2012 Chevrolet Lt W/1lt on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM delaying additional Silverado EV and Sierra EV production to Q4 2025

This looks like more "Gotcha!" news about storms in the EV sector, but the word "additional" is key here. The Detroit News reported today that GM is pushing delaying production of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickups at the Orion Assembly Plant to late 2025, about a year behind expectations. The Silverado EV Work Truck is already in production at GM's Factory Zero in Detroit, which won't change. Retail versions of the Silverado EV are still planned for production at Factory Zero before the end of this year, and the Sierra EV is expected to enter production at Factory Zero early next year. This new plan simply means GM won't add more production of those electric trucks at Orion.  GM builds the Chevrolet Bolt at Orion right now, assembly of that groundbreaking car to end this year. GM's original idea was to spend $4 billion to convert Orion to EV pickup production in time to get its two giant profit makers rolling down lines in early 2025. The move to late 2025 could mean the plant is out of commission for about two years. The facility's 1,261 employees are being offered spots in other plants, including Factory Zero.  The automaker gave several reasons for the move, a spokesperson telling The Detroit News the company wants "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand," and telling the Detroit Free Press, "We're looking at EV demand and the trendline for EVs is stabilizing. ... It is not rising as fast as originally forecasted." On top of that, engineers "have identified engineering improvements that we will implement to increase the profitability of our products." The spokesperson also made it clear that the delay has nothing to do with the UAW strike, now in its 32nd day.  Factory Zero's working up to a near-term production capacity of about 600,000 units annually, GM saying it wanted to get capacity to 1 million EVs annually by the end of 2025. At the moment, the site builds the Silverado EV Work Truck, the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, and the Cruise Origin shuttles — not the Bolt taxis, the autonomous pods. The Detroit News reported GM sold 18 Silverado EV Work Trucks in Q3 this year, GM Authority says GMC Hummer EV production has ramped up to about 3,000 units per month, and Cruise Origin is still waiting on approval from the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration to mass-produce the autonomous shuttles because the shuttles need an exemption for not having steering wheels.

Most of the US won't get 2016 Chevy Volt

Every major plug-in vehicle launch in the US has been a patchwork operation, with automakers focusing their initial efforts on targeted locations like California where they expect to sell the most units. Today, we learned that even five years into the plug-in car project, the game remains the same. According to GM, the second-gen Chevy Volt is going to be rolled out in the same manner. In fact, GM is limiting availability of the 2016 model year Volt so much that most of the US will not have access to the car at all. For 39 states, the second-gen Volt will first be available as a 2017 model year vehicle at some point in the spring of 2016. When GM announced the buying process for the new Volt, it made it clear that dealers in California would be the first to place their orders. Hybrid Cars now reports that the first deliveries will be also limited to California and 10 other states that follow the California Air Resourced Board (CARB) rules: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland , Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. GM spokesman Kevin Kelly told AutoblogGreen that this is all according to plan. "Chevrolet has a shortened model year for the 2016 Chevy Volt that will have a limited distribution network," he said. "The 2016 Volt will be sold in our strongest EREV markets. The 2017 Chevrolet Volt will begin production early this spring and will be available throughout the country." It appears that non-CARB state Volt customers will be able to order their Volts starting October 1, according to documents posted on Hybrid Cars, where we also learn that 2016 Volt production for California started in August, will begin in late October for the other 10 CARB states, and in early 2016 for the rest of the US. Unsurprisingly, dealers outside of the 11 CARB states have been complaining that they can't order the much-anticipated new Volt for their customers just yet. Related Video:

Chevrolet considering midsize crossover to slot between Traverse and Equinox

Crossovers are the new hotness, and automakers are looking to cash in by offering a size and shape for every customer. With Chevrolet's debut of the new 2018 Traverse in Detroit, which grew ever so slightly compared to the first-generation model, there is now a midsize-crossover-sized hole between the three-row Traverse and the compact Equinox. When asked about that obvious space, a Chevrolet spokesperson told us the company is looking into the possibility of expanding its crossover lineup. It should be a relatively simple thing to do, since all it would take is reskinning and rechristening the GMC Acadia with a bow tie, and we all know how much GM loves platform sharing. Although they're now different sizes, the new Acadia and Traverse still use the same platform; the Acadia is now on a short-wheelbase version of the C1XX while the Traverse uses long-wheelbase C1XX parts. A short-wheelbase Chevy built on the C1XX likely would be differentiated visually from both the Acadia and the larger Traverse. It may seem like flooding the lineup with more and more models would cannibalize sales of existing ones, but Chevrolet said it would rather have customers stay within the brand rather than going to another automaker. There have been whispers that some form of the Blazer name (possibly TrailBlazer) may make a return on a midsizer, but if it does don't expect an old-school body-on-frame SUV like the old one. In the end, if Chevy builds it, customers will come. Related Video: