2012 Chevy 2500 Diesel 4x4 Lt1 Z71 Heated Leather Crew Cab 1 Owner on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Weekly Recap: Volvo buys Polestar, makes performance a priority

Volvo is taking its performance business in-house, and the Swedish carmaker announced Tuesday that it bought tuning company Polestar, which has long been known for producing sporty Volvos. The move allows Volvo to ramp up its performance business, and it plans to increase Polestar-branded vehicle sales to 1,000 to 1,500 annually, up from the 750 total projected for this year. The companies have been working together on motorsports projects since 1996. Financial terms of the sale were not released, and Polestar workers will move over to Volvo. Former Polestar owner Christian Dahl will keep control of the Polestar racing team and operate it under a new name. In addition to sales volume, Volvo has ambitious plans for other parts of Polestar, including its aftermarket business. Volvo also said it will use its twin-engine hybrid technology for Polestar models in the future, though specifics and timing were not revealed. Meanwhile, Volvo announced it will offer a run of 265 total Polestars in the United States for the 2016 model year, with S60 and V60s available. "Driving a Volvo Polestar is a special experience. We have decided to bring this experience to more Volvo drivers, placing the full resources of Volvo behind the development of Polestar as the model name for our high performance cars," Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, get nose jobs Automakers tend to refer to light updates as 'facelifts,' and that's exactly what Chevy gave the 2016 Silverado and GMC Sierra. Chevy slightly changed the front end of the truck. Using the one photo released of the new Z71 model as a guide, we can see that the headlights went from a stacked vertical design to single bulbs, and they are set on top of LED running lights. The grille has more body-colored elements instead of shiny metal, and the hood has a new line running down the middle (look really closely). The design theme will be similar across the portfolio, though materials and details will vary, a spokesman said. Some models, like the High Country and LTZ will have more chrome, and the LEDs are only for the upper trims. Chevy also said it will use the eight-speed automatic transmission on more versions of the Silverado, and it updated the MyLink feature to support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Should heavy-duty pickup trucks have window stickers with fuel mileage estimates?

If you were to stroll into your nearest Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, or Ram dealership, you'd find a bunch of pickup trucks. Most of those would have proper window stickers labeled with things like base prices, options prices, location of manufacture, and, crucially, fuel economy estimates. But you'd also run across a number of heavy-duty trucks with no such fuel mileage data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA doesn't require automakers to publish the valuable miles-per-gallon measurement for vehicles with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare behemoths powered by turbocharged diesel engines – between one another, and between smaller, gasoline-fueled trucks. Consumer Reports doesn't think it should be this way, and it's spearheading an effort (PDF link) to get the government to require manufacturers to publish fuel economy estimates. In its own testing, CR found that heavy-duty pickups powered by Ford's Power Stroke, GM's Duramax, and FCA's Cummins diesel engines (which doesn't include the Ram's EcoDiesel) get worse fuel mileage than their lighter-duty gas-powered siblings. We're not so sure HD-truck buyers are unaware of this fact – big diesels don't really come into their own until big loads are placed in their beds or attached to their trailer hitches. Under heavy workloads, the diesel trucks will almost certainly return greater efficiency than a similar gas-powered truck. What's more, HD trucks with lumbering diesels in general make the driver feel more confident while towing due to greater torque at low engine RPM than gas trucks. They also offer greater max-weight limits. Still, we agree EPA fuel mileage estimates should be offered for heavy-duty pickups. And we think the comparisons provided by Consumer Reports might be interesting to potential buyers. Click here to see the results of CR's tests, and let us know what you think using the poll below. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty: First Drive View 22 Photos News Source: Consumer Reports Government/Legal Green Read This Chevrolet Ford GMC Nissan RAM Fuel Efficiency Truck Commercial Vehicles Diesel Vehicles poll gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd

Autoblog Minute: VW finds CO2 'irregularities', Takata dropped by automakers, SEMA recap

Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal gets a new wrinkle, US regulators hit Takata Corporation with a substantial fine, and we head to Las Vegas for a look at tuner paradise at the 2015 SEMA show. Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal gets a new wrinkle. US regulators issue a significant fine to Takata Corporation. And we take a peek inside tuner paradise at the 2015 SEMA show. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. The VW diesel emissions scandal, first brought to light in September, gets a new wrinkle, as an internal investigation by the German automaker revealed [00:00:30] irregularities in CO2 emissions that could affect approximately 800,000 vehicles. VW estimates the issue could pose a 2-billion euro economic risk. VW claims that most of the vehicles affected have diesel engines, but industry analysts say a 1.4-liter gas engine is also affected. VW says that fuel consumption figures were set too low during the CO2 certification process. During all of this, sales of some diesel-powered Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche models [00:01:00] have been halted. Takata Corporation is back in the news in connection with its deadly airbag scandal. Federal regulators fined Takata $70 million. If the parts supplier does not comply, the fine could balloon to $200 million. Takata was also dropped this week by its biggest customer, Honda. And now, Toyota and Mazda will be following Honda's lead in dropping Takata. We're also hearing that Mitsubishi and Subaru are considering a switch in air-bag inflator suppliers. SEMA 2015 [00:01:30] came and went. We saw offerings from Mopar, like the AWD Challenger concept. Honda unveiled a Ridgeline that it will race at the Baja 1000, which gives us a hint at what future production model could look like. The celebrity presence was also felt in Vegas as it always is. Kid Rock brought a Duramax Diesel Chevy Silverado, and Acura restored and presented Ludacris with his now famous 1993 Acura Legend. Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to come back on Saturday for my full recap, [00:02:00] where I'll have some added insight into Hyundai's foray into the luxury sector. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore. Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive.