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2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra debut all-new designs, three new engines

General Motors has finally dropped the curtain on the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2014 GMC Sierra. Both trucks have undergone substantial revisions with updated versions of the company's 4.3-liter V6, 5.3-liter V8 and 6.2-liter V8 engines. In a shot across the bows of both Ford and Chrysler, GM says it won't use a V6 engine adapted from passenger car applications. Instead, it developed the 4.3-liter engine based on its proven truck-duty architecture.
All three mills will boast direct injection fuel systems as well as a new cylinder head design. Combined with a revised piston, the new engines feature a smaller combustion chamber with a compression ratio of 11:1 or higher depending on the application. Cylinder deactivation and continuously variable valve timing are all part of the recipe, and each engine is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission with auto grade breaking. So far, no fuel economy or horsepower figures have been released, though GM says the new engines will best their predecessors in both areas.
Outside, the trucks feature a number of enhancements to reduce drag and wind noise, and GM claims both the Silverado and Sierra will offer buyers some of the quietest cabins in the class. Extended cab models now feature front-hinged rear doors to allow easier access to the back passenger area, and Crew Cab buyers can now select between a five-foot, eight-inch bed or a six-foot, six-inch bed. Buyers with a mind toward going off road will also rejoice in the return of the Z71 package, complete with Rancho shocks, front tow hooks and additional under-body protection.

These are 2014's best-selling cars and trucks

Now that 2014 is no more than a set of numbers on spreadsheets, at last, the grist mill gets its first real load to chew on. The number one selling vehicle in America last year was the Ford F-Series, a fact that should surprise you only if your family name is Van Winkle and your naps tend to last 38 years, which is how long the Ford pickup has ruled our buying landscape. Even though series sales were down 1.3 percent, it still racked up 753,851 units. That's 2,065.3 sales per day, every day, all year. The Chevrolet Silverado, up 10.3 percent for the year, was still a daylight second at 529,755 units. The cab-and-bed love continued into third place with the Ram 1500-3500 trucks, gaining 23.6-percent year-on-year to clock 439,789 units. The robust turnout at The Bighorn and Jeep helped Fiat-Chrysler increase its sales by 16 percent, past the two-million mark. Our number one car? The Toyota Camry, staying in first place with a 4.9-percent sales boost to 428,606 sales, trailed again by the Honda Accord at number five with 388,374 sales. Accord sales rose six percent, and if it's any consolation to Honda for coming in second - not that it needs one - it is the only manufacturer to have three vehicles in the top ten. The rest of the list: the Nissan Altima with 335,644 sales (+4.7%), the Honda CR-V with 355,019 (+10.2%), the Toyota Corolla/Matrix combo with 339,498 (+5.9%), the Honda Civic with 325,981 (-3.1%), and the Ford Fusion with 306,860 sales (+2.9%). Total sales for the year were up six percent to 16.5 million vehicles, a volume not seen since 2006, aided by a strong December that was up by 11 percent year-on-year. Ford was the top selling brand overall but sales didn't really budge from 2013, while Subaru rocketed up 21 percent to finish with 513,693 sales. At the precious end, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Land Rover all had record years, and Kelley Blue Book thinks we could be looking at 17 million sales for the next two or three years. Looks like it's time to start making hay again... Featured Gallery Best-selling vehicles of 2014 View 10 Photos News Source: Detroit News, Associated Press Auto News Chevrolet Ford Honda Nissan RAM Toyota Car Buying Truck Sedan sales

Chevrolet To Oversee Restoring Sinkhole Corvettes

What Mother Earth devoured, Chevrolet plans to resurrect. The carmaker said Thursday it will oversee restoration of the classic cars swallowed by a huge sinkhole beneath the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky. General Motors Design in Warren, Mich., will manage the painstaking work to repair the eight prize vehicles, the automaker said Thursday. The cars were consumed when the earth opened up early Wednesday beneath a display area when the museum in Bowling Green, Ky., was closed. No injuries were reported. The museum was open Thursday except for the area where the sinkhole occurred. Mark Reuss, GM's head of global product development, said the damaged vehicles rank as "some of the most significant in automotive history." "There can only be one 1-millionth Corvette ever built," he said, referring to one of the damaged cars. "We want to ensure as many of the damaged cars are restored as possible so fans from around the world can enjoy them." Just how the cars will be pulled out of the ground remains to be seen, said museum executive director Wendell Strode. The local fire department estimated the hole is about 40 feet across and 25 to 30 feet deep. The hole opened beneath part of the museum's domed section. "We feel pretty confident that most of the cars can be extracted," Strode said Thursday. "And we hope and believe that with just a little bit of luck, that all eight cars can be extracted and be part of the restoration." Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran said some of the cars look to be in good shape, while others are buried in rubble. "It will likely be several weeks until we can get the cars out and assessed," he said. The GM Design team has helped restore other historic cars, but the Corvette project looks to be its biggest, he said. "These Corvettes are part of our history, and they want them restored properly," Strode said. "We're thrilled they're doing this." The cars looked like toys as they plunged into the hole, piled in a heap amid dirt and concrete fragments. The museum owns six of the cars while two - a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil - are on loan from General Motors. The other cars damaged were a 1962 black Corvette, a 1984 PPG Pace Car, a 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, a 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 white 1.5 Millionth Corvette. Pictures of the sinkhole showed a collapsed section of floor with multiple cars visible inside the hole.