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Chevrolet Volt: a RM300,000 price tag?

September 26, 2008 at 3:03 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

Chevrolet Volt

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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New official details on the Chevrolet Volt

September 17, 2008 at 9:42 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

Chevrolet Volt

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.

Chevrolet Volt

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 litre 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.
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Production Chevrolet Volt hybrid car revealed!

September 9, 2008 at 3:34 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel

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 litre 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.
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First photos of Chevrolet Cruze released!

August 22, 2008 at 4:37 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

Chevrolet Cruze
Click to enlarge

General Motors have released an initial batch of 3 photos of the new Chevrolet Cruze, which show the new 4-door car from different exterior angles. Interestingly, GM calls the Chevrolet Cruze a “4-door coupe”. In reality the Cruze is a 4-door C-segment sedan that will be introduced in global markets with Europe being the first region to receive it from March 2009 onwards. It should replace the Optra in some if not all markets.

It will be available with 3 engines – a 112hp 1.6 litre unit, a 140hp 1.8 litre unit with variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust, and a 2.0 litre turbodiesel putting out 150 horses and 320Nm of torque. A 1.4 turbo will come later. Chevrolet will equip the car with a 6-speed automatic transmission, a first for Chevrolet in the compact segment and more gears than what most car manufacturers put in their non-luxury C-segment cars (most have 4-speed, Honda has 5, and VW uses 6-speeders).

No photos of the interior have been revealed yet except for a tiny little bit you can see in one of the photos, but there have been spyshots of what is supposed to be a Cruze’s interior. GM says the Cruze will feature a “twin cockpit” design which is also available in the Corvette.

Look after the jump for two more photos.
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GM willing to restart talks with Proton

August 13, 2008 at 10:23 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Chevrolet/Daewoo, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton

Steve CarlisleVarious officials from within the government have been calling for Proton to continue looking for a foreign partner. The national automaker previously had failed talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen, Volkswagen and General Motors.

The Volkswagen deal would probably have gone through if it were not for Khazanah Nasional pulling out of the talks at the last minute, saying it had to give Proton more time to turn around before any equity/partnership deal could be cemented to ensure a fair deal for Proton.

Bernama reports today that General Motors’ Southeast Asian operations president Steve Carlisle (photo on the left) is willing to restart negotiations with Proton Holdings Berhad on taking up a stake in the company.

This comes just after GM announced it will invest US$445 million in Thailand to build a diesel engine plant next to its existing assembly facility. The new diesel plant will supply inline-4 diesel engines for GM’s trucks in Thailand and global markets.

When contacted, Proton Holdings informed Bernama that it had not been approached by General Motors for any negotiations. Proton also said that since any possible partnership would most likely involve talks of a share transfer, any interest from GM should be directed to its majority shareholder Khazanah Nasional instead.

So there we have it ladies and gentlemen. GM says Proton can come talk anytime, Proton says GM can come talk to Khazanah anytime. Who will make the first move? If talks do restart and a partnership involving stakeholding happens, GM may designate Thailand its truck production center and Malaysia its passenger car output center for cars like the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze.

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Chevrolet Cruze Interior Spyshot

August 5, 2008 at 5:20 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Chevrolet/Daewoo, Koreans, Spyshots

Chevrolet Cruze

The spyshot above showing a dashboard with a Daewoo logo on the steering wheel has been widely accepted as being snapped from a Chevrolet Cruze. The upcoming C-segment sedan will replace the Cobalt and the Optra and will eventually find its way into our market replacing the Optra Magnum as GM has designated it a World Car.

The Malaysian (or rather ASEAN) will most likely lose some of the nifty stuff like the large LCD screen and perhaps have the center dash area simplified with manual air conditioning knobs and losing alot of other buttons in the process, but I think on the overall it’s quite good looking and reminds me alot of a Honda.

Look after the jump for two artist impressions from this month’s Autocar India based on the image of the Chevrolet Cruze exposed in GM’s presentation.

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2010 Chevrolet Camaro Details and Hi-Res Photos

July 23, 2008 at 2:20 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

New Chevrolet Camaro

We’ve ogled at the Camaro concept in the form of Bumble Bee in the Transformers movie but now it’s time to look at the final production version and ogle at production photos of the exterior, interior as well as the technical specifications! The new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro built on GM’s new global rear wheel drive platform was revealed today and sales of the three variants (LS, LT and SS) will begin in 2009.

The new Chevrolet Camaro LS and LT are offered with a 3.6 litre direct injection V6 engine that features variable valve timing. Power is rated at 300 horsepower at 6,400rpm, and torque is an impressive 370Nm at 5,200rpm – a torque to displacement ratio of more than 100Nm per litre. This engine is available with either a 6-speed manual or a Hydra-Matic 6L50 6-speed automatic transmission. This engine is redlined at 7,000rpm.

