Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Next corvette to have turbo v8
Next Chevy Corvette to offer small-displacement turbo V8
According to TheDetroitBureau.com, General Motors is planning to alter its strategy with the next-generation Corvette to appeal to a wider range of customers. Traditionally, the Corvette has always been offered with high-displacement eight-cylinder powertrains, but according to sources within GM, the C7 Corvette may also offer a small, turbocharged V8.
@funkmasterflex
Just how small, exactly? TDB reports that the next Corvette’s European-style V8 could measure in at just over 3.0 liters, using an overhead-cam setup and dry sump oil system. With the aid of turbocharging, unnamed GM sources expect that this engine will deliver “in excess of 400 horsepower,” or about 125 hp per liter. What’s more, the smaller V8 could be of the extremely high-revving nature, with TDB citing that engine revs could handle up to 10,000 RPM.
GM’s North American president, Mark Reuss, previously told The Bureau that the C7 Corvette will “target a very different sort of buyer.”
However, traditional V8 enthusiasts need not worry, as the story states that a full range of engines will be available, including the classic larger displacement units that have traditionally found a home in the Corvette.
Of course, the rumormill about exactly what’s in store for the C7 Corvette continues to swirl. We’ve heard everything from a mid-engine layout to a split rear window design that pays tribute to the 1963 ‘Vette. Whatever the case, GM just invested $131 million in the Bowling Green, Kentucky plant that builds the Corvette and the all-new model is expected to arrive within the next two to three years.
Source: http://www.inflexwetrust.com/2011/05/26/next-chevy-corvette-to-offer-small-displacement-turbo-v8/
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Hopefully the end is near
General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck plant to run 3 shifts for 1st time in 26-year history
Mitch Seaton celebrates the addition of a third shift for the first time in the 26-year history of the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant on Wednesday. The automaker will be adding 2,500 new jobs. / Photos by ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press
GM's hiring plans
• Hourly job openings first go to about 1,350 U.S. General Motors workers on layoff. Some GM employees who used to work at Detroit-Hamtramck, but transferred during a past layoff, can return to take one of the new positions.• In the past, GM has hired new workers through employee referrals. For instance, this winter Detroit-Hamtramck's hourly and salaried workers were each allowed to recommend one person for hiring consideration.
Executives said Detroit-Hamtramck is maintaining that referral pool and will decide after it works out a hiring process with the union whether to solicit people from outside the pool.
• In other words, GM is not currently accepting applications for hourly jobs.
• Salaried positions will be posted at www.gm.com.
The plant's 1,100 workers remember when GM cut a second shift in December 2007, then laid off 500 workers a year later because of slow sales of the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne.
Although GM promised to make the Chevrolet Volt at Detroit-Hamtramck, its future was shaky leading up to GM's 2009 bankruptcy.
"It's mind-boggling that we can go from near-extinction to full employment in two years," said Don LaForest, bargaining chairman for UAW Local 22.
Instead of the plant's signature Cadillacs, workers will build three Chevys -- the Volt extended-range electric car, the 2013 Malibu and the next-generation Impala -- as well as the Opel Ampera, the European version of the Volt.
Currently GM is not taking applications. New jobs will first go to laid-off U.S. workers or former Detroit-Hamtramck workers now at other GM factories. Current workers also have referred candidates.
The Detroit-Hamtramck expansion, unveiled Wednesday, accounts for most of GM's eight-state, 4,000-job investment.
As U.S. new-vehicle sales continue to rise, GM plans to fully use active factories before adding production at idle plants, said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America.
"We're a Detroit company, so we're going to look to Detroit first," Reuss said.
2,500 new jobs mark end of Cadillac era at GM Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant
General Motors' addition of 2,500 Detroit-Hamtramck jobs -- to build three new Chevys -- comes at an emotional cost for some current workers: Wednesday was the first day since the factory opened in 1985 that it ran without building a Cadillac.The Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which GM built specifically for Cadillacs, produced its last Cadillac DTS Tuesday. The factory will build the last Buick Lucerne next week. Workers will continue to build the Volt extended-range electric and add the Malibu next year and the Impala after that, likely by 2013.
"The great history of the Cadillac wreath and crest is important, but our Chevrolet bowtie is where the volume is," said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America.
Still, workers said they feel the new vehicles saved the factory, which is slated to run three shifts soon for the first time in its 26-year history. Ahead of GM's 2009 bankruptcy, the factory dwindled to a skeleton shift to build the aging DTS and Lucerne. With other GM plants slated to close, Detroit-Hamtramck workers feared for their future.
"It was dismal. Everybody was afraid they were going to close it up," Detroit-Hamtramck pipefitter Anthony Kotlarczyk said Wednesday.
Instead, the plant will add a second shift by late this fall, with jobs added gradually over the next several months. A third shift will start at an undisclosed time after that.
To add workers, GM must first recall all its laid-off U.S. workers, expected to occur by September, and offer transfers to some workers who used to work at Detroit-Hamtramck when it ran two shifts.
In addition, Detroit-Hamtramck's 1,100 hourly and salaried workers have each been allowed to refer one job candidate. GM will decide after it works out a hiring process with the union whether it will solicit people from outside the pool. The plant is not accepting applications now.
Any new hires will start at the UAW's second-tier pay, or about $14 an hour. That's roughly half what first-tier workers make.
Still, that pay, along with benefits, would be a raise for Kenyon Reed. One Detroit-Hamtramck worker recommended him for a job at the factory more than three years ago, he said. She put his name in again this winter.
"I've been waiting 3 1/2 years," Reed said. "I'd take that $14 an hour and be happy with it."
Reed said he makes $300 in a good week as a barber in Warren.
GM is adding new workers as it increases Volt production. The automaker raised its intended Volt production last week, to 16,000 for 2011 and 60,000 for 2012. Executives have discussed building as many as 120,000 Volts a year if demand increases with rising gas prices.
"And why wouldn't it?" Reuss said Wednesday. "Here's a vehicle whose owners include people averaging a thousand miles between fill-ups with gasoline. I put three gallons in my own Volt over the last six months."
Detroit-Hamtramck's new jobs, first reported by the Free Press, account for most of the eight-state, 4,000-job investment GM unveiled this month. The automaker also is hiring at plants in Bay City, Flint, Toledo and Bowling Green, Ky. Today GM plans to unveil 110 more jobs for its SUV factory in Arlington, Texas, a person familiar with the planning said.
GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter declined to give details of the scheduled Arlington announcement.
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20110526/BUSINESS01/105260471/General-Motors-Detroit-Hamtramck-plant-run-3-shifts-1st-time-26-year-history?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Kyle Busch clocked @128 mph in Lexus
Kyle Busch on Speeding Bust ‘I Got Carried Away’
Kyle Busch has apologized for getting a speeding ticket, he was caught doing 128mph. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
Funk Flex
Kyle Busch just issued a sort-of apology for his 128 mph speeding ticket — chalking up his ridiculous speed to a test drive gone wrong, and the blatantly obvious … “I got carried away.”
In his statement Busch says , “I was test driving a new sports car and I got carried away. I went beyond the speed I should have been going on a public road. I apologize to the public, my fans, sponsors, and race teams for my lack of judgment.”
The NASCAR bad boy was driving a Lexus LFA when cops in Troutman, NC pulled him over today … doing 128 mph in a 45 mph zone. BTW … the LFA packs about 552 horses!
Busch added, “I take responsibility for my actions and I can assure you that something like this will never happen again.”
Source: http://www.inflexwetrust.com/2011/05/24/kyle-busch-on-speeding-bust-i-got-carried-away/
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