2006 Corvette Coupe 3 Lt 6.0l V8 500 H.p.auto Lingenfelter Perf. Corsa Exhaust on 2040-cars

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Is this GM's next electric crossover?

GM made headlines this week when CEO Mary Barra presented the company's electrification and automation plans at the Barclays Global Automotive Conference in New York. "We are committed to a future electric vehicle portfolio that will be profitable," Barra said, which could be taken as a jab at Tesla. In the presentation ( PDF here), though, we see a new vehicle in a slide titled "Leveraging existing BEV platform to expand in near term." The vehicle, seen above, accompanied the captions "New CUV entries" and "two entries by 2020." Is this a sneak preview of an upcoming electric crossover from GM? The image seems too realistic and intentional to be a random placeholder. If this is, indeed, an upcoming battery-electric CUV based on the Bolt, the question remains: Will it be a Chevy or a Buick? It has no visible badging, but it shares DNA from both brands. As Inside EVs points out, though, it does bear a resemblance to the Chevrolet FNR-X concept unveiled in Shanghai earlier this year. With two CUVs on the way, it's not unthinkable that there could be a version for each brand. In addition to this slide, the presentation includes plans for an "All new multi-brand, multi-segment platform" launching in 2021. The all-new modular battery system will cost less than $100 per kWh, providing higher energy density and faster charging. The platform will host at least nine different vehicles, including a compact crossover, seven-seat luxury SUV and a large commercial van. GM has said it will launch 20 new EVs by 2023, and that it targets 1 million EV sales per year by 2026. Many of those sales will be in China. Related Video:

This is what a 2017 Chevy Camaro Z28 could look like

The latest Camaro Z28, the enthusiast darling of the somewhat frumpy fifth-generation pony car, only hit the scene in 2014. It housed the wonderful 7.0-liter, naturally-aspirated LS7 small block V8 and featured a ton of aero bits. The trickest pieces may have been the dynamic spool valve shocks, legitimately race tech for the road. So with the new Camaro out in the wild, we were wondering what a new Z28 might look like, and thus, commissioned these renders based on our best guesses as to what a future Z28 might be. Since Chevy didn't stray too far from the Zeta-chassis Camaro formula with its new Alpha-based car, our vision of a new 2017 Camaro Z28 likewise is a sequel rather than a reboot. The exterior styling and aero details are similar, but sleeker. The defining and protruding front splitter is back, but it's smoothed slightly and better integrated. It shares quad exhaust pipes with the lowlier SS, but they're of the beveled Z06 variety, and sized up to a howitzer caliber. Instead of a weak faux rear fender vent, our version gains a real brake cooling duct. Some iconic elements, like the hood extractor vent and the large decklid spoiler, remain. What we can't see, we have to speculate on. As the track-focused, hardcore pony car in the Camaro lineup, the Z28 will have to do battle with the Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R. There's simply no avoiding it. And whereas Ford distinguished that car with a 5.2-liter, 526-horsepower, flat-plane-crank V8, Chevy is likely to look to the parts bin to find motivation. This isn't a knock; the LS and LT-series small block V8s are both numerous and power-dense. And there's one engine that seems to do the trick: the LSA, last seen in the old CTS-V and still on sale in the Camaro ZL1 (and of course, still being produced as a crate engine). In ZL1 form, the LSA makes about 580 hp, which is a nice margin over the GT350R. It's also a high-zoot but not top-of-the-line mill, having been mostly superseded by the 650-hp LT4. That puts our probable Z28 far enough behind the new CTS-V and current Corvette Z06 in the pecking order to be a safe bet, without hobbling it with the LT1 shared with the Camaro SS and regular Corvette. Will those trick spool-valve shocks from Multimatic make it to the Z28 again? Ford is taking the GT350R very seriously, and if the expensive but supremely capable suspension system is required to manhandle the Shelby at the track, you can bet that Chevy will pony up for it.

2021 Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra fuel economy to go down due to global chip shortage

Production of the 2021 Chevy Silverado and 2021 GMC Sierra is continuing, but the global semiconductor chip shortage is resulting in a mid-year change. Or rather, an omission.  Basically, the availability of cylinder deactivation for the 5.3-liter V8 will be significantly reduced, resulting in a reduction of 1 mpg combined for affected models. This applies whether that engine has the six- or eight-speed automatic, as well as to both the regular Active Fuel Management and the more advanced Dynamic Fuel Management cylinder deactivation systems. DFM does remain with the pairing of 5.3-liter V8 and 10-speed automatic that comes standard on the LT Trail Boss and High Country. "Due to the micro controller shortage, the components that control AFM/DFM in the engine control module (ECM) have been removed," GM spokesperson Michelle Malcho told Autoblog. She also indicated that the engines will still have the AFM/DFM hardware in place, but that GM will not allow activation of the systems in the future with an ECM change.  Malcho also confirmed to Autoblog that the Silverado and Sierra's other engines will continue to have AFM and DFM, including the 2.7-liter turbo inline-four, 4.3-liter V6 and 6.2-liter V8. In an earlier statement to Reuters, she declined to say the volume of vehicles affected. "By taking this measure, we are better able to meet the strong customer and dealer demand for our full-size trucks as the industry continues to rebound and strengthen," Malcho wrote Reuters in an email. The change runs through the 2021 model year, she said. Malcho told Reuters it would not have a major impact on the Detroit automaker's U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) numbers. "We routinely monitor our fleet for compliance in the U.S. and Canada, and we balance our portfolio in a way that enables us to manage unforeseeable circumstances like this without compromising our overall (greenhouse gas) and fuel economy compliance," she said. GM's fleetwide fuel economy in the 2018 model year was 22.5 miles per gallon and was projected to rise to 22.8 mpg for 2019, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency. To meet federal CAFE requirements, automakers like GM often use credits from either earlier years where they faced less stringent rules and performed better than the requirements or buy credits from other automakers. GM said last month the chip shortage could shave up to $2 billion from this year's earnings.