GM has a U-turn on Chevy in Europe

After several years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, Chevrolet wants a popular mass market brand in Europe makes General Motors reversed course.

The company on Thursday that retiring is Chevy vehicles in Europe as its no. 1 mass-market brand and will make his primary mainstream line of Opel.

It's the kind of movement that makes sense, if you are the numbers. At the same time, it raises more questions about GM long slog in Europe--where it has lost money for the last 14 years.

General Motors plans cars and crossovers in Europe to the setting of the most Chevy sales until the end of 2015, said the company. It will still sell, Chevy's iconic models, such as the Corvette, but mainstream cars like the Cruze under the Chevy badge is no longer offered.

Instead, the company in marketing and plans focused on its long-standing European brands Opel and Vauxhall. Opel sold five to one in Europe is better than Chevy, according to sales figures.

Wall Street reaction was divided, when former GM CEO Rick Wagoner 2005 would announced that Chevrolet will the automaker of the primary brand worldwide.

There was applause for the decision on a page. Some thought that will get it how GM its marketing energy use the mainstream flagship would allow.

"On the other hand many what happens with Opel?" asked Europe has long been in a fragmented market--with more brands than in the United States, see a continent with declining revenues in the competition. But Opel so Wagoners choice has it ditch for Chevy not easily would have been built up a strong following in decades.

GM tidying up of the mass market to a relief battle between Chevy and Opel fighting face each other in a crowded and competitive marketplace were.

With this new decision, it would seem that GM finally to admit is his plan to the push Chevy in Europe failed.

Read More

Chevy back in the game for Super Bowl adfest

Chevrolet will be back in the lineup when the teams take on the field in Super Bowl XLVIII, a reversal controversial 2012 decision to the pull out, what is the most watched annual event of television - and a program to see that millions of Americans so much for advertising for football.

The decision is the last reversal of a number of widely-discussed decisions that General Motors global before his departure in July of 2012. GM has former marketing director, Joel Ewanick, also decided to test new opportunities on Facebook, a further marketing outlet, the Ewanick rejected before he himself was ousted because of a controversy surrounding expensive marketing relations with European football.

"The timing of the Super Bowl XLVIII perfect our aggressive car and truck home plans, lines with", said Tim Mahoney, the Chevrolet as its global chief marketing officer last February joined in. "The Super Bowl is a big stage for the presentation of the brand Chevrolet, and our newest cars and trucks."

According to Nielsen, February broadcast of the game Championship between the Baltimore Ravens and San Franicsco 49ers moved 108.7 million viewers - with more than 1 billion estimated that have observed around the world. But this is only one of the reasons why advertisers traditionally have dangers to snatch time during the broadcast of every open second.

SocialGuides 2013 Super Bowl advertising report that about 5.3 million people 26.1 million tweets sent during the game. And saw millions more after that Super Bowl advertising on YouTube and other outlets.

The costs are the downside. While the business rates depending on slices, place advertiser a 30-second spot on the 2012 Super Bowl broadcast, involved the last GM, ran between $3 million and $3.5 million. And the figure jumped as high as a reported $4 million for the 2013 game.

GM had initially only good to say about their presence 2012 ad go so far as to claim its place for the then-new Cadillac ATS that ever was "most-watched" commercial. But Mai Ewanick unexpectedly announced GM spent to break ongoing relationships in the NFL and a departure from the Super Bowl.

"It's all about efficiency," said the often controversial marketing Czar in relation to the expenses of the GM an estimated $4.5 billion marketing budget. "Every penny counts," he said. "If we allow for inefficiencies in anything we do, it's actually stopping."

It was just one of a number of unexpected movements which contain, cancel a $10 million budget for Facebook. GM was not the only customer at the time of the survey the advantages of advertising in the social media network. In fact even Facebook had improved its own ad results recognized.

But Ewanick rubbed salt into the wound by his announcement, and hard criticizing Facebook shortly before what a disastrous public warehouse first mission has become.

A more surprising twist as Ewanick things then took a massive thing for several British football teams, including powerhouse Manchester United sponsor announced.

But the marketing Czar was dropped weeks later and GM just suggested that there were irregularities in some stores, it is widely assumed had the problem with the way to do the soccer - or football, as Europeans prefer - much has been treated.

In recent months, GM has acquired a series of steps that some reversal of Ewanicks most important measures. The automakers emerged an unusual ad company Alliance, divided to take responsibility for the huge Chevrolet account.

In April, GM announced that it would launch a new test program to see whether Facebook could deliver on a new campaign.

Read More

GM slashes Chevy Volt prices to stimulate sales marking

Paul A. Eisenstein the Detroit Bureau
Volt electric car is a Chevy National Lab appear during a tour through the Argonne 15 March 2013 charged close to Chicago by President Barack Obama.

Signs that sales of its Chevrolet Volt battery car unplugged could be General offers motor potential buyers as much as $5,000 in incentives - so the latest manufacturer's to try in a bid to improve the sluggish demand for electric vehicles to price reductions.

Whether the move is works to be seen as GM already hybrid has trimmed the price on the Volt plug-in. But rival Nissan some clear success after cutting the price on its own battery-electric vehicle leaf or BEV, earlier this year.

Both vehicles were introduced nearly three years ago of high expectations, but they have so far consistently missed sales targets. Only a handful of battery-based vehicles came in close to expectations, the especially the Tesla model S.

That might be enough, a manufacturer, pull the plug on the vehicle like Volt to convince. But the manufacturers such as GM and Nissan under strong pressure, their electric vehicle programs a success - at almost any price - partly because pressure, they are all key decision makers are in the largest nation State of California, where regulators require a minimum number of so-called zero-emission vehicles are offered.

A California buyer can now buy a Chevrolet Volt for less than $28,495. The basic price for this plug - in but all buyer is $39,995 model and $5,000 off a 2012 Volt qualify for $4,000 starting in 2013. You can get an additional $1,000 if you are currently a GM vehicle leasing. Meanwhile, the Federal Government offers a tax credit of $7500, while the State in an another $1,500 kicks.

A number of other States now offer incentives for buyers of battery-powered vehicles, as well as qualified.

Chevrolet is also now reduce prices for the Volt to $269 per month for 36 months with a $2,399 leasing deposit.

Demand surpassed Volt rivals after the Chevrolet first nor 10,000 units of U.S. sales target in 2011, and a more ambitious target of some 45,000 missed last year.

For the first five months this year GM sold only 7.157 from what it prefers, an electric vehicle with extended-range call, or E-REV.-may sales, in particular dropped 4.3 percent to 1.607. In contrast, was the General U.S. automotive market by 8.2 percent for the month.

According to a report from the inside of EVs supplies Chevy dealers have more than 9,000 volt plug vehicles needed out delete, before the 2014 models start rolling.

The decline in demand presents other problems for GM. The manufacturer had high hopes for its electrification program and plans to use the underlying platform for other models. So far, only two have been identified publicly. The Opel Ampera, a near twin of the Volt, is already on sale in Europe, China and some other markets.

Meanwhile, GM, rolled out plans to a more complex - and considerably more expensive plug-in version next year, Cadillac ELR. There was an ongoing debate within General Motors on the original decision with a relatively mainstream battery car such as the Chevrolet Volt on the market to go, rather than focus on upscale customers with something like the ELR.

This is the strategy that has made Tesla with the model S, because the demand of the start up manufacturers in the first quarter surpassed, and the Volt is better that now sells as is. A well-equipped model S with a 300-mile battery pack can $100,000-brand has upwards, but Tesla as strong demand for its high-end version, it was the least expensive, 160-mile model recently found.

Established manufacturer price is clearly an object of resistance among potential buyers. The Honda prompted last month rent on his new fit EV by one-third, to reduce up to $259 per month. Nissan, now effectively the price cut of the blade by 18 percent, or $6,000, if there is a new, slimmed-down model at the beginning of the year in the life called.

