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Meet Alex Archer, the engineer behind GM's power-sliding center console

In 2009, a GM manager complained to a 59-year-old GM technician about the hassle of retrieving items from a pickup truck bed after driving shifted the cargo. In two days, the tech had come up with the ideas that, ten years later, would debut as the MultiPro tailgate. The engineering teams kept the tailgate secret in part by hiding mock-ups in a locked storage closet in GM's Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren Michigan for two years. A piece in the Detroit Free Press reveals that another storage closet in Warren would play the same role in a different cloak-and-dagger operation, this time for the power-sliding center console in GM's new full-sized SUVs. During a meeting in early 2017, bosses gave the job of the console's creation to 24-year-old design release engineer Alex Archer, just two years out of Stanford University with a degree in engineering and product design.  This time, the catalyst for the feature was an internal GM think tank called co:lab, where employees suggest ideas. Execs gave Archer the task because "They needed someone willing to ask a lot of questions," her 36-month mandate to produce a six-way console that could be a standard cubby or a gaping maw able to swallow four gallon jugs or hide a secret compartment. Clearly, she succeeded. It took Archer and the team nine months to devise a prototype, another six months to get the green light for production. As with the tailgate, the team working on the console grew to include designers, production engineers, and suppliers. Archer, now 26, shepherded the process, and her name is on the patent. "It took a ton of people, I'm just somebody who stuck with it the whole time," she said. GM like her work well enough to produce the "Day in the Life" segment above, five months before the world would hear about the console. Archer's path to engineering was as unlikely as getting the job for the console. She had entered Stanford with plans to be a doctor. But an innovation class during her freshman year, and a sophomore summer spent helping her grandfather rebuild a 1937 MG engine recharted her course. Her grandfather told her, "You know, you could be an engineer for a car company." Consumer reaction to Archer's work won't be far off, the SUVs slated to hit dealerships soon. Meanwhile, she's busy on something that could be just as intense as the console: Restoring a 1955 Packard Clipper in her garage. Head to Freep to check out the story of Archer and the console. Related Video:

GM pauses 3.0-liter turbodiesel production due to a supplier shortage

General Motors confirmed it has temporarily stopped taking orders for trucks and SUVs equipped with the 3.0-liter Duramax turbodiesel six-cylinder engine. It blamed the last-minute pause on a supplier-related shortage. Website TFL Truck first reported the news, and a representative from General Motors quickly confirmed it. The spokesperson explained the issue is due to a "temporary part shortage" and added that production will resume "as soon as possible," meaning the Duramax engine (which is called LM2 internally) is not going away permanently. Additional details are not available, so we don't know if the issue is related to the ongoing chip shortage. Rather than delay deliveries and create a backlog, General Motors is reportedly asking its dealers to encourage buyers who want a turbodiesel engine to instead select either the 5.3-liter V8 or the 6.2-liter V8, depending on the model selected. Both are gasoline-powered units. There's no word yet on when Duramax production will resume. The shortage affects several models, including Chevrolet's Tahoe, Suburban, and Silverado 1500 and GMC's variants of these trucks. Cadillac's Escalade is temporarily diesel-less as well. Heavy Duty variants of the Silverado and the Sierra are not affected because they're powered by a different Duramax engine with eight cylinders. Motorists seeking a full-size SUV powered by an efficient turbodiesel engine are temporarily out of options because the Tahoe/Yukon and the Suburban/Yukon XL had the segment to themselves. The Duramax was surprisingly popular, too: in May 2021, GM Authority reported that the turbodiesel straight-six represented 8% of Suburban sales and 6% of Tahoe sales. Installed in a rear-wheel-drive Tahoe, the engine returns 21 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway, and 24 mpg in a combined cycle, figures that make the body-on-frame behemoth more efficient than the unibody, front-wheel-drive Chevrolet Blazer that's 20 inches shorter and approximately 1,700 pounds lighter. Related video: 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe 3.0L Duramax engine

2022 GMC Canyon gets a few tiny changes

After overhauling the GMC Canyon lineup into Elevation Standard, Elevation, AT4, and Denali for the 2021 model year, GMC has sprinkled just a few changes on the 2022 Canyon. The midsized pickup's appearance outside and inside doesn't change. The sole alteration in the cabin is that wireless charging won't be come standard on Denali next year, but be an option. That could be GM making lemonade out of lemons, telling customers that if they want hard-to-find semiconductor chips then they're going to have to kick in more dough. The only other change is a new gloss black aluminum spare wheel for the AT4 trim when specced with a Crew Cab and a short bed. This rim replaces the steel spare wheel that remains standard fit on Elevation, Elevation Standard, and Denali. And anyone looking for the High Elevation Package will need to look for it by its new name, the Elevation Premium Package. The Denali Black Edition Package is new for next year for $2,295 on gas-powered models that aren't fitted with the Power Package or the Cat-Back Performance Exhaust. On the exterior, this adds five-inch black assist steps to replace the chrome units, black chrome exhaust tips instead of polished tips, and 20-inch low-gloss-black aluminum wheels with black GMC logo center caps. Inside come premium all-weather floor mats taking the place of the carpeted mats. The current, second-generation Canyon doesn't have long to live, with the third-generation pickup expected for the 2023 or 2024 model year. Spy shots from earlier this year make us think the Canyon and its Chevrolet Colorado twin will pick up styling to emphasize their connection to GM's larger half-ton pickups. Rumor also has it that the Silverado will donate what may be the new midsizer's only powertrain, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine — the new corporate 2.7-liter turbo in this instance. That 310-horsepower mill would supplant both the 2.5-liter four-cylinder 3.6-liter V6 gas engines now available, and the 2.8-liter Duramax diesel. It does, however, appear that GMC will get its own version of the Colorado ZR2, spy shooters catching a camouflaged, high-rise Canyon on a set of Multimatic DSSV dampers. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.