Jalopnik: General Motors

How Bad Was GM's January Sales Stumble?

Ray Wert — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:15:00 EST

In a month that saw Ford sales up 7%, and even Chrysler up 44%, it's hard to see a sales drop of 6% at General Motors and see much in the way of good. More »

2009 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck is what we really want for Christmas

Tom Joslin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

A few months before General Motors killed Pontiac, Pontiac killed our dreams when they announced the cancellation of plans to bring the Holden Commodore Ute to America in the form of the Pontiac G8 Sport Truck. Almost three years later the sting of being denied access to the ultimate parts hauler after being told the G8 Sport Truck was on its way is still there. More »

Is General Motors bankrolling a remake of Cannonball Run?

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:28:19 EDT

Cannonball Run?" alt="Click here to read Is General Motors bankrolling a remake of Cannonball Run?" src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2011/10/small_cannonball_run_3.jpg"/>

Is GM planning a run at the movie business, throwing its corporate weight behind a remake of the 1981 movie Cannonball Run? That's what insiders are saying about a project that could become the largest, and edgiest, product placement deal in history. UPDATE! More »

Glider pilot killed in crash while filming GM ad

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EDT

A glider that crashed in Washington state last week, killing the pilot, was part of a commercial ad shoot for General Motors, the company told the Associated Press. The crash occurred as the glider was starting to ascend after being towed down an airport runway. More »

GM EN-V Concept: An electric pod car for pod people

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:30:00 EDT

While everyone else is resigned to a future of neo-Spartan tribal warfare over dwindling resources, GM is still clutching hopefully to the most 1970s of sci-fi visions: pod cars. This is the latest version of GM's Electric Networked Vehicle concept, aka Sir James Dyson's coffin. More »

OnStar kills plan to track ex-subscribers

Justin Hyde — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:15:00 EDT

In the face of a full-on revolt from users and pressure from Congress, Drudge Report and other media outlets, General Motors' OnStar service just announced it was reversing plans to keep tracking vehicles of its 6 million subscribers if they cancel the service. Now once it's off, it's off. More »

Bob Lutz joins electric car company Via Motors

Ray Wert — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Bob Lutz, former GM vice-chairman, may be back at GM as a "senior advisor", but it's not stopping him from working on other projects. We've just learned, via Jeff Gilbert, auto reporter for WWJ AM and CBS Radio, that "Maximum" Bob has joined Via Motors, an electric car company. More »

OnStar will track you even if you cancel service

Justin Hyde — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:00:00 EDT

For years, General Motors' OnStar service has been a stoic electronic nanny, there to help if your car's crashed or stolen, but otherwise pleasantly unobtrusive. Now OnStar wants the right to sell data about GM owners' driving habits — even if they've canceled the service. More »

Joe Biden has a 1967 Corvette that he's not allowed to drive

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:30:00 EDT

A few things you didn't know about Vice President Joe Biden and cars: His dad had GM and Chrysler dealerships (while he, as a U.S. citizen, owns parts of GM and Chrysler). He once borrowed a Chrysler 300D for his prom, and the Secret Service won't let him drive his 1967 Corvette. More »

Bob Lutz heads back to General Motors as "Senior Advisor"

Ray Wert — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:15:00 EDT

General Motors today announced it's bringing back former Vice Chairman Bob Lutz to provide counsel to the senior leadership team of the company. Although Lutz has been providing advice to GM executives informally since retiring from the company in 2010, we think maybe they realized just how much they needed a, you know, actual car guy. More »

Nissan Leaf outselling Chevy Volt 2 to 1, can GM catch up?

