Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet, Honda, Lotus

Lotus is officially returning to the IndyCar series in 2010 in partnership with engine builder Cosworth and KV Racing. Lotus, as you well know, has a long history with Indy-style open-wheel racing, dating back to the early 1960s. Its exploits include a victory by Jim Clark in 1965 and the all-wheel-drive, turbine-powered cars that arrived a few years later.

A few weeks ago, Lotus announced a revival of its cooperation with Cosworth for both road and race cars. The new collaboration with KV is described as being both technical and commercial. It’s not clear at this point what Cosworth will contribute from a technical perspective, since all the current IndyCars run Honda V8s. Perhaps KV will provide a platform upon which Cosworth can test and develop a new engine for the next-generation IndyCar regulations that are in the works.

The green and yellow Lotus/Cosworth-badged car will debut in two weeks at the St. Petersburg, Florida race with ex-Honda F1 pilot Takuma Sato at the controls.

[Source: Lotus]

Continue reading Officially Official: Lotus, Cosworth back in the IndyCar series

Officially Official: Lotus, Cosworth back in the IndyCar series originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 13th, 2010 by Sam Abuelsamid
Filed under: Chevrolet | Comments Off

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, Performance, Chevrolet, GM

GM’s obviously thrilled with the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro’s success, as it’s pretty much owned the Ford Mustang on the sales charts to this point. Now, the retooled Mustang hopes to bounce back with new powertrains aimed at erasing any performance advantage the Camaro model has. File that battle under “To Be Continued.” The other thing the Mustang has going for it, however, is that sunseekers can opt for a ragtop variant. As in, today. Chevy fans? Not so much.

The waiting game continues apace, however, as the Camaro Convertible inches closer to showrooms. The latest good news comes from Camaro5.com, where a contributor nabbed the droptop Camaro out testing with its roof down - the first such sighting. We think it’s a looker, just like its fixed-roof sibling, and better still, with the top stowed, all the visibility compromises the coupe has to make in the name of its wicked curb appeal are summarily erased. This is one ride we’re definitely looking forward to. For additional photos, make tracks over to Camaro5.com.

[Source: Camaro5.com]

Spy Shots: Chevy Camaro Convertible spotted top-down originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 13th, 2010 by Alex Nunez
Filed under: Camaro, Chevrolet, SpyShots | Comments Off

The challenges have been completed, the tweets tweeted and the miles traveled. All eight teams have arrived safe and sound in Austin, Texas, we can declare that Team Detroit is the winner of the inaugural Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge.
Congratulations Team Detroit and thanks to all the teams. It really was a fun couple of […]

Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Will Stewart
Filed under: Chevrolet, Chevy | Comments Off

Filed under: Coupe, Budget, Chevrolet, GM

Check out this little nugget General Motor’s North American president Mark Reuss let slip during a recent web chat:

“[…] 2 door cruze is a nice idea, and it may show up in the global market. As we have 2 door Cobalts currently, [North America] would naturally look at a Cruze 2 door, but I believe our small car portfolio will be WAY beyond what it is now, so a 2 door something still is needed.”

Quite interesting, no? Especially as the Cruze will eventually replace the Cobalt as Chevy’s C-segment car. We suspect there will be a bit of overlap between the two cars (GM’s high-volume models die hard), but the idea of a Cruze SS Coupe is quite tantalizing. To us at any rate.

Also lip smacking is another bit of info Reuss let slip when a man named Pete asked the following question, “Can you tell us if the plans for a ZETA RWD sedan in one of the core brands is moving forward?” Mr. Reuss’ response, “quite possibly Pete…….” That’s not the Lutzian answer we’re used to (”RWD, twin-turbo wagons with manuals for all!”) but it’s not a “no,” either. Also of note, Reuss, a competition-license carrying “car guy” at one time owned Buick GNX #446. Good to know, and stay tuned….

[Source: GM Reinvention]

GM President Mark Reuss: Chevrolet Cruze Coupe “may show up” originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Jonny Lieberman
Filed under: Chevrolet | Comments Off

Filed under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, GM

A[nother] different kind of car company. A[nother] different kind of car. Apparently, as it once did with its Saturn division, General Motors is again fiddling with the tried-and-true dealership sales model by creating two separate new test programs that would potentially offer a low-pressure car buying environment.

One of them, a so-called Test Drive Studio, would be a “permanent or semi-permanent, minimally branded, brick-and-mortar” facility that would first appear in Chevrolet-centric areas such as Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Included amongst the newfangled features would be test drives in the Chevy Malibu, Traverse and Equinox, followed by their main competition. “May the Best Car Win,” indeed.

According to Steve Tihanyi, general director for marketing services, alliances and branded entertainment, “It’s a non-threatening environment. It’s not pressure-filled; you can drive all the right competitive products against the [vehicles]. If you take Malibu as an example, we will also have vehicles like Camry, Accord, Ford Fusion, or Taurus, so you get a really good cluster of vehicles to experience at your own pace.”

Also new will be a competitive test-drive program that will run concurrently with auto shows in 30 markets all around the United States. “One thing we know about auto shows is a lot of people who come will be in market in zero to 12 months,” says Tihanyi.

To go along with the new dealership test model, GM will start a digital marketing campaign in each of the four aforementioned test markets, targeting buyers currently shopping for vehicles in GM’s competitive markets. Says Tihanyi, “So, hypothetically, if you are on Edmunds.com and shopping a Camry, we are going to offer up an opportunity to come to the Test Drive Studio in that market to compare everything you have in your shopping set right now. Our feeling is you may have not had the Malibu in your consideration set, but if you try it, you will.”

[Source: Marketing Daily | Image: Scott Olson/Getty]

Report: GM launching pair of low-pressure ‘test’ dealerships that offer competitor car drives originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Jeremy Korzeniewski
Filed under: Chevrolet, Chevy, GM, General Motors | Comments Off

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Chevrolet, GM, Design/Style

Yesterday, we brought you the official patent drawings of the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu - the Epsilon II-based sedan that will more than likely debut later in 2011 as a 2012 model. Less than 24 hours later, one of our dedicated readers, Ted Krygier, has put his best Photoshop skills to work, completing a colored rendering of what the Malibu could look like based on the patent sketches

In colored-up form, it’s even more clear that the next-gen Malibu will use a design inspired by the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia up front, with a few Camaro-like touches around the rear end. The styling is quite a bit more aggressive than the current Malibu, and since the new car appears to have a shorter wheelbase, its road stance should be more akin to that of the Ford Fusion. Still, we like what we see thus far. Hat tip to Ted for the renderings!

[Source: Cheers and Gears]

Coloring Between the Lines: Reader shades in 2012 Chevy Malibu patent drawings originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Steven J. Ewing
Filed under: Camaro, Chevrolet, Chevy, GM, General Motors | Comments Off

Filed under: Aftermarket, Classics, Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet

Suspension tuner John Hotchkis, principle of Hotchkis Sport Suspension and apparently at peace with the fact that we broke his precious E-Max, invited yours truly out to the Streets of Willow to pound some more hard fought miles into the amazing yellow 1971 Dodge Challenger. Actually, a whole bunch of people were on hand to do the pounding, and not just on the E-Max. Hotchkis was putting on a before-and-after clinic to showcase (and show off) a couple of its suspension packages. Not only was the mighty, heavily tweaked E-Max on hand, but the Hotchkis gang brought along a fairly stock 1970 Challenger, a rented Chevrolet Camaro SS and a Camaro SS that had been given the full Hotchkis suspension treatment.

The Plan: Put each car in the more-than-capable hands of John’s brother, Mark Hotchkis, a former Indy Lights driver who also happens to campaign a Porsche 962 in vintage races. Each car would be put through a series of tests (slalom, skid pad and a lap of the track itself) revealing numerically just how much better the new Hotchkis suspension pieces worked. They also brought a few of us journalist types along to not only see viva la difference, but share our impressions with the world/you guys. But before we get to the results…

Photos by Jonny Lieberman / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc. and Dan Khan

Continue reading Hotchkis Track Day proves “After” is much better than “Before”

Hotchkis Track Day proves “After” is much better than “Before” originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Jonny Lieberman
Filed under: Camaro, Chevrolet | Comments Off

By Will Stewart
SXSW Road Trip Challenge Correspondent
As the Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge rolls into its final day, Team Detroit continues to dominate the scoring, opening up a nearly two-to-one lead over its nearest rival, Team South Florida.
It’s looking like Team Detroit might be unbeatable as the teams approach their destination, Austin, Texas. But from […]

Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Will Stewart
Filed under: Chevrolet, Chevy, GM, General Motors | Comments Off

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Chevrolet, Racing

As Chevrolet Corvette Racing team heads into its first full season of competition in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class, the first full episode of a new General Motors video series chronicling their journey has been posted on YouTube. The 12-part series will follow the team as it gets ready for the nine race series as well as the annual June treck to Le Mans for the 24 Hours.

Episode one begins with a look back at where 2009 left off. On the final corner of the final lap of the Laguna Seca race last October, Jan Magnussen slammed into a retaining wall with a 57 g impact after making contact with one of the Flying Lizards Porsches.

As soon as the cars returned to the team’s Wixom, MI shop, the crew set about getting ready for 2010 including preparing for the all-new 5.5-liter V8. First, though, they had to rebuild the #3 C6.R. Check out the first episode of the series after the jump.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Episode 1 of Chevrolet’s Corvette Racing Series hits the interwebs cinema

Video: Episode 1 of Chevrolet’s Corvette Racing Series hits the interwebs cinema originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted on March 11th, 2010 by Sam Abuelsamid
Filed under: Chevrolet, Corvette | Comments Off

Today’s photo comes from kykorvette.
Be sure to look at all of kykorvette’s photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

Posted on March 11th, 2010 by Will Stewart
Filed under: Chevrolet, Chevy, GM, General Motors | Comments Off