Autoblog

It's an epic poem that could have been written by Byron: you suffered a nasty breakup and met a new girl, you dated for a while, things were looking outstanding, you proposed... and then the bottom dropped out of the medium-duty truck business. We've seen it all before. And now that it's happened, Navistar has backed away from it's non-binding commitment to purchase GM's medium-duty truck operations.

GM and Navistar only had a memorandum of understanding, so there appears to be no harm, no foul in Navistar getting icy feet. The brief announcement of the dissolution presents it as a mutual affair: "Due to significant marketplace and economic changes, GM and Navistar have decided not to renew the memorandum of understanding to purchase GM's medium duty truck business," but we imagine GM standing at the altar, watching its Navistar groom bolt from the church and hop in a taxi.>

GM is still talking to Navistar and looking at other ways to dump find a good home for its medium duty truck business. A shame, because they make some fine vehicles.

[Source: GM]

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2010 Pontiac G8 ST

The Pontiac G8 Sport Truck was originally supposed to be powered only by General Motors' 361-horsepower 6.0L V8, but tough fuel economy standards and customer demand for fuel efficient products have conspired to change the General's plans. Edmunds Inside Line quotes an anonymous senior engineer at the General saying that the unique sport ute will receive automaker's 3.6L V6, as well. That's good news for fuel economy, but the better news is that the 3.6L V6 of choice will be the direct injection versoin. That will likely give the G8 ST the same 300+hp as the 2010 Camaro and Cadillac CTS. That should also make the base ST more appealing to enthusiasts and the average Joe, with more power at the pedal and a healthier torque curve. The DI version of GM's 3.6L V6 will also likely be available in the base G8 sedan for the 2010 model year, as well.

It makes sense that GM would go with direct injection for the G8 ST, as the General has already promised the powerful V6 for the Chevy Traverse and Camaro. Putting DI in more vehicles will help drive down the cost of producing these more high-tech engines economy of scale while also giving customers V8ish performance with V6ish fuel economy. Keep in mind, however, that though a GM engineer was quoted, none of this is official word from GM, so plans could change.


[Source: Inside Line]

Now that leasing seems to be going through a slow phase-out, shoppers looking for a good deal on a newish vehicle may take a harder gander at certified pre-owned models. GM realizes this and has responded by ambushing customers increasing the warranty coverage on the CPO models for all of its brands, minus Cadillac which has its own program. The new warranty stands at 12-months or 12,000 miles and begins when the CPO purchase is made -- an increase of up to nine-months over the previous guarantee. Being a "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, everything excluding wear items like tires and brakes are covered for manufacturing defects. The powertrain warranty remains: five years or 100,000 miles from when it was sold as new.

GM hopes that this increased coverage has a corresponding effect on its CPO sales. What's more, the automaker also believes that this action will have a desirable effect on its vehicle's residual values.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Click above for high-res gallery of 2008 GM Style Event

After two years of combining celebrities, fashion and music with the best of its vehicle lineup, General Motors has decided that the 2009 GM Style Event just isn't worth the expense. The cancellation of GM Style is part of the General's goal to free up $15 billion in cuts and asset sales by 2009. Considering the automaker pays B- and C-list celebrities and sports figures to attend, there's some money on the table here. The event has actually been a big hit the past two years with attendees like Kid Rock and Jay-Z, Carmen Electra, Jeff Gordon and the some well known fashion designers from around the world. GM also used the bright lights and catwalk to show the Camaro Convertible Concept and Corvette ZR1 for the first time.

The death of GM Style comes right after the automaker decided to pull its advertising at the Emmy Awards and next year's Academy Awards broadcast. GM has been the largest advertiser of the Academy Awards over the past 10 years, with $97.1 million spent on the awards show since 1998. GM will still advertise at the Golden Globes, Grammys, and Country Music Awards in 2009.



[Source: Detroit News]

After years of incremental improvement in customer satisfaction, a study from the University of Michigan shows that overall, Detroit automakers have declined versus their Japanese and German rivals. The study, which polls customers with six-month-old to three-year-old vehicles, shows that U.S. automakers have stalled in their quest to improve satisfaction. The problem? Rising gas prices have made truck and SUV customers very unhappy with their vehicles, which reflects negatively in the overall score.

The Chevrolet brand was hit hardest, with scores dropping 3.7% versus last year's score. The bow tie brand was ahead of only Dodge and Jeep. The news isn't all bad for General Motors, though, as truck and SUV-less Saturn posted the industry's largest gain of 4.9 points to get within one point of Toyota and Honda's score of 86. Buick and Cadillac also performed very well in the survey, with each GM brand scoring an 85. Ford was flat year over year, but the Blue Oval's score of 80 was two points lower than the industry average. Lincoln Mercury also saw a big 3.5% drop in satisfaction, but those Ford brands are still above the industry average score with an 83. Chrysler did very poorly overall, with all three brands scoring under the industry average.

While the Detroit automakers might take note of the unfavorable results, this survey isn't widely published like the ones from J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. Both Ford and GM are faring well in J.D. Power's recent studies, and both are also still showing improvement in Consumer Reports.

