All Entries in the "Auto News" Category

Compact Truck Market Reboot – Small Trucks Making a Comeback?

A story has come out that Chevy is considering bring back the LUV to the U.S. market. For the first time in years, we could have a truly compact truck for sale. Good or bad idea?

This is the Chevy Montana that is sold in Latin America. Could it work in the U.S. market?

U.S. House Committee Will Probe GM Ignition Recall Blunder – Saga Grows

The ongoing saga of GM’s failure to report a recall in a timely manner has now gotten the attention of a U.S. House committee. The committee said late Monday, March 10, 2014 that it will hold an investigation and have hearings on the issue. It plans on calling both GM and NHTSA officials to testify.

Michigan Republican Fred Upton will help lead the investigation into GM’s recall blunder. He was a key member of the panel during the Ford Explorer and Firestone tires scandal.

GM To Wall Street – Maintain Full-Size Truck Pricing, Profit Over Volume

GM’s CFO meet with Wall Street analysts last week in a private meeting. The message coming out is that GM won’t drop full-size truck prices to increase market share. Rather, it is holding the line. Like Toyota, it seems GM is happy putting profit over volume.

GM recently told analysts they are holding the line on their pricing discipline. CREDIT: REUTERS/RICK WILKING

GM’s Ignition Switch Recall Blunder – Fines, Lawsuits and More

UPDATE from Autonews.com: Federal safety regulators today sent a 27-page letter to General Motors requesting detailed information and documents related to its investigation of whether the automaker waited too long before recalling 1.6 million vehicles last month.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave GM until April 3 to answer 107 questions about the recall, many of which could require hundreds of pages in response. The recall covers 2005-07 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2003-07 Saturn Ions and five other nameplates.

A federal investigation has been launched to review GM’s handling of a 9 year gap between discovering a problem and issuing a recall. With 1.6 million vehicles involved and 13 people believe to have died, GM is “real sorry.” That’s not quite going to cut it.

The ignition switch on this 2007 Pontiac G5 could fail. This failure would turn off the vehicle and could stop the air bags from deploying in an accident. While that’s bad, what’s worse is how long GM waited to recall the vehicles affected.

Electric MiniTrucks Send F-250s to Garage – The Future

For years, automakers have been trying to build an “electric truck” that actually makes sense. Most times, these electric trucks fall well short on towing and power needs of most consumers. Yet, is there a future for small electric trucks? Most likely and this is it.

These electric minitrucks sent the F-250s to the garage for most of the year.