chevy

Wow. I write a piece a couple days ago about the 2010 and upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Camaro, and next thing I know a representative from Chevrolet communications is posting a comment to my blog. Yeah, it was regarding a discrepancy in the information relayed in the video blog, but to me that's still pretty cool. As this gentleman pointed out, there are custom car builders out there who are co-opting the Chevy Camaro make and putting out non-GM versions of the Camaro for the consumer who wants one done their way. Apparently, Hennessey Performance Engineering does just that, and … Read more

The Society of Automotive Engineers International, the organization that sets the standard for aerospace and automotive industry technology, will vote this week to make the SAE J1772 charging system and coupler the standard connection for plug-in vehicles, according to a General Motors executive.

Britta Gross, director of GM's Global Energy Systems, shared the news during a live Web chat at GM's Fastlane blog on Tuesday evening.

"As Jon Lauckner said this morning, the Volt comes with a 120-V charger and if you can find a normal outlet, you can charge the Volt," Gross said.

She went … Read more

About a week ago, I read an article online about how automotive industry insiders were recently given a sneak preview of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, which is reportedly slated to begin production in the near future. With all the dire financial straits General Motors has found itself in the last few years, this is definitely good news--I'm sure that I'm not the only who would hate to see such a classic American muscle car tradition bite the dust.

In fact, there seemed to be a lot of rumbling amongst industry reports that the 2010 Camaro might have … Read more

DETROIT--General Motors needs to wring thousands of dollars in cost from its high-profile Chevy Volt electric car before it can compete long term on price, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The biggest challenge relating to the cost of electric vehicles and the Volt specifically is the battery and related components, such as the power electronics and the motors. Compared to other plug-ins, the Volt has a very large battery--sized at 16 kilowatt hours--to ensure that drivers can meet most daily driving needs in electric mode.

For the car to get "traction" in the market, the cost of … Read more

DETROIT--General Motors on Monday opened the doors to the OnStar EV Lab here, a testing center for in-car communications the company hopes will give its electric Chevy Volt more high-tech appeal.

The OnStar EV Lab, housed in GM's downtown Detroit corporate headquarters, is now using the OnStar communications system to gather data on 19 Chevy Volt vehicles for engineering purposes. The same technology will give consumers the ability to tap online services and perform tasks specific to a plug-in electric vehicle, company executives said.

When GM releases the Volt at the end of next year, consumers will be able … Read more

About 50 years ago, a nonprofit organization called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety was founded to conduct research on consumer automotive safety and preventive measures to reduce vehicular crashes and personal injuries that occur in car crashes. Recently the IIHS made news by crash testing a car from the era of its inception, the 1959 Chevy Bel Air, against a 2009 Chevy Malibu. The video for the Chevy crash test is readily available, but to sum it up, automobile safety features have come a long way, baby.

Today's video clip is also part of the IIHS crash experiment … Read more

Former Formula 1 driver and current NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya has been attracting a lot of attention lately. He seems to have ruffled a few feathers of NASCAR fans from his interview following his 3rd place finish this past Sunday at the first installment of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase race where he talks about his will to play nasty with this Sunday's race winner Mark Martin. But a better reason for Montoya to be getting so much press is the way he qualified for the Chase race in New Hampshire, where he not only succeeded in achieving … Read more

There are some things in life that get better with age, and 50 year old NASCAR driver Mark Martin is (literally) living proof of this adage. Martin is arguably having the best year of his long and successful racing career, and the 2009 season seems to get better for Martin along the way. If you need proof, look no further than yesterday's thrilling victory at the first installment of the NASCAR Chase for the Cup at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Sylvania 300 kicked off what many consider the "playoffs" of NASCAR, and it was one of … Read more

All the droolworthy stuff from Frankfurt, what it will *really* take to sell the Chevy Volt, Toyota's gonna' call everything a Prius, and this is the first episode of 'Car Tech Live', the new live video edition of the CNET Car Tech Podcast.

• CNET coverage of the Frankfurt auto show

• What's the funny noise coming from your electric Nissan?

• Hertz NeverLost supports USB drives to load your navigation destinations

• Calculate if a plug-in hybrid makes sense for you… Read more