General Motors (GM)

It looks like steering wheels are going to go extinct soon. Not because autonomous vehicles will take over in the future, but because automakers are ditching the ‘wheel’ in favor of other shapes. Tesla introduced the F1-inspired Yoke steering on the production-spec Model S Plaid a few months back. Now, GM has unveiled a game controller-like steering pad. The automaker’s design team uploaded images of the steering pad on its Instagram handle.

Chevrolet may be preparing a number of changes to the flagship Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 model year. According to MotorTrend’s sources, Chevy is planning on releasing a new Camaro model that will have the 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 seen in the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing.

The SUV and crossover craze continues, as manufacturers keep churning outhigh-riding vehicles, in response to the ever-increasing customer demand. As far as the business side of things goes, it is completely understandable, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for cars or even compact vehicles. GM in particular has been teasing us with some pretty interesting stuff, some of which (or all) won’t make it to production, and this hatchback rendering is the latest example.

With practically the same technology as in the Apollo spacecraft that put the first people on the Moon, this is the story of the all-American GM Electrovan, the world’s first working hydrogen fuel cell car. So keep reading to find out why General Motors invested millions of dollars into a vehicle that needed no less than three weeks to start-up the first time. A vehicle that simply disappeared soon after its debut, only to be rediscovered in tip-top shape years later, as if nothing had happened.

The top-shots at GM are not interested in a hardcore off-roader, but it looks like the designers are. The company’s design page on Instagram is always buzzing with sweet sketches and creative posts, but their recent sketch takes it up a notch. The team came up with a sketch of an off-roader that looks like it’s ready to conquer the world. Are any video game developers willing to inculcate this into their games?

GM is once again toying with the idea of autonomous cars by envisioning an interior that at first sight looks like the ultimate man cave where two dudes could play their favorite console games while the vehicle handles all the real-life driving. Which is cute, but kind of a stretch and far from feasible for the time being.

General Motors has released its commercial for Super Bowl LV. The 90-second ad stars Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson, and Awkwafina. In it, Ferrell apparently has a big problem with Norway’s high per-capita ownership of electric vehicles and enlists the help of Thompson and Awkwafina to put the Scandinavian country in its place for being a strong EV market.

The ad also stars two of General Motors’ most high-profile EVs, the Cadillac Lyriq and the GMC Hummer EV. A 60-second version of the commercial will air during the first quarter of the Big Game.

The Honda-General Motors marriage will reportedly give birth to a pair of battery-powered SUVs for Honda and Acura. The partnership, which was announced by the two automakers in April 2020, will revolve around the General’s proprietary Ultium batteries.

Back in 2019, General Motors introduced a new four-cylinder engine in the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. Developed specifically for the midsize truck, the engine eventually made it into the Cadillac CT4-V sedan for the 2021 model year. So what’s so special about this engine? Well, for starters, it’s pretty big for a four-cylinder at 2.7 liters. It also features a dual volute turbocharged design instead of the more common dual scroll layout. And the folks at Engineering Explained talk about this feature and what kind of benefits it brings to the table.

Right now, we know that GM is working on a Hummer EV, and we know that, for some reason, the company thinks the Cadillac brand can sell a six-figure car, known as the Celestiq. I have downright critisized the brand on a number of occasions for not taking EVs seriously enough and, more recently, for the whole Celestiq situation. To me, it seems like GM just doesn’t know what it’s doing, and I always assumed it was because of poor leadership. Now, word has surfaced that Honda and GM are teaming up on EVs. To be more specific, GM is going to help Honda develop it’s next two EVs, and at first I thought this was a very bad move, but then I saw the bigger picture.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced all automakers to shut down facilities starting March 2020. Many carmakers, including General Motors, also teamed up with various companies to build and deliver medical supplies like masks and ventilators. Due to this effort, coupled with uncertainty as to when the lockdown will end, General Motors is delaying mid-cycle facelifts for some vehicles.

As the COVID-19 crisis deepens in Europe and the U.S., automakers join global effort to build ventilators and masks. Carmakers shift to production of medical equipment and supplies following shutdown of vehicle assembly in numerous factories across Europe and North America.

As long as we can remember, GM and Ford have been hardcore rivals. But, since Mary Barra took over GM, the company has been struggling. Just last January, Mary Barra was caught off guard when asked about GM’s future, and her comments regarding where the brand is heading instilled everyone with fear: “Well, what I would say is we’ve been very clear. We believe in an all EV future. We have invested heavily in fuel cells as well, but beyond that, I don’t have anything specific to say. But I think if you look at where… our very strong statements are believing in all EV future… stay tuned.” This was barely even a coherent sentence, and it triggered some to believe that Barra is completely out of touch with the brand and what the next steps should be. Obviously, the answer is to build electric vehicles – one’s that don’t rely on fuel cells and those that are probably of the truck variety. Right around the same time Barra was fumbling for answers regarding GM’s electric future, Ford made the announcement that it was planning to electrify the F-Series, and that’s what leads us to our latest news: An insider from GM has told us that GM and Ford have been in secret talks discussing a merger of the two companies, and the first step in that is Ford building an all-electric Check Silverado atop the same chassis that will underpin the electric F-150. We never thought we’d see the day and Henry Ford is undoubtedly doing backflips in his grave, but GM is in serious trouble, and this is the brand’s only way out, it seems.

We are a little befuddled listening to what Mary Barra had to say about GM producing an all-electric truck. Who’s Mary Barra? Well, she is the CEO of General Motors and. when asked about doing an electric pickup truck to compete with Tesla’s upcoming pickup, she did not have any answer and just commented, ‘stay tuned.’ Stay tuned to watch GM go down?

The Chevrolet Montana is getting replaced by a bigger, more practical compact truck that will sit on the Global Emerging Markets (GEM) platform and also share elements with the next-generation Tracker. It will be a direct competitor to the Fiat Toro and the Renault Duster Oroch in South America, but we may never see it sold in the United States.

There seems to be growing interest in compact, crossover-based, trucks, at least in Latin America where the Montana has been on sale since 2003. Its, as-of-yet unnamed, replacement will be on sale by 2020 and will follow suit on a trend kick-started by Renault and Fiat, among others. Both now offer four-door pick-up trucks and Chevrolet’s new unibody offering will boast the same number of doors. Is this a niche worth exploiting on the North-American market? We don’t know, and it’s also unlikely for GM to sell a GEM-based car here.

General Motors is in the midst of major restructuring, which it confirmed by announcing that five of its North American plants will be shut down, including the plant in Ohio that manufactured the Cruze and the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that was once part of an epic neighborhood battle. This also marks the end of the Chevrolet Volt Hybrid. However, the biggest announcement was that around 14,000 employees have been given pink slips.