Justin Hyde — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:45:00 EDT

In the sales slap fight between the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, the Leaf has the Volt by the wrists and asking why it keeps hitting itself. Chevy's response: Wait 'til next month. More »

U.S. getting smallest Chevy ever built

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:31:00 EDT

The 2012 Chevrolet Spark is reportedly back on track for the US market. The Korean-built subcompact, sold in a previous incarnation as the Daewoo Matiz, will arrive next year as a 2013 model, riding on GM's Yo Gabba Gabba platform. Ok, no. More »

Cadillac ATS: This is it

Justin Hyde — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Confirming what was already well known, General Motors said today it would add two new Cadillac models next year — the big XTS and the small ATS, a 3-Series fighter whose profile was shown in this chiaroscuro teaser. More »

Bumblebee hit with shrink ray for GM China

Justin Hyde — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Because the Chevy Camaro is still a little too pricey for most Chinese car buyers, GM China plans to yuan in on China's Transformers craze with this Bumblebee-edition Chevy Cruze. Bit of a buzz kill. More »

Ford Marketing Head: "Fuck GM"

Justin Hyde — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:50:00 EDT

Ford's chief marketer Jim Farley has overseen some of the company's most important successes of the past few years, ones that have made it the most profitable automaker in America. How does he get motivated? By vowing to "fuck GM." UPDATED More »

How a car company built the world's first mechanical heart

Ray Wert — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:30:00 EDT

In 1952, Dr. Forest Dodrill captured national attention when he became the first surgeon to use a mechanical heart pump on a patient at Wayne State University's Harper Hospital in Detroit. There's a reason that heart pump looks like a 12-cylinder engine. It was made by General Motors. More »

Cadillac unofficially getting another flagship sedan, for now

Justin Hyde — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:45:00 EDT

GMInsideNews says the Magic 8-Ball guiding General Motors' vehicle choices has answered the question of "Should Cadillac get a flagship sedan" with "It is decidedly so." Given how long GM has dithered on this, count on someone else asking again. More »

The shape-shifting, fuel-saving metals of the future

Justin Hyde — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Active aerodynamics have long ago filtered down from track cars to high-end sports cars, and are beginning to show up in everyday sedans. But General Motors has patented an idea to use shape-shifting materials to make them more efficient. More »

Japanese automakers have awful May, put Chrysler back in "Big Three"

Justin Hyde — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:30:00 EDT

If you're trying to live life rather than monitor U.S. auto sales data, we applaud your priorities. But it is worth pausing to note just how badly Japan's earthquake damaged Japanese automakers in the United States in May. More »

Chevy dealers are not scamming taxpayers on Volt tax credits

Justin Hyde — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EDT

This weekend, a conservative group claimed taxpayers were getting scammed on Chevy Volt tax credits by dealers, proving the Volt wasn't nearly as popular as General Motors or the Obama administration says. Sorry to disappoint Rush Limbaugh, but they're wrong. More »

GM selling bonds to fund new subprime car loans

Ray Wert — Tue, 24 May 2011 08:30:00 EDT

Bloomberg's reporting General Motors plans to sell $500 million in unsecured bonds as it raises cash to increase lending to less creditworthy car buyers. I think we saw this happen once before. That didn't end so well either. More »

Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra get top safety pick honors

Justin Hyde — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:00:00 EDT

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says it rolled the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra something fierce until each earned a "top safety pick." Nissan, GM and Chrysler marketers mumbled they don't care about no poncey safety grade anyways. More »

The brand-new $150,000 Camaro rat-rod

Justin Hyde — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:30:00 EDT

There are hot rods. There are rat rods. Then there's this: A new Camaro SS that's been speed-rusted and deglossed into junkyard condition while getting a 1,000-hp supercharged engine — and it only cost $150,000. More »

For $11,000, never stray far from home

graverobber — Fri, 06 May 2011 08:00:00 EDT

They say home is where you find it, and with today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe GMC Motor Home, you could toss out the welcome mat damn near anywhere. Does its price however mean that while its lights may be on, nobody's home? More »

How Lexus is losing the luxury war

Justin Hyde — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:15:00 EDT

Being the top-selling U.S. luxury brand for 11 years was nice, but according to a list of gripes in a leaked internal document obtained exclusively by Jalopnik, they're also on the verge of becoming the new Buick. UPDATED More »

How Bob Lutz saved GM from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and itself

Justin Hyde — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT

In his new book, former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz calls Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other right-wing critics of GM "reckless" for their hatred of anything linked to the Obama administration — including the Chevrolet Volt. Here's our exclusive first drive review of the soon-to-be-published book. More »

