Sitting in the middle of the GM booth at SEMA is Robby Gordon's Hummer H3 Dakar racer. This tube-frame, carbon-fiber-bodied beast uses a LS7 V8 and sequential gearbox to drive the rear wheels. And it looks utterly bad ass.
Gordon's third place finish in this year's event means he's a real contender for the 2010 edition which starts on January 1.
More photos after the jump.
Continue reading Robby Gordon's Hummer H3 Dakar Racecar.
The deal to sell Opel is officially off. General Motors announced today it will keep its German subsidiary.
Back in September GM announced it would sell a 55-percent stake in Opel/Vauxhall to the consortium of the Canadian parts supplier Magna and the Russian bank Sberbank (representing the Russian automaker GAZ). Opel employees would have gotten a 10-percent stake and GM would have held onto 35 percent.
But the deal was delayed when the European Union expressed concern that it violated EU law: The German government had promised $6.6 billion in aid to Opel, but only if GM sold its subsidiary to Magna/Sberbank (which were thought to be most amenable to preserving German union jobs). This essentially made other bidders, among them RHJ International, the Belgian affiliate of private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, less attractive. European press reports indicate that Germany subsequently relented and said it would provide the same aid package to other bidders.
It's not yet clear exactly what role this issue played in today's decision, thought Reuters reports that GM's board met immediately after the EU pressed GM officials to confirm that the company still would have chosen Magna/Sberbank had it known that Germany would have provided aid to any of the bidding companies.
Of course, there's nothing about this matter in GM's press release, in which Fritz Henderson states, "While strained, the business environment in Europe has improved. At the same time, GM's overall financial health and stability have improved significantly over the past few months, giving us confidence that the European business can be successfully restructured."
The release also indicates that GM estimates restructuring costs for Opel at 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) --"significantly lower than all bids submitted as part of the investor solicitation."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington, DC, this week, so it will be interesting to see if she weighs in on this announcement. The sale of Opel was a hot-button issue during her recent reelection campaign.
No surprise here: Professional racer and retired GM engineer, John Heinricy posted the day's fastest lap at 2:46:560.
This knowledge is useful mostly for getting an idea of how fast a CTS-V is capable of running here at Monticello. Do not, however, compare that lap time (nor that of the other GM ringer), to the laps posted by the privately owned BMWs, Jag and Audi. Those were more-or-less average guys that happen to own fast cars, not professional drivers.
Just in case you're trying to keep track of the thousand or so Camaros and Corvettes headed to this year's SEMA show, GM has so graciously provided a teaser video of its handful of in-house project vehicles. Do you like green Camaros and Grand Sport 'Vettes? Well then, General Motors has you covered.
Not really sure how a crate engine can be much of a surprise these days. Unless it has a blender on top in place of a carburetor, it will probably look just like every other crate engine known to man.
That didn't stop GM from making this promo video to generate some excitement. Are you pumped now or what?
As expected, Fisker Automotive announced today that it plans to buy GM's Wilmington, Delaware plant for the purpose of constructing a new, mid-priced plug-in electric car. Fisker says it will pay a mere $18 million for the shuttered plant and then spend an additional $175M to get it ready to build Fisker's next car.
A Fisker spokesman also told Green Car Advisor that it plans to use union labor. "We are looking to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with the UAW."
This all sounds great on the surface, but they are plenty of reasons to remain skeptical. Fisker has yet to deliver a single working version of its first car, so its viability as a manufacturer has yet to be determined.
And then there's the issue of cost. Fisker says its next vehicle will be a "mid-priced" vehicle, think closer to $50K, but union labor in a plant in Deleware won't be cheap. Fisker is going to have to reduce its costs substantially to make it all work, so there's still plenty of difficult decisions still to be made.
Green Car Advisor: Fisker Plug-In Plant Will Be Union, UAW "Essential" Says Company
Not likely, especially when it comes to muscle cars like the Ford Mustang. Of all the vehicles in Ford's lineup, the iconic pony car seems like the last piece of property the company would let out of its sight.
So what are we to make of these latest spy pictures that show a Mustang prototype emerging from GM's proving grounds in Milford, MI? Collaboration? Theft? A GM employee with an odd sense of humor and bad taste in paint?
Fisker Automotive, which has yet to build its first car, is expected to sign a deal to buy GM's shuttered plant in Wilmington, Delaware that previously built the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to make an appearance in his home state tomorrow to announce the deal.
Fisker has already contracted production of its upcoming Karma electric sedan to Valmet Automotive of Finland. The Wilmington plant would be used to build Fisker's second vehicle which is expected to have a price closer to $50,000 when it debuts in 2012.
And how can an automaker with no revenues afford to buy an entire auto plant? Easy, the government gave it to them. Actually, the government gave Fisker a $528M loan, which should be more than enough to pay for the idled plant. The money will then go to GM which just so happens to owe the government a big chunk of money itself. And just like that, the government gets its money back. Now that's a deal.
AutoObserver: "Old" GM May Offload Plant on New-Age Automaker
Duck-tail spoiler? Check. Fender vents? Check. Twin-port front grille? Check. Raised white-letter tires? Check. A 445 cubic inch V8? Check. Honeycomb wheels and a screamin' chicken? Oh, hell yeah.
Call it an homage or a re-creation or whatever you'd like, but the 455 TA that Lingenfelter Performance Engineering is bringing to the SEMA show in early November is a peculiar kind of awesome. Inspired by (or copied from) the second-generation 1971 Pontiac Trans-Am with the 455 engine, the Lingenfelter hits most of the right visual notes. Certainly, we think the time for the return of the honeycomb wheel is past due.
Built on a current Camaro body, the 455 TA packs a GM LS-based, aluminum-block, 655-horsepower V8 with an 11.5:1 compression ratio and ported and polished LS7 heads. It uses the a variation on the Corvette ZR1's twin-disc flywheel and clutch assembly. The wheels are custom 20-inchers wearing Nitto tires.
Lingenfelter promises "custom classic interior" to match the exterior style. Look for more information from the SEMA show floor on November 3. The vehicle is a one-off for now. But Lingenfelter claims, it'll be gauging whether there's enough interest to build a run of customer cars.
You'll remember former Auto Task Force head Steven Rattner's take-down of GM and Rick Wagoner yesterday. Now, round two of GM bashing in the public sphere began today with some tart words in a Wall Street Journal article from a former long-time consultant of General Motors'.
This time, the denouncements came at a hearing in Washington on the EPA and NHTSA proposals to control greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel economy and appear to be aimed at at least one current executive. According to the Journal, the former consultant, Rob Kleinbaum said:
"Of chief concern is that people who actively ignored the research on the importance of fuel economy and believe in their hearts that [global warming] is a 'crock' are still in senior positions and spread throughout [the company]."
Might these senior people in fact be Bob "Global warming is a 'total crock of sh**'" Lutz? Sounds like the gauntlet has been thrown. Of course Lutz isn't exactly new to this whole challenge thing either.Your move, sir.
General Motors has given refunds to 15 individuals under its much ballyhooed 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee program, according to a report from the Associated Press.
An overwhelming number of buyers chose to opt out of the Money-Back Guarantee offer at the time of their purchase, opting instead for a $500 rebate. In fact, the AP quotes GM spokesman Tom Henderson saying that only about 400 buyers opted for the Money-Back Guarantee coverage, representing "less than one percent" of the GM cars sold since the program began on September 14.
Of course, by the stipulations of the program an owner could only return his car between the 31st and 60th days of the Money-Back period, meaning Thursday October 15th was the first day owners could potentially return a car. The program runs through the end of November.
In a piece for Fortune magazine, former head of President Obama's Auto Task Force Steven Rattner, outlines the reasons he fired of former GM CEO Rick Wagoner -- and took the opportunity to take a few last pokes at General Motors' culture.
"I was shocked by the stunningly poor management that we found, particularly at GM, where we encountered, among other things, perhaps the weakest finance operation any of us had ever seen in a major company," writes Rattner.
Ouch.
Read more of Rattner's indictment of GM after the jump.
Continue reading Steven Rattner: Why I Fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner.
Yep, just one, an manual-transmission Corvette if you're curious. Guy wanted an automatic instead.
The rest of GM's customers have taken the $500 cash incentive instead. So what does that say about the success of the program?
GM says that people clearly loved their cars so much they didn't see a need to return them. Then again, it's hard to tell if most of those customers were already GM buyers or the more coveted "conquest buyers" from other brands.
Mark LaNeve, former Cadillac boss and the top sales executive for GM in the U.S., is leaving the company. Fritz Henderson made the announcement during this morning's company update.
LaNeve was once the head of GM's sales, service and marketing operations, but had his responsibilities reduced over the last year to U.S. sales only. No immediate replacement was named.
Now that the Pontiac G8 is headed for the scrap heap, General Motors has decided that it will sell something else on its well-regarded rear-wheel drive platform: police cruisers! Yes, the Chevrolet Caprice is back and this time it has a fully independent suspension and a 6.0-liter V8 up front. At least, it could. Police agencies will be able to choose a V6 too, but that's far less menacing don't you think?
Although it's built on the same platform as the G8, the Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV) as it's officially called, actually rides on a stretched version of GM's Zeta platform. With a 118.5-inch wheelbase, it's the biggest vehicle on the rear-wheel drive architecture. This allows for a little extra legroom for the exceptional passengers in back, not to mention more room for seat adjustment for officers up front. Look out for Chevrolet Caprice PPVs starting in 2011.
White House Disputes Edmunds' Cash for Clunkers Analysis
October 29, 2009 2:06 PM
CTS-V Challenge: Jaguar Bails, Lutz Talks Smack
October 27, 2009 7:50 PM
Fisker Announces Deal To Buy GM Plant; Will Hire Union Labor
October 27, 2009 10:10 AM
New Honda President Lays Out a Few Goals
October 27, 2009 3:34 AM
Are GM and Ford Working Together?
October 26, 2009 4:43 PM