GM

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car in Maven car-sharing fleet, Los Angeles [photo: Dan MacMedan fo

    General Motors has consistently declined to fund public charging stations that increase the utility and long-distance potential of the electric cars it sells. The company said firmly two years ago it had no intention of spending money on a charging network, a stance that distinguished GM from BMW, Nissan, and Volkswagen, not to mention Tesla. On Thursday, GM announced that it would partner with national charging network EVgo to set up DC fast-charging sites for drivers of its Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. But only certain drivers. CHECK OUT: GM Won't Fund CCS Fast-Charging Sites For Chevy...

  • Buick Velite concept, 2016 Guangzhou auto show
    Buick to launch new electric, plug-in hybrid models in China; what about US?

    For 15 years now, Buick has been a far more important brand in China than it is in North America: four out of five Buicks sold globally are purchased by Chinese buyers. The brand has a wider range and variety of vehicles in that country, along with numerous models U.S. buyers never lay eyes on. So...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016
    GM promises it can make money on all-electric cars by 2021

    Radically new powertrains are widely assumed to lose money for the companies that launch them. Toyota's hybrid-electric system, launched in Japan in 1997, likely didn't break even until sometime after the 2004 launch of the second-generation Prius. Long-range battery-electric vehicles are the same...

  • Chevrolet Cruise AV self-driving car
    Cruise AV, GM's autonomous electric Bolt EV, to go into production in 2019

    How comfortable would you be in a taxi or car-service vehicle that had no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals? That's the question prompted by a photo that has already produced some subconscious anxiety among at least auto writers. How the public will react remains to be seen, but they'll...

  • GM Cruise Automation self-driving Bolt EV
    Commercial tests of self-driving Chevy Bolt EV to launch in many cities in 2019

    General Motors officials made a bold announcement on a Thursday conference call with investors: the automaker plans to launch commercial autonomous fleet operations beginning in 2019. The Detroit-based automaker's vision for commercial, autonomous ride sharing will begin with self-driving Bolt EV...

  • Nissan IMx concept, 2017 Tokyo Motor Show
    Who will sell the first affordable AWD electric SUV? Poll results

    Of our eight Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award winners since 2011, five have been compact five-door hatchbacks. It's a good, sensible format, by far the most popular segment in Europe and stronger even in Canada than in the U.S. Sadly, U.S. car buyers are not only ignoring small hatchbacks...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car with future GM electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, Oct 2017

    General Motors said on Monday it will unveil two new battery-electric vehicles within the next 18 months, and will offer 20 electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles globally by 2023. The news came in a conference call for reporters with Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development. GM's announcement follows similar commitments by other large global automakers, VW Group included, and the news that China is evaluating an end date for sales of new vehicles with combustion engines. DON'T MISS: All-electric Buick small SUV to be based on Bolt EV: report "it all starts...

  • One of 130 second-generation self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars, with GM CEO Mary Barra
    GM CEO Barra attacks China gas-car ban, suggests buyers should decide

    General Motors CEO Mary Barra met with reporters in Shanghai on Friday, discussing the company's vision of the future: "a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion." The company doesn't think, however, that China should be quite so hasty in pushing to ban cars that actually do...

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
    Which company's electric-car success will surprise us? Take our Twitter poll

    Sometimes the competition among global automakers can seem like watching a professional sports league. Powerhouse teams—GM, Renault Nissan, Toyota, VW Group, the four largest global makers—compete against each other as well as against smaller, scrappier upstarts with devoted and loyal...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016
    2017 Chevy Bolt EV battery may fail due to faulty cell; new pack needed for a few GM electric cars (updated)

    General Motors has informed "a few hundred" owners of 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars that their cars could suffer from a problem with the lithium-ion battery pack that could cause it to fail without warning. The cars were among the very earliest Bolt EVs produced for public sale, so are...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016
    New LG Michigan plant could boost GM electric-car domestic content

    The question of where consumer goods are made has become more prominent in our political discourse of late, cars among them. Every automobile sold in the U.S. carries a listing of content sources, specifying what percentage by value of its overall content comes from which countries or regions...

  • Baojun E100 electric car
    Baojun E100: GM's tiny, two-seat electric car for China

    Most North Americans and Europeans will likely never have heard of Baojun, but it's one of many brands operated under General Motors' SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture in China. Its portfolio is mostly made up of small sedans, multi-purpose vehicles (small minivans), hatchbacks, and a crossover utility...