GM's American Pride Camaro proves there's no such thing as too patriotic

Justin Hyde — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT

There's no greater way for General Motors to memorialize our nation's history than by paying to cover a Camaro SS with a mural so eagle-emblazoned and patriotic it's like the love child of Lee Greenwood and Chuck Norris. These colors do run — fast. More »

Feds may cut-and-run from GM stock this summer

Justin Hyde — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:20:00 EDT

With shares of General Motors hovering near a post-IPO low, masterminds at the U.S. Treasury have let slip they might sell a chunk of its 33% stake this summer or fall. Someone's just itching to use the E-Trade account. More »

2012 Cadillac CTS gets new grille, 14 extra horses and kills a manual

Justin Hyde — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:15:00 EDT

Cadillac tweaks for the 2012 CTS include 14 additional horsepower from the 3.6-liter V6 and a shiny new grille for all models. Going away: The six-speed manual transmission, now limited strictly to the V-series due to lack of demand. More »

Obama "car czar" eliminated in budget-cutting move

Justin Hyde — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EDT

The federal budget deal keeping the U.S. government open eliminates the Obama administration's "car czar" which oversaw the bailouts of GM and Chrysler. In memoriam, GM will give the U.S. Treasury a Cruze with a missing steering wheel. More »

The broken steering wheel viral video that sparked a recall

Justin Hyde — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EDT

The owner of a 2011 Chevy Cruze that had its steering wheel fall off while driving at 65 mph posted this video to prove his point. It's a case study in how one person can sway a giant corporation. More »

GM recalls 2,100 Chevy Cruzes for broken steering wheels

Justin Hyde — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:15:00 EDT

Seems a steering wheel plumb fell off a Chevrolet Cruze during a test, so General Motors will recall 2,100 of them to give a certain bolt one more righty-tighty. More »

Journalists on mock GM factory line produce 25 defects in 20 minutes

Justin Hyde — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EDT

In a stroke of public relations ingenuity, General Motors and the UAW on Tuesday threw a handful of Detroit-area journalists onto the mock assembly line used for training hourly workers. The result? A renewed appreciation for manual labor. More »

Is General Motors working on a self-driving vehicle?

Ray Wert — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EDT

We've heard a credible rumor that General Motors is partnering up with auto supplier TRW to work on autonomous vehicles. More »

GM's social media guru jumps

Justin Hyde — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Chris Barger, the chief of General Motors' social media socializing, will jump ship to work for other clients at Porter Novelli. He's also now free to tweet how he really feels about Detroit drivers. More »

GM gives its preferred shareholders $59.4 million in dividends

Justin Hyde — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:20:00 EDT

While regular General Motors shareholders get to ride the wave below the IPO price, the swells holding the preferred mandatory convertible shares get dividends totaling $59.4 million. More »

Forbes attacks Volt, omits shilling for oil industry

Justin Hyde — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:45:00 EDT

Forbes attacks Volt, omits shilling for oil industry" alt="Click here to read Forbes attacks Volt, omits shilling for oil industry" src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2011/03/small_volt2_01.jpg"/>

In the latest issue of Forbes magazine, writer Patrick Michaels trashes the Chevy Volt and General Motors, saying the Volt is the socialist evil Ayn Rand warned of. What Michaels doesn't mention? How the oil industry pays his bills.
More »

GM revives ancient Saturn Vue as rental-only Chevy Captiva

Justin Hyde — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST

Saying it wants to slake the thirst of rental-car customers for pillowy crossovers, General Motors will exhume the Saturn Vue, slap a Chevy grille on it and sell it as the Captiva later this year for fleets only. Say what? More »

OnStar subscribers can push button for tsunami help

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST

OnStar subscribers along the Pacific coast can push the blue button and get access to trained crisis-assist advisors who can give info or send help. OnStar also urges those with the button to help out non-subscribers too. More »

A teaser of the new Chevy Colorado you won't get

Justin Hyde — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EST

Ever had your cubicle pals flash an invitation to a party you weren't invited to? Chevy did that today with this teaser of the redone Colorado pickup, which will debut at the Bangkok auto show later this month. More »