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GM is the latest automaker accused of diesel emissions cheating

Volkswagen and Ram need to make room on the diesel-emissions bench for General Motors. America's largest automaker was accused in a lawsuit on Thursday of rigging hundreds of thousands of diesel trucks with at least three so-called defeat devices to ensure that the trucks would meet federal and state emission standards, even if they generated more pollution in real-world driving. According to the complaint, on-road emissions testing conducted for the plaintiffs found that Duramax-equipped trucks produced NOx pollutants, comprised of nitrogen and oxygen atoms, two to five times higher than legally permitted, and "many times" higher than their gasoline counterparts. The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Detroit on behalf of people who own or lease more than 705,000 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks fitted with "Duramax" engines from 2011 to 2016 model years. The lawsuit seeks remedies including possible refunds or restitution for lost vehicle value, plus punitive damages. It adds to legal problems for Detroit-based GM, which has already paid about $2.5 billion in penalties and settlements over faulty ignition switches linked to 124 deaths. GM joins at least five automakers whose diesel emissions have been scrutinized by regulators or consumers. They include VW, which has admitted to cheating; Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler; Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Peugeot and Renault. GM spokesman Dan Flores called the claims "baseless," and said the trucks comply with US Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards and California's own tough standards. Shares of GM were down 69 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $32.50 in afternoon trading, after earlier falling to $31.93. The GM lawsuit was filed by several law firms, including Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, which helped reach multibillion-dollar settlements with VW on behalf of drivers and dealers. The case is Fenner et al v General Motors LLC et al, US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, No. 17-11661. The named plaintiffs are Andrei Fenner of Mountain View, California and Joshua Herman of Sulphur, Louisiana. They said they would not have bought their respective 2011 Sierra and 2016 Silverado trucks, or would have paid less for them, had they known about the alleged rigging. Joseph Spak, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, in a research report said "negative publicity" from the lawsuit could drive buyers to trucks from Ford or even Fiat Chrysler's Ram.

Since 2010, Chevy Volt has outsold Nissan Leaf by just two units

The first two plug-in vehicles from major automakers in the US were the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. Ever since they went on sale to much fanfare in late 2010, we've been tracking the monthly sales with great interest (and, of course, other green vehicle sales as well). After a big initial lead by the Volt – the Volt outsold the Leaf 23,461 to 9,819 in 2012 – the Leaf has been chugging along and outsold the Volt every month since November 2013. We knew that the cumulative totals would soon tip in favor of the Leaf, but for at least one more month, the Volt is going to be able to say its the most popular plug-in vehicle in the US. Overall, for all officially reported sales of the Leaf and the Volt, things are almost exactly tied. Since the vehicles went on sale in the end of 2010 until the end of February 2015, the Volt has sold 74,592 units and the Leaf has sold ... drumroll please ... 74,590 units. For February, Leaf sales totaled 1,198 units, a 17-percent drop from the 1,425 Leafs sold last February. Brendan Jones, Nissan's director of Electric Vehicle Sales and Infrastructure, said in a statement that, "Tough winter weather in several key markets held EV sales back in February. As we head into spring, we look forward to seeing more dealership traffic so shoppers can experience firsthand the benefits of the all-electric Nissan Leaf." Of course, it was cold in the US last February, too, but we're sure that the nasty weather did indeed play a role last month. Things were even worse for the Chevy Volt, which dropped to just 693 copies sold, down 47 percent from the 1,210 sold last year. That's just barely enough for Chevy to keep talking about its plug-in sales leadership, but we expect the message to change once the March numbers come out next month. Related Video:

Sinkhole Opens Up In National Corvette Museum, Swallows Eight Cars

More cars are being moved inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. to avoid falling down the same sinkhole that swallowed eight classic sports cars early this morning, Autoblog reported. Museum officials said the hole was discovered when motion sensors activated around 5:45 a.m. The rescue mission can be viewed on the museum's live feed cameras, which weren't working after the sinkhole emerged. A 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil," both on loan from General Motors, were among the cars that fell into the sinkhole. The museum owned the other affected Corvettes, which included a 1963 Corvette, a 1984 PPG Pace Car and the 1 millionth Corvette ever produced. The state of the cars at the bottom of the hole isn't known, but trial lawyer and sinkhole expert Ted Corless said the cars may be a total loss for the museum and GM. "Most states, including Kentucky, exclude damage caused by sinkhole activity," he said. "There will be, in all likelihood, a claim made, but a lot of policies would specifically exclude these kinds of damages." Corless has 15 years experience dealing with sinkholes. He said that typically neither the building, nor the cars themselves are protected under their insurance policies. "I would have to say, more likely then not, they're going to have an uninsured loss measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars." The museum is closed Wednesday while a structural engineer assesses the damage. Related Gallery 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Test Drive View 9 Photos Related Gallery 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Test Drive View 9 Photos Weird Car News Chevrolet GM corvette