GM
-
"We can't provide you with any information related to future product technologies or timing." That's the standard response from carmakers--in this case, from Kevin Kelly, GM's Manager, Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Communications--when asked a question they'd rather not address. Our question was pretty simple: Please comment on a recent report of the rumored death--or long delay--of the Two-Mode hybrid trucks, which include three full-size sport utility vehicles from Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC, and two pickup trucks from Chevy and GMC. The report by GMinsider said that GM has largely shut...
-
Bob Lutz: Huge Chevy Volt Cost Estimates Are Wrong, Here's Why
Yesterday, we ran a story sourced through Reuters, asking how much money GM was losing on every Chevy Volt it builds. The Reuters article was based on figures from several Michigan-based industry analysts, claiming that Chevy might be losing up to $49,000 on every Volt it makes. Those figures were...
Antony Ingram -
How Much Money Is GM Losing On Every Chevy Volt?
Compared to its electric contemporaries, Chevrolet's range-extended Volt is currently proving the most popular plug-in, posting its best-ever sales figures during August. It's out-punching the Leaf consistently, and other electric cars aren't even getting a look-in. It's even outselling Toyota's...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Chevy Volt Production To Halt For 4 Weeks From Mid-September
Yesterday, Automotive News (subscription required) reported the news that the Detroit Hamtramck facility, where the 2013 Chevrolet Volt is made, is to pause production of the plug-in hybrid for four weeks. The second time General Motors has temporarily halted production of the plug-in car, the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Chevrolet Volt: Already At Dealers (If You’re Lucky)
Sometimes, automakers mark the switch between one model year and the next with some pomp and ceremony, especially if the new model year is significantly better than the outgoing one. Despite the 2013 Chevrolet Volt getting an improved all-electric range, better EPA rating and the addition of a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tony Posawatz, Chevy Volt Product Line Director, Retires From GM
The Chevrolet Volt electric car, now in its third model year, has survived the bankruptcy and government-led restructuring of General Motors, politically motivated attacks on electric cars, a battery-safety investigation by the NHTSA, and some breathtakingly inept marketing efforts. But many...
John Voelcker -
It's hard to keep things secret in the auto industry. So when Bloomberg reported yesterday that German luxury maker BMW had broken off talks with General Motors on joint development of fuel cells, writer Dorothee Tschampa explained why. It appears BMW jilted GM because it found a more attractive partner for its advanced powertrain activities: Toyota. Negotiations between BMW and GM to cooperate on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle development were announced last December, expanding on cooperation in lithium-ion battery development, but no formal agreement was reached. BMW has scheduled a press...
-
GM Announces Bi-Fuel Pickup Truck Pricing
If you want a green truck at the moment, your options are limited. By their nature, trucks require large engines, and large engines use a lot of fuel. Until electric and range-extended trucks become a realistic proposition, your best option is either hybrid, or alternative fuels--such as GM's...
Antony Ingram -
Explosion Damage To GM Battery Lab Could Reach $5 Million
A week ago we brought you the news that a chemical gas explosion had injured employees at GM's Alternative Energy Center in Warren. Five people were evacuated from the lab, and one employee remains in hospital following treatment for injuries resulting from the blast. Now, Detroit News reports that...
Antony Ingram -
GM Battery Lab Explosion Attributed To Gases From A123 Cells
UPDATE, Thu, April 12, 11:15 am: The Detroit News quotes an unnamed source this morning as saying that the battery pack being tested that caused yesterday's explosion at GM's Warren Technical Center contained lithium-ion cells from battery maker A123 Systems. The Chevrolet Spark EV is the only GM...
John Voelcker -
GM CEO Akerson: We're Staying The Course On The Chevy Volt
If the Chevy Volt is a sales failure, you'd never know it from the guy who runs General Motors. At a meeting of Volt owners in San Francisco yesterday, GM's CEO Dan Akerson said unequivocally that the company was standing behind its halo plug-in electric car. "We are not backing away from this...
John Voelcker -
GM To Add 'EcoLogic' Tag To New Cars, Shows Green Lifecycle
It's all very well selling a car on the back of low emissions or great fuel economy, but how do you know if its been environmentally unfriendly to make? Or whether it'll all go to landfill when it dies? That's what Chevrolet aims to address with its new "Ecologic" sticker system, debuting on the 40...
