This just in: Spotted on The GM test track, this early, preproduction Camaro Coupe. The new Camaro is quickly evolving into final form, but some of the details you see here (such as the headlamp design) may change before…
Rick Wagoner and the Cadillac Provoq Concept Make sure to check out GM’s Media Online site for the full text from Chairman Rick Wagoner’s Tuesday remarks at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Rick’s speech included both highlights…
By Jim Taylor
Cadillac General Manager
Cadillac enters 2008 carrying a lot of momentum, and in the coming days we’ll be taking some big additional steps that I’m excited to preview for you.
Cadillac will extend momentum in two of the world’s most influential venues. This week we introduced the Cadillac Provoq Concept at the massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Check out FYI for some answers from GM Service Parts & Operations to recent readers’ questions. -Alicia Dorset, blog editor…
By Ed Peper Chevrolet General Manager I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season and is looking forward to 2008, because I know I am. Word has come down from Bob Lutz to remove the camo from the pre-production Camaros so…
Make sure to check out FYI for January’s Flickr calendar. Happy New Year’s from all of us at GM Blogs. -Alicia Dorset, blog editor…
From America
By Ed Peper
Chevrolet General Manager
If you were online yesterday and had even a passing interest in performance cars, you probably read about the new 2009 Corvette ZR1. The car will go on display to the public during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, but we released some photos and the all-important technical information on this ultimate Vette. It’s the Corvette that challenges the supercar hierarchy, with world-beating performance offered at a world-beating price.
Just in case you missed it, here’s the story: The ZR1 is the fastest and most powerful Corvette ever produced. In fact, it’s the fastest and most powerful production car in General Motors’ history. We’re still conducting performance testing, so I can’t throw out 0-60, quarter-mile and braking numbers, but suffice it to say that we couldn’t use the Corvette Z06’s 200-mph speedometer because there weren’t enough numbers on it.
Editor’s note: Last week, Dan Hancock, Vice President for GM Global Powertrain Engineering, posted about fuel economy vs fuel efficiency. We received a lot of great questions on the subject, so we thought we’d answer as many as we could from Dave Lancaster, GM Powertrain. -Alicia Dorset, blog editor
Joe: Also what ever happened to the 3 valve HV engines? The HVs already have a nice balance of power, efficiency, and cost. I’d like to see them continue to be improved.
Joe, Thanks for the comment. You have described the goal of the high value engines, balanced power efficiency and cost. Adding another intake valve improves breathing and top end power, but it has a negative impact on cost and introduces some unique problems with the combustion system. Right now, our high-feature V6 offers an alternative with all of the power and performance features available for a modern V6 engine.
Fred: I do have one question. And perhaps you can’t answer it, or maybe you can. A few months ago, Ward’s Auto released an article about a new DI V8 6.2 liter engine from GM. Even in prototype form, does this engine exist? Because based on what was said in the article. It is a revolutionary V8. And I applaud it.
Fred, While I can’t comment on future products, I can tell you that we showed a DI variant of our small block V8 to the press at our recent GM Powertrain technology show as an engine concept that we are evaluating. As you can see from the 2.0L turbo engine in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Red Line and the new DI version of the high feature V6 available in the Cadillac CTS and STS, we are beginning to roll-out this technology across our portfolio. Work on DI engines at GM dates back into the 1970’s, but it is only recently that the technology with electronic injection systems has made these engines practical for mass production.
The gas engine’s demise has been greatly exaggerated
By Dan Hancock
Vice President, GM Global Powertrain Engineering
With the energy bill now pending in Congress, many have questioned the viability of the gasoline fueled-internal combustion engine in cars, citing incremental mileage gains of the past few years as proof the technology has reached its zenith.
But GM doesn’t believe the gas engine is dead. It will absolutely remain a significant part of our Advanced Propulsion Technology Strategy for the foreseeable future. As Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said on Dec. 3, “The new CAFE standards pose a significant technical and economic challenge to the industry. It’s a challenge that GM is prepared to put forth its best effort to meet with an array of engineering, research and development resources.”
By Larry Burns
GM VP, Research and Development and Strategic Planning
What an exciting day yesterday!
I’ve been working on advanced technologies for a long time, but yesterday has to be one of the highlights of my career.
That’s because we met our goal of driving the Chevy Sequel fuel cell vehicle 300 miles without refueling it — going from our Honeoye Falls facility in New York State down to Westchester County. This is the farthest a fuel cell vehicle has ever been driven on one tank of fuel on public roads, not on a test track.
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
…well, at least about 100,000 of them have spoken, anyway.
We’ve received word — and it’s not quite public knowledge yet — that General Motors did very well in the soon-to-be-announced Edmunds.com Consumers Most Wanted Awards.
GM cars and trucks took first place in 13 out of 32 vehicle categories. Among others, vehicles that won their segments include the Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra, GMC Acadia/Saturn Outlook, Saturn Aura, Chevrolet Cobalt, and the Cadillac Escalade, CTS and STS.
By Steve Shannon
General Manager, Saab USA
As some of you already know, I was recently named General Manager of Saab Automobile USA, replacing Jay Spenchian, who played that role for the last two years.
While I know that many people are excited about this change, I also know that there is some fear and skepticism among the Saab community about my appointment. That is entirely understandable, especially for a brand with a following that is widely known for its unparalleled passion. I’d like to take this opportunity to reassure Saab lovers that Saab will remain in good hands.
First, rest assured that Jay is not going far away. In fact, he’ll only be three floors away in his new capacity as the head of GM’s North American Marketing Strategy. In that role, he will be instrumental in making sure that all GM brands – including Saab – have clear direction in their marketing. Jay was the captain of Saab’s “Born from Jets” campaign (which, by the way, I think is terrific), and he will still have his hands on it in his new role.
By Jay Spenchian
Saab USA General Manager
Maybe it’s in our DNA, but people at Saab take a lot of pride in giving our customers exciting new technologies. Among other things, we’ve given the world the cabin air filter, the Traction Control System, the CFC-Free air conditioning system and one of the industry’s strongest side-impact protection systems.
Last month at the Geneva Auto Show (and this week and next in New York), we did it again.
Saab has unveiled the BioPower 100 concept vehicle. It’s the first production-based turbo engine designed to run on pure bioethanol, also known as E100.
By Beth Lowery
Vice President, GM Environment and Energy
In January, GM caused great excitement when we revealed the Chevrolet Volt, our plug-in electric hybrid concept vehicle. Since that time, we have received many questions about the car, particularly relating to the challenges of battery technology.
Today, I led a discussion before 100 members of the media and bloggers who joined in person and by webcast. The battery briefing: (1) introduced GM’s new battery team and summarized where we’ve been — GM learned from its past work with the EV1 and lead acid batteries; (2) where we are — GM has evolved to nickel metal hydride batteries in vehicles like the current Saturn Vue Green Line; and (3) where we’re going — to make a production-worthy car, the vehicle must meet a potential car buyer’s expectations in terms of performance, cost, safety and reliability — and the battery is an integral part of that process.
By Ed Peper
Chevrolet General Manager
Wow — what a month and what a great start to 2007! As most of you already know, our February sales results have come in and we surprised a lot of people out there — except ourselves.
The Chevrolet brand was #1 in America for the month — and there’s no question that feels good. The hard work and better planning with our dealers is paying off, starting with our first big promotion of the year with last month’s President’s Day event.
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
The introduction of our Chevrolet Volt concept car and E-Flex electric propulsion system at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month created quite a stir, garnering twice the media coverage as the runner up for us, our Chevrolet Camaro convertible.
The Volt came on the heels of our announcement at the Los Angeles show that we’ve begun work on a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid, and puts a face on our efforts to diversify the energy sources we use to power automobiles.
However, some cynics accused us of pulling a PR stunt, saying the Volt is simply an attempt by GM to “greenwash” the public and would never be a real vehicle. The truth is just the opposite — we are treating Volt just like any other vehicle we do, giving it a dedicated development team and designating resources for it. With that in mind, I thought I’d take a moment to update you on the program so far.
By Randy Schwarz Vehicle Line Executive, Global Luxury RWD In case you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, the Cadillac Drivers’ Log is a new blog in which some of our best engineers share a bit of…
By Brian McVeigh
General Manager, Fleet and Commercial Operations
Preliminary reports from our dealers indicate that customer interest has been encouraging regarding last week’s announcement that General Motors will provide a fully transferable 5-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty with no deductible on 2002-2006 model GM Certified Used Vehicles.
You should note that there are no exceptions to eligibility for this powertrain limited warranty, which is standard only on 2002-2006 model year GM Certified Used Vehicles purchased on or after March 5, 2007. However, you may want to consider the many GM Protection Plan offerings, as they can be tailored to include only the powertrain components or broader coverage, based on your needs.
By Alicia Dorset Blog editor Make sure to check out FYI for this month’s calendar, featuring product reveals from the 2007 NAIAS, as well as a link to Flickr to download it….
By Ed Peper
Chevrolet General Manager
From the very beginning, I stressed to our marketing team and communication partners just how important a successful launch of the 2007 Silverado would be to GM. And after many months of research and concepting, the campaign they delivered surpassed even my high expectations. As a matter of fact, “Our Country, Our Truck” has been one of the most talked-about advertising debuts of the year.
However, it wasn’t just in the advertising campaign that I challenged our team to display their creative energies. To meet the needs of information-hungry truck buyers, we created new marketing tools, such as a 24-page customer onsert and a special web overview on caranddriver.com. But the most in-depth and innovative advertising tool we created was a 28-minute video tour of the new benchmark in full-size trucks.