declined to comment. The decision is likely due to the planned $3 billion investment for the Detroit-Hamtramck plant t
..an SUV is also in the works..
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When General Motors announced that it would be potentially selling its Lordstown plant to electric car start-up Workhorse Group Inc, there was a fair amount of head-scratching. The company is best for their W-15 range-extended pickup (which has been delayed) and electric vans. They are also known for the Surefly octocopter drone their former CEO Steve Burns is trying to sell. Why the skepticism? Workhorse isn't looking so good on the financial sheets. Back in March, Trucks.com published a r
...There are some very good reasons why people are very skeptical about this deal...
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GM Announced this morning that the company will be investing $300 million and adding 400 jobs at its Orion Township, Michigan assembly plant. The investment will go towards facilities to produce a new electric vehicle for the Chevrolet brand. The new vehicle will be the second such vehicle, after the Cadillac EV Crossover, to be built on GM's new BEV3 platform, an advance version of the same platform that underpins the Chevrolet Bolt EV. The Orion plant currently builds the Chevrole
...move will bring 400 new jobs to Orion
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Maven, General Motors' car-sharing service launched in 2016 will be ceasing operation in several cities in the U.S. The news was first broken by the Wall Street Journal on Monday and has been confirmed by a GM spokeswoman. Eight out of the seventeen markets that the service operates including Boston and Chicago will be closed down within the next few months. According to the spokeswoman, the shutdown is due to GM wanting to "concentrate on markets in which we have the strongest current dema
...Maven? Maven who?...
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The GMC Build and Price tool has let the details slip on the power ratings of the upcoming inline-6 diesel due to be released in the Sierra and Silverado in a few weeks. The 3.0 liter turbo diesel will produce 277 hp at 3,750 rpm and 460 lb-ft at a mere 1,500 rpm. The only transmission choice will be the 10-speed automatic. These numbers are SAE certified and verified by GM. The diesel motor will be available on LT and above trims on the Chevy and on all GMC trims except the base. These nu
.... GM takes the light-duty diesel power crown.
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Back in early May, we reported that electric truck maker Workhorse was in talks with General Motors to buy the shuttered Lordstown Assembly plant that formerly built the Chevrolet Cruze. The plan seemed founded more on hopes and dreams rather than actual financial reality. Workhorse's only model, the W-15 is a truck with an 80 mile range and a built in range extender, has not exactly been climbing the sales charts. In fact, the company booked only $6,000 in sales in the 2nd quarter of 2019,
...Workhorse revenue and stock plummet...
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The UAW has been striking against General Motors for 31 days, the longest work stoppage since the 1970s. Now news comes that GM and the Union have reached a tentative agreement and the union council will vote today on whether to end the walkout of 46,000 workers or wait until the agreement is ratified by union members. The Union and GM plan to discuss the deal after the vote has taken place. We will update this article as more news comes. Update 1:20 pm: Healthcare remains as
...UAW council to vote on ending strike...
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General Motors and Bechtel are teaming up to form a new company to deploy a widespread fast-charging network. Neither company plans to put any money into the project, outside investors are being solicited. The network will help General Motors, which plans to introduce 20 new EVs by 2023. It will also help other manufacturers of EVs. General Motors will provide data to help decide where to locate the EV charging stations and Bechtel will use its own experts for the engineering and buildin
...two forming a new company for EV charging station infrastructure...
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In a series of tweets today, Trump announced that General Motors will be selling their Lordstown plant to electric truck maker Workhorse. Lordstown was shut down in March of this year and formerly built the Chevrolet Cruze. The details of the plant sale have not yet been announced. Workhorse is a Cincinnati based company who builds EV pickups with a built in range extender, similar in concept to the Chevrolet Volt. Workhorse's sole model is the W-15, capable of driving up to 80 miles on
...Trump announced the sale in a series of tweets...
- Editor-in-Chief
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Lordstown Motors, the outfit affiliated with the hybrid truck manufacturer Workhorse is still aiming to buy the Lordstown assembly facility from General Motors. They have been in talks with GM since the summer and are aiming to build their headquarters in Lordstown because of the availability of the workforce. It would not just include manufacturing, but sales, human resources, and engineering positions would be there too. The plant would be a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing. They
...still wheeling and dealing...
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GM's Lordstown facility has been sold to startup Lordstown Motors. Lordstown Motors will produce the Workhorse Endurance pickup truck, an all-electric truck, at the site. The Endurance has all-wheel drive via 4 motors, one for each wheel. It also has outlets to allow for the use of power tools. Workhorse is also in the bidding to make plug-in mail trucks for the U.S. Postal Service. Workhorse has 6,000 orders for a truck based on the W-15 Prototype, and those orders would be moved to Lo
...Soon to build Workhorse Endurance truck...
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GM released power figures today for the new inline 6-cylinder diesel engine that will be available in the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Available at the same price as the 6.2 liter model, GM promises the new engine will change perceptions about diesel performance and refinement. GM recently announced the delay of the 3.0-liter diesel until the 2020 model year due to emissions certification delays. Paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission, the diesel produces an SAE-certified 27
...promises a new level of diesel refinement...
