general motors
OnStar Now Available in Non-GM Cars Through Best Buy Retail Partnership
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As a part of a larger plan to grow OnStar, General Motors has announced it will begin offering the service on non GM products. Originally designed as a value-added safety feature, OnStar has grown to include numerous convenience features as well, including Turn-by-Turn Navigation and even the ability to open a vehicle when you’ve locked…
OnStar Taps Verizon 4G Network to Showcase Prototype Technologies
OnStar has teamed up with long-time partner Verizon to showcase just how much the in-car technology could be capable of in the near future. A list of several new ‘prototype technologies’ ranging from entertainment, to communications to safety, are on display for the first time in a custom Buick LaCrosse at the Consumer Electronics Show…
Big Three Set To Add Market Share
After a dismal 2009 , American automakers look set to gain market share in 2010, despite fewer brands, a drastically reduced dealer network. The last time the Big 3 gained market share was in 1995. The strong profitability of the domestic automakers has been linked to lower manufacturing costs, a reduced debt load and careful…
GM Recalls 2005-07 Cadillac CTS; Plus 2011 Cadillac, GMC and Chevy Trucks
General Motors has announced two separate recalls for a total of five vehicles totaling 100,000 units in all. The majority of recalled vehicles are 2005-07 Cadillac CTS models where the passenger airbag could fail to inflate in a crash due to a possible broken connection with the sensor in the passenger seat. In total 95,927…
66 Vehicles Win IIHS 2011 Top Safety Pick Award
It’s a banner year for safety, as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) doled out its Top Safety Pick award for 2011 to 66 vehicles – double that of last year. The list of recipients, which includes 40 cars, 25 SUVs, and a minivan, were picked based on their ability to protecting people in…
General Motors Targeting 150,000 EVs by 2015 Says CEO
General Motors is working on a plan to more than triple sales of electric cars in the near future says company CEO Dan Akerson. According to a report by Automotive News, Akerson wants to reach this goal by the middle of the decade. Arguably, tripling sales of GM’s current EVs (ie. the Chevy Volt) wouldn’t…
Gulf Oil Spill Booms Get Reused, Recycled in Chevy Volt
The project is expected to create enough material for use in under the hood, primarily for the plastic radiator foil to improve airflow around the car and cover the entire first year production of the Volt, which is pegged at approximately 10,000 cars.
Cadillac SRX Plug-In Hybrid in the Works; Plus More Voltec Models from Chevy
With General Motors recently announcing plans to increase production of the Volt, it now appears poised to bring that revolutionary technology to even more consumers through varied packages. Recently GM applied for trademarks on the Amp and Strobe – with the Amp rumored to be a production version of the Volt MPV5 concept, itself based…
2011 Vauxhall VXR8 Makes Us Weep For Pontiac G8
Although the good Lord chose to take the Pontiac G8 from us far too early in its life, other countries can still enjoy GM’s Zeta platform superstar in all it’s Holden Commodore-based goodness. The United Kingdom is particularly privileged, as it gets this Vauxhall VXR8, seemingly adorned in Rape Yellow, and it comes equipped with a…
Chevrolet Sponsors Army-Navy Game, Giving Silverado HD to Wounded Vets Organization
According to an official GM press release, the contract between Chevrolet and the USAA is just the latest in a long line of support programs between the automaker and the US armed services.
Ward’s Auto Announces 10 Best Engines
The annual Ward’s Auto list of 10 best engines gets a pretty decent amount of publicity, in light of how little people pay attention to the publication in the other 364 days of year. This year’s list includes not one but two electric powertrains, with the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf making the list, while…
GM to Expand Volt Range to Three Models by 2015
General Motors will look to expand its lineup of extended range electric cars to three models by the time the current Chevrolet Volt’s production cycle has run its course. At least that is GM’s plan for the European market under the Opel/Vauxhall brands where GM has just launched the sister car to the Volt, the…
Toyota Sues ‘Old GM’ Over Closure of NUMMI Plant
Now, Toyota is apparently suing the remnants of the ‘old’ GM (known as Motors Liquidation Company) for breach of contract, claiming $73 million in damages, namely to cover research and development costs, before GM pulled out of NUMMI last year.
Study: Auto Bailout Saved 1 Million Jobs
Overall, most industry analysts agree that the US economy has performed better over the last 18 months than expected and although auto sales were down, the market share of Detroit’s big three held up better than anticipated.
General Motors Looking To Increase Chevrolet Volt Production Capacity, E85 Version Planned
With limited supplies and swelling demand, General Motors is looking for ways to double or even triple the production figures of the Chevrolet Volt. While GM plans to build 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 45,000 in 2012, an estimated 240,000 potential customers have expressed their interest in the vehicle, leaving dealers woefully short of vehicles…
U.S. Auto Sales Expected to Rise in November on Demand for Trucks, SUVs
And among the overall increase in truck demand, individual vehicles have scored particularly significant gains. Sales of Ford’s F-Series pickups have climbed by 30 percent through October, while sales of Chrysler’s Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV (recently revamped for 2011) rose by 41 percent in the same period.
Cadillac Once Again Sponsors the PGA Tour
You know you’re out of financial trouble when you can start sponsoring events like the PGA again. And since things are looking up for General Motors, that’s exactly what they’re doing. They were last seen on the tour in 2008, but had to drop their sponsorship, thanks to major cutbacks right before they filed for…
GM Announces 1,000 New Jobs In Michigan For EV Research
General Motors has announced that it’s hiring 1,000 people over the next couple years to help improve electric vehicle related infastructure, as well as charging, motor and battery technology. While the jobs aren’t as glamorous as developing the next generation of electric vehicles, there’s no question that without any of the above, EVs will forever…
Buick GL8 Minivan Makes Its Debut For Chinese Market
In the Chinese market, Buick is kind of a big deal. Driven by emperors in pre-Communist times, the brand has carved itself a nice as a premium automaker that’s still accessible to the middle class. Most of their products are carried over from the American market (though built locally), but some, like the GL8 minivan…
Chevrolet Volt Costs $40,000 To Build: Former Car Czar
Steven Rattner, the man appointed by President Obama to oversee the auto industry bailout, claims that internal GM documents that were analyzed in the early days of the bailout pegged the cost of producing a Chevrolet Volt at $40,000 per car. “At least in the early years, each Volt would cost around $40,000 to manufacture…
General Motors Thanks Taxpayers for “Helping us Get Back Up”
Of all the domestic automakers, there’s something about the way General Motors can elicit an emotional reaction. And so on this Thanksgiving Day, the General has decided to run a rather touching commercial sharing its thanks for all that you, the American taxpayer, have done for it, its employees and more recently, its shareholders. Silent…
Obama Administration Buys One Quarter of All Domestic Hybrids
If you’re a skeptic of electric and hybrid vehicles and think the only reason they’re having any success in the market is because of support through government incentives then you’re going to love this. According to a new report by Bloomberg, the Obama Administration is responsible for purchasing almost a quarter of all hybrid vehicles…
2011 Chevy Cruze Gets Hit With Spate of Technical Service Bulletins
According to our sources, there are currently three individual service bulletins for US and Canadian market Cruze models, which dealers will fix free of charge under warranty.
General Motors Offering Tours Of All 54 Plants
Want to see automotive line workers, drinking, smoking and slacking off? Unfortunately, you have to go to Chrysler for that. GM, on the other hand, will be offering tours of all 54 plants throughout 2011 in a pretty cool but transparent PR move designed to shore up public opinion after the company launched its IPO…
