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GM Halts Sale Of Most Chevy Cruze Models

General Motors has told dealers to stop selling some 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze compact cars. But the company won't say why. Dealers say stop-sale orders are routine and almost always made to fix a safety problem. They received the order in an e-mail Thursday, but no reason was given. The move comes as GM deals with fallout from a delayed recall of 1.6 million older small cars to fix an ignition switch problem. The company says the switches can slip out of the run position and shut down the engine. That causes loss of power steering and brakes and disables air bags. GM says the problem has been linked to 31 crashes and at least a dozen deaths. Spokesman Greg Martin says he has no details on the Cruze. Related Gallery Chevy Impala Earns Highest Accolades From Consumer Reports Recalls Chevrolet GM Cruze

How Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra will take on the Ford F-150 profit machine

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — When General Motors engineers were developing the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, some of them joined public tours of Ford's Dearborn, Mich., factory to watch aluminum-bodied F-Series trucks go down the assembly line. The redesign of the Ford F-Series trucks, launched in 2014, set a new standard for fuel economy and lightweight vehicle construction. But armed with stopwatches and trained eyes, the GM engineers believed they saw problems. "They had a real hard time getting those doors to fit," Tim Herrick, the executive chief engineer for GM truck programs, told Reuters. His team did more intelligence gathering. They bought and tore apart Ford F-Series doors sold as repair parts. Their conclusion: GM could cut weight in its trucks for a lower cost using doors made of a combination of aluminum and high-strength steel that could be thinner than standard steel, shaving off kilograms in the process. These pounds-and-pennies decisions will have major implications in the highest-stakes game going in Detroit: dominance in the world's most profitable vehicle market, the gasoline-fueled large pickup segment. What's more, GM is banking on strong sales of overhauled 2019 Silverados and GMC Sierras to fund its push into automated and electric vehicles — a business many investors see as the auto industry's long-term future. The risks are high given the hits automakers have taken from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies. Rising aluminum prices spurred by Trump's tariffs are driving up costs on the Ford's F-Series, while rising steel and aluminum prices likewise drag on GM results. GM also has a significant risk should the United States, Mexico and Canada fail to agree on a new NAFTA trade deal, given GM trucks built at its Silao, Mexico, factory could face a 25 percent tariff if NAFTA collapses. Major profit per truck Interviews with GM executives and a tour at its factory here in northwest Indiana provide a detailed look inside GM's plan for the most important vehicles in its global lineup. These big pickups are everything Tesla's Model 3 or Chevy's Bolt electric car is not. The mostly steel body is bolted to the truck's steel frame, rather than the one-piece body and frame electric vehicles. The majority of trucks will have a V-8 gasoline engine powering the rear wheels — like the classic GM cars of the 1950s. Some Silverados will have new four-cylinder engines, but there is no electric or hybrid offering as of now.

Let's Drive NYC is GM's car sharing program for the Big Apple

Under a new car sharing program offered by General Motors and others, a New York Minute will cost about 15 cents. GM is working with a luxury-apartment building owner and a parking lot operator to run a car sharing program in Midtown Manhattan. The program is called Let's Drive NYC and it was announced Thursday. Let's Drive NYC is being offered to residents of the Ritz Plaza, a 479-unit luxury apartment building near New York's Times Square. The program is being run with the help of Icon Parking Systems, which runs about 200 parking garages in Manhattan where the cars can be parked. GM is contributing eight Chevrolet Trax crossovers and two Chevrolet Equinox SUVs, and the automaker is slated to add more vehicles "later." Residents of the Ritz Plaza, which is owned by Stonehenge Partners, can make "periodic apartment lease payments" and in exchange receive electronic credits for three hours of driving a month. After those three hours are up, the drivers will be charged less than $10 an hour, or as much as $75 a day. The program was piloted earlier this year to some of the apartment's tenants. The program marks the second bit of car sharing news in New York within the past two months. In August, Mercedes-Benz and Smart parent Daimler announced that its Car2go car sharing service would expand into Queens and add about 100 Smart ForTwo two-seaters to the city's program. Car2go made its New York debut in Brooklyn last October and has attracted more than 27,000 members since then. You can take a look at Let's Drive NYC's press release below. GM Unveils 'Let's Drive NYC' Car-Sharing Program NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Running an errand to a big box store or planning a weekend excursion are about to get easier for some Manhattan residents because of a car-sharing program revealed today by General Motors. It's the company's latest move to deliver urban mobility options to customers around the globe. Let's Drive NYC is available to eligible residents of The Ritz Plaza, a 479-unit luxury apartment building at Times Square in midtown Manhattan, owned and managed by Stonehenge Partners. Residents use a GM-developed mobile app to reserve a vehicle and access parking in one of 200 garages throughout Manhattan managed by Icon Parking Systems. The fleet currently includes eight Chevrolet Trax small SUVs and two Chevrolet Equinox compact SUVs, with more vehicles to be added later.