Then 2012 sales, far short of goal, Nissan fell recognized CEO Carlos Ghosn, dubbed it "a disappointment for us."

Makers such as GM and Nissan have promised to reduce battery car prices as the cost of the underlying technology - especially their lithium-ion batteries - falls. GM officials have hinted that Volt could be "Thousands" fewer next-generation Chevy.

But despite the high price tags for current models, buyers are still a bargain. Industry analysts have actually GM cost as much as $75,000 builds each Volt or nearly twice the price estimated. While the manufacturer is to discuss not such details, has Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne publicly confirmed that at least $10,000 for each Fiat 500e of electric vehicles lose the company, which recently introduced it.

Copyright © 2009-2013, the Detroit Bureau

Read More

US safety watchdog probes Chevy Corvette headlight problem

U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that the low-beam headlights can go dark without warning on some Chevrolet Corvettes.

The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers more than 103,000 Corvettes from the 2005 through 2007 model years.

The agency says it has gotten 30 complaints from owners about low-beam headlight failure. No crashes or injuries have been reported. But in one case a driver ran over a discarded tire while trying to pull off the road.

The high-beam headlights and fog lights keep working even if the low beams fail. But the agency says driving with the high beams all the time can harm vision of oncoming drivers.

Investigators will check into how often the problem happens and decide if a recall is needed.

Read More

The Stingray is: Chevy presents Corvette C7

Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau

They were the darkest of days, all the more so in the design studios at General Motors where a small team had been assembled and given the less than humble task of building the world’s best sports car.

True, the Chevrolet Corvette has always been an icon of American design, but this time, Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter and design director Tom Peters had to take things the next step, producing a vehicle that could challenge and beat the best the Germans and Italians could throw at it.

There was only a few problems: the U.S. economy was in meltdown, the automotive market was facing its worst downturn in more than half a century and General Motors was rapidly running out of cash and seemed all but certain to declare bankruptcy. And when it did in June 1, 2009, the lights went out. Even with the likelihood of a federal bailout, it was anything but certain the long-awaited C7 Corvette would ever make it to market.

But on Sunday night, at a well-attended ceremony at an old warehouse in a run-down section of Detroit, Juechter and Peters will get the honor of pulling the wraps off a 2014 Chevy Corvette that is already being hailed as the best American sports car of the past half century, perhaps the best ever.

And as the car that has always served as a showcase of GM’s capabilities, the new ‘Vette could put a much-needed halo around a company whose critics still tend to dismiss it as “Government Motors.”

TheDetroitBureau.com has spent a significant amount of time in recent months talking to the various members of the Corvette development team – and getting a rare look at what is known to aficionados as the C7, shorthand for only the seventh-generation model since the first fiberglass-bodied ‘Vette rolled off the assembly line in 1953.

The original C1 was a project of the legendary Harley Earl, the man usually credited with creating the very concept of automotive design. It debuted at GM’s private annual auto show, Motorama, in 1953 and the response was so intense 300 hand-built convertibles, all in polo white, were produced for the 1953 model-year.

The original car was primitive, with a solid rear axle and a grossly underpowered V-6 engine. But there was nothing like it in the U.S. market, certainly nothing coming from Detroit.

Soon, the Corvette was to become a symbol of American prowess. It was the real star of the TV series, Route 66. The Mercury 7 astronauts each drove one, Corvettes often appearing in official NASA photos alongside mockups of the Lunar Excursion Module or Lunar Rover – the latter also developed by GM.

But over the decades, even as each successive generation was given more power and better performance, the Corvette continued to slip further behind competitors like Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini. By the time work began on the C7, there was no more room for excuses unless GM was ready to acknowledge it really couldn’t create a truly world-class sports car.

“There wasn’t going to be a Corvette if we couldn’t do better,” recalls Juechter.

But, starting in late 2007, there didn’t look like there was going to be a Corvette anyway. The project was halted for about six months that year because of GM’s financial problems. “Then we stopped again in (late) 2008 as we were going into bankruptcy.”

Even when the project got going again, following GM’s rescue, the maker had turned gunshy and it seemed to some that top management might back off on its promise to build the best sports car possible.

For styling chief Peters, the frustration was tangible when he was told to go with an evolutionary design not much different than the outgoing C6 that had been around since 2005. It was the best Corvette ever in terms of pure performance and had roughly the same footprint as a Porsche 911. But it wasn’t going to really change the game, the design director complained.

“Ed was willing to listen,” Peters says, referring to GM’s corporate design czar Ed Welburn. “He told me to go back, keep working on the design I wanted and prove I was right.” Given the chance – and actually benefiting from the project’s delay during the GM bankruptcy, Peters finally found the right formula and got the go-ahead for the design he desperately wanted.

Those familiar with the current Corvette will recognize the new model, whether spotting it front or back. There’s the long nose, the steeply raked windshield that flows into a fast hatchback cabin. Quad tail lamps and exhaust pipes anchor the rear.

But the distinctive new LED accent lights give the nose a more modern and refined look, with a mean-looking grille below the bumper split by a sleek chromed bar. The louvers on the hood are now functional, as are the ports behind the bulging front wheel wells. A crisp accent line darts rearward from the front wheels and leaves a spectator with the sense the car is constantly in motion.

There are new rear quarter windows, something the Corvette hasn’t featured in decades. And the tail is crisp and precise with a higher belt line and deck that seems poised to pounce on the nearest Ferrari.

As striking as the body may be, team members agree that perhaps the most significant change comes inside. GM global design director Ed Welburn tells TheDetroitBureau.com that it was his personal mission to transform the traditionally clumsy and unrefined Corvette interior into a modern showpiece.

The new design features an 8-inch reconfigurable display that can rapidly be shifted to read out critical data in the mode a driver wants. There’s a second large screen for operating infotainment and other vehicle functions – though interior design team members point out they maintained a few buttons for commonly used features, such as tuning and volume control.

“For the first time,” says Juechter, “we decided to spend the money to design two different seats,” so those who want to spend time on the track don’t have to compromise with those who’ll never drive much harder than they would when blasting off from a stoplight.

There’s one thing the new Corvette does reach into the past for. A closer inspection will reveal the word, “Stingray” on the fenders. That designation has been reserved for only the most powerful and exclusive Corvettes ever produced. And it’s back for the first time since 1967.

In some ways, team members will tell you, it may have worked out perfectly to have the C7 Corvette postponed until now. While it will bear a 2014 designation it actually will reach market almost precisely 60 years after Harley Earl’s original debuted.

And, adds Juechter, “There’s some truth that the longer you wait the better technology you have available.” The C7 is the showpiece “gearheads” long had to turn to foreign makers for.

Ultra-light, super-strong carbon fiber accounts for a significant portion of the new model’s body panels, though there’s still plenty of fiberglass, as there has been since the original ‘Vette debuted.

There had long been rumors that the new sports car would mimic its European rivals and migrate from the classic Corvette small-block V-8 to a turbo or super-charged V-6. In the end, GM stuck with a large eight-banger, though the newly designated LT1 features all the latest technologies, such as Direct Injection, variable valve timing and displacement on demand.

By shutting off half of its cylinders when demand for power is light, the engine essentially becomes a 3.1-liter V-4 and, asserts Juechter, “We wind up getting better mileage than if we had gone for one of those smaller powerplants.”

At the same time, the 2014 C7 Corvette will deliver an estimated 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque, which will make it the most powerful “base” model ever – and the fastest, with 0 to 60 times expected to come in at or under 4.0 seconds.

And that’s just the beginning. There are other versions of the ‘Vette quietly under development, likely to include the step-up Z06 and the next-generation ZR1, which likely will reach well beyond 600 horsepower.

Pricing won't be announced until close to launch, later this year but, hints Juechter, "Our business case was based on the idea if you can afford the current Corvette you can afford this one."

Chevrolet officials have kept an unusually tight lid on the 2014 Corvette and it’s likely to be a while before they’re ready to give out the first rides for reviewers. Production won’t begin until mid-year, though a largely hand-built model is reportedly going to be featured during the upcoming Super Bowl – and then given to halftime superstar performer Beyonce.