Antony Ingram -
It's sometimes easy to forget about fuel cell vehicles, with so much emphasis by manufacturers on electric cars and hybrids as a way of weaning ourselves off gasoline. Honda still perseveres however, as does Mercedes-Benz with recent concept cars such as the F125!, shown at September's Frankfurt Motor Show. BMW hasn't forgotten either, and according to Reuters (via Motor Authority), German weekly business magazine Wirtschaftswoche has reported that the German maker intends to join forces with General Motors to help develop the future of fuel cell technology. Wirtschaftswoche says the talks...
-
Would A 'Vette Tempt You Away From Your Electric Volt?
With GM's generous offer of a free loaner vehicle should you be concerned about the safety of your Chevy Volt, we're sure many will take the opportunity to pick a car with similar utility. A Cruze or Malibu, perhaps. Maybe even a Sonic if economy and around-town trips are a priority. Some people...
Antony Ingram -
GM Exec Confirms 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Plug-In Hybrid Model
The Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan is an important car for General Motors. It's hugely outselling its lackluster predecessor, the Chevy Cobalt, and the EPA rates the special Cruze Eco model at 42 mpg in the highway cycle, giving it gas-mileage bragging rights. Plug-in hybrid to join diesel model But...
John Voelcker -
Chevrolet Volt Ready To Go On Sale In China, Priced At $75K
General Motors has revealed the eight Chinese cities in which the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car will be sold. The Volt will go on sale in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan towards the end of this year. However, with GM not keen to hand over some...
Antony Ingram -
Tesla's Elon Musk, GM's Bob Lutz To Appear On 'Charlie Rose' Tonight
They're both featured in Revenge of the Electric Car, the documentary that's now in limited release across the country, so it makes sense they'd be doing media together. The pair of auto-industry stars is Bob Lutz, former product czar at General Motors and still a part-time behind-the-scenes...
John Voelcker -
Where Will Chevy Spark EV Be Built? Maybe It's Michigan?
Two weeks ago, Chevrolet unveiled its 2013 Spark minicar and confirmed that it would offer a Spark EV all-electric model--a story GreenCarReports broke the night before. But within a few days, an intriguing question came up: Where does GM plan to build its first new all-electric car since the late...
John Voelcker -
To promote its college discount, GM recently ran ads advising students to 'stop pedaling and start driving,' which raised the ire of the League of American Bicyclists.
-
Solid State Electric Car Batteries Still 10 Years Away
Solid state batteries could be seen as everything we're looking for from an electric car battery, improving on all the fundamental characteristics needed for electric mobility. Unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. The latest estimations reported by Automotive News...
Antony Ingram -
GM To Develop Electric Cars In China With SAIC, Longtime Partner
Maybe you can beat 'em and join 'em at the same time? That may be what General Motors is hoping with its announcement this morning that it would develop electric cars with its longtime Chinese partner SAIC. In Shanghai this morning, GM CEO Dan Akerson and SAIC Motor Corp. chairman Hu Maoyuan signed...
John Voelcker -
China Wants Volt's Electric-Car Secrets; GM Says No; Tug Of War Ensues
It's been the official policy of the Chinese government-industrial complex for a while now that the country wants to dominate the electric-car business. While only a handful of highway-capable plug-in cars are sold today in China, the country's industrial overseers are nothing if not ambitious...
John Voelcker -
GM Riles CA Electric-Car World (Again) Over AB475 'Charger Sharing' Ban
California's electric-car advocates are often "true believers," and they can be single-minded in the pursuit of what they believe is right. But the nuts-and-bolts experience they've gained during the state's 15 years of electric-car use can be invaluable--which is why policy-makers and car...
John Voelcker -
GM's LG Electric-Car Deal Goals: Cheaper, Faster, Less Risky
General Motors has been on a roll with electric-car news of late. It said it would build the well-received Converj concept car as the Cadillac ELR; it cut a deal with A123 Systems to buy lithium-ion cells for a future (unspecified) electric car; and, just this morning, GM announced it would jointly...
John Voelcker