domestic cars
Chevy Rolls Out 1.5 Millionth Corvette: A 2010 Grand Sport
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Fifty-six years after the first Corvette rolled off the assembly line, General Motors can now boast it has produced 1.5 million of America’s sports car. Chevrolet Product Marketing Director Karen Rafferty made the announcement at the June meeting of the Greater Atlanta Automotive Media Association. The 1,500,000th ‘Vette, produced at the company’s Bowling Green Assembly…
Chevy Drops Hybrid Malibu From Lineup
Chevrolet has decided to cancel production of its Malibu Hybrid. As shocking as this might seem for a company that claims it is now dedicated to building environmentally-friendly cars, it actually makes a lot of sense. For starters, while the Malibu itself continues to sell well and has received critical acclaim from auto journos, the…
Turbocharged Ford Fiesta: Marketing Hype or EcoBoost Reality?
Ford recently launched a new website dedicated to the 2011 Fiesta (due out in early 2010) and the option sheet lists a turbocharger kit! Don’t get too excited, however, as the site is aimed at gauging consumer interest and isn’t necessarily a list of the options Ford will offer. Most likely the automaker just wants…
Pontiac To Offer the Vibe (and Nothing Else) in 2010
The 2010 model lineup for the soon-to-be-terminated Pontiac brand will consist of just one model – the Vibe. Recently GM interim CEO Fritz Henderson reiterated the company’s position that the G8 would not carry on as either a Buick, Chevy or Cadillac. The G3 and G5 will also cease production this year, while the G6…
Buick LaCrosse Will Get Turbo 4-Cylinder
GM’s interim CEO Fritz Henderson is starting to open up on some of the company’s fuel-efficiency plans and the future involves a pair of turbocharged four-cylinders. The first turbo-four will be offered in the new Buick LaCrosse but won’t be available immediately. Currently the LaCrosse is slated to get a standard 3.0-liter V6 that makes…
There’s Still Hope for the Pontiac G8
There is hope, be it ever so slight, that the Pontiac G8 may live on even though the brand it’s attached to is most certainly slated for elimination. “I know there’s still discussions on it,” GM’s product boss Tom Stephens told Automotive News, giving some hope to the legions of G8 fans that haven’t had…
U.K. Vehicle Satisfaction Survey Rates Fiat Last, Just Below Chrysler
A new survey out of the U.K. by J.D. Power & Associated in association with automotive resource What Car? might be great new for Lexus… but it’s quite the opposite for both Chrysler and its new bosses at Fiat. The Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS) lets owners of three year old cars rate those vehicles…
Chrysler May Reduce Brands to Just Dodge and Jeep
Chrysler, the brand that carries the name of the corporation behind it, may not do so for long. According to a report on AdAge.com, Fiat executives are looking at if they should keep all three Chrysler brands (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) and the most likely candidate to get axed is Chrysler itself. A spokesperson for…
General Motors to Cut Number of Cadillac Dealers
The long list of General Motors dealerships got a lot shorter recently, but it will get shorter still as the company has made known plans to reduce the number of Cadillac dealerships in its network. “Our current footprint of 1,400 Cadillac dealers, most of which are dualed, is out of sync with modern luxury automotive…
Terminated Chrysler Dealers Must Sell Inventory by June 9th
Those 789 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers that were cut loose by Chrysler as a part of its bankruptcy and restructuring plan have until June 9th (next Tuesday) to part with their remaining inventory. Because of the dealership contract that they signed, dealers aren’t allowed to sell off the cars once the contract expires. And…
GM Says It Has 16 Different Buyers For Saturn, Three for Saab
With news of a tentative deal to sell off Hummer coming yesterday, GM still hasn’t made any decisions about its Saturn or Saab brands – but apparently it has plenty of offers to entertain. GM CFO Ray Young said that Saturn has as many as 16 suitors, while the Swedish Saab brand has three. The…
Hummer Buyer Identified as Chinese Heavy Machinery Maker Tengzhong
Earlier today we reported that GM had reached a tentative deal to sell off the Hummer brand to an unnamed party. That company has now been identified as Chinese heavy machinery maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd. – or just Tengzhong for short. Tengzhong will take control of the Hummer brand including the…
Ford Fiesta Spy Photos Reveal Sedan Model Coming
We’ve known for quite some time that Ford was planning on bringing its Fiesta model to North America, but as these most recent spy photos show, the U.S. automaker will launch more than just a hatchback. Photos of this Ford Fiesta Sedan show a European-inspired sedan, with a long wheelbase and very short front and…
Ford Focus RS Not Coming to North America
Several weeks ago we ran a few photos of a Ford Focus RS that was spotted in a suburb of Detroit. This of course led to speculation that FoMoCo was planning to bring its amazing hot hatch to the U.S. Sadly, a Ford exec has confirmed that the RS will not make its way stateside….
800 Horsepower Ford Fiesta to Take On Pikes Peak
In an attempt to drum-up interest in the launch of the Fiesta in North America, Ford is putting on a serious publicity stunt by running two 800 horsepower versions of the economy car in the legendary Pikes Peak race. Ford is eager to appeal not just to econonomically-minded individuals with the Fiesta sub-compact, but also…
Mitsubishi Latest Candidate to Buy Saturn
Oddly, it seems as though Saturn is far more interesting and far more loved as the up-for auction arm of a doomed for bankruptcy company than it ever was as regular old car brand. To date the Penske Automotive Group, automaker Nissan/Renault and investment firm Telesto Ventures have all been cited as potential buyers. Now…
Ford Tests New Ecoboost Engine at the Drag Strip
With increasingly stringent fuel economy regulations and in an effort to delivery maximum power for minimal gas, many automakers are switching to smaller displacement engines and forced induction. BMW and Audi are two examples, but U.S. automaker Ford is also making strides in this area with its new line of EcoBoost engines. The current EcoBoost…
Ford Planning Return of the 5.0
Few engines have received the iconic status of the Ford Mustang’s 5.0. The motor disappeared in 1996 but now appears to be ready to make a comeback. News of the return comes out of Australia where Ford Australia product development boss Russell Christophers has confirmed a new 5.0-liter V8 is currently undergoing development in the…
Mercury Sable Latest Recession Casualty
The last Mercury Sable will roll off the assembly line this Thursday. The latest casualty of the worldwide economic downturn, the Mercury-branded Taurus has been produced alongside its vastly more popular brother since 1986 – with a short production stoppage in 2006. While Ford recently unveiled an all new Taurus, the decision was made to…
New Fisker Karma Video Shows It’s a Performance Car Too
It’s the Fisker Karma like you’ve never seen it before. This video (no doubt leaked on YouTube to keep up the marketing buzz surrounding the luxury hybrid) shows the Karma sliding through pylons and screeching its tires. Until now all we’ve ever seen are carefully crafted beauty shots and auto show snaps. With just over…
Corvette ZR1 “Hero Edition” To Be Raffled Off For Charity
General Motors has built a one-off “Hero Edition” Corvette ZR1, which will be raffled-off for charity. The car will be paired up with a 1967 Corvette 427 convertible and will be given away to the lucky ticket holder at the end of the year as a part of the Win The Vettes Corvette Dream Giveaway….
General Motors Axes Cobalt SS Sedan
Thanks to a little investigative journalism, the folks over at Autoblog have uncovered that General Motors will cut the Cobalt SS Sedan from its product lineup for 2010. A sad day indeed. The discovery came about due to GM hosting its Order and Reference Guides online. Look for the Cobalt and noticeably absent is the…
GM Canada Adds Shifts to Keep Up With Camaro Demand
As General Motors continues to report record losses, there are still some small success stories to report. The reborn Chevy Camaro is one of them. While plants are being idled and employees being let go across the company, at the Camaro assembly plant in Oshawa, Canada, workers can’t keep up with demand. The Peterborough Examiner…
Ford Transforming Michigan Trunk Plant into Compact Car/Electric Vehicle Plant
Ford will spend $550 million to transform it’s Michigan truck plant into a facility that bill be used to built the new Ford Focus, including an electric version of that vehicle. By transforming the Michigan Trunk Plant into a compact car facility as many as 3,200 jobs will be saved as demand for large SUVs…






