1995 Chevrolet Astro Van. Low Miles/ Service Records/ Sunny Arizona Van/ No Rust on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fernando Alonso fails to qualify as Pagenaud takes Indy pole

Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso narrowly failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as France's Simon Pagenaud took pole position for the May 26 race. Kyle Kaiser beat out Alonso for the final spot in the 33-car field when he finished third, one spot ahead of the Spaniard, in a six-car shootout that determined the Indy 500's last row. The 23-year-old Kaiser, the last driver to take the track, averaged 227.372 mph for his four laps, a mere 0.019 mph ahead of Alonso's 227.353 mph average in the McLaren-prepared Chevrolet. "We never surrendered. We kept trying," Alonso, 37, told reporters after a tough week at the famed speedway. The Spaniard crashed his Chevrolet in practice on Wednesday and missed nearly two full days of practice while a back-up car was prepared. Then he tried five times on Saturday to qualify, puncturing a tire on the first attempt. Alonso had a completely new set up for Sunday's shootout but could not get the speed he needed to qualify. "I think the car felt better today than what we had yesterday. (So I am) happy with things we tried," he told reporters before learning he had not qualified. Pagenaud had a four-lap average speed of 229.992 mph to become the first Frenchman to take the pole since Rene Thomas in 1919. "It's just amazing," Pagenaud, who last week won the IndyCar Grand Prix on the track's road course, told NBC Sports. "Obviously last week was amazing, but this is even more special." He will be joined by Ed Carpenter (229.889) and Spencer Pigot (229.826) on the front row. But the Cinderella story belonged to Kaiser, the 33rd qualifier. "I don't think I can wrap my mind around what we just did," he said after bumping Alonso from the field. "This is all the credit to the team. They've been working non-stop trying to get this car ready for us and they did everything that we needed to get into this field." (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris)Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet McLaren Racing Vehicles F1 IndyCar

GM to invest $632 million in Indiana plant for future pickup truck production

General Motors plans to invest $632 million in its Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly facility to prepare the plant for future internal combustion engine full-size light duty trucks, it said on Monday. The investment will be used to support new conveyors, tooling and equipment for the plant that manufactures GM's Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks. GM has detailed more than $2.3 billion in planned investment in a series of announcements since last week as it works to retool existing North American auto plants and introduce more efficient next-generation internal-combustion full-size trucks and SUVs. Another investment announcement is planned later this week. The largest U.S. automaker is continuing to make big investments in gas-powered vehicles even as it vows to stop building them in 2035. Last week, GM said it was investing more than $500 million in its Arlington, Texas, assembly plant to prepare it for production of internal combustion engine full-size SUVs. GM faces increasingly stringent emissions requirements from California and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last week, GM also said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to re-tool two manufacturing sites in Flint, Michigan, to prepare for a new generation of its heavy-duty trucks. The Texas announcement highlights the company's commitment to continue "providing customers with a strong portfolio of (internal combustion) vehicles for years to come," GM said last week. On Tuesday, GM said it would invest C$280 million ($210 million) in its Canadian Oshawa Assembly to produce the next-generation internal combustion engine full-size trucks. GM paid $128.2 million in fines for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program requirements for 2016 and 2017, records released recently show. The EPA in April proposed requiring a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. (Reporting by David Sherpardson in Washington and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Conor Humphries) Plants/Manufacturing Chevrolet GM GMC

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #321 LIVE!

We're set to record Autoblog Podcast #321 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #321
Unibody Ford Ranger replacement