#Chevrolet
Kickin' Up Dirt: Chevrolet Shows Race Truck - Prelude to a Raptor Fighter?
Trucks make money. A lot of it. Witness the relentless march of average transaction prices, hauled into the stratosphere by all things with a Crew Cab and four-wheel drive. Manufacturers have yet to find the ceiling so, spurred by consumer demand and financial reward, they continue to crank out ever-more outrageous (and expensive) variants.
This time, it isn’t the latest Platinum Southfork Rhodium Kryptonite festival of leather and wood. Chevy, keen to take some of Ford’s lunch, has been rumoured to be building a true competitor to the mighty F-150 Raptor. The race truck you see here is the best indication yet that someone on the Silverado team has dirt under their fingernails.
Special Edition 2020 Chevrolet Silverados Land in Texas
As this week marks the kickoff of the State Fair of Texas, we’ve had plenty of special edition trucks to cover. Texans buy pickups in quantities other portions of the country could only dream of, so manufacturers typically have something set aside to debut at the festival. We’ve already seen Nissan’s revised Titan, Ford’s new Super Duty, and a couple of blacked-out pickups from Ram.
Chevrolet brought a pair of Silverados this year, focusing similarly on black accenting with its Midnight and Rally Editions. While derivative, we can’t really accuse Fiat Chrysler of aping General Motors or vice versa. The blacked-out trend is everywhere, and pretty much everyone has been taking whacks at it for years.
King for a Day: Hertz Bringing in Custom Camaro Models to Thrash
If you’re a frequent car renter, odds are good that you’re not enthralled with the experience. That goes double if you aren’t putting payments on a corporate account because you’re weighing the price against what you actually need. Most of the time this leaves you ping-ponging between a dirt-cheap “compact” that’s technically a subcompact and a slightly larger “midsize” that costs an extra twelve dollars per day.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are countless ways to trick rental agencies into giving you a free upgrade and plenty of programs that reward repeat customers for their loyalty, but you can also bite the bullet and simply splurge for a vehicle you might actually want to drive. Most companies have special divisions offering exotic, performance, and premium luxury models. But only Hertz will let you rent a specially designed, 750-horsepower Chevrolet Camaro.
2020 Corvette Convertible Reveal Scheduled for Next Month
On Monday, General Motors confirmed the 2020 Chevrolet Convertible will debut early next month. The official date will be October 2nd, giving Chevy a few weeks to build excitement. We wish them a lot of luck.
Beyond removing the materials typically located above your noggin at the press of a button, we aren’t absolutely positive what the automaker has planned — but we’re confident. Leaked details have suggested a hardtop foldaway design that axes everyone’s view of the engine compartment for added rollover protection. A handful of renderings even made it into the automaker’s C8 Corvette presentation this summer, briefly showcasing the safety humps and indicating there would a sufficient gap between them for the rearview mirror to do its job.
Junkyard Find: 1993 Chevrolet Lumina Z34
Most of the time, you’ll see examples of the Chevrolet Lumina only in the backgrounds of my Junkyard Find photographs, because the most interesting thing about the Lumina is that it replaced the even more forgettable Celebrity.
However, The General did build a high-performance version of the Lumina for a few years: the Z34. Here’s one in a Colorado Springs self-service yard.
How C8 Corvette Shoppers Are Circumventing Dealer Markups
Back when the Dodge Demon originally launched, Fiat Chrysler indicated it would do everything it could to prevent dealer markup. As one of the car’s best features was its comparatively low MSRP, at least for the amount of power Dodge was offering, FCA didn’t want price gouging sullying the monster’s good name. Besides, the factory isn’t seeing any of that extra cash so there’s no incentive for it to support markups.
Unfortunately, gouging still took place. Some dealerships found a workaround by having intermediaries on eBay auction off the right to buy one of their Demon allocations — resulting in customers paying tens of thousands in bidding wars to have the opportunity to purchase the car at its “fair price.”
While grimy, it’s not much different than dealerships automatically tacking on premiums to the likes of the Honda Civic Type R or Toyota Supra. Pretty much every manufacturer building a rare or coveted automobile takes some precautions these days, but there’s always someone waiting to screw you. For example, Porsche is pretty good at selling its rather expensive vehicles at MSRP, yet rarer models are frequently flipped online for a small fortune.
Hoping to cut markups off at the ankles, a subset of buyers interested in Chevrolet’s new Corvette have been busy strategizing — resulting in an effective-sounding plan.
QOTD: Level-set for the C8 Vette?
Between 1953 and a few weeks ago, the Chevrolet Corvette stuck to a very specific formula: Engine at the front, driven wheels at the back. With the debut of the 2020 C8 Corvette, all of that changed. Today we want to find out what you think about the metamorphosis of an iconic sports car nameplate.
2020 Corvette Stingray Pricing Revealed
When General Motors debuted the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, the automaker promised it would start below $60,000. It’s just barely been able to keep that promise at $59,995, which incorporates the obligatory $1,095 destination charge, but it’s still an impressively low target for a mid-engined performance vehicle. You can, of course, option out Chevy’s C8 Stingray to a much higher price tag.
Fortunately, even if you go absolutely mental on the options, you’ll still be saving yourself some cash vs any of the Corvette’s chief rivals. For example, a bare-bones Porsche 911 starts at $98,750 while the Corvette has to move up two trim levels and take on loads of extras before it surpasses $80,000.
QOTD: Automotive Cooperation Done Right?
In last Wednesday’s QOTD post we covered all the worst examples of automotive collaboration. Commenters racked up the examples, sharing collaboration failures even worse than the Jaguar X-Type selected for textual pillory in the post.
Today we flip it around and discuss the best outcomes of automaker cooperation.
Breaking: The Chevy Sedan Is Not Yet Extinct (Though Buyers Are Working On It)
Unlike Ford, which plans to put its sole remaining four-door passenger car underground by 2021, General Motors’ Chevrolet division is not quite ready to kiss the sedan goodbye.
While the automaker did cull its compact Chevrolet Cruze earlier this year (sparking a wail of grief from a certain writer whose year-old daily driver now bears an defunct nameplate), and while the Chevy Impala is also scheduled to bite the dust come January, the long-running Malibu is said to have at least a few good years left in it.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Reveal – Mixed Feelings
ORANGE COUNTY, CA. — After months, if not years, of hype, plus another 30 minutes or so of introduction, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is finally here.
Dubbed C8, for eighth generation, the Corvette is now mid-engined for the first time ever.
It’s also sans stick, at least for the foreseeable future.
Chevy introduced just one version of the car in Southern California Thursday — the Stingray. A Z51 performance package is available, and Stingrays so equipped will be able to hit 60 mph from a standing start in under 3 seconds.
Oh, and the price tag? Under $60,000 to start.
Ace of Base: 2020 Chevy Impala LT
Large sedans have been and always will be a favourite around these parts. For those who are new to the audience, simply search for the ‘ Panther Love’ tag to see what I’m on about. I’m still recovering from my Lincoln Stockholm Syndrome, by the way.
This full-sized Chevy has so far been resistant to the Ace of Base award, given that it was offered with a miserable 2.5L EcoTec as its base engine. Now, with the model seemingly about to be broomed, the four banger is gone for the 2020 model year, leaving the venerable 3.6L V6 as the entry-level mill.
The Mid-Engined Corvette Has a Name, and It's Called Stingray
Chevrolet is finally going to show us the all-new, mid-engined Corvette later this week at a live event in California. Yes, the car actually exists. In anticipation of this reveal, and to build more hype for one of the most hyped-about cars in existence, Chevy is releasing C8 teasers throughout the week.
Today’s teaser was the name of the car. It’ll be the Stingray.
Junkyard Find: 1960 Chevrolet Brookwood Two-door Wagon
Chevrolet Kills Off Equinox Diesel Due to Lack of Demand
Just as quickly as small diesel engines in vehicles in North America saw a resurgence, they appear to be going away. Earlier this week we shared the tragic news that Ford wouldn’t be putting the diesel engine in the Transit Connect. Today we’re sad to report that the Chevrolet Equinox diesel is also going away.
The Car Connection reports that the Equinox is going away for the 2020 model year. Chevrolet told them that the canceling of the oil burner is a result of “slow demand.” While we might all think that we want small diesel engines in our cars and crossovers, we’re not actually shelling out the money to buy them. At least not in the quantities required to make them profitable for the automakers.
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