by Bryan Laviolette | Nov 20, 2012
General Motors is doing everything it can to whip car enthusiasts into a lather, slowly revealing minute details about the C7, the next Chevy Corvette, which break cover at the Detroit auto show on Jan. 13. The 47-second video opens dramatically with a shot of the...
by Bryan Laviolette | Nov 15, 2012
Despite poor sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, GM says it is committed to building hundreds of thousands of electrified vehicles in the next five years. Mary Barra, senior vice president of global product development for GM, said besides...
by Bryan Laviolette | Nov 8, 2012
In recent years, if you wanted a true sports car, your only choices were to accept a car based a front-wheel drive econobox or cash in your 401(k) to buy a real sports car putting its power to the rear wheels. No more. Subaru and Toyota – a seemingly unlikely pair to...
by Bryan Laviolette | Nov 1, 2012
Think of it as Mopar with an Italian flair. Fiat introduced the Fiat Custom Shop at SEMA in Las Vegas. The plan is to give customers a variety of factory-installed customization options along with the opportunity to finance the upgrades through their regular monthly...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 24, 2012
General Motors is testing a new thermal-forming process and its own corrosion-resistance treatment for magnesium to as an alternative to steel and aluminum for vehicle body panels. Eventually, GM wants to license the technology to suppliers to provide significant...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 23, 2012
Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended the automaker’s controversial strategy to establish company-owned stores rather than franchises used by other car companies. Dealers in Massachusetts and New York sued Tesla last week, claiming the company-owned stores violate franchising...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 19, 2012
The well-respected Detroit entrepreneur and inventor Stanford Ovshinsky died Thursday at his suburban Detroit home. An autodidact whose knowledge covered a vast range of technical and scientific fields, Ovshinsky was 89. Ovshinsky founded Energy Conversion Devices,...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 19, 2012
Car enthusiasts love the small car/big engine formula when it comes to sports cars. But now automakers are starting to flip the formula, putting small engines in big cars. None have been more aggressive than Ford with its EcoBoost engine strategy. A case in point is...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 13, 2012
We fire up the Gibbs Quadski – the world’s first production, planing fast amphibian – and head straight for the water. Just as the tires start to get wet, we instinctively grab the brake lever because, well, wheeled vehicles aren’t supposed to go in the water. But...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 11, 2012
He may be approaching his eighties, but former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is showing no sign of slowing down. Among an assortment of board seats and other assignments that give lie to the idea of “post-retirement,” the former Marine pilot has...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 9, 2012
As if you didn’t see this coming. Dodge is introducing a high-mileage version of its smallest car, the Dart to do battle with “eco” versions of the Ford Focus on Chevrolet Cruze. Like the others, it uses lightweight body components, added aerodynamic tricks and other...
by Bryan Laviolette | Oct 2, 2012
A group of consumers has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nissan accusing the automaker of overstating the vehicle’s driving range. Humberto Klee, a plaintiff from California, claims that Nissan advertises the Leaf’s driving range at 100 miles or less, depending...
