chevy

General Motors just opened a new $200 million, diesel engine plant in Rayong, Thailand.

The new engine plant, which is adjacent to the GM's vehicle manufacturing plant, will employ 500 workers and have the capability to manufacture about 120,000 engines per year.

GM expects to source $94 million worth of Thai-built components for the production of engines at its Rayong facility by 2012, the company said in a press release.

The first engines to be manufactured at the facility are for the new Chevy Colorado pickup. GM revealed the Colorado Show pickup at the Bangkok International Motor Show … Read more

The Chevy Camaro Facebook fan page boasts 1.8 million followers--that's the same as the population of West Virginia.

According to Chevy, about 60 percent of these fans are between the ages of 18 and 34--just the target market the company is going for.

Camaro's many followers could be, in part due to the Camaro Convertible released earlier this year and the limited-edition Camaro models.

The amount of Camaro's Facebook fans not only outnumbers Chevy's parent company, but also several other automakers. As of today, General Motors has 285,773 fans. Ford Motor has 854,991 … Read more

General Motors and South Korean conglomerate LG today announced a partnership to jointly develop electric vehicles for sale in different countries.

LG supplies lithium ion battery cells and battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt and the European edition of the Volt, called the Opel Ampera. Although details in today's press release were scant, GM said it intends to expand that battery supply relationship to engineer new electric vehicles.

"Many solutions for tomorrow's transportation needs may be available more quickly by building on our partnership strategy," said GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky in a statement. "Consumers … Read more

DETROIT--In a moment sure to foreshadow the future while driving hot-rod purists bitterly insane, the electric car invaded Motor City yesterday.

More than 50 Chevrolet Volts from around the country gathered on the outskirts of Detroit to celebrate their automaker's 100th birthday as part of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

The Cruise is an annual gathering that brings hot rods, custom cars, and elite vehicles from around the world together for various auto-centric events. During downtime, the more than 1 million cars in attendance cruise up and down Woodward Avenue, Motor City's drag-racing mecca and one-time home to countless diners and auto-tuning shops.

But just as more cars are evolving into electrics and hybrids, century-old Chevrolet is evolving the Dream Cruise to celebrate the Volt. The automaker thus dedicated a chunk of its 100th birthday parade of rumbling Corvettes, Camaros, Novas, Impalas, and Bel Airs to the barely audible hum of Volts. … Read more

That reverse-roll some drivers of manual transmission vehicles experience when stopping, and then accelerating, up a hill won't happen for drivers of the 2012 Chevy Sonic.

Chevy's new subcompact car offers a feature usually reserved for SUVs and luxury sedans; hill-hold technology will be available on all manual-transmission models.

Drivers of the 2012 Sonic will have no problem when stopping at the crest of a hill, such as the one on San Francisco's Filbert Street. No more rolling backward before accelerating forward.

"Hill-hold assist uses a pitch sensor that detects the tilt of the body when … Read more

In addition to filling a prescription, picking up some shampoo, or grabbing a candy bar, a Walgreens customer will now be able to charge a Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt while shopping.

The nation's largest drugstore chain announced that it will install about 800 charging stations outside stores in several major markets, including New York, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, by year's end.

"According to the Department of Energy, Walgreens will make up as much as 40 percent of all public EV charging stations across the country," Mark Wagner, Walgreens president of community management and operations, said … Read more

Hundreds of Chevrolet Volt drivers will participate in a first smart-grid pilot in an effort to increase energy efficiency and offer lower charging costs, GM said.

Modeled after nationwide programs that allow utility companies to stop and start participating customers' home air conditioning units as needed when electricity demand is high--reducing electricity bills, GM and OnStar's smart-grid solution builds on this concept, but to a much more advanced and sophisticated level, GM said.

With the smart-grid pilot, OnStar will let the utility actively manage EV charging for participating consumers. The utility can then reduce peak loads by offering discounts … Read more

General Motors and grid equipment supplier ABB this week showed an early version of an energy storage system using battery packs from the Chevy Volt electric car.

The two companies are partnering to build a prototype which they say can be used either for large-scale grid storage or backup power for consumers. They estimate that 33 repurposed Volt battery packs could supply 50 U.S. homes for four hours during an outage or brownout.

Batteries lose their storage capacity over time, but used car batteries are still viable for grid storage. GM estimates that once used car batteries have 70 … Read more

Some of New York City's finest will soon be driving some of New York City's cleanest vehicles.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday from a press conference in Queens that the city is adding 70 electric vehicles to its municipal fleets.

New York City departments participating include: Citywide Administrative Services, Correction, Environmental Protection, Parks and Recreation, Sanitation, Transportation, Fire, Police, and the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

The addition of the 70 electric vehicles--50 of them Chevy Volts--will bring the city's EV total up to 430 vehicles.

This latest move is part of New York's push to curb … Read more