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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Japan , GM , Toyota , Rumormill Click above to enlarge the Creation of Wagoner from our friends at Motive According to a report by Japan's Kyodo News , General Motors' chief executive and chairman Rick Wagoner is considering visiting Toyota in Japan to discuss a myriad of issues, ranging from funding to parts sharing. In typical fashion (of late), the story cites unnamed sources saying Toyota is "expected to consider quick fixes for the cash-strapped GM, including buying up its assets and helping secure sufficient business funds." The talks are also said to include a partnership that would license Toyota's hybrid technology for use in GM products, along with ToMoCo building fuel-efficient, compact cars for the General. We're suitably skeptical about any kind of partnership between the world's two automotive giants, particular since no one from Toyota or GM was willing to comment for the story. More to come... or not. Watch...
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Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler, LLC. , GM Our heads are still reeling from one of the most tumultuous weeks on record, both for the financial world and the auto industry. But despite our best efforts to drown our concerns in Racer5 IPA, the hits keep coming and this time, it's courtesy of the New York Times . The Gray Lady is reporting that General Motors and Chrysler have been in talks about a possible merger for the past month and that two unnamed sources say that the chances of the deal going through are "50-50." With GM's stock prices ending the week below $5 a share and Cerberus - the private equity firm that owns Chrysler - grasping at straws any and all straws, including continued talks with Nissan/Renault, a merger of unequals is two parts disturbing and one part intriguing. Cerberus' people haven't been returning phone calls and the only comment offered to the NYT from the General's...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Sedans/Saloons , Green , Hatchbacks , Chevrolet , GM Click above for high-res gallery of 2011 Chevy Volt Everyone who has been waiting with bated breath for the past year and a half to see the production version of the Chevy Volt can now breathe a big sigh of relief. After some extremely unflattering press shots shots were accidentally released last week, people were extremely disappointed with what appeared to be little more than a Prius clone. Anyone who spends time photographing cars knows how hard it can be to make them look good and how easy it is to make them look really awful. Unfortunately, those shots that were unapproved and never supposed to be released anyway fell into the latter category. The car that GM rolled out this morning as part of its centennial celebration in Detroit is a much more attractive machine that while different from the concept is still very attractive. Rather than the egg shape look we saw, it's actually much more like...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM Click above for high-res gallery of the 2011 Chevy Volt Though its first official public debut isn't scheduled until early next week, the 2011 Chevy Volt has been introduced to the internet early courtesy of the The Car Connection, which published these apparently official pictures of the revolutionary series hybrid today. In the past few weeks we've seen official teasers shots of the car mixed with spy video taken on the set of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen , all of which have only served to increase excitement ahead of the car's official debut next week. These pics give up the goods like no others, however, and show various GM execs and engineers directly responsible for its development posing alongside like proud papas. The list includes, in order, Tony Posawatz, Bob Lutz, Bob Boniface, Frank Weber, and Andrew Farah. What we see is a vehicle about the size of the current Chevy Cobalt or next-gen Cruze with...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Economy , Sedans/Saloons , Plants/Manufacturing , Crossovers/CUVs , Chevrolet , GM , GMC , HUMMER , Pontiac , Saturn , Opel , Vauxhall General Motor's car czar, Bob Lutz, sat down with the little people of the blogosphere after GM's announcement that it would be reducing white collar expenditures by 20-percent, cutting truck production and eliminating retired health care for salaried workers over 65, all in an effort to boost its liquidity by $15 billion by the end of 2009. Maximum Bob addressed questions about GM's entire brand portfolio, saying, "Pontiac will be nourished with products" and confirming that GM is in talks with financial institutions about HUMMER, and that, "If we could sell the brand, we'd be interested in doing that." Predictably, much of the conversation centered on fuel efficiency and the General's plans to address the growing demand for miserly transport in the U.S. Lutz made it clear that "as...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM Click above for a high-res gallery of the Chevrolet Volt concept. One of the many things General Motors boasted about when it unveiled the Volt concept at the Detroit Auto Show in 2007 was its 600-mile range. This was achieved partially by the battery pack, which could sustain a (theoretical) charge allowing the Volt to run for 40 miles without reverting to the gasoline engine/generator, as well as a 12-gallon fuel tank. According to Kicking Tires, GM has shrunk the size of the tank by an unknown quantity and the result is a reduction in range from 600 to 400 miles - or 360 miles without the aid of battery power. The General maintains that since most owners don't travel more than 40 miles in one day, it wasn't necessary to fit the Volt with a larger tank. That reduction in capacity will save some weight, but what will it cost in public perception? The hype surrounding GM's supposed savior and game-changer are based on...
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Filed under: Etc. , Ford , GM Of all the preposterous ideas floated around this, the new automotive landscape, none seem as ridiculous as Ford and General Motors merging together to create a singular domestic monolith. But according to a BusinessWeek source, the idea was recently floated by execs during a meeting of the General's generals... and then shot down moments later. While we wouldn't describe this as a close call, the fact that it was even mentioned speaks volumes about the dire straits Detroit's Big 3 (or 2.8, if you prefer) are in. Between plummeting sales, increased material costs, high fuel prices and union woes, both automakers are facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. But creating a $350 billion bloated corporate entity with excess production capacity, weak brands and more cannibalizing product overlap than has ever been seen, there's no doubt that it would be suicide for all involved. Not to mention the fact that the amount of resources necessary to...
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Filed under: Trends , GM The Northstar V8 has been a great engine for General Motors, but there's no denying that it's past its prime. GM had been working on an engine program to replace the Northstar with a new high-tech DOHC V8 for its luxury cars, but revealed today that the program's been cancelled. It's kind of easy to see why, as the General's 3.6L direct-inject V6 offers V8-like horsepower with less weight and better fuel economy. In fact, we bet more people choose the 3.6L DI V6 when ordering a Cadillac STS than the 4.6L Northstar V8 since the former is only down 14 horsepower on the latter (320 vs 306). Wouldn't you? And when an honest-to-goodness V8 is really needed, say in a performance model like the CTS-V, GM's got plenty of Corvette engines from which to choose that get exemplary fuel economy on the highway. And that's really what all this is about: looking ahead to the day when a 35 mpg CAFE standard has to be met. Gone will be the days when...
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Filed under: GM , UAW/Unions var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/business_finance/UAW_officially_on_strike_talks_with_GM_broken_off'; We had the TV on at 11:00AM EST expecting to see CNN, MSNBC and Fox News providing up to the minute coverage of the UAW...
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