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GM sees 'strong year' in 2018, then gold in Chevy Silverado for 2019

DETROIT — General Motors said on Tuesday it expects earnings in 2018 to be largely flat compared with 2017, but that profits should pick up pace in 2019 as its revamped line of high-margin pickup trucks hits the U.S. market. The 2018 earnings outlook was above market expectations, sending GM shares up more than 3 percent in premarket trading. "GM had a very good 2017 as we continued to transform our company to be more focused, resilient and profitable," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in a statement. "We are positioned for another strong year in 2018 and an even better one in 2019." GM and its Detroit rivals, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, are bringing on new trucks at a time when overall U.S. new vehicle sales have been falling, but truck sales continue to grow as consumers abandon passenger cars in favor of pickups, SUVs and crossovers. GM on Saturday fired a new round in the battle for profits from one of the U.S. auto industry's most lucrative segments when it showed a new generation of its Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at the Detroit auto show. The new Silverado, a highlight of the event, is the successor to GM's best-selling vehicle in North America. Sales of the current Silverado rose nearly 2 percent to 585,000 vehicles in 2017. In the coming months, the company will also reveal a revamped GMC Sierra pickup truck. U.S. new vehicle sales fell 2 percent in 2017 after hitting a record high in 2016, and are expected to drop further in 2018 as interest rates rise and more late-model used cars return to dealer lots to compete with new ones. GM said on Tuesday that while it retools a factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, to make the new pickup trucks, it will shift some production to an Oshawa, Ontario, plant in order to avoid missing sales in a hot market for the vehicles. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it will record a $7 billion non-cash charge for its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings related to deferred tax assets. GM said it expects capital expenditure in 2018 of around $8.5 billion, about $1 billion of which will go toward funding self-driving car technology. Last week, the company said it is seeking U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car — one without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal — to enter the automaker's first commercial ride-sharing fleet in 2019. GM said it expects 2017 earnings per share at the high end of its previously forecast range of $6 to $6.50.

Chevy dials up the razzle dazzle for Special Ops concept

Inspired by naval camouflage schemes used during the First World War, Chevy created the 2016 Silverado Special Ops concept, which is on display this week at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Based on the 1500 Z71, this Silverado wears a three-tone paint job that mixes different shades of blue, which Chevy says gives the concept visual depth. The appearance is a riff on early 20th Century color configurations used by the US and British navies. Called razzle dazzle, the look is meant to disguise ships' size, speed, and direction. On the Silverado, it simply adds character and gives the truck a more military bearing. The concept also gets flared wheel arches, a sport bar in the bed with LED lights, and a utility storage system. The grille is fitted with black accents and has a thin LED strip running across the top. Inside, orange is used for the door pulls and glove box handle, and the instrument panel and arm rests have more dazzle coloring. The truck also gets an upgraded exhaust kit, six-piston brakes, and a performance air intake. Chevrolet Introduces Silverado Special Ops Concept Military-inspired truck reinforces capability with go-anywhere style LAS VEGAS – Chevrolet's 2016 Silverado Special Ops concept imagines a unique rescue vehicle for special-operations forces. It is based on the Silverado 1500 Z71, which features a new front-end design and new technologies built into its strong, high-strength steel body structure and fully boxed frame, and draws its design inspiration from naval design aesthetics. "This Silverado concept is a multipurpose truck that reflects the go-anywhere, do-anything commitment of special-forces teams," said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. The naval-inspired camo appearance, called Razzle Dazzle, was developed more than 100 years ago to disguise a ship's speed, direction and profile to the enemy's eye. It is based on a three-tone blue exterior color, marked by a distinctive array of varying colored lines and shapes intended to mask the ship. "We created light, medium and darker shaded areas within camouflage bands flowing down the hood, body sides and tailgate," said Todd Parker, director of design, Chevrolet Accessories.

Meet Alex Archer, the engineer behind GM's power-sliding center console

In 2009, a GM manager complained to a 59-year-old GM technician about the hassle of retrieving items from a pickup truck bed after driving shifted the cargo. In two days, the tech had come up with the ideas that, ten years later, would debut as the MultiPro tailgate. The engineering teams kept the tailgate secret in part by hiding mock-ups in a locked storage closet in GM's Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren Michigan for two years. A piece in the Detroit Free Press reveals that another storage closet in Warren would play the same role in a different cloak-and-dagger operation, this time for the power-sliding center console in GM's new full-sized SUVs. During a meeting in early 2017, bosses gave the job of the console's creation to 24-year-old design release engineer Alex Archer, just two years out of Stanford University with a degree in engineering and product design.  This time, the catalyst for the feature was an internal GM think tank called co:lab, where employees suggest ideas. Execs gave Archer the task because "They needed someone willing to ask a lot of questions," her 36-month mandate to produce a six-way console that could be a standard cubby or a gaping maw able to swallow four gallon jugs or hide a secret compartment. Clearly, she succeeded. It took Archer and the team nine months to devise a prototype, another six months to get the green light for production. As with the tailgate, the team working on the console grew to include designers, production engineers, and suppliers. Archer, now 26, shepherded the process, and her name is on the patent. "It took a ton of people, I'm just somebody who stuck with it the whole time," she said. GM like her work well enough to produce the "Day in the Life" segment above, five months before the world would hear about the console. Archer's path to engineering was as unlikely as getting the job for the console. She had entered Stanford with plans to be a doctor. But an innovation class during her freshman year, and a sophomore summer spent helping her grandfather rebuild a 1937 MG engine recharted her course. Her grandfather told her, "You know, you could be an engineer for a car company." Consumer reaction to Archer's work won't be far off, the SUVs slated to hit dealerships soon. Meanwhile, she's busy on something that could be just as intense as the console: Restoring a 1955 Packard Clipper in her garage. Head to Freep to check out the story of Archer and the console. Related Video: