Chevrolet Trucks Blog

There seems to be no stopping the Chevrolet Malibu from getting an award as it is already its second consecutive year to receive recognition from the North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) awards.

It was during the opening of the North American International Auto Show that the announcement of the winners was made and General Motors has once again taken top honors. Its Chevrolet Malibu had been chosen to receive the award from among its competitors which are composed of 15 cars and 13 trucks. General Motors was able to get four out of the six spots for the awards. Just last year, two GM models emerged as winners – the Saturn Aura and the Chevrolet Silverado.

The Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz, commented on GM’s receipt of the awards saying, “’This award is the result of our intensive efforts to put a renewed emphasis on design, execution and craftsmanship into our cars and trucks.”

He added, “We’re honored that both automotive journalists and consumers are recognizing our efforts. The fact we had four of the six finalist vehicles is more than we could have hoped for.”

Prominent automotive journalists are the ones who observe and evaluate the vehicles on the following factors – innovation, handling, value for the dollar, safety, driver satisfaction, performance, and safety. These NACTOY awards are given to deserving vehicle models every year, ones which earned the highest scores in the factors the journalists are looking at. The jury which evaluated the cars and picked the winners for this year consisted of 45 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.

The reasons that Chevrolet Malibu was named the 2008 North American Car of the Year are because of its having strong performance, and notable fuel economy and refinement.

Ed Peper, Chevrolet’s General Manager, said, “Our goal with the 2008 Malibu was to give customers a stylish, uncompromising package that can challenge even the most formidable competitors in the midsize segment.”

He added, “Customers are getting that message, because the new Malibus are selling faster than we can put them on dealers’ lots.”

Dubbed as the highest-performance Chevrolet Corvette in the automaker’s history, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 has now made its debut in the Motor City. Because it is considered to have the highest performance ever, General Motors expect this model to be the first production Corvette to attain a top speed of 200 miles per hour. This should not be such a difficult thing to achieve considering that Chevrolet is under the great hands of capable people from general Motors.

The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 has an extroverted exterior. Also, to achieve the high-performance description, Chevy made use of only weight-saving carbon fiber for the model’s hood, front air splitter, roof, and front fenders. The carbon weave has also been made a design element and was elegantly covered in clear-coat paint. And perhaps to impress people, the engine intercooler has been exposed through the hood’s polycarbonate window.

Although the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 made use of the aluminum-intensive chassis similar with the Z06, it has been tuned for higher-performance application. It also makes use of the same front and rear aluminum suspension which had been adjusted so that it can harmoniously work with the large 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels.

For improved safety, the braking system has been equipped with vented and cross-drilled disc brakes which measure about 15 inches front and 15.5 inches rear. These disc brakes have been perfectly place behind the 20-spoke wheels.

To enjoy better handling, the automaker installed and made standard the dynamic shock system which automatically adjusts itself according to driving needs. It can shift quickly from road compliance to track firmness.

As the ZR1 is the same with the Z06 in many aspects, Chevrolet has enhanced the interior to make it distinguishable against the Z06. The ZR1 has stitched logos, sill plates, and a unique instrument panel which have an extra boost gauge and 220-mph speedometer.

So, what really makes this model the highest-performance Chevrolet Corvette ever? Its hand-built 6.2-liters V8 engine is capable of producing at least 620 horsepower and 595 pound-feet of torque. Take not – “at least.” This is then mated to a six-speed manual transmission to give drivers better control over the car.

According to reports, there will be two Chevrolet Corvettes that will be released on the  92^nd running of the Indianapolis in May 2008. One of these Corvettes will be powered by ethanol while the other one will be an anniversary car. This is because the 2008 event, to be held May 25, is going to mark the 30th anniversary of the first Corvette pace car at Indy. Moreover, Chevrolet also plans to dell a limited edition of 500 signed and numbered replicas of the 30^th anniversary pace car. These will be offered in two versions namely the coupe and the convertible version.

