1968 Chevy C10 4x4 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Chevy Bolt, GM's 200-mile EV, could debut in Detroit

It's not news that General Motors is working on a $30,000 electric vehicle with a 200-mile range. Then-CEO Dan Akerson said as much back in 2013. What we've heard before is that this mystery EV will be based on the Chevrolet Sonic and will will arrive in 2017. So, if that's all correct, then it would make sense that confirmation of this plan would come at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, which is just around the corner. And lookee here... The Wall Street Journal is reporting that GM will unveil a concept Chevy Bolt at the Detroit show on Monday. That name sure makes sense, too, since GM registered that trademark back in August. According to the Journal, the rumored numbers – 200-mile range, $30,000 price – are still what's expected. Some new purported details are that the battery will come from LG Chem, which also makes the Volt's batteries, and that the Bolt will be a crossover that could be sold around the world. This all smacks of a preemptive strike against the Tesla Model 3, which is also due around 2017. Currently, GM sells the Spark EV in limited areas of the US, despite a lot of excitement for wider availability. To sell a 200-mile EV for $30,000 means that GM and LG Chem will likely have drastically reduced the cost of making a big plug-in vehicle battery. What this means for the new Volt and GM's future plans is something we're more than a little excited about to learn more of on Monday, the same day that we get to see the redesigned Chevy Volt for the first time. Well, aside from the CES teaser. Green Chevrolet Crossover Electric 2015 Detroit Auto Show Chevy Bolt bolt

GM won't really kill off the Chevy Volt and Cadillac CT6, will it?

General Motors is apparently considering killing off six slow-selling models by 2020, according to Reuters. But is that really likely? The news is mentioned in a story where UAW president Dennis Williams notes that slumping US car sales could threaten jobs at low-volume factories. Still, we're skeptical that GM is really serious about killing those cars. Reuters specifically calls out the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Sonic, and the Chevrolet Volt. Most of these have been redesigned or refreshed within the past few model years. Four - the LaCrosse, Impala, CT6, and Volt - are built in the Hamtramck factory in Detroit. That plant has made only 35,000 cars this year - down 32 percent from 2016. A typical GM plant builds 200,000-300,000 vehicles a year. Of all the cars Williams listed, killing the XTS, Impala, and Sonic make the most sense. They're older and don't sell particularly well. On the other hand, axing the other three seems like an odd move. It would leave Buick and Cadillac without flagship sedans, at least until the rumored Cadillac CT8 arrives. The CT6 was a big investment for GM and backing out after just a few years would be a huge loss. It also uses GM's latest and best materials and technology, making us even more skeptical. The Volt is a hugely important car for Chevrolet, and supplementing it with a crossover makes more sense than replacing it with one. Offering one model with a range of powertrain variants like the Hyundai Ioniq and Toyota Prius might be another route GM could take. All six of these vehicles are sedans, Yes, crossover sales are booming, but there's still a huge market for cars. Backing away from these would be essentially giving up sales to competitors from around the globe. The UAW might simply be publicly pushing GM to move crossover production to Hamtramck to avoid closing the plant and laying off workers. Sales of passenger cars are down across both GM and the industry. Consolidating production in other plants and closing Hamtramck rather than having a single facility focus on sedans might make more sense from a business perspective. GM is also trying to reduce its unsold inventory, meaning current production may be slowed or halted while current cars move into customer hands. There's a lot of politics that goes into building a car. GM wants to do what makes the most sense from a business perspective, while the UAW doesn't workers to lose their jobs when a factory closes.

GM claims it's first to sell million 30+ mpg vehicles

As we continue to put together all the data for the year-end edition of By The Numbers, General Motors has announced that it sold more than a million vehicles in the US last year that achieved at least 30 miles per gallon on the highway. More impressively, GM managed this feat using multiple strategies including small vehicle size, turbocharged engines and hybrid or plug-in technologies across four brands (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC) accounting for 13 separate models. This number will grow even more in 2013 thanks to cars like the all-electric Spark, the diesel Cruze, the range-extended Cadillac ELR and the Buick Encore compact CUV.
GM's small car sales were up 39 percent last year helping to attain this million-sales mark for 30-mpg models, and almost 40 percent of all GM sales consisted of cars with fuel-efficient I4 engines. In regards to more advanced means of improving fuel economy, GM says that it plans on having 500,000 vehicles with "some form of electrification" on the road by 2017.
Scroll down for the full list of GM's million 30+ mpg cars as well as an informative press release.