2010 Chevrolet Silverado Ltz on 2040-cars

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Trucks and tidbits from GM's earnings report

General Motors announced this morning that 2018 was a good year for it financially, thanks in large part to the company's performance in North America, which was predicated, according to the company, on "strong pricing, surging crossover sales, successful execution of the company's full-size truck launch, growth of GM Financial earnings, and disciplined cost control." GM reported full-year income of $8.1 billion and EBIT-adjusted income of $11.8 billion. Crossover sales in 2018 were 1,034,808, an increase of 7 percent compared to 2017 deliveries. Throw in the body-on-frame SUVs and the ute number is a total 1,295,700. But let's face it: It is the trucks that really matter. The Chevy Silverado and Colorado, the GMC Sierra and Canyon. Altogether, GM sold 973,463 pickups in the U.S. in 2018. Although Ford gets bragging rights for F-Series sales, GM gets to point out that it has a greater aggregate number. An important factor regarding the trucks and the reported income is that during the last quarter, more than 90 percent of the new 2019 trucks were crew cabs (which have a higher sticker), and at GMC more than 70 percent were Denali and AT4 models (which have even higher stickers). According to reporting by Bloomberg, GM's pickup trucks combine for $65 billion in annual revenue. Clearly when the 2018 sales of the Silverado — 585,581— dwarf the combined sales of both Buick (206,863) and Cadillac combined (154,702), pickups are what matter to the overall health of the company in a way that it is difficult to otherwise achieve. The "disciplined cost control" is something that is very much in the public eye right now, as the company is taking out thousands of its workers, and there is still the "unallocated" plant situation and other plants that will remain under capacity. The numbers in GM's earnings report probably made Unifor members' heads explode in consternation, coming fresh off their Super Bowl ad: " GM, you may have forgotten our generosity, but we'll never forget your greed." But there are a couple of curiosities in the full GM earnings release. One is that so far as its autonomous efforts go, it mentions only that (1) in the first quarter of 2018 Cruise introduced a production-ready autonomous vehicle, and (2) Cruise attracted $5 billion in external capital from SoftBank and Honda. Not a whole lot of love for autonomy. Good thing they have the trucks to fund the program, to say nothing of the external capital.

How to locate a fleet Chevy Caprice PPV you can buy

The Chevy Caprice shares the same platform as the now-defunct Pontiac G8 and Chevy's SS sedan. The Pontiac G8 received excellent reviews, but the economy was not doing so well, and gas prices were high, so no one bought them and Pontiac went under. The Caprice PPV is available with a 3.6-liter V6 with 300 horsepower or a 6.0-liter V8 with 355 hp. It comes standard with heavy-duty suspension and a limited-slip differential on the V8 model. The Chevy Caprice also received praise for its handling and road manners and even received a perfect score in a past assessment by the LA County Sheriff's Department. Unfortunately, you won't be able to buy one new even if you want one. The Chevy Caprice PPV is a fleet vehicle available only to law enforcement. However, if you go on Cars.com, select Chevrolet in the dropdown, click all types of vehicles, change the year filter from 2011 to 2015 and type in the keyword Caprice, lo and behold, listings for pre-owned Caprice PPVs appear. Many of these have low mileage and were not sold for whatever reason, and they sat around. Some come with the remainder of the three-year / 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a five-year / 100,000-mile warranty on the powertrain. Those who have strong negotiating skills can extend the bumper-to-bumper warranty a couple of years for around $1,500 or less. The purchase price of the Caprice PPV is around $30,000 to 34,000. The pre-owned ones are less; dealers took the brunt of the depreciation cost. Best of all, the bonus of driving a Chevy Caprice PPV is everyone driving around you will follow the speed limit and every motor vehicle rule in the book because they think you are the law. Used ex-law enforcement fleet purchase are risky. But this is too unique to pass up, go buy one quick. There are only a couple in the country at the moment. Follow me on Twitter: Donkleblanc Related Video: Image Credit: wikimedia Chevrolet Used Car Buying Police/Emergency chevy caprice chevy caprice ppv open road

CNG-powered Chevy Sonic, Cruze headed your way

The value proposition for a Crazy Diamond Performance CNG ride was a little bit better before gas prices took a dive in the past month. Still, the Michigan-based company, which converts some of Chevrolet's compact vehicles to run on compressed natural gas, received approval late last month from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for two of its conversion models. And CNG is still pretty cheap. Crazy Diamond will start selling CNG versions of both the Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Sonic. The startup will target fleet operators looking to cut both refueling costs and their carbon footprint. CNG can be found in much of the country in the low $2 range, while the average CO2 emissions are about 25 percent less than those of similar gas-powered vehicles. Average gas prices have tumbled by more than 30 cents a gallon in the last month, according to AAA, but they're still at close to $3. The two models will be able to go almost 300 miles on a full tank of CNG. Crazy Diamond said this summer that it would start selling converted a CNG-powered Cruze that delivers 130 horsepower for as low as $26,000. The turbocharged version goes for about $28,000. Take a look at Crazy Diamond Performance's celebratory press release below. Crazy Diamond Performance recieves EPA approval on its CNG Cruze and Sonic CDP receives EPA approval for its Mono-Fuel CNG Cruze and Sonic. Shelby Township, Michigan, October 30, 2014– Crazy Diamond Performance (CDP) receives EPA approval on its Mono-Fuel Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Sonic. Crazy Diamond Performance has received EPA approval on two new mono-fuel small passenger vehicles, the CNG Chevrolet Cruze and CNG Chevrolet Sonic. These new mono-fuel CNG platforms are the first of a series of small and fuel efficient vehicles coming from CDP, where cost, low emissions and reduced fuel consumption is important for not only fleet owners, but to the general public as well. "Soon to be available, are the 1.8L and 1.4L Cruze and Sonic CNG retrofit systems. These two vehicles represent a change in the status quo, with an OEM level integration of the fuel system and its components" states Michelle Fern, Executive Vice President CDP Inc. These vehicles provide flexibility for fleets looking to purchase a domestic small mono-fuel passenger sedan, but have not had an option until now. There are significant emissions benefits over its gasoline counterpart, with an average reduction in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) of 25%.