Chevrolet’s representatives, along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway offially announced the pairing and added that the one who will drive the E85-powered Corvette Z06 concept is two-time Indy 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi will also personally sign all the 500 replica cars at the Bowling Green, Kentucky factory, the same factory where these cars will be built.

This will be the very first time that a car maker sent two pace cars to run the Indy 500. Also, According to Chevrolet, having chosen Fittipaldi is a good decision since he is from Brazil and this is the place where ethanol is a well-developed product and this is also where 70 percent of new cars have flex-fuel capability. Moreover, he is also a stakeholder in a couple of ethanol companies in Brazil.

The Indy pace car Z06 ethanol concept is built with the production Z06 as its basis. According to Chevrolet, it is mechanically stock, except for the adaptation to the ethanol/gasoline blend. The pace car is coated with Gold Rush Green paint which can either be gold or green at different angles depending on the lighting conditions. Also, a subtle checkered flag pattern is also included in the paint job. Also added in the car are items like strobe lights and safety equipment.

The 30th-anniversary pace car, on the other hand, will be available in black with silver graphics. This is in honor of the 1978 Corvette Indy pace car. This car, along with the replicas, will have a two-tone titanium-colored interior and Indianapolis 500 logos embroidered onto the seats. The commemorative Corvette is also equipped with the 436-horsepower LS3 small-block engine, Z51 performance package, choice of six-speed manual or automatic transmission, new forged chrome five-spoke aluminum wheels, and Indy 500 logo fender badges and other features. Prices are not yet available.

The Chevrolet Camaro has always been an iconic car ever sinceits first introduction, Ironically, Sangyup Lee, the designer of the Camaro Concept Coupe and the Camaro Convertible Concept had no idea that the said car was so iconic. Lee said, “I was kind of glad I didn’t know how strong of an icon the Camaro was when I was first working on the project.” According to him, it was the pressure that pushed him to do the amazing design concepts that everyone is talking about nowadays. Among the designs that were lifted from the original Camaro is the gill in front of the rear wheel while the YF-22 fighter jet inspired the creation of the radical angles of the car.

The Chevrolet Camaro Concept was first introduced at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show. It was mainly built using the modified Cadillac STS platform and other details form General Motors rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

The Camaro was equipped with the 400-horsepower LS-2 6.0-liter which provided maximum power. Other features also included 14-inch front rotors and 21- and 22-inch wheels.

In August 2006, General Motors officially announced the start of production for the Camaro. GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said that the 2010 Chevy Camaro will be “virtually identical” to Lee’s concept.

The Chevrolet Camaro, which will still be released in 2010 but as early as now, consumers have already seen the car versions like the coupe, convertible and the one that was featured in the movie Transormers.

The production model will be built off a derivative of GM’s new Zeta platform, developed Holden, which is GM’s Australian wing and will be shared with that company’s new Commodore.

Preparations have been done and all is set for the launch of the Chevrolet Captiva in India come January next year. The Captiva is one of the premium sports utility vehicles of Chevrolet. It can accommodate as much as seven people with its seven-seat layout option. Completely built using the GM Daewoo Automotive Technology in Korea, one can expect that the Captiva will feature the latest technology GM has to offer. As a vehicle, the Captiva is expected to compete with the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe as well as other similar vehicles.

When asked on about the Captiva’s launch in India, Karl Slym, the President and Managing Director of GM India, spoke of the abovementioned preparedness of the company. In his words, “The homologation requirements for the Captiva have been completed, but we are yet to finalize the price.”

One can say that the Captiva is like a modern crossover or compact SUV. It has a two-liter turbocharged diesel engine. It features common-rail injection technology and its engine is said to have the capacity to generate as much as 150 bhp. Aside from this, one can say that the Captiva is environment-friendly for it can meet the norms set by the Euro IV when it comes to exhaust emissions.

The Captiva will be launched together with the Cadillac CTS at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi. Come January, India, as well as other countries will hopefully be captivated with this latest Chevy creation.