Why General Motors Left Europe
CNBC:
In 2017, General Motors,
the largest U.S.
automaker with brands known around the
world made perhaps one of
its boldest moves in its history.
It sold its European Opel and
Vauxhall brands to the French
automaker PSA known for brands
such as Peugeot and Citroen.
It was the end of an era
for GM which had first ventured into
Europe nearly 90 years before.
It also marked the end of nearly
two decades of losses for the
brands under GM's stewardship.
GM executives said the deal
would unload a difficult and
struggling business and allow the company
to focus on its more
profitable North American market and free
up cash to make needed
investments in new technologies such
as electric cars and
autonomous driving.
But the move came with risks.
The European new car market is about
as large as that of the
United States and leaving it would
not only hit GM's volume but
also increase its exposure to the
ups and downs of the U.S.
auto market.
The sale of the unit
also racked up huge costs.
GM took a $3.9 billion
loss in 2017 owing
mostly to the $6.2
billion in costs it had to
shell out for the sale.
So why did GM leave?
Did the automaker simply
screw up or fail?
Was it wise to get out of Europe?
And what does it mean for GM's
future and the future of the auto
industry?
The decision actually says a lot about
how difficult it is to be a
global automaker today and the
sometimes subtle ways markets
around the world increasingly favor
local players who can tailor
their products to
specific markets.
In the end GM may have failed
in Europe in part because it just
isn't European.
The numbers show General Motors was
having a rough time on the
continent in the nine years or
so before the divestiture of GM's
European business.
It bled money at the EBIT line
every single year for a total of
about $14 billion in
losses on $208.4
billion dollars in sales it's nine
year weighted loss of 6.9
percent.
EBIT stands for earnings before interest
and taxation and is the
metric GM uses to report
the money its international business
divisions make.
Its worst year during that time
was during the financial crisis in
2009.
Where GM incurred a 15
percent loss of $3.6
billion dollars.
The best year in that period was
2016 where it still had a 1.4
percent loss totaling
about $257 million.
Now that sounds like an improvement
and in absolute terms it was.
But consider that over the same
nine year period GM turned a
profit in North America of
$28 billion on $823.7
point billion in sales.
That's a nine year
weighted gain of 3.4
percent an automaker generally tries to
target an 8 percent EBIT
for any given region and for
the world as a whole.
GM's rival, Ford for example has an
8 percent EBIT target for its
European business.
The automobiles never really
sold well with consumers.
And one of the reasons they
weren't able to achieve profitability
is because what they did sell
were primarily passenger cars and
not the higher margin trucks and SUVs
that they saw a lot of in
the U.S..
So that's that's a
big part of it.
There's also a lot of headwinds that
they faced on the cost side
of the equation with with the
cost of labor, unions, and
also more stringent regulation
particularly from an emissions
standpoint.
So a lot of those reasons are
why they had such mixed results and
from a market share perspective when
they pulled out they were
they only had about 6
to 7 percent market share.
So it wasn't really a
dominant market for them.
And GM was losing ground
during that time to competitors.
Consider that the automaker
had a 9.3
percent share of the European car
market in 2008 but that fell
below 7 percent in 2014 and stayed
there for two years and then
fell again to around
6 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile European competitors seem
to be faring better.
And once GM sold off its
European business its earnings shot up.
The automaker earned a
global EBIT of 9.9
percent in 2017 and 8.4
percent in 2018.
But why was GM struggling in Europe
when it does so well in the
United States and is
even leading U.S.
automakers in China a market that is
by no means easy to do
business in.
One reason is that
Europe is pretty unique.
To be fair to GM it is not
the only automaker that has had trouble
there.
American cars have never been an
easy sell in the European market.
Ford for example has dialed back
its presence in the region.
Gm is not alone
in their struggles.
You see Ford pulling out of
Europe and American cars just never
have really sold very well there.
That market is really dominated
by the big three German
manufacturers and others.
But it's also a
fairly fragmented market.
So they just really were never
able to compete and consumers just
didn't really like their cars.
There were larger economic and political
factors such as the great
recession and tightening emissions
regulations that made it
tougher for companies to
do business there.
Another factor is the
distinctiveness of European tastes.
At the time GM CEO Mary Barra
said 80 percent of the vehicles in
the Opel portfolio didn't share
parts or platforms with those
sold in any of
GM's other markets.
When we look at the portfolio
going forward from a vehicle
perspective or a portfolio perspective
only 20 percent of the
portfolio overlapped with the rest
of the General Motors
portfolio.
So we think the real opportunity
for PSA is to leverage that
Europe specific scale.
That put the company
in a tough position.
Major automakers generally want to
build flexible platforms and
parts that can be used in
a variety of models in different
markets.
This helps them keep costs low
and achieve those highly desired
economies of scale.
There are forces however that make
it difficult to share parts and
platforms.
Automobiles tend to be highly regulated
products and many of the
markets where they are sold
and the regulations can vary
sometimes widely from
region to region.
One example of this is
fuel economy and emissions regulations.
Both the U.S.
and Europe have them.
But they tend to differ and
producing cars to meet each
regulatory regime costs
more money.
It requires that the company engineer
and test every vehicle to
fit every set of rules.
But many industry observers say GM
made a number of missteps over
the years that contributed to
the brand's struggles in Europe.
Opel and Vauxhall are often thought
of as sensible cars but they
do not have the glamorous
reputations of more premium brands.
GM typically sold Opels and Vauxhalls
in high volumes usually to
keep costs low.
But simple supply and demand shows this
has a way of driving down
prices.
And while GM produced a lot of cars
it was hard for it to make
money on the cars it made.
It also introduced its Chevrolet brand
into Europe which had the
effect of undermining sales
of Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands already had
difficulty distinguishing themselves in
Europe's competitive landscape and
selling highly similar
Chevrolets right next to
them further confused buyers.
Furthermore the company didn't
have the right products.