[Source: Detroit News]

It is no secret that the automotive industry is hurting for sales to close out 2008. Over the past few months incentives have been thrown out left and right to draw in more buyers. The deals have not done enough to bring folks into the showroom, though. With all the media talk of bleeding Detroit, consumers know that the domestic manufacturers have been holding out on their best offers. Perhaps the memory of 2005's employee pricing incentives has kept many waiting on the fence. With 2009 models heading to dealerships as we speak, General Motors is hoping to end the stalemate. It will be testing the waters of employee pricing yet again beginning Wednesday, August 20th and running through September 2nd.

The employee discount program will apply across all 8 GM brands. Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers will mark down 91 percent of their inventory on all 2008 models, along with the 2009 Pontiac Vibe and G5, Chevy Cobalt and HHR and, surprisingly, the Cadillac CTS. Chevrolet dealers can unload 90 percent of their 2008 inventory with all 2008 models eligible for the employee price. Cadillac, Saturn, SAAB, Hummer will each have their own stipulations as well, but it is certain that the discount will be widespread. The price reduction varies from vehicle to vehicle, but is typically on order of a few thousand dollars. Additional incentives will also still be offered on some slower selling items, such as, you guessed it, trucks and SUVs. So the question is, will employee pricing get you off the fence and into a dealership?

[Source: GM]

Click image above for high-res gallery of Motorama Cars from Pebble

Along with the 20+ liter class, the Lancias, Lamborghinis and Ferrari California Spiders, GM's Motorama cars were among the featured groups at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this year. For those of a certain age, the Motorama cars were some of the wildest dream cars ever created. GM created a traveling road show of concepts that went from town to town. These vehicles were styled by some of the greatest names in the design biz and have had a lasting impact on many that followed. The cars themselves explored design themes that stretched the imagination and incorporated some of the latest, greatest technology of the day. Some were used for a year or two to show people the possibilities, and then were discarded like yesterday's newspaper. Others were outright destroyed because they were never designed to be drivable. Thanks to at least one dedicated fan, their remains were salvaged and the cars rebuilt when possible. To help celebrate GM's 100th anniversary, Pebble gathered them together to show them off once again. Many look spectacular but a couple still need some TLC. Check out the press release after the jump and the full gallery below.

Photos Copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of GM's display on Woodward Ave.

For the past several years General Motors has been using the Athens Coney Island Restaurant on Woodward Ave. as a base of operations for the Dream Cruise. The parking lot this year is again filled with classic, wannabe classic, and future classic GM machinery, much of it brought out from the GM Heritage Center in nearby Sterling Heights. For those who haven't yet seen the new Camaro in production form, the red RS we saw a few weeks ago is on display here in the parking lot along with a ZR1 in police markings and what must be one of the most yellow first generation Camaros anywhere. The powertrain tent at the back of the lot is filled with past present and future powertrains from the Z11 427 to the two-mode hybrid and even a fuel cell stack. The parking lot area is open to the public all day, so come on down. If you can't make it, check the gallery below.

Click above for high-res gallery of the production Chevy Volt

We're not sure why General Motors has released two new teaser shots of the production Volt as well as ten images of engineers and designers working hard on its development, but we'll gladly take and show them to you while we find out. Though GM certainly isn't going to let the whole cat out of the bag this early, we are given a much better view of what we were shown in that ABC News video. We can now see just how high-tech the lighting appears to be on the Volt, with the blue glow of its headlamps upstaged by what appear to be some sort of LED foglamps. We can't tell you what their function is, except to say they look cool and give the impression that the Volt is a car from the future on sale now, or rather sometime in 2010, which is technically the future, but you get our drift. The other pic is not as revealing as the first and shows only a small portion of the Volt's rear end including its bow-tie emblem and model badge. The rest of the images show designers and engineers working on a full-scale clay model of the Volt as well as the car's high-tech drivetrain. A few of the pics give up even more of the production Volt's design, so be sure to view each one in the gallery below.


[Source: GM]

Click above for hi-res gallery of the 2010 Pontiac G8 ST

We often go poking around General Motors' media resources, so imagine our surprise when we were searching for something totally unrelated and found fresh images of Pontiac's iteration of the Holden Ute. Still warm like just-baked cookies, the images show off a great looking dark-hued modern-day El camino. And for what do we deserve a new batch of G8 ute pics? They accompany word from on high that the official name for this trucklet has been decided. Meet the Pontiac G8 ST.

You may remember that GM solicited submissions, or rather suggestions, for what the G8 ST should be named. But after months of waiting and however many submissions, the best they could do was G8 ST? That's the name they started with! Now we feel all cheap and used, like GM knew what they were going to call this thing all along. Whatever, it will be holding court as the king of awesome in your local Pontiac dealer's showroom in late 2009 as a 2010 model. The 74-inch cargo bed and 3,500 lb towing capacity will allow you to haul more than just ass, though the V8 will surely facilitate that nicely. Pontiac's official press release can be found after the jump, and those new high-res images are in the gallery below.

Gallery: 2010 Pontiac G8 ST

[Source: GM]