| Truck incentives cut Cobalt sales | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 10:47:19 PM by Blog57 Team | | Chevrolet Cobalt sales plummeted nearly in half in October, but one of the areas largest Cobalt sellers said it had nothing to do with the car. Id assume it was leases on trucks TrailBlazers, Silverados, Mark Fabian, new-car sales manager at Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown said after Cobalt sales dropped 43 percent to 8,772 from October 2005. October was truck month for Chevy. Thats what they pushed. Fabian, who said Greenwood keeps 75 to 100 Cobalts in inventory, added he expects sales of the General Motors Corp. Lordstown-built car to rebound in November and future months. The Cobalt sales were the worst since 7,618 sales in February 2005, shortly after the car was introduced in October 2004. Chevrolets truck push in October paid off as sales of its best-selling Silverado pickup rocketed 86 percent to 52,409 from 29,299 a year ago.... | |
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| | | New price for redesigned Sentra | | Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:45:59 PM by Blog57 Team | | Nissan North America on Tuesday announced a price on its redesigned 2007 Sentra that officials believe will keep the automaker competitive. "It's a very important product for us," Nissan spokesman Darryll Harrison said of the new car, which has a base price of $14,750. "We think it's going to do very well for us in the market." The Sentra has a significant boost in interior space and an all-new 140-horsepower, 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine, according to officials. A year ago, Nissan priced its 1.8 liter, 4-cylinder Sentra model at $13,100. The new Sentra also will offer a wider array of premium equipment, including leather-appointed seating, keyless entry system and a Bluetooth Hands-Free Phone System. Jesse Toprak, an analyst with Edmunds.com, a research site for car buyers, said Nissan's pricing is timely because "compact cars have been doing quite well" as a result of high gas prices.... | |
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| | | NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series - Saturday from Houston | | Posted Monday, September 18, 2006 2:47:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | HOUSTON - Qualifying is complete and the field is set for final eliminations at the 19th Annual Sportsman Challenge, a round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, at Houston Raceway Park. Top Alcohol Dragster Pilot, Spencer Massey and Top Alcohol Funny Car Driver Jonathan Johnson, qualified on top and will go into eliminations in the No. 1 position. This is the sixth of seven races in the West Central Division. Massey of Fort Worth, Texas, had another great day of qualifying clinching the No. 1 position over Dave Heitzman of Grand Rapids, Ohio. Massey ran a pass of 5.421 seconds at 266.79 mph while, Heitzman ran 5.484 seconds at 257.92 mph. Johnson of Beaumont, Texas, outran the field to remain in the top spot going into final eliminations. Johnson ran a pass of 5.737 seconds at 247.97 mph.... | |
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| | | 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe Review | | Posted Sunday, September 17, 2006 12:45:51 PM by Blog57 Team | | As with a couple of similar cars of its genre, I have to begin discussion of the Chevrolet Cobalt SS by admitting that it isn't marketed to my demographic. Buyers of the Cobalt SS are probably in their early 20s, and get a greater thrill from a noisy exhaust and high rear wing. That said, there is a lot to recommend in the Cobalt SS, and a lot not to recommend. For starters, Chevy's economy coupe, that can be bought for as low as $13,900 in base trim, is highly upgraded with a supercharged 2.0-liter inline four replacing the standard 145-horsepower 2.2-liter four. There's also a 171-horsepower 2.4-liter four available. The SS's engine develops 205 hp and 200 lb.-ft. of torque. These are impressive numbers for a car that weighs less than 2800 pounds. Naturally, performance numbers go with the power.... | |
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| | | E85 Ethanol Powered Student Project Chevy Cobalt SS Will Attempt ... | | Posted Saturday, August 19, 2006 4:45:53 AM by Blog57 Team | | GM Performance Division returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats this week, intent on making up for lost time and focused on becoming the first team to set a record using E85 ethanol. After only two days of speed trials last August, a violent storm swept through northern Utah , leaving standing water on the immense natural speedway and causing officials to cancel the final four days of the event. Until that point, GM Performance Division had set just one record in the G/BGL class (G Class/Blown Gas Lakester) with its Ecotec Lakester, which makes 2006 a redemption year of sorts for the team. A Chevrolet Cobalt SS race car engineered in part by three female students, which will attempt to set records using both E85 ethanol and gasoline in the G/FCC (G Class/Unblown Fuel Competition Coupe) and G/GCC (G Class/Unblown Gas Competition Coupe) classes, respectively.... | |
