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GM extends vehicle production cuts into mid-March due to global chip shortage

DETROIT — General Motors said on Tuesday it was extending production cuts at three North American plants until at least mid-March due to the global semiconductor chip shortage, while vehicles at two other factories would only be partially built. GM, whose shares dipped 1% after the announcement, did not disclose the impact volumes or say which supplier and vehicle parts were affected by the chip shortage. But it said it would focus on keeping production running at plants building its highest-profit vehicles, full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. GM said it intended to make up as much lost production as possible once the shortage chip eased. "Semiconductor supply remains an issue that is facing the entire industry. GM's plan is to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products," GM spokesman David Barnas said. GM said it was extending downtime at its U.S. plant in Fairfax, Kansas, its Canadian factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, and its Mexican facility in San Luis Petosi until mid-March when it would reassess the situation, he said. In addition, GM would build but leave incomplete for final assembly vehicles at Wentzville, Missouri, and its Mexican plant at Ramos Arizpe. GM vehicles affected by the idled plants include the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Cadillac XT4 SUV, Chevy Equinox, and GMC Terrain SUVs. Vehicles to be left incomplete for now included the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon pickups and Chevy Blazer SUV. This week, GM had said it was idling the three factories where it has now extended downtime and said it would halve production at a plant in South Korea. The chip shortage has affected many automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Ford, Renault, Subaru, Nissan, Honda and Mazda. Asian chipmakers are rushing to boost production but say the supply gap will take many months to plug. German chipmaker Infineon said the shortage would get worse in the near term. The chip shortage is expected to cut global output in the first quarter by more than 670,000 vehicles and last into the third quarter, IHS Markit said. AutoForecast Solutions estimated total lost production this year could reach 1 million vehicles. Honda and Nissan said on Tuesday they would sell 250,000 fewer cars in total this financial year due.

Are you the 2014 Corvette Grand Sport?

When are stripes more than just stripes? Follow up question: Is the product development team at Chevrolet really cocky enough to hide the next C7 Corvette variant in plain sight? This very recently spotted, and ostensibly obscured C7 asks a lot more questions than it answers, but there's at least some evidence to support that it might be the next Corvette Grand Sport.
The first and most obvious tip-off that something is up with this 'Vette revolves around those silver stripes. Obviously the stripes themselves don't necessarily denote a new model. However, when Chevy recently launched its "colorizer" website for the Stingray, there was no provision made for racing stripes - solid colors only.
Grand Sport exhibit number two is actually an incriminating lack of badges. The production Corvettes we've seen to date have all carried Stingray badges on their fenders, just behind the vent. The car seen in these images has no such badges, which is an intriguing omission on an car that looks like a production-spec vehicle otherwise.

2016 Chevy Cruze is lighter, loaded [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Live photos and video of the reveal have been added at the end of the story. Chevrolet revealed the second-generation Cruze Wednesday, promising a larger, more efficient car that drives better than the sedan it replaces. We're particularly excited about the new turbocharged, 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine, which makes 153 horsepower, an upgrade from the outgoing 1.8-liter naturally aspirated engine's 138 hp. Torque climbs even more significantly, from 148 pound-feet to 177 in the new mill. Peak twist can be called up between 2,000 and 4,000 rpm, which should make performance easy to access. Combined with a lighter architecture that slashes the Cruze's curb weight by 250 pounds (although the actual curb weight hasn't been released), the new four-door can hit 60 miles per hour in a respectable eight seconds. That's not hot hatchback territory, but it should be more than suitable for the average consumer. That same consumer should also appreciate the new engine's economy. The Cruze now returns an even 40 miles per gallon on the highway and will cover 530 miles on a single tank, all the while running on plain old 87-octane fuel. There's also a diesel-powered Cruze model, although Chevy didn't release specific details, aside from saying that it will arrive in dealers in 2017, over a year after the gas-powered model's early 2016 on-sale date. Despite the 250-pound drop in weight, the new Cruze has grown significantly. Its wheelbase is now the longest in the segment, with 106.3 inches of sheetmetal between the front and rear axles compared to 105.7 in last year's model, while the sleek new body cuts the coefficient of drag to just 0.29. The overall length increases from 181 inches to 183.7, though the new model is nearly an inch lower overall. That's both good news and bad news for interior space. Rear legroom is up from 35.4 to 36.1, but headroom is down in both the front and backseats by over half an inch. Tech fans, meanwhile, will appreciate the new standard MyLink display. The seven-inch touchscreen is compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, while an optional eight-inch display will be offered, as well. 4G LTE wi-fi, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, and wireless phone charging will also be offered as an optional extras. New safety features include blind-spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert, lane keeping assist, and forward collision warning.