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Weekly Recap: GM scales back as Russian auto market teeters

General Motors' extensive plans to scale back its Russian operations are the latest sign the automotive market in the former superpower is collapsing – and there are few signs of recovery. GM said Wednesday it will stop selling mainstream Chevrolets and shutter the entire Opel brand in Russia. The moves leave GM with a luxury-focused presence consisting of Cadillac and Chevrolet's Corvette, Camaro and Tahoe. The cutbacks will be completed by the end of the year. The automaker will also idle its factory in St. Petersburg and end a contract-assembly agreement with Russian manufacturer GAZ. "We had to take decisive action in Russia to protect our business," Opel Group CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann said in a statement. "We confirm our outlook to return the European business to profitability in 2016 and stick to our long-term goals." GM is the latest automaker to scale back in Russia as the economic conditions, volatile currency and uncertainty over the conflict in the Ukraine all have sandbagged new car sales. Last month, vehicle sales collapsed 38 percent in Russia to 128,298 units, according to the Association of European Business, which records sales. Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB automobile manufacturers committee, didn't even feign optimism in a statement announcing the figures. "The market is entering a very difficult phase now, and February is only the beginning," he said. "Industry sentiment is the next few months will be extremely difficult and the market bottom has yet to be found." The dovetails with industry experts, who predict the Russian auto sector will remain in the doldrums. IHS said earlier this year it expects Russia's sales to slip to just 1.8 million units in 2015, which is a 40-percent drop from 2012. Other News & Notes Chief leads Jeep's Easter Safari stable Jeep is bringing seven attention-getting concepts to Moab for its annual Easter Safari off-roading celebration in Utah, but the Chief is perhaps the standout of the group. It salutes the 1970s Cherokee with a throwback appearance and surfer styling cues. The Chief has a custom modified razor grille made famous by the Wagoneer, and it rolls on 17-inch slotted mag wheels. The surf theme comes in with ocean blue paint, floral cloth and leather seats and a tiki-style shifter handle. Based on the Jeep Wrangler, the Chief has removable sides, a 3.6-liter V6 engine and a six-speed manual gearbox.

GM alerting truck and sedan owners to a do-over on brake recall

A recall campaign intended to address issues with braking systems on certain 2019 General Motors trucks and sedans may have introduced a new issue, the automaker has acknowledged, and thousands of owners driving repaired vehicles may need to return to their service departments for another update.  The update addresses a fix that was pushed out to owners of more than half a million brand-new GM trucks and sedans that could potentially lose partial braking function, according to the Detroit Free Press. The original software fix helped address situations where the vehicles' anti-lock braking systems would become disabled, which in turn would prevent electronic stability control from activating. Vehicles subject to the recall would often experience software glitches that prevented them from properly communicating the operational state of these systems, meaning drivers would have no idea that their brakes may not behave as expected in an emergency. The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Cadillac CT6, and GMC Sierra 1500 were all recalled in the original campaign.  Unfortunately, the early version of this fix appears to have introduced yet another software glitch, indicating that the original fix did not do the trick. Those who have not yet had their cars serviced can rest easy; they will only receive the most up-to-date version of the software fix.  Related video    

2021 Cadillac Escalade shown inside and out in leaked photos

Fresh off the official reveals of the all-new 2021 Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, here come leaked images showing the redesigned version of their upmarket sibling, the Cadillac Escalade, inside and out. The images were posted on Instagram by user @allcarnews, with a hat tip to Jalopnik, and give us our best look yet at the unadorned exterior and the new interior.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by A L L C A R N E W S (@allcarnews) on Dec 11, 2019 at 12:22am PST Let’s start with the body design of the large luxury SUV, with bears strong echoes of both the aforementioned Suburban and Yukon, albeit with a chrome stripe along the lower doors and chrome trim framing the windows. Then thereÂ’s the redesigned grille, which looks like a larger-maw version of the XT6Â’s grille and adopts the same horizontal LED headlights. Instagram commenters also liken the exterior to the new XT6, CadillacÂ’s smaller three-row crossover, and even the Hyundai Palisade. The swept-back, slightly tapered rear end in profile even reminds us a little of the Lincoln Aviator. All of which will beg the question of whether Cadillac has done enough to distinguish its flagship SUV to compete against the Lincoln Navigators of the world.             View this post on Instagram                   (UPDATED) LEAKED: 2021 Escalade ? _____________________________________ [12/11/19] (NEW INTERIOR SHOTS) CadillacÂ’s Escalade for 2021 has been leaked and well.. the exterior is subjective.. What I will point out is the side profile which is unfortunately still identical to the Tahoe & Suburbab albeit with a chrome bar on the bottom and chrome window frame trim. The rear gets full sized LED verticals taillights again, but now more integrated into the rear. The front is big and loud but looks like a blown up XT6. After reading your comments, it seems a mixed bag, especially with the horizontal headlights (which i lightened to show the elements) but the massive verticals LED DRLÂ’s remain thankfully. ???????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????? ? @Allcarnews Spec Sheet: Powertrain wise there will be a carry over 6.2L 420HP+ V8 paired to a 10 speed auto gearbox. A supercharged V8 version (or TT V8) will be coming in the future with up to 650HP in some sort of V designation. Expect blacked out wheels, trim and grille. ? ???????????? ???????????? ??????????? But..