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Watch a 2015 Corvette Z06 run the quarter in 11.7 seconds

We're not writing about this because it's an amazing run, we're writing about it because it appears to be the first run. Someone took a 2015 Corvette Z06 to Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas and blasted it down through the quarter mile. It's still wearing the dealer number in wax pen on the windshield and dealer plates, so this example is fresh from the mold. It's also a seven-speed manual. General Motors said the row-your-own Z06 can do the 'strip in 11.2 seconds, and they undoubtedly had a professional driver and more than one run to set that time. To have Just Some Guy show up at the raceway and do an 11.7 at 120.54 mph on his first run means we expect good things to come as Z06s get delivered to their owners. Check out the run in the video.

GM to trim Russian output, raise prices amid currency woes

General Motors is shutting down its factory in Russia's second largest city, St. Petersburg, from the middle of March until the middle of May as the country's currency, the ruble, continues to give economists fits. The ruble's value has plunged due not only to western sanctions, but a precipitous fall in oil prices. We knew these factors were already impacting the auto industry there, as Ford reported in its 2014 earnings statement, and now they're forcing GM to cut production at the factory, shown above, that is responsible for production of the Chevrolet Cruze and Opel Astra. Meanwhile, Automotive News is citing Russian outlet Kommersant as saying that GM has hiked its prices in the country by an average of 20 percent over the past two months. While a GM spokesman confirmed the St. Petersburg plant would be shut down for the two-month span reported by Kommersant and AN, he would not confirm the price increase. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Alexander Nikolayev / AFP / Getty Images Earnings/Financials Plants/Manufacturing Chevrolet GM Opel opel astra

Subprime financing on the rise in new car sales, leasing too

We all remember the financial crisis that began several years back. At its core was a splurge of subprime lending for housing loans. The housing bubble burst, triggering a collapse of the mortgage-backed securities market. Apparently, those types of loans still exist in the automotive industry, and the market share for these types of "nonprime, subprime, and deep subprime," loans has grown 13.6 percent compared to the third quarter a year ago.
According to an Automotive News report, high-risk lending expanded to 24.8 percent of total loans in Q3, up from 21.9 percent for this time last year. As this level increased, average credit scores of borrowers dropped to 755, down from 763 a year ago. In that time, the average financing amount increased $90 per vehicle, to $25,963.
At 818, Volvo maintains the highest per-owner credit score, while Mitsubishi has the lowest, at 694. The highest rate of borrowers was at Toyota, with 14 percent of the market, followed by Ford with 13.1 percent and Chevrolet at 11.1.