But if initial reactions are any indication, the C7 could be the vehicle Chevy and GM desperately have needed, a sports car that truly pushes the proverbial envelope and threatens to leave even the most vaunted European competitors worrying when they see one racing up in their rearview mirrors.

Read More

Chevy Volt leads the most popular car survey.

Reuters
General Motors Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car owner satisfaction annual survey, consumer reports for the second consecutive year crowned.

Ninety-two percent of the Volt owner in the influential magazine surveyed consumers, said that they earn in any case the Volt would buy back the electric car top ranking. Last year, 93 percent said the respondents that she would buy the car back.

"The Volt of two-year reign at the top of our satisfaction survey points to the trend part owner's enthusiasm for cars that are fuel-efficient, especially as we see more and more hybrid and electric models on the market," said Rik Paul, consumer reports auto editor in a statement.

The Volt, has introduced to the end of 2010 to fight with early soft sales, criticism by opponents of federal tax credits by green car and a probe Government 2011 volt battery fires, no major problems to find.

Yet following the Volt, what sales for nearly $40,000 before $7,500 federal tax credit, one has devoted among those, avoiding gas stations bragging rights. The car can be about 40 miles on an electric charge travel, before he uses a gasoline-powered engine for additional driving range.

Other fuel-efficient models contain in addition to the Volt, Toyota Camry achieved also in the investigation of consumer reports hybrid Prius and Prius C and the Nissan leaf, all-electric car.

At the other end of the spectrum, the revised small car had Nissan Versa the lowest score, with less than half of its owners say she would buy it again in any case. Other low scorers also V6-engine versions of the GM Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks and the Nissan Armada, Suzuki SX4 and Mitsubishi Outlander SUV.

Consumer reports that their responses to the questionnaire received by the owner almost 350,000 vehicles from the model years 2010-2013.

Read More

Chevy upgrading its 'Vette to take on Ferrari, Porsche

Paul A. Eisenstein

It’s long been known as “America’s sports car.” But as Chevrolet gets ready to roll out the latest version of the Corvette, that’s clearly no longer good enough for the General Motors division.

When the all-new model, known to aficionados as the C7, debuts at the Detroit Auto Show next January, Chevy is clearly hoping to deliver the sort of sports car that can challenge global leaders like Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini.

"We set out to build a world-challenging sports car with design, refinement, efficiency and drive engagement that is second to none," declared Tadge Juechter, the program’s chief designer.

The new model, as its code name signifies, will be only the seventh version of the Corvette since its debut in 1953. First seen in concept form at GM’s annual Motorama car show in New York City, the production “’Vette” quickly developed a following among those who wanted an alternative to the heavy steel land yachts rolling off Detroit’s assembly lines.

Though early models were more show than go, they were popularized in song and on such TV shows as “Route 66,” a CBS series that followed two buddies cruising the back roads of the West in search of adventure.

By the late 1960s, models like the legendary Corvette Stingray had evolved into some of the more powerful automobiles ever produced in the U.S. But the twin oil shocks of the 1970s changed the automotive equation. Downsized Japanese automobiles challenged the Detroit mainstream, while European brands delivered sleek and more nimble alternatives to U.S. luxury and sports car buyers.

While the Corvette could still deliver neck-snapping acceleration off the line, it couldn’t come close to matching the handling of a Porsche or Ferrari in the corners. At the other end of the price spectrum, Americans discovered nimble little Japanese models like the Mazda Miata and so-called rice rockets such as the Honda Civic.

The GM division shifted gears with a fifth-generation Corvette introduced in 1997 and the even smaller, more nimble C6 that debuted eight years later, now about the size and weight of a Porsche 911 — though still boasting the trademark small block V-8 that had powered Corvettes since the mid-1950s.

Despite such improvements, efforts by Chevy to sell its two-seater abroad gained little traction except among a few select fans who wanted something decidedly offbeat. But with Chevrolet today earmarked as GM’s lead brand globally, the automaker is clearly targeting its European rivals with the C7.

And that’s led to an assortment of rumors about what’s in store. Early in its development, there was speculation that Chevy engineers would shift to a Lamborghini-like midengine layout, or migrate to the sort of small, high-tech turbo or supercharged six-cylinder power trains favored by other European competitors.

As the development program heads for the finish line, spy shots have begun leaking out showing that the new Corvette won’t be nearly as radical as some had anticipated. The 2014 model appears to be roughly the same size as the current C6, although it’s expected to make use of new materials and advanced manufacturing techniques that will result in a sports car that’s lighter, more aerodynamically efficient and a lot more nimble.

Meanwhile, the new C7 Corvette will deliver even more power than before. Chevy this week revealed the next-generation LT1 engine, a 6.2-liter small block that is expected to make “at least” 450 horsepower and 450 foot-pounds of torque — 20 horsepower and 26 foot-pounds more than the outgoing LS3 V-8.

If the new two-seater is indeed notably lighter than the outgoing Corvette, that would signify a major improvement in its power-to-weight ratio. For the moment, Juechter is only hinting that it will deliver zero-to-60 times of 4.0 seconds or less, “and that is on the entry-level vehicle.” Chevy has yet to reveal what it has in store for the limited-edition Corvette Z06 and ZR1 versions.

There may yet be some surprises, such as a small, high-tech power train option, more in line with the likes of Porsche or Ferrari, but that possibility — along with a shift to a midengine layout — appear likely to be on hold for the eventual C8 Corvette.

The one other detail Chevy is confirming is that there’ll be an all-new “crossed flags” logo appearing on the 2014 Corvette.

While the Corvette has always been a low-volume niche product, it is the halo brand for Chevrolet and takes on even more significance as the brand’s role grows for post-bankruptcy GM.

So, anticipate plenty of media attention in the weeks building up to the January auto show in Detroit, including a flood of spy shots and endless reports and speculation. This could be a critical moment for America’s sports car and a critical opportunity to take on the world’s best.

Read More

The Hot Wheels Camaro: no longer just a toy

By Paul A. Eisenstein, TheDetroitBureau.com

Chevrolet and Mattel have a long and prosperous relationship had. The toy company produced matchbox size replicas of the Camaro in 1968, a year after the real Chevy-Pony-Car first landed in showrooms.

On the upcoming SEMA auto show in Las Vegas, which car manufacturer is planning the favour introduction the first production version of the Chevrolet Camaro a hot wheels badge to wear.

Chevy has used for several years on its SEMA stand the hot wheels-theme. Last year, it placed a bright yellow version of the Camaro at the base of a life-size track. But now the automaker its lineup plans actually a hot wheels Edition added. It come as $6.995 upgrade on the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro and Camaro convertible. Sales will begin early next year.

For the money get making special edition flame light on metallic paint scheme, special graphics, red-lined 21-inch wheels, and hot wheels badge the fenders and trunk lid.

The hot wheels Camaro with matte black touches around the hood and taillight surrounds. And the upgrade will borrow some trim pieces from the high performance Camaro ZL1 package, including rear spoiler, grille, and front splitter.

The black leather trimmed Interior will boast wheels logo on the front seats, which are red and black seams perfect embroidered hot. The hot wheels flame is the interior door with special hot wheels Edition skirts complete the package decorate.

Standard will be Chevrolets MyLink info package.

The hot wheels Camaro can be ordered, 2SS assessed shares 323 PS or the 400-hp package with 6, 2 l L99 V-8 Chevy 2LT package with with his 3.6-Liter-V-6. The 2SS will be delivered with a dual-mode exhaust system, as well as the 2LT, equipped with a manual transmission.

Chevy can only hope, to the success of the 1: 64 to match Edition Camaros that Mattel has sold by the millions in the last 44 years. The pony car was one of the 16 original hot wheels models - a fallen, which is returned, how Camaro Chevrolet the first production car for hot wheels, which bears toys series name.

