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Mary Barra thinks GM is a leader in autonomous tech

Saying General Motors is "among the leaders" in autonomous vehicle technology, CEO Mary Barra rapped about her company's driverless work in an interview with USA Today. Barra covered a number of topics, including well-known efforts, like Cadillac's upcoming Super Cruise technology, as well as hinting at "a lot of efforts that are confidential." "Things are moving quickly in autonomous [cars] because there's so many different pathways and the standards aren't even set. A lot of people can claim leads because people are making advancements in different areas," Barra said. "Next year we're going to have Super Cruise on one of our Cadillacs. On highways you'll be able to take your hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals – with a very creative way to make sure the driver is alert and involved in the driving process." As for those "confidential" efforts, feel free to speculate. GM has recently confirmed that it'd be running autonomous Volts at its Warren, MI tech center, which certainly indicates that the company is playing with much more than Super Cruise. GM will need to continue to embrace autonomous driving, owing to both traditional competitors like Toyota, as well as non-traditional opposition, like Google and Apple. Speaking of its competition from Silicon Valley, Barra was asked about two of the region's biggest names – Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla boss Elon Musk. "I have tremendous respect for Tim Cook, and I don't really think he needs advice from me," Barra told USA Today with a laugh. And when asked about Apple's future as a "viable competitor," she said, "I have no insights other than what I read in the papers. But it would be foolish for me not to assume that they're going to." As for Mr. Musk's openness about future products and how it contrasts with GM's relatively closed attitude, Barra also gave a chuckle. "I'm sure you would like me to say yes. I think we're fundamentally different. Look at our volume and look at the segments where we compete. His product line – his two products – his scale, it's completely different." The rest of Barra's interview is certainly worth a read, and includes talk about the Volkswagen diesel scandal, GM's changed relationship with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Uber. Head over to The Detroit Free Press website for the full story from USA Today.

Forget everything you know about Cadillac V

Cadillac rolled out the CT4-V and CT5-V performance sedans to a rather confused group of journalists last night. What are these cars? Only 355 horsepower in the CTS-V replacement? And just 320 horsepower for the ATS-V successor? Surely, there's something out of place — you can get up to speed with all the details here. Cadillac understood our confusion and explained what was going on rather quickly. The explanation means you have to forget everything you know about what "V" means for a Cadillac, though. Any Cadillac with the singular "V" badge on it previously has denoted the absolute top-tier of performance for that particular model. The CTS-V had the Corvette Z06 engine in it and made 640 horsepower. The ATS-V had a boosted 3.6-liter V6 good for a raucous 464 horsepower. They were equivalent to BMW M, Mercedes-AMG or an Audi RS. We're not talking about the lesser M or AMG models, either. No, the last Cadillac Vs were meant to compete with cars like the C63 or M3, the top-tier of performance in those brands' lineups. This is where you're going to have to start re-learning, because that's no longer the case for a Cadillac with a V badge gracing the rear end. What Cadillac has essentially done is demote what V means, with the intention of offering "something else" above it. With this new strategy, we'd equate a Cadillac V to something like an AMG 43, M340i, or Audi with an S badge on it. Cadillac has even come out with a car similar to this strategy before in the V-Sport. That didn't confuse everybody, though, because the name was different, and the strategy was clear. Now, Cadillac V is just a small stepping stone to these mysterious high performance cars still to come. We asked for any information concerning these future track-ready, fire-breathing monsters, but mum is the word for now. The naming strategy for something above a V is uncharted territory, and it'll also force everyone to learn what the top of the Cadillac lineup is all over again. Cadillac CT5-V View 6 Photos Why confuse folks like this? Cadillac wants to take advantage of the V brand cache in more of its lineup than just two super sedans. Think future vehicles like an XT5-V, XT4-V and others like that. Now that V doesn't mean a Nurburgring-conquering 500+ horsepower luxury muscle car, it makes it far easier for Cadillac to get V badges on everything. Obviously, GM isn't the first to think of this strategy.

May 2016: FCA wins, Ford and GM stumble on weak car volumes

The May 2016 sales numbers are in, and it looks as though FCA is getting some vindication for boldly cancelling two slow-selling car models. Meanwhile, Ford saw overall sales dip and GM's May volume took a big dive versus the same month in 2015. While Marchionne's decision to axe the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart has drawn criticism as being short-sighted, it's working for FCA so far. Although the Dart and 200 aren't out of production yet and no capacity has been shifted to crossover or trucks, May's numbers show that the emphasis on Jeep and Ram models makes sense right now. FCA's US sales rose 1 percent last month compared to May 2015, putting the year-to-date total at 955,186 vehicles, an increase of 6 percent compared to the same period last year. Standouts included the Jeep Renegade, Compass, and Patriot, and the Fiat 500X. Ram pickup sales were down 3 percent. And your fun fact is that Alfa Romeo sales were up precisely 10 percent, for a total of 44 4Cs sold versus 40 in the same month last year. At FoMoCo, the Ford brand took a hit to the tune of 6.4 percent from May 2015 to 2016, registering 226,190 sales last month. Lincoln showed improvement on its modest numbers, going from 9,174 to 9,807, a 6.9 percent increase. Overall, Ford was down 5.9 percent for the month to 235,997; despite the slump, year-to-date total Ford sales are up 4.2 percent to 1,112,939. Strong sellers included Escape, Expedition, F-Series, and Transit - big stuff. Most small and/or efficient models (Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, C-Max) saw sales slides. Fusion sales were also down, likely due to effects of model changeover to the freshened 2017 model. Ford has promised four new crossovers and SUVs by 2020 and if things keep trending this way the company will be able to sell them, but things could change in the next four years. GM saw the worst of it for domestic brands. Retail and fleet sales were down for each of the four divisions, with the May 2016 total dropping 18 percent to 240,450 vehicles. GM's year-to-date sales are down 5.0 percent in 2016 to 1,183,705. Both the Sierra and Silverado were down significantly, and the majority of Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac nameplates saw sales decreases, with both small cars and larger utilities included. Not even big stuff could help GM this month, it seems. We'll have more on the rest of the industry's May sales as those figures trickle in.