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Archive for June, 2009

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GM Asks Bankruptcy Court to Approve Formation of New GM

June 30th, 2009 | Posted in: Financial with 94 Comments

On Tuesday in a New York City court, GM took the final step towards emerging from bankruptcy.  Including testimony from CEO Fritz Henderson, GM filed for the court to approve the 363 sale of the old GMs best performing assets to the new GM.  This request has taken place a mere 30 days after GM first [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 94 Comments

NUMMI No More: Has GM Said No-Thanks to GM-Branded Prius?

June 29th, 2009 | Posted in: Financial, Hybrid with 184 Comments

Since 1984 GM has had a relationship with Toyota at the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) joint-venture plant in California, where the Pontiac Vibe, twin of the Toyota Matrix, has been built. GM’s bankruptcy process and the shedding of the Pontiac brand had made GM’s future role in that plant uncertain.
Bloomberg reports [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 184 Comments

Toyota’s New President to Continue Focus on Hybrid Rather than Electric Cars

June 29th, 2009 | Posted in: Competitors, Hybrid with 290 Comments

Toyota has been the first company to achieve significant commercial success in selling a hybrid vehicle. The Toyota Prius is in its third generation and since inception has sold well over 1 million units. In fact Toyota’s success with the Prius caught GM by surprise.  As the story goes, GM long ago had [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 290 Comments

Voltec Could go Mainstream in 5 to 6 Years

June 28th, 2009 | Posted in: Next Generation, Opel, Voltec with 109 Comments

The Opel Ampera is the twin sister car to the Chevy Volt.  The primary difference is rebadging with Opel styling cues, the platform and powertrain will be identical.   Canadian parts supplier Magna International is in negotiations with GM to become a partial owner of Opel.
There are apparently some snags in the negotiations.  It is well [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 109 Comments

GM Will Build New Yet-to-be Revealed Subcompact Car in Michigan, Hopes to Sell More Than 100,000 Annually

June 27th, 2009 | Posted in: Brand, Efficiency with 164 Comments

On Friday, GM announced that it had chosen an Orion Township Michigan assembly plant as the location it would build a new upcoming subcompact car.  Stamping for the car would be done in Pontiac Michigan.  The move takes this future vehilce away from China where it was originally planned to be built.  The move stateside [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 164 Comments

Chevy Volt Integration Vehicle Update

June 26th, 2009 | Posted in: Feedback to GM, Original GM-Volt Interviews, Prototypes with 263 Comments

I must admit I am still amazed that we are actually beginning to talk about a near finished product, the Chevy Volt integration vehicles (IV). Over 2 and a half years ago when I first started this site, (SEE FIRST POST HERE) this point was a time that was unimaginable and yet now has [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 263 Comments

Chat Live with Andrew Farah, Chevy Volt Chief Engineer Right Here: 4PM EDT

June 25th, 2009 | Posted in: Feedback to GM, Original GM-Volt Interviews with 208 Comments

Andrew Farah is the chief engineer for the Chevy Volt, and has been involved in the car’s development since 2007. He is the first person to drive the newly minted integration production intent Chevy Volts, as we have just heard. That’s him driving the IVer above.
I have had the fortune of being able [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 208 Comments

Video: Pre-Production Chevy Volts Hit the Road!

June 24th, 2009 | Posted in: Production, Prototypes, Video with 357 Comments

GM has just released a video of and blog post by Andrew Farah, the Volts chief engineer. Andrew demonstrates one of the new pre-production genuine Chevy Volts that has rolled of the assembly line. He reports he drove the first one on Tuesday, Integration Vehicle #1, more than a week ahead of schedule, [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 357 Comments

Exclusive: Visit to the Chevy Volt Integration Vehicle Assembly Plant

June 24th, 2009 | Posted in: Production, Prototypes, Video with 366 Comments

I have seen the electric car promised land.
This month I became one of the first people outside of GM to visit the pre-production operations (PPO) facility at a time where the first genuine Chevy Volts, called integration vehicles (IVers) were being assembled.
The PPO plant was vast though moderate in size relative to full [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 366 Comments

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Wishes the Chevy Volt Well as His Company is Awarded $465 Million in DOE Loans

June 23rd, 2009 | Posted in: BEV, Competitors, Financial with 266 Comments

Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors, the company credited with jump starting the nascent electric car revolution, and inspiring Bob Lutz to conceive the Volt. Musk was the founder of PayPal who made his fortune by selling it, and besides Tesla also also founded a private space exploration company.
Musk is a man of [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 266 Comments

GM Advanced Battery Lab Tour w/Video – Part I

June 22nd, 2009 | Posted in: Battery, Production, Video with 213 Comments

While in Warren Michigan for the opening of the GM advanced battery lab I along with a group of journalists was given a tour of the facility.  I filmed the event (video below).  In this segment we hear from Bill Wallace, engineering group manager, GM battery lab. He shows us the current Chevy Volt pack [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 213 Comments

GM and Toyota, What Will be?

June 21st, 2009 | Posted in: Competitors, Hybrid with 75 Comments

GM has recently announced it will be discontinuing the Pontiac Vibe, twin to the Toyota Matrix, currently built at the NUMMI plan in California. NUMMI is a joint venture between GM  and Toyota which has been in existence since the 1980s.
Now that GM is going through bankruptcy, it remains unclear what will happen to the [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 75 Comments

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