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General Motors told 1,300 employees at its Detroit-Hamtramck factory that they were being “temporarily laid off” for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt, the Detroit Free Press reports. “Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand,” said GM spokesman Chris Lee. “We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand,” he told The Hill in a phone interview.

General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday.  GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees. A GM spokesman told The Hill on Friday that production of the Volt would resume April 23. "We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee said in a telephone interview. Lee noted that sales of the Volt were higher in...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that Chevrolet Volt purchasers are now eligible for the state’s $2,500 electric vehicle (EV) rebate. The rebate requires that consumers qualify for and participate in The EV Project, a national study on EV use and charging infrastructure deployment. The EV Project will provide participants with a free Blink® 240V networked charge station and a credit of up to $1,200 towards its installation. To be eligible, Tennessee residents must sign an EV Project participant agreement, purchase the Volt, take delivery of the car, and have SPX Corporation install...

Less than two years after emerging from bankruptcy,General Motors Co.has regained the title of the world's largest automaker. GM's worldwide sales rose 7.6% to 9 million vehicles in 2011. The Detroit manufacturer last held the top spot in 2007 before it was surpassed byToyota Motor Corp.the next year. Chevrolet, GM's flagship brand, set a record by selling nearly 4.8 million vehicles. That was more than what many entire auto companies posted in sales last year, including Nissan and Honda. "It is an accomplishment that GM has been able to reverse the tide in the U.S. and Asia, and they are...

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities said Tuesday they had charged two men in an Iranian-directed plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. The alleged assassination plot would represent an escalation in the confrontation between mostly Shiite Iran and mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia, two longtime Middle East rivals. The charges are also a rare instance of Washington accusing Iranian groups of fomenting terrorism on U.S. soil. Elements of the Iranian government were ready to spend $1.5 million to hire what they believed was a drug-cartel hit squad from Mexico, said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Prosecutors filed several criminal charges against...

Federal bailout funding may have prevented General Motors from going through a normal bankruptcy process, but it has come at a significant price in terms of reputation and potential buyers. Fifty percent (50%) of American adults are less likely to buy a GM car because of the bailout. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds just four percent (4%) are more likely to buy from the company that critics refer to as Government Motors. Forty-two percent (42%) say the bailout has had no impact on their buying plans one way or the other. The flip side of the data...

Are GM sales in the tank?? Is GM in big trouble?? I walked by a GM dealership today. A few months ago I had been checking out a Chevy Volt, and the dealership seemed a bit odd, but basically OK in appearance. Now the dealership site is a mess. Evidently the lot went from being a new Chevy-GM dealership to a generic warranty pre-owned car lot. There still is one Chevy Volt there. There are many pre-owned GM cars there along with the usual sprinkling of non GM used cars that one would normally expect. What caught my eye is...

Why your next car may not have a spare wheelAFP Relax – Wed, May 25, 2011 Chevrolet has chosen to remove the spare wheel from one of its US models, opting instead to include a puncture repair kit, just as Michelin announces a tire that can't puncture -- does this mean the end of the spare wheel? A long-held fixture in today's cars, spare wheels are little thought about but often essential, especially when a long distance from home. Statistics suggest European drivers suffer a puncture every 75,000 kilometers on European roads, although the number falls to every 3,000 km...

Billed as the “sum total of all the law enforcement community has learned about patrol cars to date”, the PPV boasts a 6.0L V-8 engine with 355 horsepower, 18-inch steel wheels, and a host of gadgets that puts any Hollywood squad car to shame. The Caprice, which replaces the long-used Ford Crown Victoria, is equipped with an infrared night vision camera, automated license plate scanner, and a touch-screen center console that replaces the older computers traditionally used by officers. In addition to horsepower and firepower, the cruiser is also outfitted with the latest in information technology, with ethernet, Wi-Fi and...

Legend has it that a Modesto, California couple purchased the car in 1950, only for the wife to be widowed shortly thereafter when her husband died trying to save a drowning woman. The distraught lady placed the sleek Chevy in storage for 12 years, but later traded it for a new 1962 Rambler ($1650) from a nearby dealer: he recently sold the same car for $60,000. And surely worth it, the car dealer decided from the start to preserve it, so he barely took it out of the garage for 45 years... thus the all-original mint condition and an...

A fire apparently reignited inside the battery of a new Chevrolet Volt car early Monday, less than five days after the Volt, an electric hybrid, was involved in a blaze that destroyed a Barkhamsted garage where it had been plugged in for recharging. Local authorities have been investigating whether Thursday's blaze was sparked by the Volt, but had not yet determined a cause when the fire rekindled. "The rekindle this morning really adds to the mystery," Barkhamsted Fire Marshal Bill Baldwin said today. Representatives from General Motors, the vehicle's manufacturer plan, are scheduled to arrive in Barkhamsted this evening to...

Imagine turning your car’s steering wheel, or giving it a gentle tug, and having it break away from the steering column. Now you’re speeding along holding the suddenly useless wheel. It sounds like a vision from a cartoon, or every driver’s nightmare. And it happened to at least one driver of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact car last month, and General Motors Corp. is recalling 2,100 of the cars as a result. While the recall affects a relatively small number of vehicles, it is an unpleasant development for Chevrolet, which has been riding high on the success of its new...

Tea Party supporters can now root for their cause on the racetrack. TheTeaParty.net has announced that a NASCAR vehicle will be sponsored by the organization. Chris Lafferty’s #89 truck will be known as “We the People’s” through the 2012 election. Bill Wallace, the coach and general manager of Lafferty Motorsports LLC, wrote in a letter posted on TeaPartyRacing.com that the sponsorship will be funded with donations. Part of the donations made to TeaPartyRacing will go to Lafferty’s team, part to TheTeaParty.net. TeaPartyRacing.com, an affiliate of TheTeaParty.net, states that, “as a dynamic and patriotic race team, TeaPartyRacing.com, attracts fans from all...

General Motors has yet to return most of the TARP funds sunk into its operations by George Bush and Barack Obama. They claimed to have paid back the loans given the automaker, but as Chuck Grassley angrily pointed out at the time, they paid back the loans using other TARP funding for the cash. Taxpayers still have tens of billions of dollars stuck in GM stock, and whether Treasury ever gets to a break-even point is anyone’s guess.That hasn’t stopped Chevrolet from dumping $40 million in cash into carbon offsets over the next five years, however: David Antonioli, chief executive...

When I embarked on the Volt press launch, I made a public promise to keep my impressions of the car itself separate from concerns about its overall viability. My review of the Volt is coming on Monday, but a new issue is already raising its head to confront GM’s extended-range electric car. The Volt’s home charger costs $490 on top of the Volt’s $41,000 (pre-tax credit) price, and costs another $1,500 to install. But, according to BNet’s Jim Motavelli, money isn’t the only obstacle to obtaining the home charger that’s necessary to tap the Volt’s 40 miles of electric range....

Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac Sales Up 25 Percent in July 2010 DETROIT - August 3, 2010: July sales for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac increased by a combined 25 percent to 199,432 units. Buick and Cadillac brands each sold more than twice as many vehicles in July, compared with the same month a year ago. July marks the 10th straight month in which total and retail sales for GM's brands increased year-over-year, demonstrating the continued strengthening of each brand in the marketplace as GM continues to rebuild momentum a year after its launch as a new company. "When we say we want to...

GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation.

DETROIT, - U.S. automaker General Motors put an in-house directive in reverse Thursday, backing away from a memo that asked employees to stop saying "Chevy." The original memo signed by Alan Batey, vice president for Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, GM vice president for marketing told employees at the corporation's Detroit headquarters "consistency" is important for the Chevrolet brand -- and it would be helpful in that regard to stop referring to Chevrolets at Chevys, The New York Times reported. The memo said, "In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet , and need to...

Chevrolet has two new cars vying for your hard-earned dollars: the Volt and Camaro. Which one is the better buy? NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread.

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

Jimmie Johnson finally going to White House By Jim Utter - jutter@charlotteobserver.com Saturday, Aug. 01, 2009 More NASCAR news LONG POND, Pa. - Reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is finally going to get his White House visit for winning the 2009 title but he’s going to have company. The White House press secretary’s office announced late Friday that President Barack Obama will host a gathering Monday afternoon on the South Portico of the White House with Johnson, all the members of last year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup field as well as some former series champions, including Dale...

Each August, Chevrolet Outdoor Billboards line Woodward Ave in Detroit for Cruise Weekend. These billboards feature classic Chevrolet muscle cars & great tag lines!

In its filing in the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Second District of New York, GM claimed assets of about 83 billion dollars, which is quite impressive. Impressive, that is, until one looks at its debts, which currently total nearly 173 billion dollars. It is drowning, quite frankly, in a sea of bad debt, bad management decisions, and sweetheart labor contracts given to a union (the UAW) that long ago lost its way, and which has proved famously bullheaded in recent years, conducting a strike against General Motors on a company-wide basis as recently as 2007. Looking back now, we...

In the end, General Motors' massive cash needs likely trumped any chance of the automaker avoiding a bankruptcy court-supervised reorganization. General Motors Corp. is expected to announce early Wednesday that only a small fraction of the holders of its $27 billion in bonds agreed to swap that unsecured debt for a 10 percent equity share of a recapitalized GM. Reaching such an agreement was one of the requirements of the Obama administration, which already has committed $19.4 billion in aid and said it would only provide more funds if bondholders and unionized workers made concessions that substantially reduced GM's costs....

WAYLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - The economy continues taking its toll on people across the country. Locally, the emotion and pain of job loss struck in Wayland Friday as tempers flared and employees fought just hours after they found out they were losing their jobs. Employee Jason Stanton went after another employee in desperation in the aftermath of a difficult day. 30 employees at Wayland Chevrolet found out their jobs were gone on Friday, and to many in town the move came as a huge surprise. Compassion and sympathy were extended for those dealing with the sudden loss. "You're talking...

29 miles per gallon. Let me say that again… 29 miles per gallon. That’s what the Environmental Protection Agency says 2010 Chevrolet Camaros will achieve on the highway, provided their drivers opt for the base V-6 engine and a judicious right foot. For those wondering why I sound so excited, consider that this base V-6 Camaro LS still comes with power equipment like windows, locks and cruise control, still comes with safety equipment like anti-lock brakes, stability control and enough airbags to float the Titanic, still comes with a fully-independent suspension, 18-inch wheels and a six-speed manual transmission, and best...

HILO, Hawaii – A Hilo Chevrolet dealer who tried to crush his Asian auto competition found the stunt a little harder to pull off than expected. Island Chevrolet general sales manager James Severtson arranged for a Chevrolet Suburban SUV outfitted with massive tires costing $5,000 apiece to drive over a Honda Accord. On the first attempt Friday, the monster truck blew a hydraulic hose and leaked vital fluid while the Honda remained intact and ready for more.

WASHINGTON -- Congress and the White House inched toward agreement on legislation that would throw a financial lifeline to the Big Three auto makers, giving the government a substantial ownership stake in the industry and a central role in its restructuring. Under the terms of the draft legislation, which continued to evolve Monday evening, the government would receive warrants for stock equivalent to at least 20% of the loans any company receives. The company also would have to agree to limits on executive compensation and dividend payments, much like those contained in the government's $700 billion rescue of the financial...

For instance: We have a '92 Lumina, which we purchased when new, and back then, hubby worked nights, and I worked days, so the car was running day and night, and we had little or no problems with it. Then a number of years later when we purchased a new car, so didn't use the Lumina much, and then we needed a break job almost every year on the Lumina for a number of years. The mechanic said it was because we did NOT drive it much. Then today, I was listening to a radio show, and a guy said...

Rising fuel prices, both in the U.S. and abroad, means that automakers can now offer similar engines in vehicles sold throughout the world. According to Automotive News, General Motors' next small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, will be offered with a new 1.4-liter force-fed four-banger, putting out between 120 and 140 horsepower and returning fuel mileage in the 40 mpg range.

General Motors is considering a new Chevrolet mini car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic consumer shift to more fuel efficient vehicles, a spokesman said. GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat to the U.S. market is among the options the company is studying. About the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris, the Beat is a front-wheel-drive, three-door hatchback. The Beat, to be built in South Korea, will be rolled out in other global markets faster than it would in the United States, Allen said. The car...

Motorheads don’t want to hear it; refuse to believe it — but ugly realities are coming down hard on the ‘09 Camaro that will very possibly cause GM to pull the plug before the first one ever rolls off the line. Doubt that? Consider the stillborn rear-wheel-drive next generation Chevy Impala — nixed because of concerns within GM about the possibility of meeting the pending (2012) 35 mpg fuel economy edict recently passed by Congress. A lighter front-drive car with a V-6 instead of a V-8 can make the cut; a V-8 RWD Impala can’t. So it’s gone. So is...

The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid is as provocative and political a vehicle as you'll see this year. Why, it's practically a polemic. And those are just the "P's." By way of a fantastic exertion of technology and human capital -- which I hereby honor and praise even as I question them as misallocated -- GM has managed to give one of its behemoth SUVs marginally better fuel economy. Here are the relevant data points: The two-mode hybrid Tahoe returns an EPA estimated fuel economy of 21 miles per gallon in the city, 22 mpg highway; the 4x4 version gets an even...

DAYTONA, FL - When you visit Orange Grove Baptist Church, the first thing you see is a lot of the number three. The number is on the cars, on the trucks, in the nursery, and even in the worship center. You may think, "Wow, they really like the Trinity here." They may, but that is not the reason for the ubiquitous 3. "We really like Dale Earnhardt, and we know he is part of 'Heaven's Racing Team,'" said deacon Frank Drake. This type of obsession is probably harmless in most places, but not in Daytona, a hotbed of NASCAR. However,...

This weekend over 10,000 classic cars will converge on Västerås at the Power Big Meet as car enthusiasts from Sweden, Europe and as far afield as Russia, Israel and Australia make their annual pilgrimage to the biggest Classic car event in the world. For Sweden’s Raggare, the Power Big Meet is more than just a car show - it’s a celebration of a way of life that is peculiarly Swedish, despite being entrenched in the fashions, music and motor cars of Americana. Since the 1950s, a version of the American Dream has been embraced with an enthusiasm that has endured...

2006 Callaway C16 The look may be familiar, but the Callaway C16 is anything but just another Corvette. The latest in a long line of products from the well-regarded "tuner," the C16 makes some significant changes to Chevrolet's two-seater, including a complete redesign of its body by Canadian stylist Paul Deutschman. Under the sleek new skin, Callaway supercharges the base, 6.0-liter LS2 V-8 - the first time the tuner has used a blower, incidentally, rather than a turbocharger. The result is an engine making an impressive 616 horsepower and 582 lb-ft of torque, more than enough to launch the C16...

July 18, 2006, 8:45AM Toyota recalls 418,570 vehicles By HIROKO TABUCHI Associated Press TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. said today it was recalling 418,570 vehicles globally, including some Echo and Prius models sold in the U.S., over a faulty engine part. The faulty part is the latest in a string of problems requiring recalls by Toyota, raising doubts over whether the automaker can maintain quality standards amid booming sales. The recall affects 268,570 vehicles sold in Japan across 12 models manufactured in 2001, including Corollas, the compact cars Vitz and Platz and the hybrid Prius, the company said in a...

J.D. Power and Associates Ranked the different classes of cars by quality. There were 19 classes of cars. Asian car makers too 14 of the top spots in the 19 classes. Japan was on top in 12 classes. 11 of those were taken by Toyota alone! The last Japanese spot was taken by Mazda. South Korean car makers Kia and Hyundai each took a top spot. Subcompact: Kia Rio Compact: Toyota Corolla Compact Sporty: Mazda MX-5 Miata Entry Premium: Lexus IS 250/350 Mid-size Premium: Lexus ES 330 Large Premium: Lexus LS430 Premium Sporty: Lexus SC 430 Mid-size sporty: Toyota Solara...

A Canadian company has developed a new, more efficient process to make the alternative fuel ethanol from farm waste. With today's high oil prices, experts hope the new technology could reduce demand on fossil fuels and increase energy security. "In the past, ethanol fuel use has been limited, because the cost of production was too high," said Jim Easterly, a Washington, D.C.-based bioenergy consultant. "Ethanol produced from corn kernels and wheat grain has historically been more expensive than gasoline produced from oil." Producing corn-based ethanol, for example, uses energy from oil and electricity for everything from growing the corn to...

Seven people were injured when the driver of a pickup truck fleeing from Border Patrol agents crashed into a second pickup in Marana. A Border Patrol agent spotted the Chevrolet truck on Arizona 86 near Sandario Road about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, said Agent Sean King, a Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The agent was suspicious because the truck had no license plate. He tried to pull it over, but the driver sped away, King said. A helicopter followed as the truck turned onto Interstate 19 and then Interstate 10, he said. It left the freeway at Tangerine Road and ran...

