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GM winding down Chevrolet brand in Europe

If you've taken even a cursory look at GM's European strategy and wondered how it can target the market there with both Chevrolet and Opel/Vauxhall, you're not alone. In fact General Motors itself has found it difficult to justify the two-pronged approach. That's why it's essentially pulling Chevy from the European marketplace.
Instead of trying to ply European buyers with what are mostly former Daewoo products rebadged as Chevys, GM will now let Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) represent its mass-market aspirations. Chevrolet will keep its presence in Russia and other former Soviet markets, and will continue selling certain niche products in Eastern and Western Europe. The Corvette, for example, has long been sold in Europe through Cadillac dealerships, which for its part is currently "finalizing plans for expanding in the European market".
While the shift in strategy is expected to help GM get a stronger foothold in the European market in the long run, in the short term the restructuring will cost it dearly: between $700 million and $1 billion, according to its own estimates, split between the last quarter of this year and the first half of the next. Jump into the full press release below for more.

Autoweek divulges details on Presidential limo

Ever since the latest presidential limousine, also known as The Beast, debuted in 2009, we've wondered what's underneath that black Cadillac body. We already know a few details, like the fact it isn't a Cadillac at all, but a very heavy duty truck chassis from General Motors with a body that resembles a super-sized Caddy. Autoweek, however, has managed to extract new details from veteran Secret Service agents about the closely guarded presidential limo. Their methods, of course, are classified.
Designed to be a rolling office, bunker and escape pod all in one, the current presidential limo is far different from previous presidential state cars, which were heavily modified production vehicles. As we would expect, The Beast uses thick, military-grade body armor (eight inches on the doors), an armored fuel tank, special run-flat tires with Kevlar lining, an encrypted satellite phone, a fully sealed cabin with its own oxygen supply and a trunk full of weapons and medical equipment that includes a supply of the President's blood type (in case the car gets cut off from the ambulance that's always present in the President's motorcade).
The Beast also comes with a Halon fire-suppression system, night vision and is powered by a V8 engine, which we already knew runs on gas and not diesel, that returns an EPA-unfriendly estimated 3.7 miles per gallon. The Secret Service operates a fleet of 12 limos and each Beast costs $1.5 million. Lastly, AW estimates that the 18-foot-long state car weighs 15,000 pounds, and each Secret Service agent that drives the car must be specially trained to maneuver such a massive vehicle.

Cadillac will kill the plug-in ELR

Johan de Nysschen, president of General Motors' Cadillac division, says Caddy's ELR extended-range plug-in won't have any future generations, Automotive News (subs. req.) says. The publication previously reported that the car would be around for another couple of years, but even that's questionable, and the model could be yanked even sooner. Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell confirmed that there won't be a second-generation ELR. "Subsequent generations of the car will not be developed," he wrote in an e-mail to Autoblog. "It's available currently as a 2016 model, and there's no change to that status." The model debuted in late 2013 and used a version of the powertrain in the Chevrolet Volt. The main problem, of course, was that the car had a $76,000 price tag that proved too much for most automobile buyers to stomach. Last year, GM sold 1,024 ELRs, down 22 percent from 2014's totals. By comparison, the Chevy Volt moved more than 15,000 units, and that itself was still down 18 percent from year-earlier figures. The merciful end to the ELR shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Cadillac Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus went on the record in December of essentially calling the model a dud. It's a far cry from the excitement, though, that the concept model of what was then called the Converj was unveiled to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in 2009. For those feeling misty-eyed or nostalgic, though, check here for Autoblog's First Drive impressions of the extended-range plug-in. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2014 Cadillac ELR Review View 48 Photos News Source: Automotive News-sub.req. Green Cadillac GM Hybrid elr extended-range plug-in