  • 2018 Chevrolet Volt

    Small SUVs are all the rage, steadily eating into sales of passenger sedans and hatchbacks of pretty much every size. It's not just limited to North America, either: the trend is global, which is why several makers have jacked up perfectly standard front-wheel-drive hatchbacks and turned them into "crossover" utility vehicles. Now GM may be shaking up its product lineup to redirect its plug-in hybrid technology toward smaller SUVs as well. DON'T MISS: Chevrolet CrossVolt Trademark Renewed: AWD Electric Car In Chevy's Future? (Dec 2014) And a news report yesterday suggests that it's at least...

  • Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle
    Chevrolet Colorado ZH2: first ride in hydrogen fuel-cell Army truck

    Olive drab isn't the only green thing in the U.S. Army. Currently undergoing testing at Fort Carson in Colorado, the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle illustrates the unlikely intersection between eco-friendly powertrains and the demanding needs of a vehicle that may be deployed to...

  • One of 130 second-generation self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars, with GM CEO Mary Barra
    Self-driving Chevy Bolt EV electric test cars to be deployed

    It's widely acknowledged that most, if not all, of the autonomous vehicles expected to reach our roads in volume will be electric cars. Without the complexity of a combustion engine and transmission that must be electromechanically controlled, the task of automating the driving of a vehicle is...

  • Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle
    GM fuel-cell chief talks about military truck, Honda deal to build hydrogen powertrains

    Innovation has no secret for GM and after tapping into hybrid and electric engine technologies, fuel-cell is its next target. In an interview with Trucks.com, GM’s global fuel-cell business director Charles Freese seemed confident that hydrogen will become a next big step in transportation...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016
    GM goal: profitable, affordable electric cars built in big numbers

    Automotive innovation rolls out over many years, usually decades, and usually only a few companies lead. Others hang back, waiting to see if buyers will accept new features, new powertrains, and new types of vehicles. More than six years after modern electric cars hit the market in volume, many...

  • Tesla Motors, Palo Alto, California
    Q: Why is Tesla worth more than GM? A: The sins of Detroit

    It remains unclear whether Tesla will survive as an independent company, given that it's had exactly two profitable quarters in its 12-plus years of existence. And yet, last week, Tesla briefly passed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. automaker by market capitalization. It had passed...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011

    Regardless of the number of cars they've sold—fewer than the Renault-Nissan alliance—Tesla is undoubtedly the best-known electric-car maker in the world. It delivered 76,000 cars last year, against roughly 10 million each for Volkswagen Group, Toyota, and General Motors. But its sleek, fast, electric Model S and the associated Supercharger fast-charging network turned the industry on its ear. DON'T MISS: Which electric car will sell best during 2018? Poll results No carmaker has yet produced a straight-across competitor for the Tesla Model S or Model X, and the first ones from...

  • General Motors' Dan Ammann (center) with Lyft's John Zimmer (right) and Logan Green (left)
    Lyft ridesharing service, part-owned by GM, said to raise half a billion dollars more

    Lyft has reportedly raised a new round of funding to support its on-demand ride hailing service. It’s believed that investors have put $500 million more into the company’s coffers, probably invigorated by its recent market growth and Uber’s stumbles. A Lyft spokesperson declined...

  • PSA's Carlos Tavares and General Motors' Mary T. Barra
    Europe's emission limits, small cars far from global mainstream: is this why GM sold Opel?

    At the 2017 Geneva auto show, General Motors announced the sale of its entire European operations—comprising factories and the Opel and Vauxhall brands—to PSA Peugeot Citroën. German Opel and its British Vauxhall sibling have represented GM's main presence in Europe for decades...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car in Maven car-sharing fleet, Los Angeles [photo: Dan MacMedan fo
    Has GM really 'already lost' the electric-car race to Tesla?

    Lots of people like horse races, win-or-lose competitions, and rankings. They're easy to understand, and definitive. They may also lose the forest for the trees, which is what we're tempted to suggest about a new article that addresses the launch of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. GM's...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Cruze
    GM says green-car buyers should consider its diesels: here's why

    Diesel engines will continue to appear in pickup trucks, European luxury SUVs, and at least a few mass-market crossover utility vehicles. Two of those are the Chevrolet Equinox and Mazda CX-5 crossovers that will launch for the 2018 model year. But the future of diesel in U.S. passenger cars...

  • Section of 2019 Cadillac XT4 spy shot  [image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien, as used on Motor Authority]
    Is 2019 Cadillac XT4 crossover the next plug-in hybrid for luxury brand?

    Spy shots are continually fascinating, for both future buyers and auto journalists. They can reveal hints about the shapes, design aspects, and powertrains of vehicles that may not hit showrooms for as much as two years. Some recent spy shots of the 2019 Cadillac XT4 small crossover utility vehicle...

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