The project started in 2010 and focused first on the concept car unveiled at the SEMA show last year. The final production design for 2013 road car from one of the five sketches prepared by hot wheels Chief Designer Felix Holst taken over.

"For almost 20 years I started, design for hot wheels cars and I still have a home to go," said Holst, Vice President for creative Mattel wheels Division. "Personally, I cannot wait to open the doors and see the hot wheels Camaro sitting in the garage."

Read More

That Chevy from the available United States's

GM

Chevrolet caprice, sold only to police, not for sale to the general public is one more Chevy models available.

By Dan Carney, NBCNews-Le
Chevrolet old commercials compared his cars with baseball, hot dogs and apple pie as a way to promote the brand of all-American character. But the company has models it will not sell in the United States. These are not the small Chinese Microcars that Chevy only sold in emerging markets, either; This is the real cars that are on the roads in North America.

You are not only driving for sale to the general public.

You are the Chevrolet caprice full-size sedan, the Orlando mid-sized crossover SUV and the Captiva sport compact Division.

Caprice is powered a full-bodied, traditional rear-wheel drive V-8 sedan of the kind that the Chevy to a dominant position in the middle of the last century. Customers for such cars exist still, but Chevy does not currently offer it for sale to the average driver in the United States

But in Australia, Chevy of company cousin Holden still builds them, and they want American police. So, Chevy imported caprice for sale in police station. Traditionalists can heart, but, exempt very similar such as the caprice, also because next year of the SS, a "super sport" V-8 sedan Australia introduced Chevy will offer.

But whats with the Captiva sport? This is a vehicle in the red-hot compact crossover segment. It would be certainly ideal for the US market. The thing is that Chevy has the Equinox, which was so popular that the company extended production to an additional attachment, already reported spokesman Tom Wilkinson.

Plant should help, Chevy consumer demand after the Equinox meetings facilitate, but helped the Captiva sport fleet in the meantime by meeting the demand from rental for a compact SUV with this Mexican made model. Now, that it was enough said production capacity for the Equinox, Wilkinson that he does not know whether Chevrolet Captiva hire only dropping sports.

And there is the Orlando, a global hit for Chevrolet, in Korea made and sold in Canada. You would think that this is a vehicle that belongs in U.S. showrooms. No, said Willkinson. Because a market niche between the Equinox and larger cross beam in the size fits, everything what Orlando would do if it were sold in the United States, sales of those other models would be trace siphon. In most markets, selling the Orlando, Chevy Equinox does not or it has no traverse. The Orlando is a popular alternative to larger, more expensive traverse in Canada because of that country's higher gas prices and lower household income.

All three of these models not for consumer chaos and confusion would only contribute to the exhibition space, Wilkinson said. "She would have a large number of vehicles in showrooms and perhaps no great increase in sales," he said.

So is not the top-selling U.S. brand trying to make us interesting models. Chevy must only by the number of them to a reasonable level to trim. It is also good for the US economy, that the models they sell here as alternatives are mounted in domestic rather than imported from Australia, Mexico or Korea.

Read More

Chevy introduces buy-back guarantee program

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau
Hoping to maintain its momentum as key Japanese competitors recover from last year’s production cuts, General Motors’ largest brand has announced its new Chevy Confidence program which includes a “Love it or Return it” vehicle buy-back guarantee on all 2012 and 2013 models.

The maker is also launching a “Total Confidence Pricing” discount program aimed at clearing out inventories of leftover 2012 models. Most GM plants take a mid-summer break this month to convert production to the 2013 line-up.

“We have transformed the Chevrolet lineup, so there is no better time than now to reach out to new customers with the love it or return it guarantee and very attractive, bottom line pricing,” said Chris Perry, Chevrolet global vice president of marketing.

GM has used buy-back programs before, notably to prop up the Chevy Volt in the months after reports of battery fires threatened to unplug demand for the plug-in hybrid last year. But the breadth of the new program is significant, covering all 2012 and ’13 models.

To qualify, vehicles must be returned within 30 to 60 days, have less than 4,000 miles on the odometer and experience no damage.

The launch of the new Chevy Confidence program comes less than a week after June auto sales were announced – with key Japanese competitors making major gains. Toyota, for example, was up more than 60% for the month and has been steadily regaining market share lost last year when it struggled to keep its assembly plants running after the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

This is a particularly significant year for Chevrolet which is rolling out some critical new products, notably including the new midsize Malibu, which had been making gains against traditionally dominant Asian imports such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

The challenge for Chevy is to ensure its offerings land on motorists’ buying lists. Research shows that the average car shopper only closely considers two to three vehicles – and for a sizable chunk of the population Detroit products aren’t a factor.

“We know through first-hand experience that once they get behind the wheel of one of our new products, they are more likely to take one home,” said Steve Hurley, co-chair of the Chevrolet Dealer Council.

Along with the buyback program Chevy will institute a no-haggle pricing strategy as part of the new campaign. It hopes that by starting out with good discounts it can convince buyers and dealers alike to avoid the often-frustrating negotiations that are generally seen as the most painful part of buying a car.

That approach could work, suggests Jesse Toprak, chief analyst with TrueCar.com, an auto pricing and data service.

As for the buyback program, Toprak says, “(It) is an indication of how confident Chevrolet is in its’ new product line up. It is a way to get people into showrooms and experience firsthand the significant investments the dealer body has made in the recent years. It is a smart and cost effective program that will work towards diminishing the perception gap of the Chevrolet brand particularly in coastal metropolitan areas where consumers have a stronger preference towards the import brands.”

Chevrolet remains a major force in the U.S. market, its largest, but has become increasingly dependent upon overseas sales. The brand generated 4.76 million sales in 2011 and is shooting for another record this year.

Read More

Chevy rising in Europe as Opel struggles

Frank Augstein / AP

Karl-Friedrich Stracke, CEO of Adam Opel AG, sits inside the new Opel Mokka. He is struggling to restore the GM unit to profitability.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, msnbc.com contributor

The products were nearly an afterthought when Opel opened its news conference at the Geneva Motor Show last week.

Any other year, a new model like the Mokka crossover or Astra OPC would have garnered the spotlight. But when the German automaker’s new CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke took the stage the focus was more somber  as declared his goal: “to return our European operations to sustainable profitability.”

He’d better -- and soon.  Opel ran up $700 million in red ink last year, detracting from parent General Motors, which still posted a  record $7.6 billion in profit for 2011.

Turning things around at Opel has proved far more elusive than anyone expected.  Stracke’s predecessor Nick Reilly was summarily “retired” a few months back after failing on his promise of delivering at least a break-even at the European subsidiary.

A frustrated GM has tried one option after another in recent years, hoping to turn the corner on Opel’s problems.  It has cut capacity, rolled out a flood of new products and even considered selling a controlling stake in the unit shortly after emerging from its own 2009 bankruptcy.

Now the automaker has inked an expansive alliance deal with erstwhile rival PSA Peugeot Citroen.  The two new partners insist they can not only reduce costs but also introduce an assortment of new products and powertrains that could give them a competitive edge in the overcrowded European market. But considering the Continent’s worsening economic crisis -- never mind Opel’s recent history -- skeptics abound.

“They’ve got to take out a lot of mass,” said analyst Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting, referring to Opel’s excess capacity, bloated workforce and out-of-sync cost structure.  “But any savings are likely to take time.”  At best, he cautioned, the fruits of the new alliance won’t be ripe for 18 to 24 months -- if at all.

Two decades ago, Opel was one of Europe's automotive powerhouses.  The brand was locked in a battle with leaders like Volkswagen and Ford but generated reasonable revenues and was considered a likely spearhead for GM as it opened emerging markets from Brazil to Russia and beyond.

But when GM bid to build a new plant in China, regulators there suggested the maker go to market instead with the Buick name -- reviving a brand that was a favorite of China’s last emperor as well as communist leader Zhou Enlai.

