Chevrolet: Nova Ss on 2040-cars

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GM invests $24 million to build more crew cab trucks in Fort Wayne

The full-size pickup truck arms race continues unabated here in the United States as Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler battle back and forth for sales supremacy. The Ford F-Series of trucks continues to lead the field in sales (214,611 units sold through the first quarter of 2019), but the race for second place has been a lot more interesting to watch. That's because Ram, long a distant third in truck sales, eked its way past Chevrolet late in 2018 and has managed to hold the position so far in 2019. Don't take this to mean that sales of GM's trucks have been poor across the board. In fact, the automaker reports that sales of its four-door crew cab pickups are up 20 percent in 2019 over the same period a year ago. And that's what makes GM's announcement today so interesting. The automaker is investing $24 million into its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana to build more Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, and the focus will continue to be on crew cab models. "We are building Chevrolet and GMC crew cab pickups at record volume and mix levels to meet customer demand and the $24 million investment will allow us to build even more," said GM chief Mary Barra in a statement. "Crew cab sales have been very strong, and we are expanding customer choice with new models, more cab choices and innovative new powertrains." It's worth noting that, if crew cab sales are up 20% this year, but overall sales are down (over 15% for Silverado and around 2% for GMC), that means it's the cheaper regular cab and double cab models that are lagging. At the same time, sales of the midsize Chevy Colorado have surged 16%. And finally, if you combine sales of the Silverado and Sierra into one bucket, GM still has a comfortable lead over Ram overall. If there's a takeaway here, it's that trucks of all shapes and sizes have been, currently are and will surely remain hot in America, and automakers will continue to invest money into making sure they are able to satiate consumer demand.

Recharge Wrap-up: Panasonic, Tesla on Gigafactory deal?

Bentley has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for reductions of carbon, water use and waste production in manufacturing. The Carbon Trust is an organization that helps groups such as businesses and governments reduce carbon emissions, use of energy and resources, and waste output. From 2011 to 2013, Bentley reduced CO2 emissions by 16 percent per car manufactured, curtailed water use by 35.7 percent, and saw significant waste reductions. Darran Messem of Carbon trust says, "Bentley is clearly passionate about continuing to improve its environmental performance, which is reflected by the fact the company has consistently invested in new technology." Read more in the press release below. Chevrolet is giving 12 Volts to MBAs Across America. The organization will use the range-extended electric cars in its efforts to help MBA students learn from and work with small business owners. As part of the MBAs Across America program's first year, four students drove 8,000 miles to provide entrepreneurs with free business counseling. The program has expanded, and this year, teams of MBAs will use the Volts to travel to 25 cities to offer their services. Learn more about the partnership between Chevrolet and MBAs Across America in the press release below. A professor from the University of Michigan has found fuel cycle analysis to be too flawed to be relied upon for measuring CO2 impacts of transportation fuels. Professor John DeCicco of the university's Energy Institute feels that the flaws in calculating the carbon footprint of liquid fuel production and combustion make such lifecycle analysis impractical. He suggests, instead, to focus to carbon capture. Since capturing CO2 directly from a vehicle is probably never going to happen, DiCicco believes the solution is to capture carbon from the atmosphere in sectors outside of transportation. Says DiCicco, "Research should be ramped up on options for increasing the rate at which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and on programs to manage and utilize carbon fixed in the biosphere, which offers the best CO2 removal mechanism now at hand. Such strategies can complement measures that control the demand for liquid fuels by reducing travel activity, improving vehicle efficiency and shifting to non-carbon fuels." Read more at Green Car Congress. Global transportation energy consumption is expected to increase by 25.4 percent by 2035, according to a report by Navigant Research.

2016 Chevrolet Camaro First Drive [w/video]

The Autoblog gang was downright stoked to learn the 2016 Chevy Camaro was next on our test-car docket. Then we found out it was the V6 model. Buzzkill. We were hoping for the snorting V8, or at least the spunky new turbo four-cylinder. The V6? Meh. We've been driving V6 Camaros for, like, six years. It's what you buy if you can't afford anything better, or so say horsepower snobs as they wrinkle their noses and cut their coffee with 93 octane. But after a week with the six-pot Camaro, we'll admit it: we were wrong. The all-new 3.6-liter V6 is strong, sounds good, and is damn fun to drive. Its 335 horsepower and 284 pound-feet of torque appear modest by modern standards, but they power the Camaro to 60 miles per hour in 5.1 seconds with the automatic, or in the case of our manual-equipped test car, 5.2 seconds. That's almost half a second quicker than the new turbo four-cylinder model. Yes, it has the same displacement as the old V6. No, it's not the same engine. Upon closer inspection, the V6's potency shouldn't come as a surprise. This engine is from General Motors' newest family of dual-overhead cam powerplants that launched in the Cadillac CTS and ATS. Yes, it has the same displacement as the old V6. No, it's not the same engine. Don't be fooled, and don't underestimate it at stoplights. The strapping V6 is unsuspectingly good, but it's just one of many improvements for the sixth-generation Camaro. Chevy's coupe is lighter, faster, and more modern looking inside and out. It starts with a rear-wheel-drive chassis donated from the Cadillac ATS, though about 70 percent of the components are unique to the Camaro. The 2016 model is about two inches shorter in length (thanks to a shorter wheelbase) and about an inch has been removed from height and width compared to the 2015 model. These lighter underpinnings jumpstarted the Camaro's weight-loss plan, and thanks to extensive use of aluminum, the V6 with the new eight-speed automatic transmission weighs 3,435 pounds – 294 less than its predecessor (the manual-transmission V6 Camaro weighs 3,448 pounds). The V8, meanwhile, sheds 223 pounds. One by one, these elements would merely enhance how the Camaro drives, but taken collectively, they invigorate the new model. It feels much more confident and agile in all circumstances. Put simply, it's a sportier car. View 32 Photos Grab second, let the revs build, and the dual-mode exhaust changes its tune from a low buzz to a rumble, then a growl.