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Among General Motor's restructuring and cost slashing activities of 2018, GM was apparently in talks to sell their headquarters in Detroit. GM bought the Renaissance Center in 1996 for $70 million and has made substantial renovations over the years. The RenCen, as it is also known, was originally built by Ford in 1971 who later sold it in the 1980s. The potential buyer was billionaire Dan Gilbert. Talks fell through rather early because the aging structure requires expensive upgrades to
...Possible sale as part of a global restructuring...
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Fresh on the news that Ford invested $500 million into electric truck startup Rivian in order to gain access to the startup's EV platform, General Motors CE) Mary Barra confirmed that General Motors is working on an EV pickup of their own. This was during an investors earnings call when Barra said GM has "an industry-leading truck franchise as well as EV capability" and that the company "would not cede our leadership on either front". Talks between Rivian and GM were rumored to have br
...no concerns of being left behind...
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The UAW has announced that their membership has ratified the new 4-year contract deal with General Motors 23,389 to 17,501. Roughly 46,000 union members will receive an $11,000 ratification bonus while temporary workers will get $4,500. According to GM, work is to resume Monday with the first shift, however GM was attempting to get volunteers to start production earlier on Saturday and Sunday at Flint Assembly and Fort Wayne Assembly where the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado are built.
...GM strike is ending...
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Trump posted multiple tweets regarding the closure of GM's Lordstown Ohio plant today. In those tweets he says he has spoken to GM CEO Mary Barra about his displeasure over the closing of the facility. He said he demanded swift action on either the selling of the plant or reopening it. He further stated the Ms. Barra blamed the UAW for the closure. In a further series of tweets, Trump mentioned that GM and the UAW will be starting talks in September of this year, but that he
...demands selling it or reopening it quickly.
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General Motors and LG Chem are joining forces to invest $2.3 billion in a new battery plant near its old Lordstown Assembly complex in Lordstown, Ohio. The deal is a 50/50 partnership between GM and LG Chem and will create 1,100 jobs in the area. Construction of the plant will begin mid-2020 at a greenfield former manufacturing site. The employees will work for the joint-venture and will not be direct GM employees. Initially, the plant will solely supply batteries for GM vehicles, though
...but not at the old Lordstown plant...
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General Motors' lost $2.9 billion in profit due to the strike according to the company's Q3 earnings report released Tuesday. That number exceeded analyst estimates by $900 million. In the final two weeks of the strike, as further plants had to be shut down due to parts shortages, the company lost $750 million. The total loss is about $2.00 per share. The stock is up 4.71 percent over Monday's close at the time of this writing. The strike hit 31 factories and 21 other facilities including
...analysts only expected $2b...
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Negotiators have been meeting daily since the UAW went on strike on September 16th and according to sources, the two sides are nearing a deal as talks have intensified over the last 48 hours. All of the issues have reached the "Main Table" and are out of subcommittee which is a sign that a deal is imminent. The initial offer from GM included $7 billion in investments in eight of its US facilities, while also adding 5,400 new jobs. The UAW rejected the initial offer saying that it wasn't en
...after nearly 2 weeks, could be nearing a deal...
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The UAW declared a national strike against General Motors, a first since 2007, after GM failed to reach a deal with union leaders over wages and benefits. A union spokesman said it was a unanimous vote to strike and that the status of the negotiations are unclear. General Motors said that its offer to the UAW included more than $7 billion in U.S. investments, jobs, higher pay, and improved benefits. It included an offer for more than 5,400 jobs, the majority of which would be new. The o
…About 46,000 hourly employees to walk off the line at 11:59 tonight...
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General Motors announced a recall Wednesday of 3.46 million GM trucks and SUVs for a braking issue that has been linked to 113 accidents and 13 injuries. The problem arises from a vacuum pump issue where the pump make less vacuum over time, thereby increasing the braking effort. The pump is lubricated by engine oil and can accumulate debris and oil sludge lessening the pump's effectiveness. The recall covered model years 2014 - 2018 of Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban, and
...A vacuum pump failure could make it harder to stop...
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GM is delaying the launch of the new inline-6 diesel engine bound for the GMC Sierra 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500. No longer available for ordering on the 2019s, GM has pushed the availability into the 2020 model year. According the GM, the emissions certification process on the engine is taking longer than normal. Customers who ordered a 2019 Silverado or Sierra with the diesel engine will have their orders canceled and will need to resubmit the order for a 2020 model year vehicle
...a hiccup on emissions...
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General Motors will be using Google Software for its embedded infotainment systems starting in 2021. This is in contrast to the Amazon Alexa capability found in some new Ford vehicles starting this year. The systems from GM will offer Google assistant, Google Maps, and certain other applications that are available in the Google Play app store in all of its brands except those in China. GM and other automakers have resisted demands by consumers for this type of software built in out of
…"Okay Google!"...
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As part of General Motors' tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, there is a planned $3 billion investment into the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to make electric trucks, SUVs, and vans. The program, called BT1 is part of a larger $7.7 billion investment in GM's plants over the next four years. The BT1 program includes an electric truck for GMC and an electric SUV for Cadillac for the 2023 model year. But before that happens, in 2021 a low volume BT1 pickup will start production under
....It might be a line of premium EV trucks and SUVs...
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