Meanwhile, as Opel began running into problems its expansion plans were scaled back, and GM shifted focus to Chevrolet, a brand long dominant in the Americas.  It even brought Chevy into Europe, using the brand to market its lower-priced, Korean made models.

Ironically, while Opel has steadily lost ground, Chevrolet has become one of Europe’s fastest-growing marques, setting one annual record after another.

Some thought Chevrolet might even replace Opel if GM had gone through with a sale of a controlling stake in Opel.

In the end, Opel stayed in the GM family, and the plan is for peaceful coexistence, insists Susan Docherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe. 

“There’s absolutely room for both of us,” she insisted in an interview, noting that despite its fast growth Chevy Europe sold just 206,000 vehicles last year, barely 20 percent of Opel's volume.

Still, there have been plenty of rumors and reports in recent months that GM might again try to find a buyer for Opel. GM CEO Dan Akerson has repeatedly denied a sale is on the table. And the Peugeot alliance reveals an alternative strategy.

The two makers will cooperate on a variety of projects, including joint component and part purchasing that should shave costs by enhancing economies of scale.  Peugeot will provide new and more efficient diesels Opel can use -- critical in the diesel-friendly European market.  And the partners plan to develop new powertrains and product platforms that should reach market sometime after mid-decade.

“It’s very clear we’re looking for synergies,” said Opel chief Stracke in an interview, but he acknowledged it will take time to pull things together.

Stracke cautioned that the alliance won’t solve anything. Notably, “it’s not set up to fix anybody’s capacity problems.  Peugeot needs to fix theirs and we need to fix ours.”

He hinted that Opel is studying its options, with many observers expecting some major announcement in the coming months. That would follow previous steps that have already reduced Opel’s capacity by 400,000 units annually.

New cuts won’t be easy, especially at the maker’s highest-cost plants in Germany, where it is subject to restrictive labor laws -- and where union leaders have significant say in management decisions.  But a recent shake-up in the leadership of union IG Metall could provide an opportunity for change.

Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics is skeptical that the Peugeot alliance -- or even further production cuts -- will solve Opel’s problems.  “The more serious problem,” he says, is the maker’s weak image among European buyers, “and only product can solve that.”

That’s where the Mokka and Astra OPC come in -- along with the new Ampera, the plug-in hybrid sibling of the American Chevrolet Volt (which also is being sold in Europe).

Both Ampera and Volt got a much-needed boost last week when a jury of journalists declared them jointly the European Car of the Year. Stracke said that even before the award Opel had lined up 7,000 advance orders for Ampera, which only went on sale last month.

But it’s going to take a lot more volume than that to fix Opel’s problems. And while the new models and the new alliance will likely help, it’s anyone’s guess when GM’s European arm will finally stanch its bleeding.

Read More

Chevy Volt caught in Washington crossfire

The Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle will be shown.

By msnbc.com news service

Volt the Chevy was a political punching bag on Wednesday, with Republicans accusing the Obama to hide administration fire hazards from the public and General Motors say his signature electric vehicle wrong caught in political crosswind.

Jim Jordan, Chairman of the Subcommittee House supervision regulatory, said it was worrying that U.S. Security regulators open a formal investigation six months waiting for after their own crash revealed tests fire hazards.

He speculated, that their own interests have been maintained the Administration may have. President Barack Obama electric vehicles like the Volt has strongly promoted, and his Government oversaw a rescue by the Government and bankrupt U.S. restructuring of GM in 2009.

GM Chief Dan Akerson had his own theories about how politics affects the probe. He said the hearing that the Volt have "disproportionate control", because it was a replacement for election year politics and commentary by GM business and Obama management policy.

"We do not the Volt to a political punching bag engineer." "And, unfortunately, is what the Volt has become", Akerson said.

Akerson CNBC said after the hearing, he added to the chance in the term of the company on the Board welcomes the fact that car manufacturers now need to reconstruct the car public image.

"We make good products and cars the market loves, the whether it the Volt or other cars," he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opens an investigation on the safety of the Volt battery pack for own discovered repeated tests fire hazards on 25 November.

The fires fell after NHTSA crash tests or other tests, where the car's lithium-ion batteries were intentionally damaged and GM has stressed that no "real" events have been reported.

NHTSA their two-month investigation concluded last week without finding defects and satisfied with GM funding, better to protect the lithium-ion battery pack.

David Strickland, which agency Administrator, said investigators had to first analyze why the fires occurred. He said the Agency had no real data on Volt fires and used "every second" over a period of six months for engineers carry out a thorough study.

Strickland said, there was no undue risk to public safety and said, he would have sounded a public alarm a reason to do so would have it.

"We pulled no punches," he said under wilt survey of Jordan and other Republicans on the Committee. "The Chevrolet is sure to drive Volt."

Akerson, whom a used Volt, said that he knew any public discussion of fires squelch any pressure from the Obama management. He said that the Administration has no place on the Board and no influence on business decisions. Taxpayer owned a majority stake to GM $50 billion bailout and bankruptcy in 2009 participation, providing one-third by public shares of the company in 2010 was reduced.

The Volt is at the heart of the GM lead efforts on fuel efficiency. The development was supported by Obama, which presents electric cars as a game-changer in reducing oil imports and tailpipe emissions.

The Administration has spurred aggressively supported systems for other electric vehicles more than $2 billion in financing from suppliers and other research projects, development and production of the $40,000 volt and battery. Volt owners have to claim a tax credit of $7,500 to purchase a vehicle, an advantage Obama has tried, without sweeten success.

There are approximately 8,000 volts on the road today and another 6,500 have been produced. All undergo retrofit to better protect the battery from damage in crashes. GM will reduce the chances of leaks, fires can cause coolant also steps.

Democrats, including Elijah Cummings and Dennis Kucinich, were aggressive in demanding Jordan and Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the area for complete control. The Democrats, said that the prerogative, to look at the problem but it was the Congress, that the investigation of the line was gone.

"I am concerned that the intended effect of this consultation is to undermine technology which is both to the environment to protect and the success of the U.S. auto industry," said Kucinich.

The Oversight Committee has the Congress investigation led by Energy Department loan programs, including financing of bankruptcy solar panel company Solyndra.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Read More

GM CEO face Congress on Chevy Volt

Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

A Chevy Volt rolls out of the line of the General Motors Detroit Hamtramck Assembly factory in Hamtramck, Michigan

By Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau

The Chevrolet Volt has a good testimony last Friday, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed their investigation into possible problems with the plug in hybrid battery pack - but that doesn't mean that the engine problems with the Volt, General as a congressional hearing to begin on Wednesday.

The Volt controversy came a fire, which at last spring, weeks after one of the cars, battery through a federal crash test went.  A second volt battery pack caught fire after being tested in November.  Triggered an investigation by the NHTSA - as hearings by the House Committee on oversight and government reform and California Republican Committee of Chairman Darryl Issa claiming that government agency initially tried to cover up the original fire.

In the meantime, GM, pointing out that it will them no real reports of battery-related fires, announced yet on the January 5 is a series of small but important changes to reduce the chance of problems with the battery pack.

"Based on the available data, NHTSA doesn't believe that Volt or other electric vehicles are a greater risk of fire as a gasoline-powered vehicles, Chevy", a statement said that also noted that fire is danger with all vehicles NHTSA.  In fact, there are thousands of such incidents involving natural gas vehicles per year.

A spokesman for GM responded that the NHTSA move "consistent" with the manufacturer's internal tests, and added that the changes that are made with the new Volt - free changes offered "additional Protection…minimizing the post crash fire hazard will offer to current owner - in the days and weeks after a serious crash and rollover."

What was frustrated critics, including Cong. Issa, the fact that the NHTSA initially delayed reporting the first fire for five months.  It was known in a report from the Reuters news service on 12 November.  The problem has politicized critics - mostly on the Republican side of the aisle - be open in the current climate of Washington wondering if the Obama wanted to administration, NHTSA reported that, to avoid the bad publicity, which may be a problem with volts.