The more powerful Chevrolet Camaro SS is V8-powered, but the manual and automatic models receive different engines. The manual model gets the Chevrolet LS3 6.2 litre V8 producing 422 horsepower at 5,000rpm and 553Nm of torque at 4,500rpm. This is paired with a 6-speed TR6060 manual transmission. The automatic model uses the L99 engine, which is based on the LS3. The L99 6.2 litre V8 produces 400 horsepower at 5,000rpm and 535Nm of torque at 4,500rpm.

A key difference between the L99 and the LS3 engine is the Active Fuel Management feature which is essentially a cylinder deactivation system which can shut off one bank of the V8, allowing it to run on four-cylinder mode during light engine load. The L99 also has a lower redline at 6,000rpm compared to the LS3′s 6,600rpm redline.

Unlike that other modern interpretation of a classic car which features a live axle at the rear, the new Chevrolet Camaro features a fully independent suspension on both front and rear. This one one American muscle car that will actually go well around the corner. It recently clocked 8:22 on the Nurburgring, beating the likes of the E46 BMW M3 and the Porsche Cayman S which clocked 8:22 and 8:25 respectively. The LS and LT models get the FE2 sport suspension while the SS model is equipped with the FE3 performance suspension which also lowers the car’s ride height. All models feature disc brakes all-round, but unlike the LS and LT which use single piston calipers the SS model uses 4-pot Brembo calipers on all four discs.

The interior features a center-console gauge cluster that pays homage to the optional gauge cluster on the 1969 Camaro. It displays oil temperature, oil pressure, battery condition and transmission fluid temperature using LED backlighting.

Continue reading for a high-resolution photo gallery of the new Camaro.
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Chevrolet Cruze front and rear views exposed!

July 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Chevrolet/Daewoo, Spyshots

Chevrolet Cruze

The world got a preview of the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan during GM’s press conference earlier this week as both front and rear three quarter views of the new Cruze done up in a flashy red paint were flashed on the presentation screen.

The new Chevrolet Cruze is a C-segment sedan and it will be a world car, replacing both current C-segment cars that are in GM’s line-up – the low-cost “emerging market” Daewoo-based Chevrolet Optra and the more expensively-built Chevrolet Cobalt for the American market. This means we can expect this to eventually replace the Optra Magnum facelift that was unveiled here earlier this year.

GM will fit a series of turbocharged 1.4 litre engines into the Cobalt, which GM says will allow it to hit a fuel economy target of 45mpg, or 5.2 litres per 100km, which truth be told is rather ambitious, small engine or not. The 1.4 litre Ecotec turbo will come in various stages of tune from 120 PS (equivalent to a 1.6 litre normally aspirated engine) to 150 PS (equivalent to a 2.0 litre normally aspirated engine), with plenty of torque.

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Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 laps Nurburgring in 7:26.4

July 14, 2008 at 2:42 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Videos

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

This is for fans of cockpit recordings from the race track. General Motors recently announced that the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 had completed a Nurburgring run in 7 minutes and 26.4 seconds. The standard ZR1 was driven by development engineer Jim Mero, and he said it was likely that the ZR1 could have completed the lap in an even faster time if there was less headwind going against the car during the straights.

The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (codename Blue Devil) is powered by the new supercharged Chevrolet LS9 engine (based on the LS3 block), producing 638 horsepower at 6,500rpm and 819Nm of torque at 3,800rpm, with a 7100rpm redline. Its Eaton TVS R2300 roots supercharger is intercooled and boosts at 10.5 psi or 0.7 bar. 0 to 100km/h acceleration time takes 3.4 seconds.

View the video after the jump.
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Paris debut for new Chevrolet Cruze sedan

July 10, 2008 at 1:03 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

Chevrolet Cobalt

General Motors announced today that the Chevrolet Cobalt (shown above) will be replaced by a new Chevrolet compact sedan called the Chevrolet Cruze. The name Cruze has actually been used before. The original Chevrolet Cruze was a badge engineered Suzuki Ignis compact SUV.

The new compact sedan will be based on GM’s Delta II platform and will be available with a range of small economical engines that include the turbocharged 1.4 litre Ecotec engine announced in January this year. The 1.4 litre motor is expected to produce between 120hp to 140hp, equivalent to normally aspirated engine of between 1.6 to 2.0 litres in displacement. Estimated body length is between 4,500 to 4,600mm long, about the size of the Chevrolet Optra sedan.

The new 2011 Chevrolet Cruze will go into production in mid-2010, but GM spokeswoman Nancy Libby indicated the production version will be displayed at the 2008 Paris Motor Show in October this year.

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