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GM does not have to turn over its ignition switch documents

In June the lawyer representing plaintiffs suing General Motors over faulty ignition switches accused GM and its firm King & Spalding of working together to cover up the malfunction. Bob Hilliard said that certain communication between GM and King & Spalding from 2010 to 2013, mainly focused on three Chevrolet Cobalt crashes, would reveal that they conspired in "burying what they knew" concerning the defect, and furthermore that the law firm broke rules of professional conduct once it found out about "ongoing fraudulent concealment" at GM. Hilliard filed a motion in a Manhattan court to force GM and King to hand over the memos, which were protected by attorney-client privilege. Hilliard said that the alleged ongoing fraud should trump attorney-client privilege, a GM spokesman said at the time that the issues in question had already been discussed previously, and that plantiffs already had much of the communication Hilliard's motion sought. US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled in favor of GM and King, refusing to order the release of the communication. In spite of finding probable cause that GM was engaging in a crime or fraud by not revealing the ignition switch defect, Furman did not find cause to believe that GM and King's discussions at the time were centered around continuing that potential crime or fraud. Saying also that plantiffs already had many of the disputed documents, attorney-client privilege should hold sway over the remainder. The class action case goes to trial in January 2016.

The Jitterbugs somersaulted at the 1986 Chicago Auto Show for the Chevy Nova

Judging by the vintage videos that the Chicago Auto Show has been uploading, if you wanted to check out the latest vehicles and watch some dancers in the same place in the late '80s and early '90s, then the Windy City event was definitely the place to be. We've already seen the Footlockers pitching the Cavalier in '88 and a troupe of women singing about the Geo brand in '91. Apparently, the trend went back even further, though. Just take a look at this group called the Jitterbugs selling some badge-engineered products from Chevrolet at the 1986 show. Flanked by the Chevy Nova and Spectrum, these guys managed to do a few pretty impressive jumps and somersaults but mixed them with some rather uninspired spins, as well. Also, wait for 1:24 into the clip to see the least enthusiastic backup dancers that the world has ever known. The Jitterbugs are even further proof that Chevy's habit of mixing dancing and its vehicles goes back even further than the Volt. News Source: ChicagoAutoShow via YouTube Auto News Marketing/Advertising Chicago Auto Show Chevrolet Videos Chicago chevy nova

Opel CEO talks new EV, will likely be fresh face for Chevy, too

The rumored demise of the Opel Ampera has been confirmed, but there's good news, too. Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has been busy Tweeting information about the brand's next plug-in vehicle, admitting that the Ampera is on the way out but that plug-in vehicles are here to stay. His Tweets, in full, read: After the eventual run-out of the current generation Ampera, we'll introduce a successor product in the electric vehicle segment. Our next electric vehicle will be part of our massive product offensive – with 27 new vehicles in the 2014-2018 time frame. We see eMobility as important part of the mobility of tomorrow and we will continue to drive down costs & deliver affordability. As we learned earlier this week, the Ampera will not be refreshed when the current Chevy Volt is updated, most likely because of slow sales. Opel sold just 332 Amperas in the first five months of 2014. For now, General Motors is still building Amperas in Michigan for export to Europe. So, what might this new EV mean for the General Motors plug-in fleet? Official spokespeople are being quiet, but we think it's safe to say the new EV Neumann is talking about is not simply a rebadged Chevy Spark EV. This is the first official word about an entirely new EV, and we expect it will come to both the Chevrolet and Opel brands.