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Safety group pans GM’s new Marketplace in-dash shopping

When it comes to our cars, is the Internet of Things a godsend? Or a hidden menace that will create more problems than it will solve? On the same day General Motors announced it will equip newer-model cars with its in-dash Marketplace e-commerce app, a prominent safety group was shooting it down. National Safety Council President Deborah Hersman tells Bloomberg the technology will only contribute to distracted driving and hurt efforts to stem the tide of rising auto fatalities, which grew 5.6 percent to more than 37,000 in the U.S. in 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving was responsible for 3,477 fatalities and 391,000 injuries in 2015, the most recent year for which it has data. "There's nothing about this that's safe," Hersman told Bloomberg. "If this is why they want WiFi in the car, we're going to see fatality numbers go up even higher than they are now." Marketplace, developed with IBM, will allow drivers — or more often, one hopes, their passengers — to order coffee or food, find gas stations and reserve hotel rooms from their dashboard screens. The technology is set to be uploaded automatically to nearly 1.9 million GM vehicles model-year 2017 and later that are equipped with WiFi hotspots and compatible systems. By the end of 2018, about 4 million Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles will be equipped with Marketplace. The app will debut with a limited number of participating retailers, including TGI Fridays, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Starbucks, with more likely to join later. Online retail giant Amazon is also partnering with automakers such as Ford to bring e-commerce capabilities inside the car through its Alexa personal assistant. While convenience is nice, one other thing is becoming clear as the IoT wedges its way into our cars: It's taking aim at some decidedly first-world problems.Related Video: Image Credit: GM Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GM GMC Technology Infotainment in-car entertainment marketplace e-commerce

Chevy exec confirms SS production model reveal at Daytona on Feb 16

The 2014 Chevrolet SS will make its racing debut for the 2013 Daytona 500, but the production version of the car will get its official unveiling on February 16 in Daytona, a week before The Great American Race. According to a report by Automotive News, the reveal has been confirmed by Jim Campbell, Chevy's US vice president of performance and motorsports. With the departure of the Dodge Charger, the new Chevrolet racecar will be the only competitor to feature a V8, rear-wheel-drive layout in both street and NASCAR form.
NASCAR fans will be able to see the new fullsize performance-oriented sedan on display in the festivities leading up to the Daytona 500, but the car won't go on sale until later in the year. The Australian-built Chevy SS will be a low-volume performance model, and it will be priced above the 2014 Impala, which starts at $27,535.

2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid Quick Spin [w/video]

If a Chevy Volt is like a hybrid that prefers its electric motor, then the new Malibu hybrid is like a Volt you never have to plug in. That's partly because you can't plug it in, but more because the Volt and the gas-electric Malibu share a lot of major components. Since we happen to like the newly refined Volt, that's good news for the larger family sedan. The shared parts include the blended braking system, A/C compressor, the auxiliary power module, and most of the hybrid transaxle (what you might call a fancy electro-transmission). In the Malibu, the electric motors use neodymium magnets for efficiency and power, while the Volt has weaker ferrite magnets to reduce drag, and the Volt also gets an extra clutch to lock out the engine. The two use different batteries, with their size, power capabilities, and chemistry suited to the task for each vehicle. Unlike most of the midsized sedan leaders, the Malibu has never had a full hybrid option. For a few years in the last generation, Chevy offered the Malibu Eco with a version of GM's eAssist mild-hybrid system, which featured a small motor-generator in place of an alternator hooked up to a bigger battery that could harvest energy during deceleration and add some back in when you hit the throttle; it also brought engine stop-start functionality to save a little more fuel. But it saved only a little fuel, so eAssist was nixed in favor of a more efficient four-cylinder with a standalone stop-start system. Driving Notes Mode switches between gas and electric are just as smooth as in the Volt. No shudder or weirdness in the throttle. It drives as much like a gas-only car as any midsized hybrid does. The blended braking system is also noticeably well sorted. There's no deadness in the pedal, no touchiness, and no artificial, wooden feeling when you step through the regen portion of its travel. There's nothing abrupt or jarring about any of the experience, and the Malibu's baked-in quietness helps to deal with noise from the somewhat coarse 1.8-liter gas engine. Engine startup and shutdown are noisy from outside, but much less noticeable from within. The 2016 Malibu is larger yet lighter. The hybrid weighs about 125 pounds more than a comparably equipped 1.5T. You don't notice the extra weight, but there is some space eaten out of the trunk by the battery.