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2016 Chevy Volt to make auto show debut this season

Ever since we saw that spy shots of the 2016 Chevy Volt, we've been hungering for more information on the next-gen version of GM's green halo car. It appears we might not have long to wait, at least for an official tease. An inside source that wishes to remain anonymous told AutoblogGreen that GM will make two announcements regarding the second-gen Volt at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI next week. The first, and most intriguing, is that that we will get our first glimpse of the new Volt at some point during the upcoming auto show season. That means either Los Angeles later this year or else Detroit, Chicago or New York in early 2015. The second bit of news is that GM will be moving production of the electric motors from Mexico to Michigan. Details and official confirmation are, of course, missing and Chevrolet declined comment to AutoblogGreen. We should know more next week.

The Volt Dance had precedent; meet the Chevy Footlockers

Marketing in the auto industry can get weird sometimes – really quite bizarre, in fact. For example, remember the Chevy Volt dance from the 2009 Los Angles Auto Show? If not, a group boogied to a song about the electric car, and it was every bit as awkward (and hilarious) as that sounds. In fact, that innocent bit of promotion lives in infamy, as some pundits grabbed hold of it during General Motors' bailout and asked why America's tax dollars were going to such things. The Chicago Auto Show has been digging through its vault of vintage videos, and it has come up with something that might actually be worse than that Volt-themed routine. They're called the Chevy Footlockers, and they're a dance troupe somehow promoting the Cavalier at the 1988 Chicago show. The connection between the car and their routine is unclear, but it's gloriously cheesy in a Chippendales-meets-AC Slater sort of way. Also, there are props towards the end, but we aren't going to spoil them for you, because you just have to watch for yourself. As a bonus, there's another (brief) clip below showing a female dance group with the Geo Tracker at the '91 Chicago show, and they sing, too. Scroll down to watch both of these oddities. News Source: ChicagoAutoShow via YouTube [1], [2] Marketing/Advertising Chicago Auto Show Chevrolet GM Classics geo

BMW, Hyundai score big in JD Power's first Tech Experience Index

While automakers are quick to brag about winning a JD Power Initial Quality Study award, the reality, as we've pointed out before, is that these ratings are somewhat misleading, since IQS doesn't necessarily distinguish genuine quality issues. JD Power's new Tech Experience Index aims to solve that problem. The new metric takes the same 90-day approach as IQS but focuses exclusively on technology – collision protection, comfort and convenience, driving assistance, entertainment and connectivity, navigation, and smartphone mirroring. It splits the industry up into just seven segments, based loosely on size, which is why the Chevrolet Camaro is in the same division (mid-size) as Kia Sorento and the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class is in the same segment as the Hyundai Genesis (mid-size premium). It makes for some screwy bedfellows, to be sure. Still, splitting tech experience away from initial quality should allow customers to make more informed and intelligent decisions when buying new vehicles. In the inaugural study, respondents listed BMW and Hyundai as the big winners, with two segment awards – the 2 Series for small premium and the 4 Series for compact premium, and the Genesis for mid-size premium and Tucson for small segment. The Chevrolet Camaro (midsize), Kia Forte (compact), and Nissan Maxima (large) scored individual wins. Ford also had a surprising hit with the Lincoln MKC, which ranked third in the compact premium segment behind the 4 Series and Lexus IS. This is a coup for the Blue Oval, whose woeful MyFord Touch systems made the brand a victim of the IQS' flaws in the early 2010s. But Ford and other automakers might not want to celebrate just yet. According to JD Power, there's still a lot of room for improvement – navigation systems were the lowest-rated piece of tech in the study. Instead, customers repeatedly saluted collision-avoidance and safety systems, giving the category the best marks of the study and listing blind-spot monitoring and backup cameras as two must-have features – 96 percent of respondents said they wanted those two systems in their next vehicle. But this isn't really a surprise. Implementation of safety systems from brand to brand is similar, and they don't require any input from users, unlike navigation and infotainment systems which are frustratingly deep.