Opels portfolio was heavily
weighted toward traditional passenger
cars such as
subcompact and sedans.
And the brand missed the boom
in crossover and small SUV sales.
At the end of the day Europe is
a large market but it is a mature
one and does not offer the
opportunities for growth companies can
find in China and other emerging
markets or even the kinds of
opportunity in the U.S..
A lot of it is really reflection
of the economic growth in Europe
relative to China.
You have one of the fastest growing
countries in the world and the
U.S. which is growing stronger a
lot stronger than Europe now.
You know if you look at European
GDP over the last several years
just has really lagged the
North American market in Asia.
China is now the world's largest
car market with 28 million new
vehicles sold in 2018.
That number is likely to continue
to rise as the auto market
continues to grow.
In North America particularly the
United States, is becoming an
ever more profitable market as
consumers turn toward higher
priced crossovers, SUVs,
and pickup trucks.
So GM cut the cord in Europe and
said it would use the money to
focus more on its strong business
selling trucks in North America
while sinking piles of cash
into its investments in electric
vehicles and self-driving cars.
Those aren't cheap aspirations and it may
be a long time before GM
or anyone else makes
money off them.
Meanwhile GM's North American sales
have grown pretty consistently
from 56 billion dollars in 2009
to 113 billion dollars in 2018
according to FactSet.
Meanwhile it was able to sell the
business to Peugeot and a large
automaker that has been successful
focusing on Europe but who
also has plans to
return to the U.S..
They've been very open over the
last few months about their
interest in specifically
Fiat Chrysler.
Which I think they view as a
opportunity to gain a foothold in the
North American market and obviously
you know that company has
said some very well-received brands with
Jeep and a lot of the
new products that
they're introducing.
In a comment to
CNBC, General Motors
said:
Peugeot surprised the industry by saying
it had restored the Opel
and Vauxhall brands to profitability in
part by cutting costs and
introducing new more
profitable models.
The Top 5 Used SUVs Owners Love (And the 3 to Avoid) | Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports:
In the market for a
used SUV and wondering
which ones other
owners like the best?
Check out our list of the
most loved used midsize SUVs
from our owner
satisfaction survey.
And find out which ones
owners regret buying most.
The best SUVs are models that
are three to five years old.
Cars with a lot of
life still left in them
that can be had for a bargain.
The Honda Pilot scored well
in our survey among three
to five-year-old SUVs.
Buyers thought the Pilot
drove well, and was
a good value for the
money, with 67% saying
they would buy it again.
70% of people who bought
a Volkswagen Touareg
said they would get another.
They found the
Touareg comfortable,
and loved the styling
and driving experience.
Jeep fans are a loyal bunch, and
their enthusiasm for the brand
continues with the Wrangler.
Despite telling us it wasn't
actually comfortable to drive,
owners loved taking
the Wrangler off road.
And 73% said they would
buy another used one.
Toyota 4Runner owners were
also dedicated to the model.
76% say they would
buy another 4Runner,
even while admitting
they weren't
thrilled by its audio
system, comfort level,
or driving performance.
And the most satisfying
used SUV out there,
that's the Toyota Highlander.
78% of people who owned this SUV
said they would buy it again,
citing a superb driving
experience, attractive styling,
and overall comfort.
But not all drivers
who bought an SUV were
happy with their purchase.
These are the three used SUVs
that had the lowest owner's
satisfaction.
Used Mazda CX-9s
didn't impress buyers.
Although they were very
satisfied by how it drove,
only 48% said they
would buy the car again.
Only 39% of use Nissan
Pathfinder buyers would
make that same choice again.
Owners didn't find
the Pathfinder
particularly comfortable.
And they didn't think it was
a great value for the money
either.
And at the bottom of the
list is the Dodge Journey,
which didn't appeal to
the majority of people
who bought one used.
Calling it out for
being uncomfortable
and a bad driving
experience, only 31%
said they was purchased
the Journey again.
For more on used cars, check
out consumerreports.org.
The Truth About GM’s Huge Layoffs and Why You Should Be Mad About It
Scotty Kilmer:
Rev up your engines,
today I'm going to tell you the truth about
GM's plan to layoff a bunch of workers and
to shut down a bunch of US factories,
well if you remember a few years back they
got the big bailout because the said they
were going bankrupt so the government gave
them a bunch of money, and oh to save American
jobs and now their just leaving anyways, so
what's the truth behind what's really happening,
now I've read and watched a bunch of these
reporters these experts saying, oh market
forces you have to follow the market forces
blah blah blah,
but here's the truth and to understand it
you need to a little about history,
now I learned to drive on a Chevy biscayne
it's kind of like an Impala, it's a big American
car, back in the 1960's when they made solid
cars that everyone in the world knew, hey
they were good cars and they lasted a long
time,
back then everyone said, oh the Japanese cars
are piles of junk what are they making,
well guess what, they kept making better and
better cars as time went on from Japan,
while the quality of the American cars starting
going down and down,
to give you an example, the Impala used to
be a great car, in the 60's everybody wanted
an Impala they were very popular cars their
pretty well built, they could last a really
long time, but not so recently the Impala
was one of the models that their going to
stop making,
basically the didn't build them all that well,
I had customers with them and every single
person that owned one when they finally got
rid of it said, I'll never buy another one
of those pieces of junk I had more problems
with the transmissions and the engines and
the old ones didn't used to have very many
problems,
so these experts that talk about market forces
