It’s been a long time coming! GM has finally unveiled the Corvette ZR1, and its a beauty! I don’t even know where to begin here, so lets talk about appearances first. At first glance, the ZR1 doesn’t really look all that different from the current Z06, and that is probably due to the fact that the aluminum and magnesium frame of the current generation Z06 forms the basis of the ZR1. There is a carbon fiber splitter on the front, not dissimilar to the chin splitter found on the Le Mans winning Corvette C6R. The hood bulges out on the top to cover the impressive new engine, but on the top, lies a transparent lexan window to show off the powerplant. Moving to the side of the vehicle, an astute observer would notice 2 vertical fender vents. All that hot air in the engine bay has to go somewhere, and 2 massive holes aught to help that. The roof of the ZR1 is all carbon fiber, to help lower the center of gravity, and to make it look absolutely badass. But to help with the latter, GM spent a small fortune to develop a special clearcoat to put on top of the carbon fiber to help prevent resin oxidization, which on any other car would turn yellow and crackly over time. GM wanted to ensure the carbon fiber would look good for the lifespan of the vehicle, and apparently a gallon of the clear coat cost $60,000. The front clip of the ZR1 is also carbon fiber, although painted to match the rest of the vehicle.

Lets talk engines.
The new ‘Vette uses a new V8 LS9 engine, which produces at least 100hp per liter of displacement. Though GM hasn’t released any info about the power output, they told us that engine displacement is 6.2L. Now, obviously, simple minded folks wouldn’t be able to form the kind of hypothesis that I am about to, but then again, not everyone has been a 3 time winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for being a math whiz either. Not to brag or anything… I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the ZR1 will produce between 620-650 horses. How do I come up with that number? I am a genius, that’s how.

Make the jump for more info on this beast of a Corvette
Read the rest of this entry »

General Motors car tzar, Bob Lutz spoke at the Reuters Auto Summit recently, and was quoted as saying that the Chevrolet Volt series hybrid will be in production by the end of 2010. Executives at GM sound pretty intent on meeting their deadline, because Lutz admitted to reporters that employees working on the Volt “are becoming increasingly nervous” about getting this thing out by the end of the decade.

The biggest challenge in meeting the production deadline is the battery technology that will be used in the Volt. GM’s two battery suppliers, A123 Systems and Compact Power, are working around the clock to improve the life span and performance of the lithium-ion batteries. GM has its own internal R+D team working on a solution as well, applying for patents every step of the way to ensure their investment is secure.

GM aims for the Volt to get a 40 mile range on its batteries alone, and if they can get it on the market by 2010, competing auto makers will have some serious trouble on their hands.

[Source: Autoblog]

A few months ago, Chevrolet had a website set up for people to vote online for their favorite of 3 potential small cars. The Beat came out victorious, with 1.9 million votes cast in its favor.

Today, GM execs announced that the Beat will be the next generation small city car in Europe. Chevrolet General Manager, Ed Peper, spoke at the LA Auto show, and was quoted as saying: “The people have spoken. The vote count tripled all previous GM online consumer surveys, telling us Beat resonated with customers all around the world. Chevrolet was overwhelmed by the positive reaction to each of the three mini concept cars, but Beat was a sound winner.”

No pricing information has been released yet, but we can give you a few performance specs to ponder:
The concept vehicle was powered by a 1.2L turbo engine that drives the front wheels. The concept came with an automatic transmission, though we would guess that in a car as sporty looking as this, a manual transmission would also be available.

GM is rumored to be considering bringing the Beat to the North American market too.

[Source: Left Lane News]

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about GM’s focus on developing RWD vehicles such as the G8 and Camaro. Rumor has it, however, that the next generation Chevy Impala may not be getting RWD, but rather it could ride on the newly developed Epsilon II platform that will carry the next generation Saturn Aura, Buick LaCrosse and Chevy Malibu.

Its not that GM doesn’t want to develop more RWD cars. The challenge is that fuel standards determine the viability of producing such vehicles. “The large RWD sedan is always on the bubble, depending on what the government does,” said GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz during a recent interview. “A lot of the product lineups are up in the air right now and very flexible.”

The Epsilon II platform is at least flexible in that it will be able to support a variety of different sized vehicles. But this leads us to wonder, what is the point? If the Malibu and Impala are both based on the same platform, and roughly equal in size, what would make the consumer want one over the other? We think that GM had better find a way to differentiate the two models while maintaining the Impala’s appeal. Switching the Impala to RWD and drawing on the car’s heritage would be a perfect way to do that.

What do you think?

[Source: Motor Authority]

Our friends over at Autoblog were present at this year’s SEMA car show, and they managed to see firsthand the Cobalt SS Turbo we had reported on earlier. Seems we were wrong about suggesting GM’s L850 LNF 2.0 turbo 4 would be detuned for use in the Cobalt. The car comes with all 260hp and 260 lbs-ft of torque that can be had in the Solstice GXP/Sky Redline. That’s a ton of power to those front wheels. Its a good thing GM added a John Heinricy tuned FE5 sport suspension that saw development time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife to try and keep all 4 wheels on the road.

We sure wish we could have been at SEMA to report on this and so much more, but unfortunately we were stuck thousands of miles away. To get the rest of the dish on this hot tuner, head over to Autoblog!

Even though GM has pulled the plug on the ‘SS’ supercharged variant of the Cobalt in time for the 2008 model year, internet fanboys of the sporty Chev have dug through the web in the hopes of finding some good news. GM Inside News has uncovered some information that suggests a turbocharged Cobalt may be on its way. They go so far as to suggest that an official announcement could be in the near future.

Seems like the writing is on the wall. The car will be powered by GM’s L850 LNF 2.0L turbocharged, direct-injected Ecotec engine. This is the same motor used in the Saturn Sky Red Line, and Pontiac Solstice GXP. We’re going to go out on a limb and mention that we think the engine power output will have to be downtuned a bit to ensure that the FWD sport compact can actually keep itself on the road. Our power estimate is between 230-240 horses, but time will tell if we’re completely wrong.

We’ve got some more documentation for you, via Cobaltss.net.
-The SAE Power Certification for a 2008.5 Chevy Cobalt using GM’s L850 LNF engine
-Emissions info for current and upcoming vehicles (Of which a LNF powered Cobalt is listed)

There you have it, folks! Seems pretty clear to us that the idea of a high-po Cobalt is not lost. Keep checking back to Driver’s Life for new details. We’ll be covering this one like a fat kid covers himself with crumbs.

[Sources: Autoblog, CobaltSS, GM Inside News]

It would appear that Chevrolet is putting all its eggs in one basket so to speak. GM has reportedly spent $100 million dollars on an ad campaign for one vehicle, namely the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. Will it pay off? We sure hope so. The 2008 Malibu is likely to make the largest financial impact on the company for the next few years to come, and Chevrolet has a lot riding on its performance on the sales floor. It all comes down to the market. Currently the passenger car segment sees the highest sales volume, and for the last decade or so, its been dominated by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. General Motors managed to shock and awe the world when the Saturn Aura won the 2007 North American Car of the Year, beating out its Japanese competitors, and GM chairman Bob Lutz seems to think they can do even better with the Malibu.
To that end, we’ve got a video straight from the GM Fastlane blog

What do you think of the new 2008 Malibu? Can it dethrone the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry?

[Source: General Motors]

Chevrolet wants you to know that the 2008 Malibu is a better buy then Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. The General is on the cusp of launching a new ad campaign which they are touting as the “biggest one-day digital takeover ever by a marketer…with an unprecedented one-day digital takeover of the leading online portals and automotive, sports and lifestyle Web sites.” Ummm Okay… so that’s great and all, but is an advertising campaign really going to get people to buy your cars? Maybe, but the car has to be able to live up to the hype. We think it probably does. With a stylish new redesign, and pricing that starts at $19,995 for the base-level LS trim, the Malibu is definitely looking pretty good right about now. Don’t forget, it rides on the same platform as the Saturn Aura, the car which beat the Camry and Accord for the 2007 North American Car of the Year.
Chevrolet will also be offering a hybrid version with the starting price of just $22,790, making it one of the cheapest hybrids on the market.

GM supposedly spent $100 million on the marketing campaign, and you can read the press release after the jump if you’re so inclined.

[Source: Jalopnik]

Read the rest of this entry »