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Burt Reynolds' vehicles up for auction at Barrett-Jackson

Burt Reynolds' influence on car culture cannot be overstated. Be it "Smokey and the Bandit" or "Cannonball Run," his films inspired a generation of car enthusiasts. He died a few weeks back from cardiac arrest at age 82. This weekend, four vehicles from Reynolds' personal collection — three Pontiacs and a Chevy — will go up for auction at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. It seems Reynolds had plans to sell the cars before he passed. He even filmed a short teaser for the auction and planned to attend the event himself. Three of the cars are Pontiac Trans Ams. Two are re-creations of the cars he drove in "Bandit" and the film "Hooper." Both are 1978 models. The third Trans Am is from 1984 and was used to promote Reynolds' USFL team, the Tampa Bay Bandits. The fourth vehicle is a 1978 Chevy R30 pickup truck. It's styled like the truck he drove in "Cannonball Run." None of the vehicles were actually used in the movies. But they were registered in his name, making them far more legitimate than some other movie-inspired clones. It's unclear how many Bandit Trans Ams Reynolds has owned over the years. Another car connected to him sold for $450,000 back in 2014. His death is sure to drive the price of these new cars even higher. Related Video: Image Credit: Barrett-Jackson Celebrities Chevrolet Pontiac Auctions Truck Coupe pontiac trans am burt reynolds

GM to build next-gen Chevy Cruze in Mexico

As one of its global products, General Motors builds the Chevy Cruze for local consumption at assembly plants around the world: in Australia, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil and Ohio. The automaker is expected to trim those locations for the next generation of its compact sedan, but its latest announcement has it adding a new site to the list: Mexico. As part of a $350-million investment, GM's plant at Ramos Arizpe in Coahuila will gear up for production as one of several sites that will be charged with building the next-gen Cruze. The General has yet to announce just which plants those will be, but it has confirmed that the Lordstown, Ohio, site will once again be among them. The plant in St Petersburg, Russia, which has produced the current Cruze, is being shut down, as is the Holden plant in Elizabeth, Australia. The Ramos Arizpe assembly plant currently puts together the Chevy Sonic and Captiva as well as the Cadillac SRX, but has over the course of its 34-year history handled a variety of models for the Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Opel and even Saab brands. The site handles a quarter of GM's production in Mexico, and exports 87 percent of its capacity to other markets. Invertira GM 350 mdd en Ramos Arizpe para fabricar siguiente generacion de Chevrolet Cruze 2015-03-23 - Se consolida GM de Mexico como el sexto productor global de vehiculos para General Motors Company Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila - General Motors de Mexico anuncio este dia que invertira 350 millones de dolares en su Complejo de Manufactura Ramos Arizpe, para fabricar en estas instalaciones la siguiente generacion del modelo Chevrolet Cruze. "Esta inversion, que forma parte de los 5 mil millones de dolares anunciados en diciembre pasado para todo el pais, fortalecera la presencia de GM Ramos Arizpe en la produccion de nuestra compania a nivel mundial y, por supuesto, consolidara a Mexico como el sexto productor de automoviles para GM Company, con el 7% de la produccion global", informo Ernesto M. Hernandez, Presidente y Director General de GM de Mexico. En una reunion de trabajo en la que participaron Ruben Moreira, Gobernador del Estado de Coahuila y Rogelio Garza, Subsecretario de Industria y Comercio del Gobierno Federal, el Presidente de General Motors en el pais aseguro que el Complejo GM Ramos Arizpe se ha consolidado como un iman para las inversiones de la compania a nivel global. Adicionalmente, Ernesto M.

Cadillac could base its entry-level sedan on the Chevy Cruze [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Cadillac spokesperson Donny Nordlicht tells Autoblog , "The post speculating on a future Cadillac model derived from the Chevrolet Cruze is completely false." Premium automakers Mercedes-Benz and Audi have seen plenty of success with new small front-drive-based sedans. The CLA-Class had its best January ever this year, while Audi moved more of its new A3 in 2015 than its predecessor sold in 2005 through 2010 combined. The fact that Cadillac wants a piece of that pie is no surprise, then. There's a new rumor that GM's luxury brand could launch its own compact – possibly called CT2 – to battle the Germans. Cadillac, a brand that's pushed hard to rebuild its rear-drive reputation, could develop a new entry-level model based on the front-wheel-drive 2016 Chevrolet Cruze's D2XX platform. Go ahead and make your Cimarron jokes. Sources are telling GM Inside News that a Cadillac built on the Delta platform would ditch the Cruze's turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder for a 1.5-liter turbo in base models. General Motors' well received 2.0-liter turbo four would serve in higher-end models. According to GMIN, the Delta-based Cadillac would likely command a $6,000 to $9,000 premium over the Cruze, so figure $23,000 to $26,000 on the low end to $30,000 to $33,000 for something at the top of the range. As much as we dislike the kind of badge engineering that brought us the Cavalier-based Cadillac Cimarron in the '80s, the company has done an admirable job of distinguishing vehicles on shared platforms lately. A Delta-platform Cadillac would at least have a good basis – the new Cruze is surprisingly comfy. That said, we question GM's rationale if this rumor is indeed true. Put simply, Cadillac needs another sedan like I need another student loan payment. The company has four sedans, three of which overlap two segments, and none of which are selling very well. That's not because they're bad, but because customers want crossovers, of which Caddy has but one – the new XT5. Spending the time and money to add a fifth sedan to the mix when the company desperately needs to flesh out its CUV range would be a tremendous mistake. As much as we hate to say it, if Cadillac really wants to add a small, entry-level car to its range, it'd better be a crossover. Related Video: