Archive for Chevrolet

General Motors has filed a request to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to prevent the public from tracking the journeys its private planes make, which is apparently one of the options available to private plane leasers and is not a special request.

This comes after GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner was criticised by lawmakers and the public for spending approximately US$20,000 on a private flight to ask for a US$25 billion bailout together with the other Detroit Three heads, when a first class plane ticket costs much less.

There could have been many reasons why a private plane was used at a much much higher cost instead of a commercial airline such as logistics problems or timing problems, but it still looks really bad to observers and I believe right now GM has alot more problems to deal with other than trying to stop people from tracking ihow it uses its private planes.

This action probably makes people feel like they’re trying to cover something up, and a little more transparency could do wonders for its bail-out cause right now. If you want to track US air traffic yourself, just head on to this site. A quick check shows that GM’s Gulfstream G350 with a N5116 tail code has already been blocked from being tracked on FlightAware, but is still available here. GM planes have the tail code N5113 to N5117.

But still, I believe that the Congress wants to save their Big 3 somehow, they just don’t know how to do it and I suppose are disappointed that the heads of the companies themselves gives them the impression that don’t seem to know either.

Look after the jump to view some videos of the hearing between the U.S. lawmakers and the Detroit 3 CEOs.

Related Posts:
SNL Satire Sketch on Detroit 3 Bail-out
Should the Detroit 3 be allowed to go bust?

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American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live did a satire skit on the Detroit 3 and their request for a federal bail-out which involved the heads of all three American auto companies on a panel - Rick Wagoner, Robert Nardelli and Allan Mulally.

I found it quite hilarious and I am sure those who are opposed to the Detroit 3 getting a federal bailout or simply anyone that enjoys a good laugh will enjoy this. At least the satirical fictional CEOs did not fly in their private jets to the satirical fictional hearing!

Anyway here’s a note: the video jokes about the U.S. congress asking for a 200 mpg car by 2015, but the number is actually 36 mpg, which is about 6.5 liters per 100km.

Watch the video after the jump.

Related Video:
VIDEO: What would happen if GM collapses?

Click here to read the rest of SNL satire sketch on Detroit 3 bail-out

This Chevrolet Cruze WTCC car will replace the Lacetti as Chevrolet’s entry in the World Touring Car Championship for the 2009 series, powered by a 2.0 liter petrol engine. It will be prepared by RML Motorsport, who have looked after the Chevy WTCC car since 2005.

“The Cruze is a great car and feels fast straight out of the box. We are obviously still at the very early stages of development but already I can feel how much better it handles and what an advantage the car’s wider track will be in a race environment,” said British driver Rob Huff, who will be joined by Swiss racer Alain Menu and Italian driver Nicola Larini, the same trio who also drove for the Chevy team this year.

The road-going Chevrolet Cruze was launched in Korea as the Daewoo Lacetti a few weeks ago and will make its UK debut in the first half of 2009.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Cruze WTCC car for 2009 series

Eric Reguly of Canadian paper Globe and Mail has a piece on why the Detroit Three should be allowed to go bust. Click here to read the story.

Essentially the gist of the article is that the Detroit Three have gone lazy and have relied on lobbying auto-related laws such as CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards to be able to sell low-tech large guzzling and polluting SUVs at over-inflated prices, while other automakers who actually have to sell their cars in other markets which are not protected continued technically innovating and developing their cars following the global market trends.

The CAFE was a protectionist bailout in disguise, and now when the shit hits the fan, they want to be bailed out all over again, this time with cold hard cash.

Frankly I tend to agree. The only globally marketable car that seems to be coming out of GM’s factories now are all Daewoo-based. It’s ironic - from what was once a cheap car designed to sell in “emerging markets” like the special “ASEAN cars” we get here in our market, the new Daewoo Lacetti (pictured above, to be badged the Chevrolet Cruze) is touted as the car that could save GM, even in the US.

GM has surprised us all amidst rumours that its hopeful Chevrolet Cruze compact car has been postponed - quite far from it in fact. The car has actually already been launched in South Korea as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere. It will compete with the Hyundai Elantra, the Kia Forte, and the Honda Civic in the increasingly competitive C-segment sedan market in South Korea. So perhaps only its US debut will be delayed.

The Daewoo Lacetti Premiere measures 4,600mm long, 1,790mm wide and 1,475mm tall with a 2,685mm wheelbase. It rides on 17 inch wheels wrapped with 215/50R17 tyres. Under the hood is a 1.6 liter ECOTEC engine that produces 114 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 152Nm of torque at 4,200rpm. No sight of the 1.4 liter ECOTEC Turbo yet.

On the interior, it seems that the dashboard can be colour coded to match your two-tone seats. Thus you are able to have your dashboard have either blue or red trim if you get black-blue or black-red combination seats. Apparently the various sensors in the car communicate with the ECU via something called GMLAN. It seems to be a trend to give your in-car databus a funky name these days, such as FlexRay.

The car actually kinda reminds me of a smaller Toyota Crown. Prices range from 11,550,000 won (RM32.300) for the cheapest SE manual version up to 17,700,000 won (RM49,500) for the 6-speed automatic CDX version. 6 colours are available - white, silver, silverish blue, grey, blue and black.

Look at more shots of the Chevrolet Cruze/Daewoo Lacetti Premiere after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Cruze finally launched as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere in South Korea!

The Chevrolet GPiX crossover coupe concept was unveiled earlier this week at the Sao Paulo International Auto Show in Brazil. Yes, this is another one of those coupe-SUV vehicles, but after looking at it you can’t help but think - hasn’t Chevrolet already done this before back in end-2005 with the Chevrolet T2X Concept?