The Government owned a majority stake in GM in its 2009 bankruptcy and continue to keep after GM's about one-quarter of the shares of the company November 2010 IPO.

The hearing on Capitol Hill, this week is called "Volt vehicle fire: NHTSA knew what and when she knew it?" one obvious refrain the question often of President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

NHTSA and GM argue that she used the delay to investigate the cause of the fire - which note you have a full three weeks after the original Volt side-impact crash test has occurred.  It now seems that the cause of the fire of full battery is a coolant Cup trickled out, after the battery pack was injured.  After such side-impact tests, NHTSA is a vehicle by which "Rotisserie test," the vehicle slowly hidden leaks can be found be turned commonly referred to as is.

In this case, it seems that the liquid ultimately above reached a circuit board on the battery.  Usually non conductive coolant went through a chemical change over several weeks, ultimately to a brief and fire.

Announced as part of the changes that it this month, GM planned to add new crash protection against penetration of the battery during one.  It is also the Board system prevent such a short change.

"Published in a letter to the Detroit News, January 12th Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, claimed that," "no one requested from the Executive Office of the President or in any way suggested that NHTSA delay publication of information relating to the Volt fire."

In the meantime, General Motors Chairman Dan Akerson Wednesday asked negotiation appears and is expected to continue to play down such conspiracy theories - and underlines confidence in the safety of the vehicle the manufacturer.

Issa own political leanings could come under the microscope.  The California conservative an outspoken critic who today GM bailout and media colleague John peoples found that Issa used Facbook recently an article New York post by Patrick j. Michaels, libertarian Cato Institute to promote, with the title "GM flop in green," explains the Volt "lemon on the one hand, on the one hand taxpayer albatross."  There is also a large number of complaints that the call the White House on the GM product line has been shot.

Ironically, managing to kill the Volt - actually wanted to lose the money along with four North American brands would, after the bankruptcy of GM canceled were adopted.

The hearings are expected to lead to no significant changes in the policy, but the GOP is clearly see the event as a way to concerns about "Government motors" and the controversial GM bailout to revive again.  The White House and the manufacturers themselves should against by noting how GM is regaining market share and profitability and also hoping to highlight the message that Volt will be safe.

Read More

Battery fires prompt govt probe of Chevy Volt

WASHINGTON — New fires involving the lithium-ion batteries in General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt have prompted an investigation to assess the risk of fire in the electric car after a serious crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday.

One Volt battery pack that was being closely monitored following a government crash test caught fire Thursday, the safety administration said in a statement. Another recently crash-tested battery emitted smoke and sparks, the statement said.

GM, which was informed of the investigation on Friday, said in a statement that the Volt "is safe and does not present undue risk as part of normal operation or immediately after a severe crash."

The latest fires are in addition to a battery fire in a crash-tested Volt six months ago.

NHTSA learned of a possible fire risk involving damaged Volt batteries when a fire erupted in a Volt that was being stored in a parking lot of a test facility in Burlington, Wis. The fire was severe enough to cause several other vehicles parked nearby to catch fire as well.

The car had been subjected to a side-impact crash test more than three weeks earlier, on May 12, during which the battery was punctured and its coolant line ruptured.

Last week's tests of three battery packs were designed to replicate the May test. In that test, the Volt was subjected to a simulated side-impact collision into a narrow object like a tree or pole followed by a rollover, the agency said.

The first battery tested last week didn't catch fire. But a battery test on Nov. 17 initially experienced a temporary temperature increase, and on Thursday caught fire while being monitored. Another battery tested on Nov. 18, which was rotated 180 degrees within hours after the test, began to smoke and emit sparks shortly after the rotation.

The tests were conducted by NHTSA and the Energy and Defense departments at a defense facility near Hampton Roads, Va.

So far, no fires have been reported in Volts involved in roadway crashes, NHTSA said. More than 5,000 of the vehicles have been sold.

It's too soon to tell whether the investigation will lead to a recall of any vehicles or parts, but the government will ensure consumers are informed promptly if that occurs, the agency said.

With its OnStar safety communications systems a part of the car, "GM knows real time about any crash significant enough to potentially compromise battery integrity," the automaker said. "Since July, GM has implemented a post-crash protocol that includes the depowering of the battery after a severe crash, returning the battery to a safe and low-powered state."

Electric vehicles are critical to President Barack Obama's plans to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. He has called for putting 1 million of the vehicles on the road by 2015.

The Volt and Nissan's Leaf, with more than 8,000 cars on the road in the U.S., are among the first mass-marketed plug-in electric cars. They went on sale in the 2011 model year. Other automakers are also working on electric vehicles.

Safety testing hasn't raised concerns about electric vehicles other than the Volt, NHTSA said. But the agency is asking manufacturers who have electric cars on the market, or who plan to introduce electric vehicles in the near future, for more detailed information on their battery testing as well as what procedures they have established for discharging and handling batteries, including recommendations for reducing fire risks.

"NHTSA continues to believe that electric vehicles have incredible potential to save consumers money at the pump, help protect the environment, create jobs and strengthen national security by reducing our dependence on oil," the agency said.

After the first battery fire, GM officials complained that NHTSA did not drain the battery of energy as called for under the automaker's crash procedures. NHTSA normally drains fuel from gasoline-powered cars after crash tests, they said.

Lithium-ion batteries, which are rechargeable, have been the subject of several recalls of consumer electronics. Millions of laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. for Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and other PC makers were recalled in 2006 and 2007 after it was discovered that they could overheat and ignite.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to airlines about the potential for fires in cargo containing lithium-ion and non-rechargeable lithium metal batteries after a United Parcel Service plane crashed near Dubai last year, killing both pilots. The plane, which was on fire, was carrying thousands of lithium batteries.

Incorrectly packaged, damaged or overheated batteries can catch fire, the FAA said. Fires involving lithium-ion batteries can reach 1,100 degrees, close to the melting point of aluminum, a key material in airplane construction. Lithium-metal battery fires are far hotter, capable of reaching 4,000 degrees.

GM and NHTSA have pointed out that cars with gasoline-powered engines are susceptible to fires after a crash.

In the event of a crash, NHTSA's advice to consumers is to do the same thing they would do in a gasoline-powered car — get out of the vehicle and move a safe distance away. The agency also recommends against storing a severely damaged electric car in a garage or near other vehicles.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More

General Motors to cut Chevy Cruze production

DETROIT — General Motors Co. will shut down the plant that makes the Chevrolet Cruze compact car for a week because sales have slowed and Japanese competitors now have ample supplies of competing small cars.

The factory in Lordstown, Ohio, had been running around the clock with overtime shifts on Saturdays to keep up with strong Cruze sales during the summer. Sales of the compact rose with two of its main competitors, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, in short supply because of parts shortages from the March earthquake in Japan.

GM spokesman Chris Lee said in an email that the Lordstown plant, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland, will be shut down the week of Nov. 28. It will return to around-the-clock operations the following week.

The Cruze was the top-selling small car in the U.S. from May through September, with sales in most of those months topping 20,000, according to Autodata Corp. But sales dropped to just more than 14,000 in October, and the Cruze was passed by the Civic and Corolla as production and dealer inventories started to return to normal.

GM said it had about 39,000 Cruzes at its dealers at the end of October. At the current selling rate, it would take about 70 days to sell all of them. A 60-day supply is considered optimal.

Small-car sales typically drop in the final quarter of the year. Gas prices also have fallen from around $4 per gallon ($1.05 a liter) earlier in the year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More

Testers may have caused Chevy Volt fire, GM says

A Chevrolet Volt is shown at a GM plant in Flint, Mich., last year. GM says a battery fire in a test vehicle could have been prevented.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, TheDetroitBureau.com

The spotlight is on the Chevrolet Volt following word that one of the plug-in hybrids caught fire while being tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But TheDetroitBureau.com has learned that the fire was readily preventable had a few simple steps been taken after a Volt was put through a series of tests three weeks earlier.

