Video: GM shows next-generation head-up display technology

General Motors R&D and several universities are working on a system that would use data gathered from an array of vehicle sensors and cameras and project images generated by compact ultra violet lasers directly onto the entire surface of the windshield.

For example if you are driving in the fog, the system could use vehicle’s infrared cameras to identify where the edge of the road is and the lasers could ‘paint’ the edge of the road onto the windshield so the driver knows where the edge of the road.

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NASA and GM team up to build robots

It makes sense that NASA is interested building robots, but GM? Aren’t they having hard time building cars? Apparently not and if you think about it, then robots do have a big part already in the production of cars. Its just that todays robots do very simple tasks.

Now together with NASA they will accelerate the development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.

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Video: GM shows how 2011 Chevrolet Volt works

If you have been following us for a while you know pretty much all there is to know about the extended-range Chevrolet Volt.

Expected launch for the Volt is end of this year, it has a range of 40 miles (64 km) from a fully charged battery, after that a small 4-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine creates electricity on-board using a 53 kW (71 hp) generator to extend the Volt’s range to more than 300 miles (483 km).

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Shanghai GM introduces new small car - the Chevrolet New Sail

Chevrolet New Sail sedan is the first passenger car created in China by a Sino-foreign joint venture. Developed by Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), both GM-SAIC joint ventures, it will be first sold in China, and in other emerging markets in the near future.

Shanghai GM offers five variants of the New Sail with the base model priced around RMB 60,000 (US$8,800).

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GM unveils 2011 e-Spark at the Auto Expo in New Delhi

e-Spark is GM India’s first move into the electric vehicles and will be India’s first 4 door passenger EV. This new EV is a local initiative of GM India in collaboration with Reva Electric Car Company.

According to GM, the e-Spark will be one of the leading platforms of GM India in its Drive to Green initiative. Based on the existing Chevrolet Spark architecture it will be powered by the RECC EV powertrain.

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Update: Saab brand not dead yet, Spyker extends its offer

Looks like Saab still has some chance to survive, even though GM already talked about how the brand will wound down soon.

One of the bids that did not go through came from a Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker, which now has extended the deadline of its final-final offer for the brand “until further notice.”

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GM investing $336 million in Detroit plant to build the Chevy Volt

General Motors has big plans with the plug-in extended range Chevrolet Volt. This car will likely change the future of GM in either good or bad way. Hopes are high!

Today General Motors announced that it will invest $336 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to begin production of the Chevrolet Volt in 2010.

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GM-eBay partnership to end

Apparently GM did not get the results it expected from its experimental venture of selling cars through eBay. The program was launched on August 11 amidst great fanfare and hype, but did not translate into increased sales for GM.

Though the program was supposed to run till September 8, it was extended, but even the extension did not help. However, GM spokesman John McDonald deemed the program a ‘success’ because it helped the Detroit-based company improve strategies to reach car buyers who typically don’t consider GM products.

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Magna buys Opel from GM

The suspense is finally over – GM is selling Opel to Magna. But the political factor has resulted in a rider. It has asked for governmental help and also support from the labor unions to help in the restructuring exercise. The automaker wants that the four Opel plants in Germany, which employ almost half of its 55,000-strong European work force, should be kept open.

Negotiations with the IG Metall union are expected to take time and be tough. At the same time, The German government has not specified as to the amount it will commit to the deal though it had earlier given figures of between €4.5 billion, or $6.5 billion, in loan guarantees.

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Automakers report increase in sales

Thanks to the government’s cash for clunkers program many automakers have reported a sudden increase in sales, with August being the best month of the year so far. Due to this program as many as 690,114 new auto sales were reported by the Department of Transportation (at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion).

More fuel efficient cars have been sold and many consumers, apart from the auto industry as a whole, have benefited. GM, Ford, Toyota are among the major companies which have reported an increase in sales.

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GM’s eBay initiative seems to have paid off

When GM announced its initiative to sell new cars through eBay there were concerns about how successful such an initiative would be. However, GM has now reported that its dealers in California (which is the first state where eBay is selling new GM cars) have already received 2,400 offers to buy cars.

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Toyota not coming out with an electric car too soon

According to a story in The New York Times, Toyota is not planning to manufacture an all electric vehicle any time soon. According to Masatami Takimoto, Toyota’s executive vice president, ‘The time is not here.’ Currently ‘to commercialize pure E.V.’s, we need a battery that far exceeds the current technology, he said.

While Toyota has doubts about the commercial viability of electric vehicles, other automakers are not so hesitant. Mitsubishi came out with its iMiEV, Nissan is releasing the Leaf, but Toyota is still sitting on the fence despite its green credentials and its winning Prius.

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GM to compete with Tata’s Nano

Tata has shaken up the auto world with its world’s cheapest car, Nano, offering and now auto makers are also waking up to the cheap car market. Iconic automaker GM is seriously contemplating coming out with a competitor for the Nano in India, but its model will be priced at $4,000.

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Toyota to end its joint venture with GM

Toyota was a partner at a plant in a joint venture with GM in California. However, stung by GM’s bankruptcy, Toyota is contemplating pulling out of NUMMI by March 2010. Toyota would transfer production of the Tacoma pickup truck to its light trucks factory in San Antonio, Texas in June. It will move output of the Corolla sedan to its factory in Ontario, Canada and a factory in Japan.

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Buick going to launch two new cars

Buick is all primed up to launch two new cars: a new crossover and a plug-in hybrid. The crossover will seat five and hit the markets in 2010 and the hybrid will be a successor to the Saturn Vue plug-in which never took off.

The crossover will use GM’s cutting-edge technology and fresh sheetmetal and be smaller than the Enclave. The gas-powered model will have direct-injection engines, a 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder and a 3.0-liter V6.

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