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Is this GM's next electric crossover?

GM made headlines this week when CEO Mary Barra presented the company's electrification and automation plans at the Barclays Global Automotive Conference in New York. "We are committed to a future electric vehicle portfolio that will be profitable," Barra said, which could be taken as a jab at Tesla. In the presentation ( PDF here), though, we see a new vehicle in a slide titled "Leveraging existing BEV platform to expand in near term." The vehicle, seen above, accompanied the captions "New CUV entries" and "two entries by 2020." Is this a sneak preview of an upcoming electric crossover from GM? The image seems too realistic and intentional to be a random placeholder. If this is, indeed, an upcoming battery-electric CUV based on the Bolt, the question remains: Will it be a Chevy or a Buick? It has no visible badging, but it shares DNA from both brands. As Inside EVs points out, though, it does bear a resemblance to the Chevrolet FNR-X concept unveiled in Shanghai earlier this year. With two CUVs on the way, it's not unthinkable that there could be a version for each brand. In addition to this slide, the presentation includes plans for an "All new multi-brand, multi-segment platform" launching in 2021. The all-new modular battery system will cost less than $100 per kWh, providing higher energy density and faster charging. The platform will host at least nine different vehicles, including a compact crossover, seven-seat luxury SUV and a large commercial van. GM has said it will launch 20 new EVs by 2023, and that it targets 1 million EV sales per year by 2026. Many of those sales will be in China. Related Video:

1983 Motorweek showdown pits Porsche 928S vs. Chevy Camaro Z28

Last month, Motor Trend threw the Camaro Z/28 and Porsche 911 GT3 into the bear pit and let them fight it out. Way back in 1983, MotorWeek had the same idea, comparing the Camaro Z/28 to the Porsche 928S. At the time, the Camaro was America's best selling sports coupe, the 928S was Porsche's top-of-the-line model that also had the highest top speed of any car sold here. And the price differential was even more stark then: $13,600 for the Camaro, $45,000 for the Porsche. That put the Z/28's cast-iron, 5.0-liter V8 with 190 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque against the all-aluminum 4.7-liter V8 with 234 hp and 263 lb-ft in the 928S. Even with that and the Camaro being 14 inches longer than the Porsche, the American was a surprising 40 pounds lighter than the German. The show took them to Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia to see how close a relative performance bargain could hang with a the German GT. Both had five-speed manual transmissions, but the high-speed corners and tight sections of Summit Point would test other handling variables, including the "bone-rattling" Camaro's solid rear axle and disc and drum brake setup vis-a-vis the four-wheel disc brakes and independent suspension on the "firm-but-smooth" Porsche. Paradoxically, the larger disparity 22 years ago resulted in a closer result. Check out the video to see how the Summit was won. News Source: MotorWeek via YouTube Chevrolet Porsche Coupe Luxury Performance Classics Videos chevy camaro z28 porsche 928 retro review

Nissan Leaf sales drop, new Chevy Volt climbs in November

This is probably just how things are going to be from now on. With the second-gen Chevy Volt available in some states and Nissan dragging its heels on getting a true new version of the Leaf onto dealer lots, it's no surprise that plug-in vehicle shoppers are turning to the Volt in a big way. Yes, we know that a pure EV and a PHEV are not the same and that the Volt and the Leaf are quite different cars, but after all of this time tracking the two plug-in sales champions, we feel obliged to continue our monthly look at who's selling how many of what. Here goes. We'll start with the mediocre news. That'd be the Leaf sales, which came in at just 1,054 units last month. That's the lowest monthly sales total for all of 2015 and, in fact, the lowest month of Leaf sales since February 2013. It's also a 60.8 percent drop from November 2014's sales of 2,687. This despite the fact that you can now get a new Leaf with a longer range of 107 miles (vs. 84) for a higher cost. The new Volt (along with the first-gen Volts that are still being sold out there), on the other hand, was up 49 percent, to 1,980 sales. That gave the Volt its best November ever, "on both a total and retail basis," GM says. The Volt beat the Leaf in October, too, and we suspect this is going to be the story until Nissan figures out how to get people excited about a five-year-old model or introduces the second edition. As always, we'll have a fuller wrap-up of US green car sales in our By The Numbers report soon. Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid ev sales