is forcing them to shut down these factories
and layoff people, that's basically a lot
of bs,
they were just making the cars poorly and
they were making models that people didn't
want like the Chevy Cruze, which not only
was it a model that people didn't really want,
it was really poorly made, I had a customer
with one, he's been through 3 automatic transmissions
that went out completely in the first 75,000
miles of driving that car, that's just crazy,
and look at another one of their failures
that their not gonna making anymore,
the Chevy Volt, hey they tried to compete
with the Toyota Prius and they failed massively,
the cars were garbage compared to what Toyota
was putting out, so they can talk about market
forces all they want, a lot of the problem
is they were making vehicles that were either
poorly made or people didn't want to buy them
because they didn't like the way they looked
or the way the handled,
and unlike the Japanese like say a Toyota
Corolla, they started out with a basic car
and they keep improving it over decades, GM
was like, oh that model didn't work we'll
get rid of that one and try something else,
it's much better to build something and perfect
it over time than to just say, oh that didn't
work lets try something else and see if that
works,
some of their ideas are, oh we'll go to just
a bigger vehicle, SUVs and trucks that make
a lot of money, well talk about short sighted
again, now just because gas is cheap they
think, oh we'll sell these giant vehicles
for a bunch of money, well guess what people,
gasoline is a limited things, the price is
only going to go up and it will probably happen
relatively soon, and then all those big cars
people are going to not be driving those anymore
and then they'll be in a even bigger mess
than they already are,
and as far as I'm concerned, GM's idea of
shutting down these factories down in the
US and laying off all these Americans, hey
that has to do more with them making a profit
in China not the US,
realize that from the last data I could find,
the Chinese produced 24.5 million cars and
at that same time period the US produced 4.1
million cars, a big difference,
and as for GM itself, GM sells 70% more cars
in China than they do in the US, and these
cars are all made in China,
so if things continue like this, I wouldn't
be surprised that if someone in the US wants
to buy a GM car in the near future, it's going
to be made in China not in the US,
even though we taxpayers bailout GM the last
time, their big thank you is, bye we'll see
you in China,
they didn't seem to say, oh the market is
forcing them to do that when they took all
that taxpayer money, you know their giving
these promises about US jobs and stuff but
as soon as they see a way to make their cars
in China, sell them in China and probably
import those Chinese ones over to the US,
hey those guys are basically laughing at the
average American,
and it's bad enough they were making cars
that had faulty ignition switches and then
they cheated and changed the parts numbers
so they think, oh people aren't going to figure
out that we made these bad ignition switches
that some people were killed in wrecks because
the cars stopped running,
you know their not interested in telling the
truth about the problems that they have, but
taking taxpayers dollars and then shutting
the factories down years later anyways and
moving all the stuff to China, hey all I got
to say is, you can vote with your dollars,
don't buy their products, nobody is going
to force you to buy one of their products,
at least not yet, hey take Toyota for example,
they make a bunch of them in the US and they
have for decades, you might end up driving
a Japanese car around that's made in the US,
where if you buy a GM it's going to be a Chinese
made car, the world is upside down on that
one,
so it's really a double edged sword when you
think about why GM is laying off all these
workers and closing all these factories down,
they've often made poorly designed and built
cars that didn't last so their base that used
to be, oh when I was a kid people would say,
oh I buy a new GM car every 3-4 years, well
that base is gone and then they want to make
them cheaper so their going to move all their
production to China where they can make them
cheaper,
now the Chinese factories are all modernized
so they have less labor that they have to
deal with, but from what I read about them,
they have really good quality, for example,
buicks are like the real popular car for the
upper level management guys to ride around
in a Buick in China,
kind of like it used to be in the 1950's in
the US, a little time warp there,
so basically, the real problem is greed, they
want to make their cars cheaper so they can
make more profit and eventually they want
to make the most profit by building their
cars somewhere else where they can make them
cheaper and in the modern factories more efficiently
than in the old factories in the US, my hometown
Niagara Falls had the same fate itself, when
I was young, there were factories everywhere
building all kinds of stuff but they were
old factories, first they moved the factories
over the Mexico, then they even moved them
further to the East because it was even cheaper
there than it was in Mexico,
so if you think about it as a career, hey
you probably wouldn't want to get involved
in either building cars in the US or working
for the company that builds them because you'll
find that your job will probably vanish in
the near future, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos, remember
to ring that bell!
Man in wheelchair holds on to back of semi-truck in South Africa
ABC7 News Bay Area:
Chevrolet Corvette "Cobra Killer" Grand Sport by Superformance
THE DRIVE:
Yeah...
Oh man.
This is a car that encourages you to
make really bad decisions. Really bad
decisions.
I'm Kyle Cheromcha, West Coast editor of The Drive
and it might look like I'm
surrounded by millions and millions of
dollars in priceless automotive history
right now, but every single car you see
in front of you including this 1963
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport is
actually a recreation, a continuation car
made new again in the 21st century by
Superformance.
Give me the story of Superformance.
