Technology can hurt a driver as much as it can help him. For example, those convenient automated toll systems (i.e. EZ Pass, FasTrak, SunPass, etc.) can also use their time/distance data to figure out if you were speeding. GM may be hitting even closer to home with a new OnStar feature. Right now General Motors will use OnStar to pass on information to their GMAC Insurance arm about your annual driving mileage for possible insurance discounts.
This is purely voluntary program, and GM assures that the data will go no further than annual mileage. But how soon before they want data on speed or acceleration, all disguised under the cloak of lower insurance premiums?
The same side of me who wants to build a bomb shelter in my tool shed is also having trouble with this new OnStar service. After all, Ford is developing cars that talk to each other, GM is putting money into cars that drive themselves, and now your car wants to tattle on your driving habits. Big Brother is no longer trying to get in the passenger seat; it’s trying to drive!
I think it’s too late for me; I’ve already given in to sat nav and climate control. At least for now GM is doing no evil, and instead letting you save some additional cash on car insurance if you drive less then 15k miles a year. Besides, Big Brother technology is nothing new in cars. For almost a decade GM and other manufactures have been installing a “black box” like device that records driver stats, but your car has kept the secret to itself …so far.
At General Motors, “going green” may be as much of a catch phrase for helping the environment as it means saving precious cash. For instance, earlier this month it announced plans to lease 2,000,000 square feet of rooftop space at a plant in Zaragoza, Spain, to a company that installs solar panels. “From a GM perspective, we get revenue for leasing the roof and adding solar to a rooftop instead of taking up valuable land,” said Rob Threlkeld, GM’s Green Initiative Manager, during a web conference on renewable energy today.
The result should generate twelve megawatts of power, which should be enough to run 4,575 Spanish households. This idea is not new to GM. Two facilities in the U.S. have already implemented similar projects, but their size is much smaller than the one at the Zaragoza plant. “As big as this facility is, I don’t see many roof top projects of this size being completed around the world,” Threlkeld added.
In a press conference GM revealed official images of some of their future model, including the 2010 Chevy Cruze, 2010 Cadillac SRX, 2010 Saab 9-4X, and the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox.
At the same event, GM also confirmed the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, 2010 Cadillac CTS Coupe and 2010 Cadillac CTS Wagon.
First to debut will be the 2010 Chevrolet Cruze at the Paris Auto Show. The Cruze will be based on GM’s Delta compact-car architecture and will be powered by a new 1.4-liter global engine that delivers between 120 to 140 hp. Sources say mileage could exceed 40 mpg.
Spy photographers, we’re sorry for your jobs!
Chevrolet Cruze, Cadillac SRX, Saab 9-4X - first images Picture Gallery
.
This morning NPR aired an interesting interview with the author of "While America Aged, How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors..."
The author explains how the big three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) could get away with heavy pension cost while there was no competing products. But since foreign automaker can offer cars that don’t carry the same pension burden, GM will have no other choice than bankruptcy if they want to get out of those bad deals.
Click here, then click on ’Listen now’ to listen to the interview.
General Motors just added a new service to its OnStar technology. The new service will allow OnStar to assist the police in recovering your stolen vehicle, and hopefully reduce fatalities and injuries that result from high speed police chases. This new technology is known as “Stolen Vehicle Slowdown,” and its name pretty much tells what it was created to do. Basically, this is the latest enhancement to OnStar’s stolen vehicle service, and it allows OnStar advisors to work with the police, by sending a signal to the subscriber’s stolen vehicle that reduces engine power, slowing the vehicle down gradually.
More details after the jump.
>> read GM announced today their first quarter 2008 sales performance on the old continent. And they are not doing bad at all, in fact this is their best first quarter in term of volume with
570,000 vehicle sold. Chevrolet Europe Q1 sales are up 30 percent to a
record market share of 2.2 percent, GM Russia is showing 78 percent increase and the Cadillac brand is finally taking off with 13 percent growth. Even the gas guzzler Hummer brand is showing a 59 percent increased compared to Q1 2007, and keep in mind that gas in Europe cost almost $10 a gallon ! We wonder how they dit it but it seems that the American brands are finally breaking into the European market. GM global positioning is paying off and it pays in Euros, worth 1.57 US Dollar for those who don’t follow the market. Global positioning is really paying off, especially when you think that US sales outlook are in the red.
