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GM reports third straight sales drop in China in 2020

BEIJING — General Motors' vehicle sales in China fell 6.2% in 2020, as the U.S. automaker suffered a prolonged slowdown in the world's biggest auto market. GM, China's second biggest foreign automaker, delivered 2.9 million vehicles in the country last year, the company said on Wednesday, for a third straight decline in annual sales. But sales have been recovering in the second half of last year, up 12% between July and September and 14% in the final three months. GM has a Shanghai-based joint venture with SAIC Motor, in which the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicle brands are made. It also has another Liuzhou-based venture, with SAIC and Guangxi Automobile Group, in which they make no-frills minivans and have started to make higher-end cars. Sales of its Buick brand grew 4% on the year and Wuling rose 9%, the statement said. Luxury brand Cadillac's sales increased 8%. Sales of GM's more affordable Baojun brand dropped 33% last year, while sales of its mass-market Chevrolet tumbled 30%. GM's delivery of 2.9 million vehicles in China follows 3.09 million vehicles in 2019, 3.65 million vehicles in 2018, and 4.04 million in 2017, for a three-year decrease of 28%.

7 major automakers to build open EV charging network

A new joint venture established by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis will build a new North American electric vehicle charging network on a scale designed to compete with Tesla's industry-benchmark Supercharger network. The 30,000-plus planned new chargers will accommodate both Tesla's almost-standard North American Charging System (NACS) and existing automakers' Combined Charging System (CCS) options, effectively guaranteeing compatibility with the vast majority of current and upcoming electric models — whether they're from one of the involved automakers or not.  "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers. The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) and are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program." Critically, the automakers involved will have a say in how the charging tech is implemented, guaranteeing that the hardware will play nicely with each automaker's in-house charging systems. Hyundai and Kia, for example, were hesitant to jump on board the Tesla NACS bandwagon earlier this year over concerns that the Supercharger network is insufficient for powering the two automakers' 800-volt charging systems; similar tech is used by Volkswagen and Porsche.  In addition to providing much-needed capacity and high-output charging for America's growing fleet of electric cars and trucks, the new network will integrate seamlessly with each automaker's in-app and in-vehicle features, rather than forcing customers to use third-party tools and payment systems, as is the case with some existing public charging infrastructure.  "The functions and services of the network will allow for seamless integration with participating automakersÂ’ in-vehicle and in-app experiences, including reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management and more. In addition, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology to further enhance the customer experience," the announcement said.

NHTSA closes book on Ford, GM probes of 600,000 vehicles

US safety regulators have closed a pair of investigations into some 500,000 Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Marauder sedans built between 2004 to 2007, and 100,000 Chevrolet Impala models from 2014. The Ford investigation focused on rusting heat shields, which may become dislodged and jam the steering, according to Reuters. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that this happened very rarely. In fact, of the ten incidents filed with the government safety watchdog, six came from a single police department, which evidently had some sort of problem with its reporting. As for the Impala, the NHTSA investigators attributed two incidences of "unintended autonomous braking" to user error. In both cases, the vehicles were involved in rear-end collisions. According to GM investigators, it's believed that drivers accidentally activated the electric parking brake, causing the collisions. The vehicles in question were rental cars. Featured Gallery Ford Crown Victoria Related Gallery 2014 Chevrolet Impala View 10 Photos News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Ford, Chevrolet Government/Legal Chevrolet Ford Safety Sedan ford crown victoria mercury grand marquis