Superformance started actually
30-plus years ago in South
Africa, the factory's in South Africa, and
the initial idea was... The owner of
Hi-tech, the factory in South Africa
wanted a Cobra and he looked around at what
was available in South Africa and it was
nothing that they know that the quality
was terrible so he hops in an aeroplane to
the US, had a look around and he wasn't
happy with what he saw there and he said
I gotta do it better, you know he's a
total perfectionist this guy, and
he bought what he thought was the best
that he could find where he brought it
back to South Africa and then reworked
everything you know he went from one
side the other side and then I've got to
admit that the first two performances
built would that good either they
weren't so thank goodness six thousand
vehicles plus minus later we say yeah
we've got approximately four and a half
thousand cobras built between
superformance cobras and Shelby Cobra's
and then of course we've done about 350
g2 bodies and Ford only built 80 to 100
rights back in the 60s there were those
we weigh about yeah and then Daytona's
that there were only six we built about
too close to 200 Daytona 100 yeah
and of course I knew a new sweetheart
covet grant sport it's a slow starter
we've just started selling them a few
years back and I think we over 30
already a 35 I believe but it's
something is pretty special you might be
able to tell it's a little loud in here
kind of hard to have a conversation
probably not the most efficient daily
driver but damn
I cannot imagine something that would be
more fun to tool around at this
here we go
I'm telling you that does not get old
that is a smile maker right there
you know what's amazing we're in this
you know it again it was built less than
two years ago because it's a
continuation car but everything about
this this whole interior it all screams
1963 and yet I have ice cold air
conditioning blowing at my face
I'm sitting in an adjustable seats I
have power windows and most of all I'm
not terrified about crashing a priceless
vintage muscle car having the freedom of
a replica car a continuation car to just
enjoy the drive man it's like you're
here back in 1963 and this is just any
old car that you're driving it really
it's really remarkable
they were only ever five of them done
originally and there's you know that
I've got the blueprints upstairs we had
to help a lot of help from a wonderful
guy
Robert ash Bhavesh from racing icons he
had two storage units full of
development parts for grand sports he's
restored I believe three out of the the
ridge tree of the original grand sports
out of the five and I know he's probably
touched the others also we were very
lucky that he had actually worked on car
number three that always raced with the
number two uh so it was actually car
number three and we managed to get all
the tooling it made that the plaster
cast molds that he had taken off that
car we got all that we got a body that
he had made the beat and body the same
as original Grand Sport we got that from
him then there was you know all the
tooling for the brakes for the side
vents for all the little details on how
the handle was put it because Corvettes
never had a handle like that that was
from a truck actually and that was
August Dunlop's idea of aerodynamics by
putting the handle butch in I see you
know the BRIT where the brake Vince went
for the cooling the coupe the dip cooler
that's on the back there's so much
detail we copied the original drawings
on how to a ghost on top altered the
original 63 Corvette suspension for the
grandpa we did all that now we've made
some safety changes better brakes and
what they had and of course we've gone
to a rat not a steering box
and if you come up to the car you'll see
that we've managed to get the gaps to be
really nice and also the door oh yes
there's no old 63 bit that's door closes
well that sounds a lot more solid you
know right down to your double seal and
then on the original grant sports that
of course had the leather straps we've
copied that too that's there now this
one is set up actually with a modern
lingo Faldo engine mm-hmm but it's got
something beautiful and it's what we
call men's jewelry when you look at it
it has the eight stack ah yes and yeah
men have here you go
men get excited when they see that you
know if we could we could wear that on
our finger or on our arms we were it's
true that's men's jewelry as pretty as
beautiful that's the real deal and as I
said you could see the power steering
air condition and was there any trouble
fitting it in the original engine bay
without modifying at all or was that the
larger hood from the Grand Sport made it
possible
yeah now the larger hood from a Grand
Sport and the two of the grand sports
the final years of racing raced with big
blocks in there so we can't fit the big
block in yet - you can go all the way to
502 and larger we'll go in in the car
yeah the sound is just amazing I mean
there's no radio in here your right foot
is the deejay
and
talented one of that
suspension is very its I wouldn't call
it soft because you do you can bounce a
little bit but it's also not very
connected the damping is not what it
would be in a modern car so you have to
watch out for that the steering
it'll hold you on a curve but the wheel
is a little a little sloppy so it feels
very much like an old American car in
that in that perfect imprecision that
cars of this era did so well the brakes
are so much better than anything you
find in a car that's really from this
era and that head and shoulders makes
the biggest difference
for our daily driving lack of an air bag
that may concern some folks but at least
you know that you have a much greater
chance of stopping in time compared to
an original 1963 Corvette
you know this whole experience driving a
1963
continuation Corvette Grand Sport on a
beautiful winding Southern California
well Canyon mini Canyon Road I can't
even summon the words describe what a
unique crazy cool feeling this is
I'll a dream come true it really is and
that's God that is that's the whole
point isn't it
a car
that makes you feel
like you're seven years old living out
your wildest dream is
pretty magical
2019 Chevrolet Silverado - Review & Road Test
Kelley Blue Book:
When Chevrolet first revealed their
fourth-generation full-size Silverado
they dangled it from a helicopter onto a
massive stage.
Hey, our reveal is just as extravagant.
Okay so maybe we need more helicopter
budget, but we're on dirt and those used to be pine trees. So here it is the
fourth-generation Chevy Silverado.
Okay, I can't.
You know I'm not sure this looks that
different from the previous model. There
are four grille options, this is one of
them and it's bigger and beefier than
the previous generation, but other than
that it looks pretty much like a
Silverado. It does have a steeper
windshield and adds a roof spoiler for
better aerodynamics, but also rides an
inch higher than the third generation.
Thanks to its new bigness the second row
in the crew cab expanded. There are three
more inches back here of space for your
legs, but if you prefer to haul stuff
inside the 60/40 seats fold up. There are
a lot of cool storage spaces.
Check out that cubby. It's pretty neat.
This is bigger than some apartments I've
lived in.
Bed size also benefits from the
Silverado's expansion to the tune of
seven inches of width thanks to GM now
stamping the beds into pieces. It's also
stronger, which is a good thing for tough
payload.
Even the 12 standard tie-down loops are
stronger, and there's an optional power
tailgate, which we think is cool. The
Silverado comes in eight models. The Work Truck
comes with vinyl or cloth seats
and 17-inch wheels, remote keyless entry,
a USB port, seven-inch touchscreen and
Chevrolet's Infotainment 3 system with
Apple CarPlay and Android Audo. Optional
safety features include front and rear
parking assist, lane change alerts with
blind zone warnings, and rear
cross-traffic alerts. Those are some good
options for a base model truck. The
Custom trim adds 20-inch aluminum wheels
and LED tail lights. The Trail Boss adds
a 2-inch lift and the optional Z71
off-road package, which of course
requires four-wheel-drive and includes a
locking rear differential, skid plates,
and 18-inch Goodyear Duratrack tires
for off-roading. Step up to the LT trim
and there's the aforementioned
optional off-road equipment, an
eight-inch touchscreen comes standard as
well as a step up to the 8-speed
automatic transmission from the 6-speed
in lower trims. Hill descent control is
also a good option for when you're
coming down from all those mountains
you're driving over. The LT Trail Boss
includes the off-road capabilities of
the custom Trail Boss. Looking for a
sporty or Silverado the RST trim
includes body coloured exterior trim LED
lighting and 22s.
