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GM executive chief EV engineer says reducing cost of plug-in vehicles is 'huge priority'

As we know, another major automaker investing heavily in electrified vehicles is General Motors, and it's doing things much differently than rivals BMW, Ford or Nissan. The Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV is a modest seller at its $35,000 sticker price but a huge hit with owners. The Chevy Spark BEV, still in limited availability, puts smiley faces on its owners and drivers. The just-introduced Cadillac ELR, a sharp-looking, fun-driving $76,000 luxocoupe take on the Volt's EREV mechanicals, has admittedly low sales expectations. With this interesting trio in showrooms and much more in the works, the third vehicle electrification leader I collared for an interview at Detroit's North American International Auto Show (see #1 and #2) was Pam Fletcher, GM's executive chief engineer, Electrified Vehicles. ABG: Why do your EREVs need four-cylinder power to extend their range when BMW's i3 makes do with an optional 650 cc two-banger? "We designed [the Volt and the ELR] to go anywhere, any time" - Pam Fletcher PF: I get that question all the time: why not something smaller? You don't really need that much. You use the electric to its ability, then you just need to limp. But we designed those cars to go anywhere, any time, and we don't want their performance to be compromised. If you're driving through the mountains, we don't want you to be crawling up grades, or to be limited on any terrain. So it's optimized to be able to travel literally the biggest grades and mountain roads around the globe at posted speeds. Because what if you can't? Another good reason: when the engine is on, you have to run it wide open throttle, max speed, most of the time. And while we can do a lot with acoustics, and the ELR has active noise cancelation, a small-displacement, low cylinder-count engine at high speed, high load all the time isn't something you want to live with. That's how we came up with the balance we did among the key factors of performance, NVH [noise, vibration and harshness] and range. ABG: Where you go from here? Is the range-extender engine due for an update? PF: We know and love the current Volt, and there is still a lot of acclaim about it, so we think it's a good recipe. But we are heavily in the midst of engineering the next-generation car, which I think everyone will love and be excited about.

Chevy Corvette Stingray "colorizer" lets you chase the rainbow

After you've convinced your better half to let you buy a new Corvette, then comes the hard part... actually figuring out which 'Vette you want. While Chevrolet has yet to release the official configurator for the 2014 Corvette Stingray, it did give us something else to kill some time playing around with.
The C7 Corvette "colorizer" recently went online, and it lets you look at the car in all of its available colors and wheel options from four different angles so that when this car does go on sale, you know exactly which one you want. It includes the Corvette's full pallet of colors including Torch Red, Laguna Blue and the hue you see above, Velocity Yellow. Toss in the black wheels, and we're sold. If you have some time this afternoon, be sure to check it out the Corvette colorizer for yourself, and even if you don't have the time, we've put together a gallery with all of the possible color combinations.

2021 Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon fuel economy and towing capacities go official

Most of the puzzle pieces have fallen into place with GM’s new full-size SUVs, but today we have fuel economy and towing to add to the picture. Numbers for the standard 5.3-liter V8 and upgrade 6.2-liter V8 are out, but GM has held back on the 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline-six for the time being. Those numbers are most likely not ready yet. Minor improvements and decreases are seen throughout the Tahoe/Suburban and Yukon/Yukon XL lineup. Because there are so many variants, weÂ’re going to just lay them out below for you. 5.3-liter V8 2021 Tahoe/Yukon 2WD: 16/20/18 2021 Tahoe/Yukon 4WD: 16/20/18 2021 Suburban/Yukon XL 2WD: 16/20/18 2021 Suburban/Yukon XL 4WD: 15/19/17 6.2-liter V8 2021 Tahoe/Yukon 2WD: 15/20/17 2021 Tahoe/Yukon 4WD: 14/19/16 2021 Suburban/Yukon XL 2WD: 15/20/17 2021 Suburban/Yukon XL 4WD: 14/19/16 As you can see, there isnÂ’t a whole lot of difference between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive options. You can eke out an extra mpg here and there, but itÂ’s a penalty weÂ’d be happy to live with to have four-wheel traction. The biggest loser in all of this is highway mpg. Chevy has made the trucks bigger and added weight with the independent rear suspension, causing a decrease in fuel economy. For example, a 2020 Tahoe with the 6.2-liter V8 and four-wheel drive is rated at 14/22/17. The 2021 truck drops 3 mpg on the highway and 1 mpg in the combined rating. There are improvements to be found, though. A 2020 Suburban with the 5.3-liter V8 and four-wheel drive is rated 14/21/16. Fuel economy in the city goes up 1 mpg, but you lose 2 mpg on the highway and 1 mpg in the combined rating. ThereÂ’s a bit of give and take here, but at least a slight increase in city mpg has accompanied the greater loss in highway fuel economy. 2021-chevy-tahoe-chicago-01 View 12 Photos As for towing, the Tahoe/Yukon with the 5.3-liter V8 and two-wheel drive has a new 7,900-pound capacity, and the four-wheel drive model is rated at 7,700 pounds. Respectively, those are the best figures youÂ’ll get with the standard towing capacity. Opt for the maximum towing package, and the Tahoe/Yukon capacities go up to 8,400 pounds (two-wheel drive) and 8,200 pounds (four-wheel drive). The numbers all take slight cuts when you go for the 6.2-liter V8. Both the Suburban and Yukon XL offer similar or identical towing figures as their shorter counterparts do.