2003 Other! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Chevy to resume engine-building program for 2015 Corvette Z06

One of Chevrolet's most popular and unique customer features is set to return for 2015, as the company has announced that the Engine Build Experience is back. Interested owners will be able to screw together their engines beginning in March. The $5,000 option (which does not include the cost of travel) will give future owners of the 2015 Corvette Z06 the chance to screw together their car's actual 6.2-liter, supercharged V8. Available on each of the Z06's three trims, the Engine Build Experience includes a day at the Performance Build Center, instruction from an engine assembly tech, photographs of the experience and a personalized engine plaque. Once the build process is completed, the engine will (eventually) be fitted under the hood of the customer's personal Z06. "Chevrolet recognizes the passion customers have for Corvette and the Engine Build Experience offers them a truly unique opportunity for hands-on involvement in the creation of the heart of their new car," Corvette product manager Harlan Charles. "It's important for customers to understand their engine won't be installed the day after they built it. It will flow into the scheduling process for vehicle assembly, which depends on a number of logistical variables." Scroll down for the official announcement of the Z06's Engine Build Experience, available below. Exclusive Corvette Engine Build Experience Returns Program renewed for supercharged LT4 engine at new Bowling Green build center 2015-01-07 BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Chevrolet announced today it is resuming the exclusive Engine Build Experience for Corvette Z06 customers – the only program of its kind for supercar customers. Starting in March 2015, Corvette Z06 customers will be able to assemble the 650-hp supercharged LT4 engine for their cars at the new Performance Build Center inside the Bowling Green Assembly Plant. "Chevrolet recognizes the passion customers have for Corvette and the Engine Build Experience offers them a truly unique opportunity for hands-on involvement in the creation of the heart of their new car," said Harlan Charles, Corvette product manager. "It's a chance to bond with their new car." The Engine Build Experience is selected with order code PBC and is offered on all Z06 trim levels.

Chevrolet Malibu could last until 2024 before joining the dodo

Automotive News pieced together all available intel on the Chevrolet and GMC lineups, trying to ascertain how much life each model might have left. Concerning the Chevrolet Malibu, the answer is not too much, and the historic nameplate's final years don't look like the glory kind. After a major overhaul in 2016 boosted sales for the ninth-generation sedan to 227,881 units, the 2018 sales fell to 144,542, and this year's are down almost 15% through the end of June. The Malibu is one of two Chevrolet sedans still breathing - the other being the Impala for now - but only for about five more years. AN says there'll likely be a refresh in 2022, followed by a visit from the Reaper in 2024. After that, it could be "indirectly replaced" by an electric vehicle, one of the 23 EVs that GM is working on for 2023.     The Impala will meet the ax earlier despite a recent stay of execution. Production is still set to close in January 2020. In the entire GM stable, Cadillac might soon be the only marque with sedans. The Buick LaCrosse has a date with death, and Groupe PSA won't supply Opels-as-Regals forever.  The Sonic hatchback should say goodbye at the end of 2020, a year before the seemingly eternal Spark is thought to die. Two years after that, according to one report, the Camaro will go back into cold storage, perhaps forever, and AN says an "expected redesign of the car in 2021 was reportedly canceled." Finally, let's give one final shout-out to the Chevrolet Cruze, a global nameplate, which in the United States alone outsells the Malibu, outsold the Camaro by a factor of three last year, and absolutely trounces the Impala, Sonic, and Spark. Even that couldn't get a stay of execution. In more uplifting news, everything's happening on the crossover and truck side in the next few years. The Chevy Bolt is due for a refresh next year, even though it has "become more important for self-driving ride-hailing fleets that GM Cruise plans to operate than for consumers." In 2021, the Bolt-based crossover should bow, first in China, then here. It's said to look like "a mix of the Bolt and Trax" in spy shots. Still waiting for a green light: a possible subcompact GMC crossover called Granite that might make it to market by 2023. The full-sized SUV triplets Tahoe, Suburban, and Yukon could show their new faces in 2020. The Silverado might get an updated interior in 2020 or 2021, while the Colorado and Canyon mid-sized pickups won't get attention until perhaps 2023.

Chevy Volt owners log half a billion electric miles, 2015 production starts

As General Motors gets ready to start 2015 Volt production Monday, Chevrolet is looking back at some of the numbers that got the car to where it is today. The headline number is that Volt owners have collectively put more than a half-billion electric miles on their cars. The unsurprising upshot is that, if you went out and bought a Volt, you're pretty keen on getting as many electric miles out of it as possible. 90 percent of all Volt trips are done purely on electric power. The typical Volt driver goes 970 miles between fill-ups, GM says, and that means that 63 percent of all miles are done on battery power. General Motors executive director Larry Nitz gave AutoblogGreen a few more details on the usage habits of Volt drivers, including that 81 percent of commuting miles are electric. Two-thirds of US Volt drivers charge their vehicle 1.4 times a day, a clear indicator of drivers trying to maximize electric miles through opportunity charging. In fact, Nitz said, 90 percent of all Volt trips are done purely on electric power. GM also says that the Volt's official 35 miles of electric range is still doable for many owners who have had their car for more than 30 months. Looking ahead, we know that one upgrade for the 2015 Volt will be 4G LTE connectivity that can turn the car, like others in the GM family, into a mobile wifi hotspot. We're of course much more interested in when GM is finally going to start production of the next-gen Volt, but GM officials would only tell us that they're very excited about the still-secret vehicle, promising we'll be learning more "soon." Nitz did confirm that today's Volt drivers are most interested in three things from the next-gen model: more range, a lower price and a fifth seat. He did not say whether or not GM will be able to deliver on those requests. Chevrolet Volt Owners Surpass Half a Billion Electric Miles After 30 months of use, a sampling of Volts shows consistent all-electric range 2014-06-19 DETROIT – Since its launch in late 2010, Chevrolet Volt owners have accumulated more than half a billion all-electric miles. Additionally, based on a General Motors' study of more than 300 Volts in service in California for more than 30 months, many owners are exceeding the EPA-rated label of 35 miles of EV range per full charge, with about 15 percent surpassing 40 miles of range.