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EcoCar3 will convert Camaro to bitchin' eco rides

In the 47-year-history of the Chevrolet Camaro, there have been countless college-age kids spending a ton of time getting under the hood and souping 'em up. Now, General Motors is adding a twist to the concept by donating 16 Camaros for the EcoCar challenge that puts university teams together to wring out better fuel-efficiency out of various vehicles. No word on whether there will be donuts on anyone's lawn, as suggested by 80's punks the Dead Milkmen, but the idea's never a bad one. EcoCar3 will feature 16 teams such as Arizona State, Penn State, Ontario's University of Waterloo and, of course, Detroit's Wayne State University. They'll spend the next four years "[reducing] environmental impact, while maintaining the muscle and performance expected from this iconic American car," as the EcoCar organizers say. The goal is to maintain body design and safety standards while boosting efficiency and lowering emissions, but the actual process is far more complicated than that description suggests. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Bosch are among the sponsors of the contest, which is also put on by the US Department of Energy and managed by Argonne National Laboratory. Penn State won Year Two of the three-year EcoCar 2 competition with its E85 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle converted out of a Chevy Malibu. The grand-prize winner of EcoCar2 will be announced in June. Check out the EcoCar3 website and see the announcement video below for more details. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

New Toyota Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado/Canyon fight for midsize truck dominance

Sam Wedll has been driving his Toyota Tacoma pickup on the rugged roads of Northern California for seven trouble-free years, racking up almost 100,000 miles, so he’s interested in the redesigned version of the truck coming later this year. He paid $34,000 for his truck in 2016, loading it with plenty of options. HeÂ’s eyeing the new gas-electric hybrid Toyota Motor Corp. is going to offer, but Wedll, who does his own repairs, isnÂ’t interested in paying luxury prices. “The hybrid is pretty interesting to me because I like the idea of the fuel efficiency,” says Wedll, 47, a casino operations manager in Blue Lake, California. “IÂ’m just trying to save some costs wherever possible.” The Tacoma, known as the Taco to its legions of loyalists, is the leader of the pack in midsize pickups, one of the fastest-growing auto markets of the past decade. With outdoorsy weekend warriors and do-it-yourselfers looking for a truck that could fit in their garage, sales of midsize pickups more than doubled from 2010 to 2020. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., which abandoned the market segment when sales slowed early this century, returned with new trucks to take on the Tacoma, which has dominated the medium truck market for almost two decades. Although it's easy to predict that the most lushly appointed versions of the new Taco could approach $50,000 (prices wonÂ’t be announced until later this year), Toyota insists it isnÂ’t backing away from budget buyers even as it rolls out fancier trucks. The current Tacoma starts at $28,030, and the company says affordability is critical to its success. In fact, Toyota will continue to offer the Taco with an old-school stick shift. The Tacoma controls 42% of the midsize truck market and outsells FordÂ’s offering 4 to 1. ThatÂ’s a role reversal from the full-size pickup market, where FordÂ’s F-Series has ruled the road for 46 years. Tacoma sales in the U.S. surpassed 237,000 last year, more than twice the number of GMÂ’s No. 2-ranked Chevrolet Colorado, according to consultant LMC Automotive. But as growth in the overall segment slows, the midsize market is developing into more of a turf war, with manufacturers vying for the sweetest highest-margin spots. “This segment is likely past its prime growth spurt,” says Jeff Schuster, president of the Americas for LMC Automotive.

GM offering factory-backed extended warranty for Chevys, GMCs, Buicks and Cadillacs

Cars are generally more reliable than ever before. When things do go wrong, every automaker offers some form of factory warranty (in most cases at least three years and 36,000 miles, though many extend even longer), providing peace of mind to new-car buyers that many faults will be fixed at no charge to the customer. Starting today, GM is offering a new optional plan that will extend the factory warranty on all new Chevy, GMC, Buick and Cadillac products. In the past, extended warranties have been offered as dealer add-ons, with all profits from these sales going to the dealership. GM's new program can be viewed as another nail in the the looming dealership-model coffin. According to Automotive News, some dealers aren't happy to see GM cut into their business like this, saying that it helps GM far more than it does dealers. GM says the new program will help keep customers in the GM family. Customers are also more likely to visit a GM service center rather than going to an independent repair shop. Currently, new Chevy and GMC vehicles come with three-year/36,000-mile warranties. Buicks and Cadillacs are covered for 4 years or 50,000 miles. The new program extends Chevy and GMC warranties to five years or 60,000 miles. Buick and Cadillac warranties extend to six years or 70,000 miles. GM, citing IHS Markit, says most owners keep new cars for about 6.8 years, so these warranties will cover most of the length of their ownership. The extended warranty will add between $1,000 and $2,000 to the price of a vehicle, and the additional cost can be rolled into the vehicle's purchase or lease price. Unlike many dealer extensions, the factory program covers the vehicle no matter who owns it. That should help increase the car's resale value if it's sold within the covered timeframe. GM says there's no deductible and no need to file a claim form when getting warranty repairs. Additionally, dealerships can continue to sell their own extended warranties or service contracts. Related Video: