2005 Chevrolet 2500 Stake Bed With Lift Gate! Under 40,000 Miles! Clean! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM sees 'strong year' in 2018, then gold in Chevy Silverado for 2019

DETROIT — General Motors said on Tuesday it expects earnings in 2018 to be largely flat compared with 2017, but that profits should pick up pace in 2019 as its revamped line of high-margin pickup trucks hits the U.S. market. The 2018 earnings outlook was above market expectations, sending GM shares up more than 3 percent in premarket trading. "GM had a very good 2017 as we continued to transform our company to be more focused, resilient and profitable," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in a statement. "We are positioned for another strong year in 2018 and an even better one in 2019." GM and its Detroit rivals, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, are bringing on new trucks at a time when overall U.S. new vehicle sales have been falling, but truck sales continue to grow as consumers abandon passenger cars in favor of pickups, SUVs and crossovers. GM on Saturday fired a new round in the battle for profits from one of the U.S. auto industry's most lucrative segments when it showed a new generation of its Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at the Detroit auto show. The new Silverado, a highlight of the event, is the successor to GM's best-selling vehicle in North America. Sales of the current Silverado rose nearly 2 percent to 585,000 vehicles in 2017. In the coming months, the company will also reveal a revamped GMC Sierra pickup truck. U.S. new vehicle sales fell 2 percent in 2017 after hitting a record high in 2016, and are expected to drop further in 2018 as interest rates rise and more late-model used cars return to dealer lots to compete with new ones. GM said on Tuesday that while it retools a factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, to make the new pickup trucks, it will shift some production to an Oshawa, Ontario, plant in order to avoid missing sales in a hot market for the vehicles. The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it will record a $7 billion non-cash charge for its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings related to deferred tax assets. GM said it expects capital expenditure in 2018 of around $8.5 billion, about $1 billion of which will go toward funding self-driving car technology. Last week, the company said it is seeking U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car — one without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator pedal — to enter the automaker's first commercial ride-sharing fleet in 2019. GM said it expects 2017 earnings per share at the high end of its previously forecast range of $6 to $6.50.

Race Recap: 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring, cakewalk up front, grindfest out back [w/spoilers]

This year's 12 Hours of Sebring wasn't exactly a foregone conclusion because we're still talking about racing, and anything can happen when the speeds are as high as the adrenaline and the desire. But we're still talking about Audi bringing it's two top-spec racers - and its huge budget and its nearly neurotic attention to detail - to a race that it uses as a test bed for The 24 Hours of Le Mans and as a way to open the endurance racing season with a victory.
Besides, 12 hours is a long time, especially at Sebring, and things didn't go all Audi's way. On top of that, although it was a pretty quiet race, behind the Audis things got even grimier, with plenty of battles, plenty of mechanical issues, and the new BMW Z4 GTE and Viper GTS-R being race tested. Oh, and that brand new chromed-out DeltaWing...

Valet mode captures joyride in red Corvette

A man in California is among the first to catch a valet behaving badly in his 2015 Corvette using a controversial built-in recording feature. Dan Cowles told KTLA 5 when he bought his dream car, a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, he opted for the Performance Data Recorder. The Corvette PDR uses a high-definition camera mounted in the windshield header, a microphone in the cabin and a GPS receiver that record and track the sports car's movements and sounds. They work together to produce a video with telemetry overlay, so you can see acceleration rates, lap times and g-forces. The system can be customized to show extensive performance data, or simply video of your drive like a traditional dash cam. It also comes with Valet Mode, which locks the glove box, disables entertainment and records video. The audio recording feature ran afoul of several state's recording consent laws, but this video has no audio, indicating the fix may have been as easy as turning off the microphone. Cowles dropped off his hot red 'Vette with the valets at the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in Costa Mesa, CA. When he got his car back he checked the PDR and discovered footage of the valet taking a short, but intense, joyride in the garage. In the video, the valet finds a straightaway in a tiered parking garage and pushes the car to 50 miles per hour in five seconds before quickly stopping. He then parks the car without incident. The valet then gets out of the car and takes one more admiring look at the front. The valet company has yet to commented on the video, according to Fox News, but valets everywhere should be on notice; that little red Corvette you have your eye on may have its eyes on you. Related Gallery Ward's 10 Best Engines of 2015 View 10 Photos Chevrolet Driving Classics valet parking