Autoblog

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #312 LIVE!

Dan Roth — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:15:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing, GM, Honda, Jeep

We record Autoblog Podcast #312 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.

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Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #312 LIVE! originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM schedules 21-week idle of three truck plants

Jonathon Ramsey — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:32:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM, GMC

Four of General Motors' full-size truck plants, three of them in the U.S., will go intermittently silent for a total of 21 weeks in order to retool for 2013 model year production. The Fort Wayne, Indiana and Flint, Michigan plants have both been in the news lately as recipients of multi-million dollar investments for just this purpose.

Fort Wayne will shut down for nine weeks over the course of 10 months, from January to October of 2012, while Flint will stop production for seven weeks from June to November, and the Arlington, Texas facility will be quiet from June to December for five weeks. The Mexico plant in Silao will find out its shut-down schedule next year. GM has been stockpiling a 90-day supply of its Silverado and Sierra pickups to make up for the loss of production.

When the 2013 models arrive, unconfirmed reports indicate we can expect a new forced-induction V6, the continuation of the 5.3- and 6.0-liter V8s, and the 6.2-liter V8 going into the heavy-duty versions exclusively.

GM schedules 21-week idle of three truck plants originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM confirms $275M investment in Ft. Wayne Assembly for next-gen pickups

Jeff Sabatini — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:31:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM, GMC

General Motors has announced its final factory investment, a $275 million spend on the Fort Wayne, IN, plant that assembles full-size pickups.

Back in May, the General promised it would be spending $2 billion on factory investments over the next year and a half. A series of announcements followed, with upgrades promised to the Chevrolet Corvette factory in Bowling Green, KY, engine plants in Flint and Bay City, MI, and a powertrain facility in Toledo, OH, among others. Most of GM's money will be saying close to home in the Midwest, with over $1.4 billion spent in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Today's announcement follows a previous earmark for production of the next-generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. GM had already confirmed $328 million for Flint Assembly. Previous reports have indicated that GM will launch its redesigned pickups as 2013 models.

For the entire press release, click past the jump.

Continue reading GM confirms $275M investment in Ft. Wayne Assembly for next-gen pickups

GM confirms $275M investment in Ft. Wayne Assembly for next-gen pickups originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM marketing boss not concerned with Ford EcoBoost success

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Chevrolet, Ford, GM, GMC

Commanding over 40 percent of the 2011 F-150 pickup's sales, Ford is making huge waves on both the sales floor and in the garages of the truck-buying and trailer-towing masses with its EcoBoost-powered models. Having driven several examples of the turbocharged and direct-injected V6, it's easy to see why - excellent performance and good fuel economy go hand-in-hand with refinement and a price that's rather easy to swallow.

So, is General Motors worried that it doesn't have a competing technology in its full-size pickups? Not according to Chris Perry, Vice President of Global Marketing for Chevrolet. In a new Ward's Auto article, Perry claims that GM can beat the F-150's fuel mileage performance with the suite of technologies in The General's arsenal when the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are given their next major redesigns.

"(Ford has) done a good job of marketing the EcoBoost, and that's a challenge on our side to make sure that consumers understand you can get similar mpg out of a V8 Silverado without sacrifice," Perry says. "Without sacrifice" isn't really a sentiment we can agree with, however. In point of fact, the V8 engine GM offers that posts fuel mileage figures close to the EcoBoost's is the 5.3-liter V8, and that engine's power levels (315 horsepower and 335 pound-feet of torque) pale in comparison to the 365 horsepower and 420 lb-ft delivered by the Ford.

In any case, we look forward to 2013, which is when GM is expected to roll out its next-generation full-size trucks. We fully expect to see advancements in both fuel efficiency and power, with turbocharged engines, eight-speed transmissions and even hybrids on the menu. Of course, we don't exactly expect Ford to sit on its britches 'till then, either...

GM marketing boss not concerned with Ford EcoBoost success originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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