According to GM, the reason the GPiX has a high ground clearance is because it is tailored to the types of road conditions typically found in emerging markets, and presumably the show’s host country Brazil is considered by GM to be one of those emerging markets with horrible roads, since the concept car was launched there.

The GPiX name means Global Picture (G-PiX), which translates into Global Image as they’ve intended it to mean. It probably sets the design direction for how GM/Chevrolet’s next generation global cars are going to look like.

Just give us the Chevrolet Cruze already!

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An initial batch of photos of the upcoming Chevrolet Orlando concept 7-seater MPV has surfaced on the internet. This is a compact MPV based on a C-segment car chassis (Delta II - Chevrolet Cruze and Volt) much like the Honda Stream and the Toyota Wish.

More details (as well as higher resolution images) will surface when it debuts at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, but for the moment the only details we have is that it’s a 7-seater and has the option for a 2.0 liter turbodiesel engine producing 150 horsepower and 320Nm of torque. A range of Ecotec petrol engines will probably be available for countries where diesels are not as popular.

Look after the jump for a whole set of images.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Orlando Concept MPV Initial Photos

The Chevrolet Volt will be entering our region via Thailand but don’t count on it solving your fuel price woes as it is estimated to be priced at nearly 3 million Thai baht (roughly RM300,000), thanks to current Thai import duty structures. The Volt will be launched in the US in 2010, and the Thai arrival is expected to be as early as 2011.

I suppose the only way for prices to come down to a more affordable level would be local assembly in Thailand. Hybrid or electric car assembly have typically been in places where the manufacturer has a strong foot, but with even Toyota beginning to set up overseas hybrid assembly plants, it could be possible for GM to set up an assembly center for the Volt up north.

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More photos and details of the new Chevrolet Volt have been revealed and this time there are also photos of the interior, and no GM staff blocking our views of the new production hybrid car by General Motors. The Volt was unveiled on GM’s 100th anniversary.

Unlike other hybrid vehicles which use either the petrol or electric engine to move the car, or some hybrids like Honda’s IMA which uses the petrol all the time with no electric-only mode and uses the electric motor only for assist, the Chevrolet Volt runs on the electric motor at all times. The electric motor produces 150 horsepower and 370Nm of torque and gets power from a 16-kWh lithium ion battery (220 lithium ion cells) which is recharged via brake energy regeneration or the internal combustion engine.

The combustion engine (powered by gasoline or E85) only kicks in to charge the battery and because that is its only function it can be tuned to be extremely efficient at this, working best only at a certain RPM range required to drive a dynamo and charge the battery. GM calls this type of hybrid an E-REV or Extended-Range Electric Vehicle.

When you are parked at home, the battery can also be charged via a standard household plug with 120V (8 hours) or 240V (less than 3 hours) output. Charging times are of course less if the battery has not been fully depleted. Based on American electricity tariffs at time of publishing, the Volt uses 80 US cents per day (or 10 US cents per kWh) to charge up for 65km per day of driving. According to GM, running a Chevrolet Volt and charging it daily will use less electricity annually than an average home’s refrigerator and freezer.

The interior features an LCD instrument display and a 7 inch touch screen vehicle information display. All climate and entertainment controls are also touch screen-style with an optional nav system that can use the onboard hard drive for map in additional to music storage, so the Volt’s interior matches its “futuristic” powertrain.

Lastly, here are some figures. The Volt’s wheelbase at 2,685mm is slightly shorter than the Mitsubishi Lancer and Honda Civic at 2,700m. It’s 4404mm long, 1798mm wide and 1430mm tall. It has a 301 liter boot. It rides on 17 inch forged aluminium wheels which are wrapped with specially developed low rolling resistance tyres.

If you think the Volt will mark a turn in GM’s financial records for the next 100 years, think again. GM’s COO Fritz Henderson said that GM is likely to lose money with every Chevrolet Volt sold. In fact, according to Henderson he’s never seen a situation where GM made money with a “generation 1 technology”. GM’s vice chairman Bob Lutz says there is still hope for profit as a huge conservative chunk of figures have been attributed to battery warranty claim costs and if there are not many claims the project could turn a profit.

The Volt will only go on sale in November 2010 (and China in 2011) but 100 production Volts will be built in 2009 for internal test fleets and media test drives. The Chevrolet Volt will be built on the same platform as the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze.

Look after the jump for more photos and videos of the Chevy Volt.

Click here to read the rest of New official details on the Chevrolet Volt

Click for hi-res image

Official photos of the Chevrolet Volt have been revealed but somehow the team behind it have gone all narcissistic with the product photography, at least for these initial set of images that have found its way onto the internet.

The production version of the Chevrolet Volt looks like a more futuristic and aerodynamic version of the Chevrolet Cruze and although you can see many design cues carried over from the Chevrolet Volt Concept, the final version looks curiously more like a muscular buffed up version of the Kia Forte.

The Volt reverses the whole concept of a hybrid car that we know today where an electric motor assists an internal combustion engine when needed. Certain hybrids also have an electric-only mode but what is common is there are times where the internal combustion engine also drives the wheels.

Things work differently in the Volt - the car is driven by the electric motor, which draws its power from batteries. The internal combustion engine (a 1.4 liter normally aspirated inline-4 gasoline engine) is only used to generate electricity to recharge the batteries when needed. The battery is also charged via methods like brake energy regeneration as well as plug-in charging.

This is the fuel efficient car that is supposed to save General Motors from a deep, deep sea of red in the near future. Will it? Look at more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Production Chevrolet Volt hybrid car revealed!