« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »

September 29, 2006

Introducing Mr. October

By Alicia Dorset
Blog Editor

We at GM blogs have been enjoying working with photo and car buffs at Flickr during the past few months. Starting with October, we'll also have a monthly photo calendar for you to download. We've added some facts about GM's history and some coming events on the calendar. This month's calendar features Bob Lutz and the Chevy Sequel Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle at Camp Pendleton, California . Look for the calendars at Flickr.

Posted by Editor at 4:26 PM
Comments (17) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 25, 2006

Another Win, But Only Two Races In

By Alba Colon
GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Chevrolet race cars won the first two races of the Chase for the Nextel Cup and we're happy with the way the start of this championship battle is going. While all of our teams in the Chase are strong — they had to be strong to get where they are now — people can't help but notice Richard Childress Racing. Their drivers won both of those first two races for Chevy and they are really riding their success wave.

They had a really high note the last couple of weeks with (Kevin) Harvick last week and to finally get a win with Jeff Burton last weekend must be great for them; that team has improved so much and they have worked so hard to win with that car — it really is a great feeling.

It's still too early to tell what's going to happen. The top four drivers are only 18 points within each other so it's anybody's game. To ensure Chevy's success we have to step up our game. Our biggest worry is Matt Kenseth; he has been really good at these mile-and-a-half tracks. We're headed to Kansas and, like Dover, it's a track where he does really well. It's similar to Chicago and if you remember, he dominated the Chicago race. Fortunately Jeff Gordon was the other driver who had the edge there. He's also very successful at those types of tracks. So it's going to be an interesting weekend in Kansas — with Gordon second in points and Kenseth in third, we should see something out of both of those guys.

GM teams have not typically been strong in the past at mile-and-a-half tracks but Hendrick Motorsports seems to have put some emphasis on these lately and we expect to see them be strong for us. Also, RCR has been riding momentum for the last several weeks and that will probably continue.

Typically the team that wins the championship, like Tony Stewart last year, for example, usually makes it through all ten races without any major problems. That's why I feel for Kyle Busch. His chances for Chase success don't look very promising right now — he's had bad luck the last two races and the way the points system is done pretty much puts him out of contention. But miracles happen and he's a very talented young driver. Nothing is for sure. Like all the drivers say, we just move ahead to the next event and try our best.

Posted by Editor at 5:14 PM
Comments (17) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 20, 2006

The “Moon Shot”

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

You may have heard by now that last week I told media assembled at our press event in Southern California that GM has big plans for fuel cell technology. The journalists were on hand for their first drive of our landmark Sequel fuel cell vehicle. I told them that this technology was our equivalent of a moon shot and that I’d recommend that we put fuel cell vehicles into production as soon as possible.

That’s all true. I think we should and will do exactly that. But any speculation as to exactly when we will do it and exactly how much it will cost is just that: pure speculation.

What we’ve announced so far is this: we are now launching a fleet of 100-plus vehicles to demonstrate our fuel cell capabilities and raise national awareness of the potential of the hydrogen economy. Assuming we can maintain the great progress we’ve made hitting the cost targets of our fuel cell program, the next step would be about a 1000-vehicle fleet in the 2010-2012 time frame. Then if cost and infrastructure barriers were removed, or at least significantly reduced, we’d look at more significant numbers later in the decade.

The point is, this all sounds like science fiction right now, but I assure you it isn’t. Most journalists were duly impressed with what they drove, declaring the driving experience to be just like “a normal car.” And that’s the goal. All along, we’ve staunchly maintained that we wouldn’t produce fuel cell vehicles unless they matched or bettered the performance, handling and comfort of internal combustion-powered cars and trucks. Well, we think we’re just about there.

Our goal is to be the first manufacturer to put 1 million fuel cell vehicles on the road — profitably — in the global automotive market. The key word there is “global.” Like I said last week, China may be better equipped to switch to the hydrogen economy than the U.S., since they’re significantly less developed and would have a far easier time of it. To really get the ball rolling in the U.S., automakers, suppliers, government and the energy companies have to work together and work quickly. There’s simply no other way.

Let it also be known that we’re not putting all of our eggs in the hydrogen basket. It’s going to take time to make the hydrogen economy a reality, and we have several other alternatives in the works in the meantime, beginning with the expansion of our E85 offerings, and the expansion of our hybrid lineup, as you know. That will be highlighted by the addition of our two-mode hybrid full-size SUVs next year.

We are also studying plug-in hybrids, and will have more to say about those soon. The whole key there is the development of significantly improved battery technology. But rest assured I truly believe that electric-drive vehicles have a real future in this country and around the world; the only question is the nature of the power source or sources.

We’ll have architectures that will be flexible enough to accommodate a number of different sources.

And yes, believe it or not, this really is Bob Lutz talking! We are sitting on the cusp of an explosion of new technology that will change the automotive industry like nothing since its very invention. I never would’ve believed it, but I must say I’m excited to be a part of it.

Posted by Lutz at 11:22 AM
Comments (82) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 19, 2006

30 Titles and Counting…

By Alba Colon
GM Racing Program Manager, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

It’s always nice to start a Monday morning with your teams calling to offer their congratulations. That was the case this week as Chevrolet celebrated clinching its 30th Manufacturers’ Cup Championship.

Kevin Harvick’s win in New Hampshire on Sunday helped us secure our 30th Manufacturers’ title in the NASCAR Cup Series. We are excited for Kevin’s victory but we have also been celebrating with all of our teams, thanking them for their efforts that helped us achieve this feat. To win this championship is not an easy deal, especially given the competitiveness of the sport this year, but to clinch with nine races remaining is amazing.

The NASCAR Manufacturers’ Cup Championship is very important to us, and our teams understand that. It’s something we make very clear to all of our teams at the start of the season and throughout the year. So what makes this very special is that a variety of teams and drivers have contributed to help win this championship for us. It’s impressive that we’ve had seven different drivers contribute to our 16 wins so far this season. I really believe we have a great product, great technology, great engineers and great marketing. But we are also very fortunate to have the best teams in the business. That is the key for any manufacturer to be successful and that’s also what has helped us win another manufacturers’ title.

To win 30 Manufacturers' championships is a great milestone. It’s a great feeling winning the championship again and even a little bit of a relief that we did it. Now we just want to do it 30 more times!

Posted by Editor at 11:23 AM
Comments (7) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 18, 2006

GM’s Doing as Much as Any Automaker to Reduce Oil Dependence

(Editor’s note: Journalist Derrick Jackson of The Boston Globe recently attacked Detroit’s automakers in his syndicated column. Below is our response. We submitted this to the Globe, but the newspaper declined to run it, citing its policy of not accepting op/eds that respond to Globe columns. The Globe did run a much shorter version of this response in their letters to the editor column Saturday (Sept. 16). We asked that they include this blog’s address at the end of the letter, so their readers could see the full text. They declined. The Miami Herald also ran the Jackson column, and also declined to run our response. Fortunately, our blogs give us a chance to give you the full story, from our point of view, and expand the debate beyond the Globe’s op/ed page. Let us know what you think.)

By Steven J. Harris
Vice President, Global Communications

If Derrick Jackson truly believes that you can learn “everything you need to know about American automakers” by reading four newspaper clippings, perhaps he should consider another line of work. That kind of half-baked research leads to half-baked columns, like the one The Boston Globe published Sept. 2.

General Motors is working hard to build a stronger America that’s less dependent on oil, and we’re making significant progress. What we don’t appreciate is the kind of cynical propaganda that Mr. Jackson has engaged in recently, which seeks to portray Detroit automakers as buffoons and our Japanese competitors as flawless. It’s almost as if he wants the U.S. auto industry to fail. Why?

We agree with him that this nation needs to reduce its dependence on oil. GM is doing as much or more than any automaker to address this issue, from making our gasoline engines more fuel-efficient with new technologies, to producing cars and trucks that can run on ethanol-based fuel, to investing heavily in hybrid and fuel-cell powertrains.

GM also is well-positioned for the shift to more fuel-efficient cars and crossover vehicles. In fact, GM offers more vehicles that are EPA-rated at 30 mpg or better on the highway than any other automaker. More than Toyota, Honda or Nissan.

So far this year, Americans have bought more than 865,000 of our 30-mpg-or-better cars. Our new full-size SUVs that Mr. Jackson disparages also are selling well, in part because they have better EPA highway-mileage estimates than any of the competing SUVs offered by Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Ford.

Here are some other pertinent facts that Mr. Jackson chose to ignore:

• Last year’s top-selling subcompact was the fuel-stingy Chevy Aveo, and an all-new ’07 Aveo sedan has just debuted. Honda and Nissan just recently entered this growing segment, and Toyota just re-entered it after pulling its previous entry out of the U.S. market due to poor sales.
• The recently introduced Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid offers the best highway fuel economy of any SUV (EPA rated at 32 mpg) at a price significantly less than its hybrid competitors. The Vue is one of a dozen hybrid vehicles that GM will launch in the next few years.
• GM has put 478 GM-powered hybrid public transit buses on the streets of 39 cities in the United States and Canada over the past few years. They’re saving thousands of gallons of fuel every week.
• GM recently announced a new V-8 turbo-diesel engine that will improve engine fuel efficiency by 25 percent for our future light duty trucks sold in North America.
• GM is investing heavily in the one technology that promises to end our dependence on oil forever: fuel cells. We’ve made incredible progress in driving down the cost of this technology to make it practical. We just announced plans to build and deploy a demonstration fleet of more than 100 Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicles starting in fall 2007.
• GM has put more than 2 million vehicles on the road that are capable of running on E85, and is working with distributors and government to increase the number of service stations that offer this ethanol-based alternative fuel.
• Toyota’s growth in the United States over the past decade has come primarily from expanding its vehicle lineup into the pickup and SUV segments that Mr. Jackson finds so offensive. In many of those segments, Toyota’s offerings get worse mileage than GM’s. Toyota also is building a new plant in Texas to build more full-size pickups, not more hybrids.
• The new Chevy Camaro will join the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger in the well-established performance car segment. As much as Mr. Jackson may find no appeal in a stylish, high-performance coupe, millions of Americans do and have passionately urged GM to bring back the Camaro. We would be foolish not to meet that demand. By the way, Honda and Toyota apparently agree: Both Japanese automakers reportedly are working on their own high-performance sports cars for the U.S. market.
• Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Lexus, Nissan and Land Rover also offer full-size or large luxury SUVs. They do so because there’s significant demand and these are some of the most profitable vehicles in the U.S. market. For those with large families and a boat or trailer to tow, the Chevy Suburban is practical option. You can’t tow a boat or haul a family of six with its camping gear in a Toyota Prius.

Ultimately, consumers decide what they will buy based on their own calculation of their needs, desires and budgets.

For those who want fuel-efficient small cars, GM offers them. For those who have a need for a full-size SUV and want the one that has the best fuel economy and can run on E85, we offer those. For those looking for a hybrid, we’ve got those, too.

If all Mr. Jackson is seeing from Detroit are “metallic mastodons,” perhaps he ought to get out of his office and visit a GM dealership. Or at least read more than four articles. He might find it enlightening.

Posted by Editor at 12:21 PM
Comments (66) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 13, 2006

Team Chevy’s Race to the Championship

By Alba Colon
GM Racing program manager for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Throughout the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship I will be writing a weekly blog post about the latest happenings in the NASCAR garage.

As some of you may know, GM Racing’s role is to provide our Chevrolet teams with the engine parts, engineering technology and the know-how to ensure our drivers have the best possible performance in the Nextel Cup Series in their Chevy Monte Carlo SS race cars. During the Chase for the Championship, one of the responsibilities of GM Racing will be to make sure the parts we are supplying to the teams are in good supply and of the highest quality. It’s critical that we make sure our teams competing in the Chase do not experience any performance issues due to parts.

Even with the best plans and extensive preparation, issues can and will arise. Sometimes those issues mean we need testing. We currently have one official test session remaining in October at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the track that will host the final race to determine the 2006 Nextel Cup champion. Some teams contending for the championship may decide that additional testing is necessary at tracks in Kentucky, Nashville and Milwaukee. Our GM Racing team will be proactive in attending those tests and working with teams to help solve any engineering issues they face.

We have seven out of 10 drivers in the Chase, so the mathematical odds are in our favor to win the championship. But I always say it only takes one driver from the opposition to make our lives miserable. Last year, Chevy was the underdog when Tony Stewart took the title. Chevy had its only two drivers in the top two up until the last race, even when the odds were against us. Our strong performance this year and 15 wins this season clearly show the depth of our Chevy teams, and we look forward to contending for more victories throughout the Chase.

As the championship battle gets underway we are still conducting our other usual business with the 2007 engine that we just submitted to NASCAR and our efforts to help develop and test the Car of Tomorrow. Additionally, we’ve been speaking with all of our teams about the upcoming race weekend. Our Chevy teams are prepared and ready for Loudon and will be bringing their best vehicles. We’ve been very good at New Hampshire with Kyle Busch winning there in July. We are prepared as we can be but we’ll also be relying on a little bit of luck to make sure our Chevy drivers are in the right place at the right time.

Stay tuned for further information on the happenings at New Hampshire and other GM Racing developments in my coming blog posts.

Download Denny Hamlin's interview
Download Ed Peper's interview
Download Jeff Burton's interview
Download Jeff Gordon's interview
Download Jimmie Johnson's interview
Download Kyle Busch's interview

Podcast feed
The Chase-only podcast feed

Podcast help

Posted by Editor at 10:24 AM
Comments (10) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 12, 2006

That Camaro “Sound” is Now a Ringtone

By Tom Peters
Director of Design

When FastLane posted the Camaro video with me a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice how many comments mentioned the sound of the Camaro.

Justin wrote:

“WOOOOOW listen to that exhaust note! Can’t wait to hear the beast at full throttle.”

Bill said:

“Plus the SOUND is awesome. My brother has a 69 with a 700hp small block with Flowmasters that sounds a lot like this one…”

And finally, Mr. Langlitz from Germany asked:

“What about a cell-phone ring-tone from that gorgeous exhaust-sound?!”

Well Mr. Langlitz, here for you is a ringtone of the Camaro concept car engine sound. Enjoy.

Download the ringtone

Posted by Editor at 11:34 AM
Comments (25) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 6, 2006

Because We Can

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

As I hinted last week, we have a major consumer initiative coming to light this afternoon. GM Chairman/CEO Rick Wagoner today is announcing that GM, beginning with the 2007 model year, is expanding its powertrain warranty in the United States and Canada to five years or 100,000 miles.

The warranty is completely transferable, with no deductible. And we’ve also extended the roadside assistance and courtesy transportation programs. This applies across the board to every nameplate… to all eight GM divisional brands… to every GM passenger car and truck.

When you take the new powertrain warranty, the courtesy transportation and roadside assistance, the safety and security of technologies like OnStar and StabiliTrak, and the trained GM Goodwrench technicians working at the largest dealer network in the industry, it all adds up to the best consumer confidence package anywhere. As Rick says, we believe in the quality and value of our cars and trucks, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. Because we can.

You can rest assured that, along with our continuously improving quality, customer feedback played a large role in our decision. And a terrific source of customer feedback is right here on this blog. Your voices were heard, and will continue to be heard. Thanks for the input.

To read more about today’s announcement, take a look at this official release.

Posted by Lutz at 1:15 PM
Comments (155) | TrackBack | Permalink

September 1, 2006

Give the People MORE of What They Want

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

Back in February, I asked your advice on what GM could do to raise its consideration levels among consumers, particularly among those who don’t consider us at all. You had some terrific comments for us that we’ve taken to heart, believe me.

One of the topics that arose time and again was quality, and how we perhaps haven’t done a good enough job of getting our quality story told. Well, that’s going to change.

I have said repeatedly in recent years that one of the reasons beautiful, compelling styling is so important in today’s competitive marketplace is that quality differences among automakers are almost negligible. I’ve said that with quality, safety, performance, fuel efficiency and reliability almost a wash, design is the last great differentiator among cars and trucks today. And I believe that.

But . . . and it’s a big but, that doesn’t mean that quality and all those other things aren’t important! Quality is hugely important. We have been doing a great job of raising our quality levels in the past five years, and it’s high time people knew about it. And not just the percentage of the population that follows the car business — everyone! One look at the most recent J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Index, or the Dependability Study, or the Strategic Vision study, or any number of other independent third-party measures will prove my point.

No automaker is perfect; many OEMs, including the import manufacturers, have conducted large recalls this year. But perfection is what we strive for, and we need to continue to get better. We need to get the news of our improving quality out there, and we have to regain consumer confidence. We absolutely need the consumer to have as much confidence in us as we have in ourselves. And we have some ideas about how to accomplish that; we’ll have something more, something bigger, to say about it in the coming weeks. Stay, as they say, tuned.

Posted by Lutz at 11:14 AM
Comments (165) | TrackBack | Permalink