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GM investing $439 million in Corvette plant

General Motors is slowly trickling out announcements about its $5.4 billion in US plant upgrades over the next three years. The latest one is something that fans of one of America's most beloved sports car will be happy about. The Bowling Green, KY, factory that assembles the Chevrolet Corvette is receiving $439 million of those funds to build a new paint shop. Covering 450,000 square-feet, the site will make painting the 'Vette more efficient and environmentally friendly. The upgrades there include robots that use paint more effectively, technology to eliminate sludge water, LED lighting to improve inspections, and less energy-intensive baking ovens. While the groundbreaking is already complete for the building, full construction is expected to begin this summer and take two years. This is the biggest upgrade for the Kentucky factory in a few years. In preparation for the latest Corvette, the Bowling Green plant received $131 million in 2011 for upgrades and to add more workers there. Related Video: Chevrolet Corvette Plant Gets $439 Million in Upgrades New, environment-friendly paint shop drives efficient production, retains 150 jobs 2015-05-21 BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Torch Red, Shark Gray Metallic and Laguna Blue Tintcoat, three popular palate choices on the 2015 Corvette, kept the marketers who make up names working late. Now they can dream about more painstakingly precise pigments, thanks to a new paint shop that is among $439 million being invested at the only plant in the world that builds Chevrolet's iconic sports car. General Motors announced the moves today that include retaining 150 jobs and building the 450,000 square-foot paint shop that is almost half the size of the entire current production facility. The investment builds on approximately $135 million GM has invested in the plant over the last four years for the new Corvette Stingray and Performance Build Center. The announcement was followed by a groundbreaking event for the new paint shop. "The Corvette is one of Kentucky's most-cherished icons," said. Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen. "Such a significant expansion of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant will help the company remain competitive in the region and around the world." Construction of the new paint shop, which includes substantial technology upgrades, is planned to begin this summer and take approximately two years to complete. Corvette production schedules will be unaffected by the construction.

Ringbrothers drops more hints about its wild SEMA creations

Ringbrothers isn't finished teasing its SEMA creations. First we got a sliver of rear quarter on a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that revealed a bundle of carbon fiber and SEMA-obligatory deep-dish wheels. The Wisconsin tuner's now announced its litter of cars headed to the show and a few specs, along with two shadowy drawings. The Camaro, christened with the name Valkyrja and a two-tone paint job, gets stretched in two directions with severe fender flares to widen the body and an extended wheelbase. We're not sure what's happening with the Camaro's snout in the drawing, but under that bulging hood we'll find a 416-cubic-inch LS V8 from Wegner Motorsports. Wegner built the 416-cu-in supercharged LS3 V8 that powered Ringbrothers' 1,000-hp G-Code Camaro in 2016.  The second member of the gang is a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 dubbed Unkl. The exterior begs for attention with a deep blue sea paint job, deep front chin spoiler, bulging hood, yellow brake calipers, and what looks like a racing number inside a roundel on the doors. Unkl gets its motivation from a 520-cu-in Boss V8 built by Kaase Racing Engines, rumored to throw about 800 hp.    Finally, Ringbrothers is bringing its Cadillac Madam V for another Las Vegas go-round after giving the custom coupe some updates. The Madam V is a 1948 Cadillac Series 62 fastback coupe body placed atop an ATS-V chassis, first shown in 2016. The firm didn't elaborate on the changes, so all we can expect for now are the coupe's postwar good looks mixed with new-millennium engineering, and a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 with 464 hp under that exceptionally long hood.    For any in attendance at the show, the Valkyrja Camaro debuts at the BASF booth on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at 9:30 a.m., the Unkl Mustang gets revealed a couple hours later at the Flowmaster/Holley booth, and the Madam V Cadillac will be on display throughout the show at the Ringbrothers booth.

2016 Chevy Camaro Convertible gets cleaner looks, improved refinement [UPDATE]

UPDATE: We have live photos from the reveal. Scroll to the bottom of the story and check them out in the Related Gallery. Back in May, Chevrolet introduced a redesigned Camaro. Now, and not at all surprisingly, the Bowtie brand is showing off the latest Camaro convertible, based on the coupe that debuted on Belle Isle in Detroit. From the beltline down, this is the same car that was so well-received last month. But above the waist, there's an all-new, fully automatic canvas roof that can be raised and lowered at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. On top of that, owners will be able to drop the roof remotely by simply pressing a button on the key. Chevy does not, however, say if this new convertible roof is lighter than last year's top. The biggest change for the Camaro convertible, though, is something we've long yearned for – a proper hard tonneau cover that deploys over the folded roof. The current muscle car's roof fabric has the unpleasant tendency to flap in the breeze. The new droptop shouldn't have that problem, and will likely boast an even cleaner top-down profile to boot. Like the hardtop, though, the Camaro convertible does benefit from the same lightweight structure, that helps trim "at least" 200 pounds of body fat. It should also make use of the same powertrain lineup, with a turbocharged four-cylinder, a 3.6-liter V6, and a 6.2-liter V8 with six-speed manuals or eight-speed automatic transmissions spanning the lineup. "From the beginning, the Camaro's architecture was developed to incorporate a convertible with uncompromised driving dynamics," Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheiser said in the attached release. "Customers will appreciate what they don't feel: quivers, cowl shake or an under-damped chassis typically found in a four-seat convertible." Increased refinement, a cleaner look, better driving dynamics and a more usable convertible roof? We're looking forward to you 2016 Camaro convertible. Chevy claims the new car arrives in "early 2016," which means we should plan on seeing this droptop at the typically cold and snowy Detroit Auto Show. Until then, check out the full press release from Chevrolet. Related Video: Chevrolet Lifts Lid on 2016 Camaro Convertible Segment's most advanced top is fully automatic, with refined appearance DETROIT – Let the sun shine in. Chevrolet will offer a convertible model of the all-new 2016 Camaro, featuring the segment's most-advanced top.