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| | | Sales leader | | Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006 6:45:56 PM by Blog57 Team | | Tom Durant likes to say that the secret to his success at selling cars is that he brought the country way of doing business to the city. It seems to be working. After three decades as a new car dealer, first in Granbury and later Tarrant and Denton counties, Durant accomplished one big goal last month when his Classic Chevrolet dealership in Grapevine was the country's top-selling Chevy dealer. Now he's got his sights set higher, aiming to claim the Chevrolet sales title for all of 2006 with an eye on being a pacesetter General Motors dealer for years to come. "I don't compete against anybody locally," Durant said in an understated, matter-of-fact manner. It's the "Big Dogs," the top dozen or so Chevy and GM dealers, some of the largest retail outlets in the country, that Durant measures his performance against.... | |
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| | | Pontiac's Secret G5 Coupe | | Posted Thursday, July 27, 2006 8:45:51 AM by Blog57 Team | | We're half kidding with that headline, but the release of a new model is usually a significant event for an automaker. However, General Motors is taking the quiet approach with the new Pontiac G5 coupe, based on the Chevrolet Cobalt introduced in 2005. The 2007 Pontiac G5 base model is actually on sale now and features a 148-hp four-cylinder engine. A CD player and spoiler come standard for $14,995. There's also a GT model that features a larger, 173-hp engine that starts at $17,795. While the base model starts for roughly $1,000 more than its Chevy sibling, the GT costs slightly less than the comparable Cobalt SS. Pontiac is not offering a higher-powered G5 to mirror the Cobalt SS Supercharged. We're comparing the two because the Cobalt and G5 not only feature the same engines, suspensions and interiors, but they also look almost identical save for their different grilles and slightly altered front and rear ends.... | |
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| | | A New Rabbit, Because It Won't Eat the Fuel | | Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2006 6:45:59 PM by Blog57 Team | | Kindly ignore the recent Environmental Protection Agency report bemoaning the lack of improvement in automotive fuel economy over the past 25 years. Also, pay little heed to the predictable congressional response to that annual EPA dirge, this time from a coalition of Democrats and Republicans led by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), calling for a drastic increase in the fuel economy of cars and trucks. The honorable lawmakers and the numbers manipulators at the EPA are missing several points, the first of which is that the agency's fuel economy progress report is relatively meaningless because it is based on the average fuel economy of the new vehicles sold in the United States, as opposed to those actually produced here or left to sit unsold on dealership parking lots. .... | |
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| | | Scion tC TRD supercharged | | Posted Tuesday, July 04, 2006 4:45:56 AM by Blog57 Team | | When we tested the Scion tC for Consumer Reports magazine (December 2005), it lacked sporty flair, although its track performance wasn't particularly slow. It ran from 0 to 30 mph in 3.3 seconds and from 0 to 60 mph in 8.8 seconds. These times were quicker than the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Acura RSX, but significantly slower than the supercharged Chevrolet Cobalt SS (7.3 seconds), all of which were tested alongside the tC. Nevertheless, owners who want more power and excitement can find Scion-specific go-fast parts from Toyota Racing Development (TRD) at dealerships, including a $3,200 bolt-in supercharger that Toyota claims boosts horsepower from 160 to 200. Consumers can have the dealer install the supercharger for about $800, protecting the parts under the full three-year/36,000-mile warranty.... | |
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| | | Cars.com Unveils American Made Index | | Posted Monday, July 03, 2006 2:45:59 AM by Blog57 Team | | CHICAGO, June 30 -- As more foreign auto manufacturers open assembly plants in the U.S., the notion of "buying American" has taken on new meaning. With the 4th of July Holiday upon us, Cars.com has created the American Made Index to help consumers identify the top ten vehicles that are truly the most American in terms of their parts, where they're produced and that are popular with U.S. buyers. As expected, many traditional American manufacturers have made the top ten; however, several Toyota vehicles including the Toyota Camry, Camry Solara and the Siena also made the top ten. "As the import-domestic debate rages, some consumers are interested in spending their dollars stateside," said Cars.com managing editor Patrick Olsen. "While many consumers understand that foreign manufacturers have opened their own assembly plants in the U.S., many aren't sure which cars are built where and what percentage of the car's parts are domestic." Cars.com's American Made Index rates vehicles put together and purchased in the U.S.... | |
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