This high country is at the top of the
Silverado trim mountain, and it is swank
at the summit. Everything is covered in
leather and it's pretty comfy in here in
a truckie kind of way. Both front seats
are heated and ventilated and the
driver's side has 10-way power
adjustment including lumbar. Micah!
It's wireless charging capable and the
storage in the center console is so big
you could probably fit a whole bucket of
fried chicken in there.The Bose audio
system is awesome, you know what, if I
went camping I would probably just stay
in here. Six powertrain choices are
offered on the Silverado. Those larger
two are new options and include GM's new
dynamic fuel management system which is
able to use as few as two cylinders
cutting fuel to the rest for improved
fuel economy. The diesel option is new too. Some EPA numbers weren't available for
various power trains at the time of this
videos making, but here are those that
are.
The 4.3-liter V6 offers up 285
hp and 305 pound-feet of torque.
The 6.2-liter V8, which is in this High
Country crew cab I'm driving has 420
horses and 460 pound-feet of torque. With
a curb weight of 5,000 pounds, a payload
capacity of a little over 2,100 pounds,
and towing capabilities of 12,000 pounds
I'd say that power is going to come in
really handy. That's cute.
Incidentally that's less towing capacity
than a similarly powered Ford F-150 but
more than the RAM 1500 and the same as
the GMC Sierra, which makes sense because
they share power trains. But how does it
drive I hear you ask? You know what? I
have a really good way to find out. Why
thank you.
On the road the Silverado feels sturdy
and solid but surprisingly un-trucky. It
actually drives like a much smaller
vehicle. That might be thanks to Chevy
shaving off up to 450
pounds depending on which Silverado you
drive. The Silverado makes easy work of
curvy mountain roads and is maneuverable
enough to not get you in too much
trouble when parking in relatively tight
spots. The High Country's more refined
road manners are partly due to a 10-
speed automatic transmission with which
it is equipped. Shifts are quick and
smooth. It's tight ratios keep the engine
closer to peak power when at full
throttle. It also makes for easier
operation when towing. It's too bad this
transmission is only an option on the LT
trim and above with the diesel or 6.2-
liter engine. The cabin is quiet. I don't
hear the road and there's no notable
vibration or noise coming from the
engine when that DFM system is doing its
thing. You know if someone was looking
for a midsize crossover alternative with
more utility and towing capacity then
the Silverado drives nicely enough that
it should be considered an option.
Base price on the Work Truck will cost
you around $31,200 including
destination. Our tricked-out High Country,
which is at the top of the spending
spectrum is more like $67,000. This one
also has the Deluxe package that
includes safety features like forward
collision alert, lane keep assist with
lane departure warning, low speed forward
automatic braking. It also has a sunroof,
all-season tires, as well as the Tech
package that gives us the surround
vision camera and head-up display. Those
safety features come in handy especially
in a big truck like this. Sometimes
little things like Miatas or cyclists
are really hard to see. You know, I kind of
feel like the blind spot warning is
pretty much on all the time in this
thing.
The purchasing sweet spot though is
probably the LT trim that starts at just
under 40 large and comes standard with
the 5.3-liter engine and the 8-speed
transmission, but is optional with the
diesel engine mated to the 10-speed. It
also opens up more optional packages
that include tilting and telescoping
steering wheel and navigation. If you're
in the market for a full-size truck the
fourth-generation Silverado has a lot of
competition to check out including the
F-150, Sierra, Ram 1500 and even the
Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra,
but the Silverado has a lot of great
qualities to consider. It's well equipped,
nicely powered and a good-looking truck
that rides nicely on the road. See no
splashy helicopter entrance necessary.
How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5 Billion Company
Success Secrets TV:
How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5
Billion Company
The name Chevrolet originated from a Swiss-born
American racer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, who
founded his company with William Durant in
1911, stayed for four years and then left
his own company to Durant in 1915.
The Chevrolet Company previously called the
Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company
and simply called the Chevy is the automobile
department of General Motors, a manufacturing
company in the United States.
How Chevrolet Began
Twenty years before Chevrolet, Durant was
the founder of a successful Durant-Dort Carriage
Company which manufactured horse-drawn vehicles.
And so Durant wouldn't even touch a car with
a ten-foot pole, let alone allow his daughter
to ride in what he called, "loud and dangerous
horseless carriages."
But as time passed he realized that there
were more cars than carriages on the American
streets; an experience that did not settle
well with the relatively tentative public.
As the government regulated cars for their
safety, Durant had other ideas.
Why not improve the security of these cars
instead?
In 1904, Durant approached a struggling Buick
Motor Company and became its controlling investor.
Within a span of four years, Durant demonstrated
his salesman attitude and transformed Buick
into a leading automobile name amongst the
likes of Ford, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac.
For Durant, however, it was only the start.
Durant figured he could further improve his
odds in the industry if he built a holding
company that would control several automobile
divisions, with each division manufacturing
their own car.
With the Buick's outstanding profits, Durant
had sufficient capital to found the General
Motors Company in 1908.
A year later, General Motors acquired several
car brands like Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac,
Elmore, and others.
Unfortunately,Durant got so carried away in
his "automobile acquisition crusade" that
GM suffered cash shortage with their sales
losing to Ford's.
And so, in 1910, General Motors showed Durant
the exit door.
But Durant did not give up.
Having regained his bearings, he reunited
with an old colleague from the days of the
Buick motor company, Louis-Joseph Chevrolet.
Durant knew the Swiss-born American as a man
whose competency for car mechanics matched
his passion for racing.
In 1909, Louis had participated in the Giant
Despair Hillclimb.
An oddly apt name, considering the Hillclimb
race was less about the racers themselves
and more about test-driving the competing
car brands they drove.
Therefore, when Durant offered a chance to
build more automobiles, Louis couldn't resist
signing his name on the dotted line alongside
Durant's.