General Motors declared that they have no intentions in competing against Tata’s $2500 Nano. General Motors Asia Pacific president David N Reilly stated that they cannot compromise with the Chevrolet brand by making a competitor but are looking at making another small-car below the Chevrolet Spark’s price point.
The Chevrolet Spark is at present, the entry-level model of GM priced at US $7564 (ex-showroom price, Delhi). But nothing about the cost aspect was revealed for this new car which is planned to enter the Indian market sometime in the next two years. GM will develop this car with other similar International markets in mind and will use it to attain its target of 10 per cent market share in India by 2010.
At present, three-fourths of the cars sold in India are small cars which has evolved into a major small-car hub. Toyota, Renault, Ford, Hyundai and Fiat are all developing their own Nano versions cheaper than anything else in their product range.
Rising crude oil prices is the reason why people not only in India, but all over the world prefer small, economical cars which are easy on the environment too. But crude oil prices are not ascending alone. The cost of raw materials which includes steel and aluminium, which are used to make vital components in a car, are also increasing.
The big question remains to be safety. At such rock-bottom prices, will the safety factor be given adequate importance by car makers?
General Motors’ new transmission plant in its Mexico’s Silao complex has been in the news since it began operations last month.
The $660 million plant builds a new six-speed rear-wheel-drive family of gearboxes, which uses 4 percent less fuel compared to regular transmissions in certain applications. 1,500 of them are built everyday which are distributed to other countries, where they will find application in 25 different vehicles.
However, the gearboxes will not be exported to the U.S or neither will they be fitted on vehicles assembled in Silao.
The Silao complex currently employs 3,900 people and the transmission plant will employ 1,100 workers at full production. The Silao complex opened in the year 1995. It assembles the Chevrolet Suburban, Avalanche and Silverado Crew Cab, GMC Sierra Crew Cab and Cadillac Escalade EXT models.
General Motors has announced that it will build a cheap city car for EUR 8,000 using motorcycle parts. This measure will keeps costs down and also make it easier for the manufacturer to put the car together in the assembly stage. Tata Motors were also at some point of time, thinking along those lines during the Nano’s development stage, but the plan was subsequently dropped.
Opel is presently in the "discussion and examination phase" of the project and it will be long before the rear-engined, entry-level car rolls out of their factory. Opel will outsource the parts from either a scooter or motorcycle manufacturer and is also looking at Asian suppliers to help them out. The car is expected to carry a drive train similar to a motorcycles’ and will be ready within a few years time.
The $2500 Nano from Tata Motors has challenged international players. What was at one point termed ’impossible’ has now turned into ’competition’. GM announced it would use its Chinese company Wuling to pit against the Nano in the future. Wuling is a Chinese company which manufactures vans and pickups for around $3,000, and is partly-owned by General Motors.
GM’s vice chairman of global product development Bob Lutz, said "We move a legacy architecture and parts that have been around for a long time,". "Then we create a vehicle that’s very inexpensive, and it could not be sold in the developed world because it wouldn’t meet regulations.", describing the way GM would go about making their small car.
GM is right now working on a parallel products program which focuses completely on small cars for developing countries like eastern Europe and Asia where the battle ground for super low-cost car is heating up.
"You add an extra passenger seat, that’ll be slightly extra and so forth," comments Lutz, questioning whether that the Nano will retail at $2,500 once amenities are added. "The average retail is probably going to be more," he added.
I don’t think there is room for another passenger seat in the Nano, Mr.Lutz. You should check your facts before making such statements!
Pages: 
Picture Gallery
Post a comment
RSS -
Webmaster free news |
System Administration