Federal regulators have promised a full investigation of the spring incident in which the Volt caught fire and burned several nearby vehicles. That has raised serious questions about the safety of its batteries, though GM officials say it may instead require adapting federal crash tests -– as well as what happens in the field in the event of a real collision.

The fire occurred at a private facility in Wisconsin where NHTSA conducts crash tests on new vehicles. On May 12, the battery car was subject to a so-called “pole” test, where it was rammed into a barrier at 20 mph to simulate a side impact.  The vehicle was then subject to what is known informally as the “rotisserie test,” where it is rolled over into various positions to test for leaks that might have occurred during the crash.

Ironically, the Volt did well enough to earn a five-star rating, the best possible.

The wrecked vehicle was subsequently moved to what GM spokesman Rob Peterson called “the boneyard,” where it was left unattended, no action taken to deal with either the vehicle’s charged lithium-ion battery or the coolant fluid that had, in fact, leaked out after the crash test. The gas tank used to power Volt’s back-up gas engine was drained.

Preliminary evidence indicates that over time the normally inert coolant came into contact with some of the LIon battery cells.  In liquid form that would not be a problem, but it eventually “crystallized” as the Wisconsin weather turned cold at night, according to Peterson. That eventually led to the battery shorting out and catching fire, apparently, though a formal cause has not been announced by safety regulators.

So, was the fire the cause of negligence by NHTSA? Maybe yes, maybe no, according to the GM spokesman.

“NHTSA didn’t follow our protocol,” which would have required the agency to “de-energize the battery after the crash test," Peterson said. But, Peterson quickly added that it appears NHTSA employees “didn’t know our protocol,” which was developed after GM conducted its own crash tests.

The federal agency has since been advised what to do when crashing a battery car, which apparently would include other electric vehicles besides the Chevrolet Volt, particularly those using liquid cooling systems. (The Nissan Leaf uses an air cooling system, though it is unclear whether the maker will also be recommending that the battery be de-energized after an accident.)

“I want to make this very clear: the Volt is a safe car,” Jim Federico, the chief engineer on GM’s small and battery-powered vehicles, said in a statement. “We are working cooperatively with NHTSA as it completes its investigation. However, NHTSA has stated that based on available data, there’s no greater risk of fire with a Volt than a traditional gas-powered car.”

Repeated efforts to reach an NHTSA spokesperson failed as the federal government was closed on Friday for Veterans Day.

With electric propulsion capturing a disproportionate share of the headlines lately – at least compared to the minuscule market for battery-based vehicles, which will this year account for barely a 3 percent share of the U.S. market – world of the Chevy Volt fire has generated widespread headlines.

GM officials are worried that the incident could scuttle demand for the vehicle, which is just beginning to see a ramp-up in sales.  And the impact could spread beyond Chevy showrooms.

The Obama administration is looking to put 1 million battery cars on the road by 2015 and virtually every major automaker now has a plug-in hybrid or battery-electric vehicle in late development.

Lithium technology is already in widespread use.  And there have already been serious concerns raised about the use of lithium-ion technology, which has been linked to a number of fires involving laptop computers, mobile phones and other portable electronic devices.  That has led to restrictions on carrying or shipping the batteries on airplanes, for examples.

But automakers like GM have insisted they are using safer versions of the LIon chemistry than is often used in consumer goods, where it is critical to maximize energy density – or stored power.

While NHTSA may eventually give the Volt a clean bill of health, the Chevy plug-in was previously involved in an unexplained garage fire – though preliminary testing indicated the vehicle was not the cause of the problem.

Looking ahead, GM spokesman Peterson said GM plans to spread the word on the proper procedures for handling a Volt after a collision. It is currently sending a corporate “SWAT team” out to any such incidents to try to learn as much as possible about what happens and how to respond.

The maker has been training first responders around the U.S. and one of the first steps involves disconnecting the battery.

By early next year, said Peterson, the maker expects to distribute a special device specifically designed to de-energize the battery after a collision.

 

Read More

U.S. probes battery safety after Chevy Volt fire

WASHINGTON — A Chevrolet Volt that caught fire three weeks after its lithium-ion battery was damaged in a government crash test has regulators taking a harder look at the safety of electric car batteries, federal officials said Friday.

Based on testing so far, however, regulators believe the batteries are safe and do not pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered engines, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official told The Associated Press. The official requested anonymity in order to speak freely.

The car that caught fire was tested May 12 by an agency contractor at a Wisconsin facility using a relatively new side-impact test intended to replicate crashing into a pole or a tree, the official said. Three weeks later, while the car was parked at the test facility, it caught fire and set several nearby vehicles on fire. A NHTSA investigation concluded the crash test damaged the battery, which later led to the fire.

Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in a vast array of consumer electronics, have a history of sometimes catching fire when damaged.

General Motors spokesman Greg Martin said the test did not follow procedures developed by GM engineers for handling the Volt after a crash. The engineers tested the Volt's battery pack for more than 300,000 hours to come up with the procedures, which include discharge and disposal of the battery pack, he said.

"Had those protocols been followed after this test, this incident would not have occurred," he said.

The company had not told the government of its protocols at the time of the test, another GM spokesman said.

Martin said the Volt is safe.

After the Volt fire, NHTSA and GM each replicated the crash test and waited three weeks, but in neither case did the cars catch fire, officials said. Nor were the cars' batteries damaged in those tests, officials said.

The NHTSA official said the agency has been unable to explain why the Volt's battery was damaged in one test but not in two others conducted in exactly the same manner. NHTSA, along with the Department of Energy, plans to conduct more tests next week on Volt batteries and is continuing to monitor cars already in use. Government and GM officials said they are unaware of any similar fires among the 5,000 Volts now on the road.

Nissan Motor Co., which has more than 8,000 all-electric Leaf models on U.S. roads, and Tesla Motors Inc., with 2,000 cars sold worldwide, said their cars are extensively tested and have not started any fires after crashes.

NHTSA also is asking manufacturers who currently have electric cars on the market, or who plan to introduce electric vehicles in the near future, for more detailed information on their battery testing as well as what procedures they have established for discharging and handling batteries, including recommendations for reducing fire risks.

"NHTSA is focused on identifying the best ways to ensure that consumers and emergency responders are aware of any risks they may encounter in electric vehicles in post-crash situations," the agency said in a statement.

"Ultimately, we hope the information we gather will lay the groundwork for detailed guidance for first-responders and tow truck operators for use in their work responding to incidents involving these vehicles," the agency said.

After the crash test, NHTSA found a coolant leak and moved the damaged Volt to a back lot, where it was exposed to the elements, said Rob Peterson, a GM spokesman who specializes in electric cars. Exposure to the weather caused the coolant to crystalize, and that, combined with the remaining charge in the battery, were factors, he said.

NHTSA did not drain the battery of energy as recommended by GM's crash procedures. At the time, GM had not told the agency of its protocols, Peterson said. NHTSA normally drains fuel from gasoline-powered cars after crash tests, he said.

In a real-world crash, GM would be notified through its OnStar safety communications system and would send a team out to remove the battery for research purposes, he said.

The safety of the Volt, which earned a top five-star crash safety rating from NHTSA, "really isn't being questioned," Peterson said. "What they're investigating is how do you handle the vehicles longer-term; tow truck drivers, salvage yards, body shops, things like that."

In the event of a crash, NHTSA's advice to consumers is to do the same thing they would do in a gasoline-powered car: get out of the vehicle and move a safe distance away. The agency also recommends against storing a severely damaged electric car in a garage or near other vehicles.

Lithium-ion batteries have been the subject of several recalls of consumer electronics. Millions of laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. for Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and other PC makers were recalled in 2006 and 2007 after it was discovered that they could overheat and ignite.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More

Review: Little Chevy Sonic boasts style, pep

 

Brian Konoske (Photographer) / GM

The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic hatchback.

By Dan Carney

Only a block from the media introduction of the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibit of products created for the Braun electronics company.

