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Weekly Recap: GM plans massive new paint shop at Chevy Corvette factory

General Motors is laying out some serious green to maintain the Chevy Corvette's expansive color palette. The automaker is breaking ground on a new paint shop this summer that's part of a $439-million investment to upgrade the 34-year-old Bowling Green, KY, factory that builds the Stingray. The massive new structure will total 450,000 square feet, nearly half the size of the current 1-million square-foot facility. Construction is expected to take two years and won't impact Corvette production. The upgrades include new robots that save paint and create a better finish, longer, more efficient ovens to bake in the finish, and LED lighting. There's also a dry scrubbing booth technology with a limestone handling system that eliminates waste. GM has invested $135 million in the factory in last four years for the changeover to build the C7 and to relocate its Performance Build Center to Bowling Green. The improvements continue to modernize the Kentucky factory, which has become a tourist attraction in its own right, as more than 56,000 enthusiasts visited it last year. The upgrades are part of a $5.4-billion investment GM confirmed in April that will remake its US footprint in the next three years. The Bowling Green expansion underscores GM's continued commitment to the Corvette, which sold nearly 38,000 copies around the world last year, an eight-year high. "With this major technology investment, we can continue to exceed the expectations of sports car buyers for years to come," North American manufacturing manager Arvin Jones said in a statement. OTHER NEWS & NOTES Takata recall hits 34 million vehicles The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expanded the Takata airbag recall to an almost unthinkable 34 million vehicles on Tuesday. The recall is part of an agreement reached by the two sides where Takata admitted some of its airbag inflators have a defect, and the deal compels the company to comply with all future regulatory actions and investigations. Takata's airbag inflators were produced with "a propellant that can degrade over time" and lead to ruptures, NHTSA said. Six deaths have been attributed to the flaw worldwide. Investigations conducted by Takata, automakers, and others have not determined the exact cause of the inflator problem, but NHTSA said moisture appears to alter the propellant's chemical structure. It then ignites too rapidly, creates too much pressure that ruptures the inflator, and blasts shards of metal at passengers.

Oliver Jarvis in a Mazda takes pole in star-studded Rolex 24 at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Oliver Jarvis broke a 26-year-old record at Daytona International Speedway in putting the Mazda DPi from Team Joest on the pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jarvis went to the top of the scoring chart early in Thursday's qualifying session with a lap at 1 minute, 33.685 seconds. It broke the mark by two-tenths of a second set by P.J. Jones in 1993 in a GTP-class Toyota. The Englishman spoiled a strong run by Team Penske, which qualified second and third for the twice-round-the-clock endurance race that begins Saturday. Ricky Taylor earned the second spot in Penske's Acura ARX-05, while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was third in his first time qualifying the sports car for the organization. Team Joest wound up first and fourth on the starting grid with Jonathan Bomarito putting its second car on the second row. Felipe Nasr had the fastest Cadillac DPi-V.R in fifth for Action Express Racing. Nasr is the reigning IMSA champion and led the way for four more Cadillacs in qualifying. Jordan Taylor was sixth for Wayne Taylor Racing, ahead of Juncos Racing's Agustin Canapino, then Tristan Vautier and Stephen Simpson for JDC-Miller Motorsports. James Allen in an Oreca 07 Gibson for DragonSpeed won the LMP2 pole. In the GT Le Mans class, Nick Tandy put a Porsche on the pole as four different manufacturers qualified in the first two rows. IMSA GTLM champion Jan Magnussen of Corvette Racing was second, Ryan Briscoe in a Ford GT for Chip Ganassi Racing was third and followed by Davide Rigon in Risi Competizione's Ferrari 488. Marcos Gomes gave Via Italia's Ferrari 488 the pole in the GT Daytona class. Related Video:

Mazda CX-50, GMC Hummer EV and Porsche Macan T | Autoblog Podcast #724

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. It's a big week for interesting car reviews, as we discuss driving the Mazda CX-50, GMC Hummer EV, Porsche Macan T and Toyota GR86 (formerly known as GR 86, with a space). They also discuss the newly unveiled 2023 Toyota GR Corolla and 2023 Honda HR-V, as well as Elon Musk becoming Twitter's biggest shareholder. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #724 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2023 Mazda CX-50 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 2023 Porsche Macan T 2022 Toyota GR86 2023 Toyota GR Corolla revealed: Looks ferocious, packs 300 hp 2023 Honda HR-V revealed, is now Civic-based and bigger Elon Musk takes 9.2% stake in Twitter, is now biggest shareholder Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.