In 1911, Louis co-founded the Chevrolet Motor
Company with Durant.
Durant used Louis’ racing status as a means
of building a motor company, and his way of
getting back at General Motors.
The first Chevrolet car, the Series C Classic
Six was designed by Etienne Planche with directions
by Louis.
The prototype was ready before the company
was incorporated even though the production
didn’t happen until 1913 where it was introduced
at an auto show in New York.
In 1914, Chevrolet redesigned its logo.
And so a "bowtie emblem" logo was used on
Chevrolet’s first produced cars in 1914:
the Chevrolet H series and L series models.
That same year, Durant and Louis argued about
their differing intentions for Chevrolet’s
future car designs.
Durant wanted simple and affordable cars that
would surpass those of Fords.
On the other hand, Louis preferred playing
it fast and loose, with luxury or racing cars.
These differences split these two associates
and Louis sold his shares of the company to
Durant.
Now alone at the helm, Durant was able to
focus on his next winning car design.
He achieved this in 1916 when the cheaper
Chevrolet Series 490 finally outpaced Ford
in sales and cemented Chevrolet’s place
among the big automobile names.
To say Chevrolet made huge profits during
this period would be a severe understatement.
Durant revisited General Motors as a controlling
investor, purchasing their stocks, which gave
him the leverage to launching himself into
leading General Motors once more.
By 1917, Durant had become the president of
General Motors.
All was right, now that Durant's "big automobile"
dream was back on track.
And of course, his first directive was merging
the highly successful Chevrolet into the parent
company General Motors as a separate division.
How Chevrolet Grew
In 1918, Chevrolet launched a new V8 powered
model, the Series D for open two-seat cars
and the touring cars that could seat 5 passengers.
These models didn't sell well though and they
were scrapped by the next year.
Given Chevrolet's successful track record
in the market, General Motors rebranded and
sold their commercial grade cars and trucks
as Chevrolet with similar appearances with
the Chevrolet’s vehicles in 1919 from Chevrolet
factories located in Flint, Michigan.
The automobile company built several branch
assembly plants in New York, Ohio, Missouri,
California, Texas, and Canada.
Somewhere between the 1920s and 1940s, Chevrolet
would see Durant's vision for "producing simple
and affordable cars" come true.
In fact, Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth were
known to Americans as "the low priced three".
During this period, one of Chevrolet's most
notable cars was the Stovebolt introduced
in 1929, which was tag-lined "a six for the
price of four".
This and several generations of the car model
blew away the competition of Ford and Plymouth.
In 1953, the Chevy Corvette, a sport’s car
with two seats and a fiberglass body debuted
to become the first mass-produced sports car
in the United States, championing the "America's
Sports Car" appeal.
The appeal of the Corvette and other Chevrolet
passenger cars would be enhanced with the
first-time introduction of Rochester Ramjet
fuel-injection engine as a high-performance
option for the price of $484.
The Chevrolet small block V8 car design made
its debut in 1955 and remained in circulation
longer than other mass produced engines around
the world.
Modifications to the V8 engine including the
aluminum block and heads, the electronic engine
management and the port fuel injection gave
birth to the designs in production today.
In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the Impala series,
which went on to become one of the best-selling
American cars in history experiencing popularity
during the 60s and 70s.
The parent company General Motors introduced
Chevrolet to Europe in 2005.
With rebranded cars manufactured from the
General Motors branch in Korea acquired Daewoo
Motors.
The economic depression between 2007 and 2010
hit Chevrolet hard.
But the road to recovery began in 2010 with
the introduction of fuel-efficient cars and
trucks to compete with foreign automobile
manufacturers.
Within the same year, Chevrolet introduced
the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Chevrolet
Volt in America, which was sold under the
name Opel/Vauxhall Ampera throughout Europe
with a record 5,268 units soldand became the
world's best-selling plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PHEV) car in 2012, winning the award
for the North American Car of the Year, European
Car of the Year and World Green of the Year.
The series was then named the combined Volt/Ampera
that was sold across the world.
It exceeded the 100,000 unit sales milestone
in late 2005 and eleven years later the Volt
family of vehicles had become the world's
best-selling plug-in hybrid as well as the
third best selling electric car after the
Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf cars.
In 2011, Chevrolet set a global sales record
of 4.76 million vehicles sold worldwide
In late 2013, the Chevy brand was withdrawn
from Europe by General Motors leaving the
Corvette and Camero lines.
In 2016, Chevrolet unveiled the first affordable
mass-produced all-electric car the Chevrolet
Bolt EV.
This car too has won several awards.
Where Chevrolet Is Today
Chevrolet now has its headquarters in Detroit,
Michigan, and operates throughout 140 countries
in North and South America, Asia, Australia,
South Africa, and Europe with over two million
vehicles sold annually in the US alone and
a brand value of $11.5 billion.
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Top 5 Pickups You Can't Buy In The United States
4 Wheel Online:
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it
again. Trucks are an american tradition. They’re
as american as baseball, and apple pie.
But it’s 2016 and we live in a connected
world where It’s easy to find out what’s
for sale anywhere across the globe.
That’s why today we’re giving you the
top 5 pickups that you can’t buy in the
United States.
Hi guys, it’s Ken here with 4WheelOnline.
First up is the Chevy Tornado, AKA the Chevy
Montana. AKA Chevy Utility.
Sold in Latin America and emerging markets
like South Africa, the Tornado is a type of
vehicle you don’t see too often in the States,
but seems to be much more common in other
countries.
It’s a car based pickup, also called a “ute”
which is an Australian term that’s short
for Utility.
It was first released in 2003, and then was
updated to the second generation in 2010.
The Tornado can be bought for just over Ten
Thousand dollars in Mexico.
Next is the Ram 700, previously known as the
Fiat Strada.
The Strada was launched in 1996 and was rebadged
as the Ram 700 in 2015 for the Mexican market.
Like the Tornado, the Ram 700 is also a car
based pickup.
