1969 Chevelle - Blue W\ White Pinstripes on 2040-cars

Auto blog

See all seven colors available on 2016 Chevy Volt

General Motors has been happy to promote the 2016 Chevy Volt in the shiny blue color. On the company's website for the car, though, we can find all seven exterior colors, thanks to the magic of digital technology. We went through the site and played around with the option picker and put together a gallery of all the colors the new Volt will be available in as well as the five interior options. For the record, the exterior colors are: Kinetic Blue Metallic, Iridescent Pearl Tricoat, Summit White, Silver Ice Metallic, Mosaic Black Metallic, Siren Red Tintcoat, Heather Grey Metallic. You'll be forgiven if you can't quite tell the difference between the Pearl and the White in these images, but both colors have been available on the 2015 model year Volt. GM spokesperson Michelle Malcho told AutoblogGreen that buyers do have a preference, with Pearl accounting for 10 percent of the sales and Summit White accounted for 17 percent. The Pearl color is a tri-coat and thus has a $995 price premium, which was likely a factor as well. The interior of the new Volt will have two cloth options (Dark Ash and Jet Black) and three leather choices (Dark Ash, Jet Black, and Jet Black/Brandy). That last one will only be available in the LTZ trim level. You can play around with the color adjuster yourself here. Kathy Sirvio, the color and design manager of the Volt design team, told AutoblogGreen that, "Kinetic Blue is a marketing name. At Design we call it 'Blew Me Away'. That is it in a nutshell. The blue color is vibrant, rich and eye catching. It may not sell at the highest volume, as we know from history whites, blacks and silvers are the dominant color sales. However, it will tell everyone who sees it on the street that here comes a new vehicle and it is expressive in all the right ways." The next-gen Volt arrives later this year with a starting price of $33,995. The powertrain upgrades will push the all-electric range to 50 miles and the gas-only fuel economy to 41 miles per gallon. Related Video:

2016 Chevy Volt arrives with 50-mile EV range, 41 mpg [w/ video]

Let's start with the numbers. The 2016 Chevy Volt will have an all-electric range of 50 miles from a new, 18.4-kWh lithium battery. It will get 41 miles per gallon (combined) once the battery runs dry and have 102 MPGe. Oh, and it has five seats, sort of. To compare, today's four-seat 2015 Volt has a 38-mile range from a 17.1-kWh battery in a powertrain that offers 37 mpg and 98 MPGe. So, across the board, there are notable improvements. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk story. General Motors will unveil the new Volt at the Detroit Auto Show later today, but it's been talking about how this new version – the first major plug-in hybrid vehicle to get a serious redo in the modern era – was crafted with reams and reams of data from first-gen Volt customers. At a preview event for journalists last week, GM executive chief engineer Pam Fletcher told Autoblog that these owners "gave us the recipe" to make the second-gen model. At the top of the request list was more range (check), more "fun-to-drive" behavior (check?) and a smoother and quieter experience (we'll assume a check here, given that the new 1.5-liter four-cylinder – the first North American application of this new engine family – should offer more power with less noise than the previous 1.4-liter, four-cylinder powerplant). Other customer-driven changes in the new Volt include a different place to store the charging cable (in the side of the trunk instead of under the load floor) and a new brake system with improved blended regenerative braking feel as well as driver-selectable regen levels. The requested 50-mile range comes from a new, lighter battery that has increased capacity from fewer cells (192 vs. 288) and a simplified control architecture. Along with the new battery, the electric drive unit is a two-motor deal that is up to 12 percent more efficient and 100 pounds lighter, while also being "tremendously smaller," notes Fletcher. It offers 294 pound-feet of torque and a maximum 149 horsepower of "motoring power" delivered to the wheels. GM says it has worked hard to reduced the amount of rare earth materials in these motors, and one of them doesn't use any at all. The new powertrain offers improved acceleration times, as well. The 2016 Volt can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 8.4 seconds, a seven-percent improvement, while the 0-30 mph time has been improved by 19 percent, down to 2.6 seconds. The new Volt is more conventional looking, but certainly not completely ordinary.

Chevy Silverado Midnight Edition, Custom ready to stand out in pickup line

Chevrolet spent its Chicago Auto Show introducing a pair of fullsize pickups that promise image-conscious buyers a truck experience that goes beyond the standard range, with the murdered-out Midnight Edition and the um, not murdered-out, Custom. Let's start with the Custom, which adds 20-inch alloys, as well as chrome bumpers, mirror caps and door handles to the Silverado LS. Available in both V6 and V8 varieties, and with the customer's choice of two- or four-wheel drive, the Silverado Custom is the decidedly mellower example of Chevy's special edition styling. The Midnight Edition, meanwhile, throws subtlety out the window with a menacing set of visual upgrades. Based on the Z71, the Midnight adds 18-inch wheels, a spray-in bedliner and unique Z71 and Bowtie badges, all in black, of course. The front and rear bumpers, headlamp bezels, tow hooks, mirror caps and door handles, are also finished in the stealthy shade. Check out our live images of both special edition trucks, and let us know what you think down in Comments.