Much talk has been made over the past week of turning the auto industry’s manufacturing might into a so-called Arsenal of Health. In the U.S. and Canada, federal governments have turned to automakers for production of much-needed ventilators to save lives of coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, breweries and distilleries have swapped to hand sanitizer production.

Turning on a dime to crank out ventilators and face masks isn’t an overnight proposition, but an emergency effort to expand the availability of life-saving supplies would go a long way to save lives. The Detroit Three are already on it. Tesla, too. (Read More…)

Lost in the madness of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic this week was the debut of a refreshed version of General Motors’ largest crossover, the Chevrolet Traverse.

The full-size, three-row people hauler enters the 2021 model year with updated front and rear styling, along with notable changes in content. Let’s take a closer look at this generously sized non-minivan. (Read More…)

Ford Motor Company says it plans to idle all North American plants by end of day Thursday, keeping those facilities offline until the end of the month in an effort to cleanse them of coronavirus. General Motors is following suit, though Fiat Chrysler has yet to detail its near-future plan to protect workers and tailor production to reduced consumer demand.

The details come after the Detroit Three automakers agreed to a partial shutdown of U.S. production after advocacy from the United Auto Workers. (Read More…)

At the urging of the United Auto Workers to do more to protect U.S. Detroit Three autoworkers, Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler have agreed to new coronavirus-fighting measures.

While the UAW initially pressed for a two-week production shutdown, the result of Tuesday’s talks was a series of rotating partial shutdowns, the union announced late last night. The move comes after extra disinfecting and social distancing measures announced by the Detroit Three late last week. It also comes as two new coronavirus cases appear at product development centers in Michigan. (Read More…)

The unexpected and potentially under-cylindered 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer is a vehicle you would have read about in these digital pages, had the pandemic not scrubbed a first drive event scheduled for late last week. For sure, yours truly was quite curious to see how well the model’s brace of boosted three-cylinders hauled around the tweener crossover’s modest bulk.

Alas, drive impressions are off the table as we deal with this virus thing. We’ve told you the specs already, given you a taste of what to expect from the not-quite-compact CUV and its Buick Encore GX sibling, and even revealed the EPA ratings of the latter model.

Now it’s time to hit the trail(blazer). (Read More…)

The domestic auto industry is quickly shifting into self-isolation mode as best it can, knowing full well that assembly plants can’t churn out shiny new automobiles with line workers sitting in their living rooms.

As North America moves into a new phase of the emerging pandemic, automakers are taking precautionary measures, all the while wondering how long the lights will stay on. (Read More…)

General Motors is offering plenty of opportunity to drop mountains of cash on a next-generation GMC Yukon, but if frills are something you don’t need, easing into a 2021 Yukon can be a fairly painless process.

The longer and more spacious full-sizer carries a base price just $100 higher than 2020’s entry-level trim, though moving up the ladder will obviously see GM take home extra. There’s now an extra rung on that ladder, too. (Read More…)

Fiat Chrysler wants to see General Motors’ racketeering lawsuit dismissed, but the automaker’s crosstown rival isn’t in a charitable mood.

GM contends that bribery of United Auto Workers officials by FCA over years of contract talks left that automaker sitting pretty, with extra labor costs dumped on its Detroit competitors. While FCA claims GM can’t prove it’s a victim, The General says otherwise. (Read More…)

Pontiac is one of the most featured marques of the Rare Rides series, and to date there have been seven of its models represented here. Today’s Rare Ride was in showrooms the very same time as the odd and short-lived Sunbird Safari Wagon, but was intended to entice a much more traditional customer.

Let’s have a look at the upright and respectable Bonneville coupe.

(Read More…)

The public debut of Cadillac’s first all-electric model has hit a snag in the form of the fast-growing coronavirus epidemic. A splashy (aren’t all reveals splashy?) unveiling scheduled to take place April 2 is now scrapped, Bloomberg reports.

The article, which (strangely) positions the cancellation as a major blow for General Motors CEO Mary Barra, notes that the automaker has yet to come up with a fall-back plan for the model’s debut. (Read More…)

God, that’s an awkward word to type… and pronounce. Regardless, the upcoming Celestiq is a halo for the brand — a fastback-style four-door electric with exclusivity in spades. General Motors envisions it as a limited-production offering, and its price will reflect its status. (Read More…)

Yesterday was EV Day at General Motors, with the automaker revealing a $20 billion roadmap to electric vehicle dominance. By 2025, a slew of EVs riding atop a new modular platform (and powered by an innovative new battery) will find a home in every GM brand, segment, and price point, the automaker claims.

Some of those vehicles already have names. Perhaps we were too quick to call for the return of traditional naming conventions at Cadillac. (Read More…)

General Motors offered up a peak at its electric vehicle strategy in Warren, Michigan Wednesday, pulling the sheet back on a product plan that seeks quick profits as well as CO2 reduction.

Underpinning GM’s drive for domestic EV supremacy is a piece of modular architecture and a new battery type that should proliferate through divisions and segments in the coming years. The company claims these vehicles will not be the equivalent of the defunct, unloved Fiat 500e, a compliance vehicle that late Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne once warned consumers not to buy. Despite the EV game carrying steep costs and significant risk, GM’s not in the business of losing money if it can help it.

Oh, and that upcoming Cadillac crossover now has a name. (Read More…)

Kurt Cobain had only been dead a year when General Motors launched the Chevrolet Express family of commercial and passenger vans. Two and a half decades later, the Express is still in its first generation, with the model’s sole facelift now 17 years distant.

Despite facing ever stiffer competition from the likes of Ford, the Express and its GMC twin, the Savana, remain an important product for GM, with the Express selling over 77,000 units in 2019. It’s far less refined than the Ford Transit, but it’s tough. GM ditched the half-ton chassis after 2015, focusing on three-quarter and 1-ton variants ever since.

The model, paid off by the time Y2K became a concern, isn’t being completely taken for granted by its parent. For 2021, the Express family sees moar power. (Read More…)

General Motors has no interest in continuing a production presence in the Motherland, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t see the Russian market as ripe for new product.

As sales fall in the tricky market, the automaker believes the new Cadillac Escalade, joined by a trio of crossovers, is just the thing to reclaim lost ground.  (Read More…)