The exhibit demonstrated how the designs, by Dieter Rams boosted the appeal of consumer products and  influenced today’s paragon of industrial design: Apple.

This is relevant to the new Sonic because if carmakers from time to time lose focus on the importance of the styling of their vehicles, they especially seem to think that people who buy low-priced subcompact cars have no taste, style or aspirations.

Subcompact cars, outside a few niche premium products like the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500, have been doomed to wear dull, indifferent styling.

But Braun, and then Apple, showed that it is possible to design affordable, mainstream, high-volume products that look like they belong in a museum. I wouldn’t necessarily predict that the 2012 Sonic is museum-ready, but the car’s adventurous, expressive styling does offer small-car shoppers some redemption from the too-often invisible style of cars in the segment.

The vivid flair of sport motorcycles provided the Sonic’s inspiration inside and out. The influence is most apparent in the quad circular headlamps and in the instrument binnacle atop the steering column. 

Elsewhere, well, it’s hard to find much else on a compact car that resembles the spare appearance of a sportbike. But a prominent exhaust or faux handgrips molded into the steering wheel would have been an overwrought interpretation of the theme.

Some un-motorcycle-like details: Engineers sought to make the Sonic as safe as possible with a profusion of airbags. It’s hard to imagine where they could fit 10 airbags in such a small car, but that fact certainly cultivates the mental image of the entire cabin stuffed with pillowy cushions in the event of a disaster.

Of course, those cushions are no good if the metal box around them is flimsy, so the Sonic is reinforced with high-strength steel that yields a body shell 77 percent stiffer than that of the outgoing Aveo model.

Some other upgrades? How about available sunroof, heated seats and remote start? Here is some substance to support the Sonic’s style that lets customers escape the feeling that they’ve shortchanged themselves by buying a subcompact.

One miss: the outgoing Aveo model offered a lumbar adjuster for the driver’s seat that is absent from the Sonic. We brothers of chronic lower back pain beg for its return.

Also un-motorcycle-like: sluggish, indifferent throttle response that lags disappointingly on the application and churns onward after lifting off the gas with the inertia of a temporary government program.

The tiny 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine produces an impressive 138 horsepower and a more surprising 148 pound-feet of torque thanks to a turbocharger. Once a shibboleth connoting maximum performance, turbocharging is now a tool applied to improve fuel economy because it lets small engines do the work of big ones. Seeing a torque number that’s bigger than the horsepower rating is the proof Chevy’s engineers have accomplished that feat because in small engines that order is normally reversed.

But it seems that tuning engines to sip gas like espresso rather than to gulp it like Gatorade saps them of the crisp response epitomized by the zing of sportbikes. Even the masters of small engine tuning at Honda struggle with this. Hopefully GM's tuners can continue to improve this detail.

Of course it’s a detail that matters only to us unreformed enthusiasts who insist on choosing the Sonic's superb six-speed manual transmission, with its precise shifter and smooth clutch take-up. Most Sonic buyers will choose the automatic, which masks the engine's throttle response characteristics.

Behind the wheel the driver's eye falls on a vast expanse of plastic. What did you expect in a subcompact, Terrazzo tile? But Chevy's designers wisely chose not to pretend otherwise.

"We do have a plastic dashboard," noted design manager Kathy Sirvio. "Instead of trying to make it look like something it is not, we put a nice technical grain on it."

If you have ever wondered what a reviewer means when discussing "good" vs. "cheap" plastic, this is it. Good plastic is honest enough to not pretend it is something else, without surrendering all pretense of style so that it looks like something found at the bottom of your kid's toy box.

The high-strength steel in the body shell contributes to the Sonic's solid feeling, both on the road and when closing doors. Standard aluminum wheels trim away a couple decibels of road noise, further refining the drive. 

Both motorcycles and subcompact cars are supposed to get good fuel economy, and the EPA says the Sonic is superlative, with a 40 mpg highway rating for the tested manual transmission. But fuel economy depends substantially on how the car is driven, and a few days of fun driving pushed my test car's mileage down to an un-motorcycle-like 25 mpg.

I'll take the blame for that this time, but it was surprising to see such a low number. Drivers who were born to be mild but appreciate motorcycle-influenced style can aim for the EPA's 40 mpg rating with their own Chevy Sonic.

Vital stats: 2012 Chevrolet Sonic

Base price: $16,495

As tested: $17,195

EPA fuel economy (city/highway): 29/40

Pros: The only subcompact made in America, 10 standard airbags, premium options, such as seat heaters.

Cons: A sluggish, disconnected throttle response.

Verdict: Not just GM's first great subcompact; the Sonic is the first one that’s good.

Standard equipment: 138-hp, 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, aluminum wheels, tilting and telescoping steering, power windows and door locks, heated outside mirrors.

Major options: Six-speed manual transmission.

Safety equipment: Electronic stability control, 10 standard airbags, antilock brakes.

Read More

GM to launch electric Chevy Spark

Gm / Wieck

General Motors plans to introduce an electric version of the Chevrolet Spark in the U.S.

The electric minicar will go on sale in limited quantities in select U.S. and global markets starting in 2013, including California, the automaker said. GM made the announcement during a media event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chevy brand.

“The Spark EV offers customers living in urban areas who have predictable driving patterns or short commutes an all-electric option,” Jim Federico, global vehicle chief engineer for electric vehicles at Chevrolet, said in a statement. “It complements Chevrolet’s growing range of electrified vehicles, including the Volt extended-range EV and the 2013 Malibu Eco with eAssist technology.”

The Spark announcement follows news in August that GM will build a Cadillac ELR luxury electric car as the automaker, which also produces the plug-in electric hybrid Chevy Volt, looks to burnish its green credentials.

So far this year sales of the Volt have lagged. GM aimed to sell 10,000 Volts in 2011, but only 3,895 models have been sold to date, according to CNBC. Still, GM’s Joel Ewanick told CNBC Wednesday that the automaker still plans to sell 45,000 cars in 2013.

“We know the demand is there; we know the customers want this car,” he said.

Electric cars have been slow to catch on in the U.S., according to Reuters:

“In the U.S. market, demand has been held back by the lack of models to choose from, skimpy infrastructure for charging the vehicles, high sticker prices, and low gasoline prices compared with other industrialized nations.”

 

Read More

Chevy advertising: really entertaining

It feels like it has already a while ago, since I was a TV show to watch and not all the ads in fast forward. Most of what I see is on the DVR, and this is a good thing.

But Sunday was a different story when that managed Seattle Seahawks, glued to a live football game to me, and meant that I had to sit map that by some. In this way I managed, what I believe to catch a pretty good run which was commercials by Chevrolet.

The American automaker, which managed to drill Bob Seger "like a rock", which has put always the eyes into a pickup truck, in the eternal consciousness of those seems a corner with the three "Chevy runs deep" spots have made, I saw. And I think something can go recognition, Volkswagen, down at the last Super Bowl with his small Darth Vader display the ad war won hands.

Chevy trots out own small child and-dad's ride scenario with a poignant Silverado display kid lovers, truck lovers, toy lovers and dog lovers all in one. It did the trick for me, as I my own 4 year-old son by the exact the same movements in the image. Skip the Seger, and position the soft acoustic guitar:

The second ad, that was me on the couch and not in the kitchen for the Volt. A man is electric car stops at a gas station in his imagination and a little child. Short, sweet and sarcastic as such as we 'em:

A further display, has for the Chevy Cruz eco, giggle me as it a couple of junge-- and erwartet--compress, to a day of house-hunting. Other simple display with a dry sense of humor... and since I was still on the couch:

Chevrolet has rewritten here by no means not the ad book. However, by one manages a detour from the brand of American machismo, my attention on a Sunday at the TV. I may not be able, through the game fast forward, which I was just had, but I had map is still the remote in hand and they cause me not to click.

What do you think of the Chevy spots? In recent times to catch any other good advertising?

Read More