<p>You can tell a lot about a person by what he or she carries around in the back of the pickup truck during the eight months it's not summer in Alaska.</p> <p>The battered bed of my 1995 Ford 150 contains essential survival gear, in addition to the usual assortment of Alaskan accouterments...</p>

DETROIT – Combining dramatic design and exciting performance, the Chevrolet Camaro Concept recaptures the spirit of one of the most popular sport coupes of all time and redefines the Camaro for new generations of fans. The Camaro Concept embodies the performance and passion that have made first-generation Camaros some of the most sought-after collector cars, updating the formula with a fuel-efficient powertrain, sophisticated chassis and contemporary design execution. The goal is to make the sport coupe relevant to younger enthusiasts while retaining its appeal to its current fans. “Millions of people of all ages fell in love with the Camaro...

Chevy beats Ford in 2005 DETROIT -- Chevrolet beat the Ford Division in U.S. sales by 17,084 units in 2005, dislodging Ford from the top of the sales chart for the first time since 1986. On Dec. 1, Chevy led Ford by 9,318 units. In 2004, Ford beat Chevrolet by 18,801 units. Sales at both automakers fell in 2005. Chevrolet outsold Ford in cars. Chevy sold 899,116 cars in 2005, compared with 742,423 cars sold by Ford. That was a difference of 156,693 units. But Ford, while it sold more trucks than Chevrolet in 2005, saw a bigger drop in...

The company is bleeding billions, but management is beginning to see the light. There are a few bold steps -- including the scrapping of one of its brands -- GM execs should take to keep the auto giant running. According to some analysts on Wall Street, General Motors lost credibility last week when the company said that it would be restating 2001 earnings. That’s what it took for GM’s management to lose credibility? How about years of mismanaging its production effort? Or refusing to aggressively streamline its product offerings, recklessly pursuing incentive strategies, failing to address ballooning health-care and pension...

If you missed your opportunity to buy a brand-new Chevrolet Camaro before General Motors stopped making them in 2002, here's your chance. You'd better have some serious cash, though. The reincarnation of a muscle-car era team that specialized in making high-performance Chevrolets has brought the reincarnation of the Camaro itself. This time, they're making their own Camaros from scratch with bodies designed with the help of a 22-year-old California car artist. The look of the new Baldwin-Motion 540 Camaro SuperCoupe calls to mind the the 1969 Camaro, but this is a bigger, broader two-seat monster. The SuperCoupe is powered by...

President Bush last week spoke three sentences in response to a Texas reporter's question on the teaching of evolution and "intelligent design." In doing so, he lit a match under a powder keg. "Christian" conservatives rejoiced. Scientists and liberals recoiled. "Intelligent design" suggests that creation is too complicated to have occurred through natural selection. Its advocates distance themselves from "creation science," but similarities abound. The clash of science, belief and culture is not new. When Copernicus replaced Ptolemy's Earth-centered universe with the solar system, he dedicated De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium to Pope Paul III and made clear that his motive...

Many music-minded viewers of the MLB All-Star Game earlier this month were shocked, astonished and disillusioned at the newest truck commercial Chevrolet unveiled. I know I was when I saw it a week or so later -- there were the standard shots of Chevy trucks sending up billowing clouds of dust as they thrummed down rutted dirt roads, crashing and splashing through rocky streams, and burly, flannel-shirted rednecks tossing bales of hay around -- but what was that music playing in the background? It was infinitely familiar yet, given its surroundings, completely out-of-place and exotic, like running into your spinster...

Title and link only. All GM vehicles except the Hummer H3 at GM employee discounts? Huge! Read about it, especially if you are in the market for a newer vehicle. http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/gm28e_20050528.htm

Many people have many problems with many things. Some you have control over and some you don’t. The real problem begins when you can’t get your problem solved. “What? You won't help me? But? You have my money! My product doesn’t work!” Have you ever been in this situation? I have had problems with products or services several times and they are usually quickly resolved. Well, over the past year I have had several problems that just haven’t gotten resolved. So, what better place to take them than to the public. I may even make this a recurring column and...