It may be small, but it boasts a 1,500 pound
payload capacity. Available models include
single cab and extended cab options starting
at $14,000.
There has also been rumors of the Ram 700
being brought to the United States, but so
far nothing has panned out.
Coming from the birthplace of the term is
the Holden Ute.
Yeah, you heard right. Naming this vehicle
the Holden Ute is like taking the Ford F-150
naming it the Ford Truck.
That’s just redundant.
A sedan version of the Ute is available in
the US as the Chevy SS, but a sedan’s not
nearly as fun
The Ute is marketed as a performance vehicle
and is available with a 6.2L 407 horsepower
V8
The base model comes in at $26,000.
Now the first real truck in our list is the
Toyota Hilux.
The Hilux was sold in the United states until
1975 when Toyota decided to rename it the
“pickup” just the Toyota Pickup, which
is also redundant.
And finally replaced in 1996 when the Tacoma
was released.
The Tacoma may be more well known in the US,
but to the rest of the world the king of Toyota
truck is the Hilux.
Coming in at 7700lb maximum towing capacity,
the Hilux can hold it’s own.
The current eighth generation workmate models
start at about $14,000, with pickup models
starting at $22,000.
You’ve probably already guessed our final
choice for the best pickup you can’t buy
in the United States.
That’s right, it’s the Ford Ranger.
Weird.
That’s an American car! It’s the Ranger.
Ford Ranger.
Despite rumors that the Ranger is coming back
to the America in 2018, it’s STILL not here,
which means we get to place it at the top
of our list.
Matching the Hilux, the Ranger has a 7700lb
maximum towing capacity.
The interior is pretty standard, but, like
any truck when you start to add in those extra
features it gets pricey.
Base models start at $20,000 and the top of
the line model reaches a staggering $44,000.
Now that you’ve seen our top pickups you
can’t buy in the United States, which one
would you want to see brought over?
You can vote right here in our poll.
You can continue the conversation in the comments,
then like, love and share this video with
all your friends.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Reveal - Finally, A Mid-Engine Corvette!
Edmunds:
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CARLOS LAGO: We just watched
the reveal of the 2020 Chevrolet
Corvette Stingray.
The base price is going
to be less than $60,000.
That's incredible.
This is the eighth generation
Corvette, and of course now
it's mid-engine.
There is a 6.2-liter
V8 right about here.
Now, that's a big deal
for a lot of reasons.
Well, one, it's the first
time that a Corvette
has gone mid-engine.
Two, it brings a ton
of performance benefits
and it makes a pretty radical
change to what Corvette is.
Really quick, that engine
is still a pushrod V8.
That means it's low, it's
sacrificing a little bit
of valve train sophistication
for sitting low in the car
itself.
It's attached to an 8-speed dual
clutch automatic transmission.
The only transmission
offering, and of course, it
drives the rear wheels.
Now, it makes 495 horsepower
with the performance exhaust,
and with Launch Control, and
with the performance options,
like the Z51 track package
that was on the C7, and so on,
enables 0 to 60 in less
than three seconds.
Push is pretty spectacular.
Now, one of things
that happens when
you switch to a
mid-engine configuration
is of course all that space that
was once cargo volume is now
engine volume, I guess?
But there's still
a trunk behind it,
which Chevy says can
fit two golf bags, which
is pretty impressive.
It shows Chevy's
commitment to understanding
the practicality
aspect of the Corvette,
and why owners really
appreciate that.
It makes this car more
usable for more people.
On top of that, there's also
a front trunk, or frunk,
up front.
Combined, both of those
compartments make 12.6-ish
cubic feet of cargo space,
which is pretty important.
Let's go a little
bit further up.
One of things they maintained
was the removable roof,
which has always been a
highlight of Corvettes.
It's nice to be able to
take the roof off and just
go for a cruise.
There are a couple of
other big, dramatic changes
to the rest of the car, as well.
Gone are the
transverse leaf spring
setup that used to underpin
Corvette for a long time.
Now we're just down
to coil overs, which
is more traditional,
and should make
for a really sophisticated
ride and handling,
especially when paired with the
magnetic fluid-filled shocks
that Corvette's been using
in recent years, and those,
we've really liked a lot.
Chevy says in the
press materials
that the Corvette equipped
with all-season tires
can generate 1 G laterally.
That's ridiculous
for all-season tires,
and that's such a high
amount of grip capability
that actually all Corvettes
now will have a dry [INAUDIBLE]
oiling system to ensure constant
lubrication to important engine
bits when you're
cornering really hard.
A lot of really
exciting stuff there.
Let's move our way to the front.
And one of the real advantages,
beyond all the performance
headroom, of having the
engine in the middle,
because it's putting more
mass on the rear tires,
giving them more traction to
brake, accelerate, and handle,
but you also move the passenger
compartment quite a bit
forward in the cabin.
And that means you can
put the hood down lower,
because there's no
longer an engine there.
You can make the
windshield bigger.
That gives you a
better sight line.
And because there's no
longer an engine blocking it,
you can have a shorter
and more direct steering
system, which makes the
whole thing feel more direct.
It also helps when you're
closer to the front wheels, too.
It makes the process
feel a little bit better.
Let's find a way to
hop inside and talk
about what's going on in there.
The interior's a
pretty dramatic change,
like the rest of
the car, I guess.
Two seats, of course.
Squared-off steering
wheel, which
looks interesting, but
in my experience, cars
that use this design work
pretty well because you have
four unique points
of contact that
help in doing hand-over-hand
steering around tight corners,
or when you're in a power
slide, as I like to do,
it helps you locate where
the center of the wheel
is really quickly.
Big digital gauge cluster
behind that, infotainment
display here, all
very driver-oriented
how it wraps around you,
especially this little trim
piece of HVAC controls.
Very interesting decision.
It's going to be a while
before we actually figure out
if we like it or
not, but I will say,
I like having physical buttons
rather than digital ones buried
in the menu.
