TRENDING NOW:
Behold the 2011 Opel Astra Sport Tourer (European speak for wagon). While wagons don’t enjoy the same popularity in the United States as they do in Europe, The Delta 2-based Astra Tourer is an important addition to the Opel/Vauxhall lineup. That’s because the five-door wagon variant accounts for nearly 25 percent of the overall Astra volume in Europe. The Sports Tourer will make its public debut this October at the Paris Motor Show. Until then, here are a few details to hold you over.
The Astra Sports Tourer uses a new FlexFold rear seat system that allows the rear seats to be folded down with a press of a single button in the tailgate. The feature is commonly seen on larger SUVs and minivans, but it’s a first for compact wagons: the Astra is the only model in its class to have the capability. With the rear seats folded, the Sports Tourer’s efficient trunk design allows it to hold up to 1,550 liters (54.6 cubic feet).
And since this is - after all - a modern Opel, you can be sure it will be fun to drive. Opel has fitted its FlexRide adaptive suspension system to the Sports Tourer, which includes standard, tour, and sport driving modes. Opel (and – consequently – Vauxhall) will offer eight engine choices, ranging from 95 to 180 horsepower. One of the powerplants will be the 1.4-liter turbocharged four ECOTEC, the same engine that will be used in the U.S.-market Chevrolet Cruze in the fall of 2010.
Looks like the mighty VW Golf (Jetta in the U.S.) wagon has itself some competition from The General. In the end, the Astra Sports Tourer seems to be a fun compact wagon and the Vauxhall version twin can’t be too far behind. All this brings up what is perhaps the most important question of today: how about a Chevrolet Cruze hatch and/or wagon? Check out the gallery below and watch the video (and its Shaft-like soundtrack) after the break. (more…)
Oh boy! Corvette Blogger has gotten their hands on a few pics of what looks to be a convertible variant of the Stingray Concept that made its debut at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show and made a star appearance in the Transformers saga. As far as we knew, the Stingray Concept was a hard top only, but as these photos show – it looks just as good (if not better) without a roof. So is this a new take on the old concept, some kind of a movie prop, or could it be Sideswipe sitting under that beautiful body?
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For June 12, 2010
The General has been served!
Ex General Motors CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner has found himself in the spotlight once again. He has joined The Washington Post as the eleventh member of the media giant’s board of directors, a panel that includes Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, among others.
Wagoner began his General Motors career as an analyst and during his thirty-two year tenure served as President of GM Brazil, President of North American Operations, CFO, and – of course – CEO and Chairman. He was forced out by the Obama Administration during GM’s infamous 2009 bankruptcy.
In 2009, Wagoner was replaced by Ed Whitacre in his post as Chairman of the GM board and by Fritz Henderson as CEO. In turn, Whitacre replaced Henderson as CEO in early 2010.
Click past the break to read the press release.
[Source: Automotive News]
Another case of unintended acceleration has been reported, but this time the culprit is not a Toyota. Marlene Taylor of Kentucky was driving her 2008 Chevrolet Equinox on I-80, set the cruise control, and was hoping to stay at a constant speed. Instead, Taylor’s Equinox reportedly accelerated without her intention and reached 90 mph. She contacted OnStar and was told to put the transmission in neutral, use the emergency brake, and use her foot to lift up the accelerator pedal. From Taylor’s account of the event, none of those ideas worked. Twenty minutes later, Kentucky State Police caught up to Taylor’s Equinox and stopped the vehicle by getting in front it, consequently slowing it down.
Taylor has hired Attorney William McNurry to possibly represent her in a lawsuit. According to McNurry,
“We simply want the manufacturer to investigate thoroughly. We want their cooperation so that we can all as a society to get to the root of what could be a very, very, dangerous problem…”
So far, Taylor’s Equinox is the only reported case of unintended acceleration in a Chevrolet model. GM has yet to comment on the case.
[Source: WLKY]
By the end of July of this year, the once cutting edge and much-hailed Northstar V8 engine that’s always been associated with the Cadillac brand will retire to the history books.
Having made its debut in the 1993 Cadillac Allante roadster, where it made 295 hp and 290 pound-feet of torque, the Northstar was once something of genius, having brought many cutting-edge features to the table. Among others, these included spark plugs that would last 100,000 miles and a “limp home mode” that was created to keep the engine running even if the coolant tank ran dry. But arguably the Northstar’s most important quality was that it was GM’s first-ever overhead-cam V8 design – something that GM’s current small-block V8 engines don’t have to this day. Despite its unique design compared to the rest of The General’s V8 lineup, the Northstar hasn’t evolved much since its debut. Continue reading.
Chevrolet will premiere a special edition Chevrolet Spark as a pace car for the upcoming WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) in Belgium. This, however, is no ordinary Spark, as it has received an engine transplant – trading in its 1.0 or 1.2 liter mills (good for 67 and 80 horsepower, respectively) for GM’s 1.4 liter turbocharged ECOTEC 4-cylinder. The four-banger makes 140 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque and will be the up-level powerplant in the Chevy Cruze when it goes on sale later this fall. The special-edition Spark will be shown as the pace car at WTCC race in Zolder, Belgium on June 19-20 and will most likely make for a more peppy drive.
General Motors has confirmed that the Spark will go on sale in the United States in its current generation, so the only question on our minds now is: how about a Spark SS with the 1.4? Click past the break for the full press release. (more…)
Karl Stracke - GM VP of Global Vehicle Engineering
We’ve been hearing the name Karl Stracke a lot lately – most notably in relation to under-the-radar product announcements and other juicy tidbits of information regarding our favorite automaker. But since Mr. Stracke is a relatively new name in the General Motors enthusiast community, I thought it would could take a few minutes to briefly go over Mr. Stracke’s biography – past and present.
Born in Lichtenfels-Goddelsheim, Germany, on June 22, 1956, Karl-Friedrich Stracke is a mechanical engineer who joined General Motors through Adam Opel in 1979. After serving as an engineer in several positions, Strake served as a director in the Bochum Plant (Werke 1), Germany from 1995 to 1999. He then served as director of Product Development at the International Technical Development Center in Russelsheim, Germany until 2004.
Between 2004 and 2009, Stracke held several executive director positions in Engineering in both Germany and the U.S. and had a brief stint as Executive Director at Global GM Vehicle Integration, Proving Grounds and Test Labs. And that’s how he got to the position he holds today as the Vice President of Global Vehicle Engineering, to which he was appointed in December 2009.
To complement his engineering education, Mr. Stracke also studied business management at the General Motors Institute from 1984 to 1985. He is married with two daughters.
So, did we miss anything about Karl Stracke? If not, we look forward to meeting him in the near future and hearing some info on GM’s future product plans as well as the GM culture at large.
Click the image to watch the video
Here’s one from the archives – and boy is it a long one! In this two minute-long ad, Chevrolet touts its ’63 Corvette, specifically the sports car’s engineering excellence award from Car Life magazine. Perhaps the two minute-long commercial points to the lightning-fast attention spans of today’s society more than anything else, but we’ll let you be the judge of that! Click to watch the ad.
When the Cadillac XTS Platinum Concept was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show earlier this year, the reaction was a mixed bag of emotions. To be fair, many took a liking to its attractive design, 350 hp PHEV drivetrain as well as the plush and glossy interior aesthetics; the XTS is a complete breath of fresh air as a replacement for the comatose STS and docile DTS sedans. Others however, were not too keen on the model: it seemed to be underpinned by the wrong platform for a full-size flagship sedan and be powered by the wrong engine that lacked the credentials to get in the ring with champions such as the BMW 7-series, Audi A8, Mercedes-Benz S-Class or even the new Jaguar XJ. It seemed GM and Cadillac missed the mark (again) on building a true contender for the flagships of the Old World…
At the moment, it looks like both the XTS lovers and haters could be wrong. Keep reading…
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