Chevy might've pulled out of NASCAR if it weren't for new Gen 6 car

We've been on the fence with NASCAR for some time now. On one hand, it's some of the closest racing anywhere in motorsports, with actual passing and door-handle-to-door-handle action as a matter of course. But on the other, it's become template racing – a personality-driven sport more about the drivers than any sort of loyalty to a particular automaker. The Car Of Tomorrow format really rammed that message home, with a racecar's identity coming down to little more than headlamp stickers slapped on the nose. That's not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but we've wondered for some time what's in it for the automakers, who pay big money to stay in a series that has had little increasingly little do with street car sales, let alone innovation.

Apparently General Motors was beginning to wonder the same thing. In a new ESPN report, Rick Hendrick, team owner of Hendrick Motorsports, suggests that GM would have seriously considered leaving NASCAR if it wasn't for the move away from the COT to the new Gen 6 racer. According to Hendrick, GM North America boss Mark Reuss spearheaded the charge away from the 2007 COT and toward a racecar with clearer automaker ties – cars like the new Chevrolet SS racer shown above. Learn more about the fight for a closer-to-production look in the ESPN story at the link.

Articles Source : Autoblog

Updated 2014 Chevrolet Malibu to Provide More Rear Space as Well

It's no secret that General Motors hasn't really been happy with the lukewarm reception of its latest Chevrolet Malibu sedan, nor that it is planning to do something about it by ushering in an early refresh later this year.

GM CEO Dan Akerson himself confirmed the upcoming facelift to reporters last month revealing that it will include a re-done fascia.

Now we're learning more details about the update thanks to a Bloomberg report shared by Automotive News, citing two people familiar with GM's efforts, who asked the news agency to keep their names secret.

The insiders said GM will address complaints about the rear passenger space, likely by making changes to the design of the front and rear seats. They added that on the outside, the 2014 Malibu will gain front styling cues from the new Impala, and that the mid-size model will go on sale during the third quarter of this year.

“We’ve got some tweaks that we’ve made, that we already had planned, that will be coming out in the not-too-distant future that I think will assist,” Mary Barra, GM senior vice president for global product development, told Autonews earlier this week in an interview at the Detroit auto show.

The latest Malibu mid-size sedan was launched in the U.S. in the second half of 2012. It competes in one of the most hotly contested segments in the U.S., which includes five of the 20 most popular vehicles in the market. GM sold 210,951 Malibu's last year (both of the outgoing and the new model), compared to 404,886 examples of the Camry delivered by Toyota.

Articles Source : Carscoop