GM

It's common practice in the industry for automakers to base multiple different models on the same basic platform or architecture. This allows them to amortize the development costs of new platforms across a wider range of products. It also means that two seemingly dissimilar models—such as a...

The Chevrolet Bolt EV may very well turn out to be a game-changing electric car in more ways than one. With an EPA-rated 238-mile range and a base price of $37,495, the Bolt EV has the potential to appeal to a much broader range of customers than previous electric cars. At the same time, it's also...

Battery-electric cars are being delivered in volume today, but planned hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles from major automakers are on a more gradual timeframe. This morning, General Motors and Honda jointly announced that the two companies would establish a joint venture to produce hydrogen fuel-cell...

Donald Trump's campaign said last year that he owned a Tesla electric car.

Electric cars are virtually as old as the auto industry, but hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are not. In fact, exactly fifty years ago this month, GM showed off the first one, which it called the Electrovan. This remarkable and innovative prototype for a zero-emission vehicle used the body of an...

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV had a fast and unusual development process. General Motors partnered closely with Korean electronics firm LG, whose LG Chem subsidiary provided its lithium-ion battery cells. Other LG units contributed both electric and electronic components and now act as contract...

Over the last five years, much has been written about autonomous-car efforts from Apple and Google. Could these two massively successful Silicon Valley startups overturn the established order in the global auto industry? The answer remains to be seen, but this month brought news that both companies...

General Motors plans to add more hybrids and electric cars, despite missing its own goal for sales volume.

Lithium-ion cells and the battery packs that hold them are the single most costly part of modern electric cars. And how fast their costs will fall remains the defining factor in making those cars affordable for the mass market. GM made waves last fall when product chief Mark Reuss said the company...

More than 325,000 potential buyers have put down $1,000 apiece for a Tesla Model 3 electric car that they won't get for two years, if not considerably longer than that. Which must frustrate the electrification team at General Motors deeply. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV with more than 200 miles of...

The eAssist mild hybrid system is dead, long live the eAssist mild hybrid system? With continually rising corporate average fuel economy levels required through 2025, General Motors will test a third generation of its eAssist mild-hybrid system during the current model year. This time, though...

The biggest challenge in introducing new technologies is getting to the volume production that permits economies of scale for expensive components. Toyota is now nearing 9 million hybrids produced, over almost 20 years--but it builds 10 million cars a year. General Motors, on the other hand, has...

You almost have to pity the Cadillac ELR range-extended electric coupe: It's a very pretty car with luxurious appointments, but no one wants to buy it. And if the rumors that now-departed General Motors CEO Dan Akerson personally set its initial price at $75,000 are true, you have to wonder how it...

In last fall's runup to the launch of the production 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV 200-mile electric car, GM discussed working together with Korean corporate giant LG on the Bolt's development. Mark Reuss, GM’s head of global product development said in October that the company's partnership with LG...

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV may be the most eagerly awaited electric car since the original Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt (plus everything Tesla). Its claimed 200-mile range and pre-incentive price of $37,500 will make it unique if it launches this December as expected. And there's been much press...

Carlos Ghosn has never really been known as a man with frequent warm and ready smiles for all comers. Under most circumstances, the man who runs not only global automaker Nissan but the Franco-Japanese Renault-Nissan Alliance displays a serious, thoughtful countenance. But as he inspected the 2017...

The cost of developing advanced zero-emission powertrains for future vehicles is substantial, even for the world's largest carmakers. Especially in hydrogen fuel-cell research, the biggest auto companies are doubling and tripling up to share the costs. Honda and GM said in July 2013 that they would...

If the production version of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV lives up to the engineering development vehicles we saw and drove today, it will debut a new world of affordable, 200-mile electric cars that should be desirable to a broad mass market. Back in 2010, Chevy let journalists drive "integration...

When General Motors CEO Mary Barra unveiled the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV concept last January at the Detroit Auto Show, the 200-mile electric car was a shock to the industry. But equally startling was the launch schedule that emerged over the following months: The Bolt EV is to go into production...

North American buyers are eagerly anticipating the debut late next year of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, a 200-mile subcompact electric car promised to sell for $37,500 before incentives. That same car will also likely be sold in Europe, under GM's German Opel nameplate--effectively replacing the...