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GM diesel pickups first to undergo extra EPA, CARB testing

The effects of Volkswagen's long-running diesel emissions evasion are starting to spill over to other automakers, but General Motors is taking things in stride. The 2.8-liter, four-cylinder Duramax in the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon is the first engine to get extra scrutiny by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, Automotive News reports. Rather than just the usual in-lab test, it's also being checked on the road. However, the extra evaluation shouldn't have any impact on when the trucks with his mill hit dealers later this fall. "We're in our final stages of the EPA certification, and our launch is on track," Chevy spokesperson Otie McKinley tells Autoblog. The four-cylinder diesel in the trucks makes 181 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, and the automaker is touting low NOx production. In the announcement for the Colorado's specs, the company calls it "the cleanest diesel truck engine ever produced by General Motors." The tech includes exhaust gas recirculation to lower combustion temperatures and improve emissions. There's also a urea tank like on the bigger diesels for full-size trucks, and it gets refilled in time with oil changes. An indication on the instrument panel lets drivers know when that's needed, too. Even with the more demanding testing, the company doesn't seem too worried about the four-cylinder passing. "Part of our development process is on-road and off-road [laboratory] testing," Scott Yackley, Chevy Trucks assistant chief engineer, said to Automotive News. In the wake of the VW scandal, the EPA has pledged more rigorous testing. Before, on-road emissions evaluations were largely limited to heavy-duty vehicles, but the agency has decided to apply the checks more often to other models. There's also now greater cooperation with Canadian authorities.

2019 GMC Yukon Graphite Edition offers Denali engine and features without the chrome

A sporty-looking option package called RST was recently introduced for the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban that also offered the option of a 6.2-liter V8 and magnetic suspension. Now GMC is getting in on the action with the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL Graphite Edition. The trim package adds a number of visual enhancements, and, if you're so inclined, has a performance version with the same 6.2-liter V8 and magnetic suspension as the Tahoe RST and Yukon Denali. As for appearances, the Graphite Edition adds black trim almost everywhere, including the roof rails, grille, fog light surrounds, and window surrounds. It also adds 22-inch wheels, regardless of whether it's just the appearance version or the performance version. The appearance package has machined-finish wheels, and the performance package has black painted wheels. As previously mentioned, the performance version of the Graphite Edition adds magnetic suspension and the 6.2-liter V8 with 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque found on the Denali and the Tahoe and Suburban RSTs. It's coupled to a 10-speed automatic transmission, and gets a rear axle ratio of 3.23:1. It also gets a few other Denali features such as a color heads-up display, Bose noise cancellation, a 170-amp alternator, and a trailer brake controller. The Graphite Edition can be had with both two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. The Graphite Edition can only be had on Yukon and Yukon XL SLT models. Pricing hasn't been announced yet, but it's likely it will be a bit more affordable than buying a Denali model. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 GMC Yukon SLT Graphite Edition Image Credit: GMC GMC SUV gmc yukon gmc yukon denali

GM might lose 90-year U.S. sales crown over chip shortage

Automotive News editor Nick Bunkley tweeted on October 1 that according to AutoNews data, General Motors "has been the largest seller of vehicles in the U.S. every year since passing Ford in 1931." With automakers having turned in light car and truck sales data for the first three quarters of 2021, GM's 90-year-run might not reach 91. According to AN figures, Toyota was 80,401 vehicles ahead when the October workday started. Worse, GM is so far behind its historic pace that it might only sell enough light vehicles in the U.S. to match its numbers from 1958.  Meanwhile, the New York Times put a few more salient numbers to the pain GM and Toyota are enduring alongside the the rest of the industry. GM sold 33% fewer cars in Q3 2021 than it did in Q3 2019 during the dark days of the pandemic, 446,997 units this year as opposed to 665,192 last year. GM's Q3 2020 was only down 13% on Q3 2019. Over at Toyota, the bottom line showed a 1% gain in Q3 2021 compared to 2020, with 566,005 units moved off dealer lots. The finer numbers show two steps forward and one step back, though; Toyota's September sales were down 22% compared to last year.  GM remains optimistic about what's ahead, GM's president of North American operations telling the NYT, "We look forward to a more stable operating environment through the fall." We'd like to see that happen, but we don't know how it happens. The chip shortage said to have been the inciting incident for the current woes isn't over, and not only can no one agree when it will be over, the automakers, chip producers, and U.S. government still can't get on the same page about who needs what and when. Looking away from that for a second shows articles about "No End In Sight" for supply chain disruptions in early September, before China had to start working through power supply constraints, global supply chain workers started warning of a "system collapse," and roughly 500,000 containers sat waiting to be unloaded at Southern California ports — a record number seemingly broken every week. And back to chips, we're told just a few days ago the chip shortage is "worse than we thought."   For now, the NYT wrote that GM dealer inventory is down 40% from June to roughly 129,000 vehicles, and down 84% from the days when dealers would cumulatively keep about 800,000 light vehicles in stock. However, GM just announced it would have almost all of its U.S. facilities back online next week, although some would run at partial capacity.