One of things we
haven't talked about
is something that's
really impressive,
and that's a button
hidden up here
that lifts the front
end of the car when
you're approaching like a
speed bump or your driveway.
And the cool thing is when
you do that, you can actually
have the GSP system
remember where that was,
so when you get home, you don't
have to always hit that button.
Or if there's always a speed
bump or a pothole on your drive
home, the car will just
learn that as you use it.
And that's a really cool
thing to have in a sports car.
There's nothing more
embarrassing than scraping
the nose on your sports car
as you leave your driveway
in the morning.
Very, very embarrassing.
There's a lot here that we're
going to learn, and experience,
and talk about.
But for the time being, this
Corvette looks really cool,
and we can't wait to drive it.
Why it’s Illegal to Remove the Catalytic Converter in Your Car
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, Adrian says what do you think about removing
the catalytic converter in order to
boost the power of a turbocharged engine
is it harmful to the engine, well realize
that it's against law to remove a catalytic
converter in United States you're breaking
federal law, but I mean I talked to guys
they live in Montana where they don't
have any kind of inspection and they do
it, and the only thing that a catalytic
converter does, is it slows down
pollution, it burns
unburned hydrocarbons if you remove it
from a modern-day car, all the kinds of
lights and stuff will come on, but it' isn't gonna
hurt the car will actually run better,
cuz it'll breathe better but it will
pollute more, you're braking the law, but the
only thing or reason a car has a catalytic
converter is to burn hydrocarbons, if you
remove it of course you remove that and
then it will just go through the exhaust
and there's less back pressure and when
you set them up right they of course
will run better, you know race cars don't
have catalytic converters on them, cold
wild says Scotty my car has a check
engine light when I turn the key to
accessory, when I start the engine it
goes away, what could it be should I be
concerned Thanks, okay no cars are made
that way, here's how it works, if you have
a normal car and you turn your car to
the accessory and don't start it, the
check engine light is supposed to stay
on that shows you that the bulb still
works then when you start the car the
computer does a bunch of tests, if it
finds a problem that'll turn the light
on and leave it on, if it doesn't, the
light stays off that's totally normal
almost all cars sold in the United
States are set up that way, as I tell
people when they're looking for a used
car, if you're looking at a used car good
idea to have a scan too, like I
showed you get twenty four dollars
scan tool easy cheap enough stuff, but if
you don't have a scan tool you turn the
key to the accessory and a check engine
light doesn't come on, odds are they took
the bulb out and then you definitely
would want to scan it cuz even if they
took the bulb out, the scan tool would
still read a problem if there are any
stored inside the computer, Eto says scotty
just bought a used 2008 mazda cx9 what
do you think about this SUV, well I would
have never bought it, I had a customer
that just bought one of those and
then they brought it to me a week after
they bought it, was running like crap and
I said you're gonna have to rebuild your
engine it's got a problem it's gonna be
anywhere from twenty five to forty five
hundred dollars I am NOT a fan of those
things, but you've already bought it, so
change your oil a lot,
and on that baby I'd change it every four
five thousand miles religiously, because
they do have engine problems as they age, if you
don't have any engine problem and you change
the oil every four or five thousand
miles, hey it might be a decent car you
never know, but I've had customers have very
bad experience buying those things
secondhand there's a lot of them where there
VVT valve system will break down a
lot and then it cost thousands to repair
them as they do break down, so if it does
run good now yeah I haven't any problems
change the oil all the time, edward says
Scotty what do you think of a 2005
pontiac grand prix GXP was two hundred
two thousand miles, and a new tranny for six
grand
although it does need spark plug wires and a
new ABS passenger side wire, thoughts okay
well if it really has a new transmission
I would want the
paperwork and I would call the place
that supposedly did the work to see it
was really done and six thousand dollars
more than I'd pay for a 14-year old
Pontiac but if you like it and it runs
good and that transmission really was a new
one put in or remanufactured one
installed in it, ahhh have some fun driving
around, just don't drag around in it
because you'll burn that transmission
out too, the problem of that vehicle is
the engine is stronger than the
transmission, if you want to drive it
normal and use it as a toy car nothing
wrong with that, but don't think you can
drive that car as an everyday driver and
put thirty thousand miles a year on it
cuz it will fall apart in front of your
eyes if you do that
Armando Lopez says Scotty I'm 17 I'm
getting a 2009 or 2010 g37 Infiniti
coupe do you think it's reliable, I'm
getting from car max do you know about
those cars, okay you're 17 you're getting
a g37 Infiniti coupe you're gonna pay up
the wazoo for insurance cuz that's a
sports car, the problem with those cars
are they're good cars, they're well make
cars but as they age they're expensive
to repair, Nissan Quality has gone down
since the company Renault the French
company bought them out and merged with them
years ago, the quality isn't what it used
to be the problem with the g37 is, it's a
high-tech car they break when they break
the parts cost a fortune,
I'll give you an example, I had a customer with
one, the power steering hose went out, the
only people that could get it was the
dealer and it was like 350 bucks for
hose assembly, where for say a Toyota I
could get an aftermarket one for 50 bucks an autozone that works fine
but I couldn't get it for the infiniti,
so realize that, I wouldn't go that
high-end if I were you and seventeen and
getting the car, unless you have a rich
father who's gonna pay for everything, then
go right ahead,
Melod says is a Hyundai
2013 with 126 thousand miles a good car to buy
are there problems with their engines too,
here's the thing
Hyundai and Kia they're kind of a merged
company, Hyundai I bought 33.8% of Kia in
2013, so they're kind of like a merged
company and they ended up recalling 1.2
million of their 2.0 and 2.4 liter
engines if that car has one of those
engines don't buy it, but if it has a
different engine they can be a decent
vehicle, don't pay too much for a used Hyundai the Korean car the resale values are
kind of low, so if you can get it cheap
enough it could be a decent car, so if
you never want to miss another one of my
new car repair videos, remember to ring
that Bell!
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