#GeneralMotors

General Motors is reportedly in talks to purchase electric vehicle batteries from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) with the twist being that the cells would technically be assembled inside the United States as part of an operation funded and overseen by the Japanese multinational TDK Corporation.

As we covered in our last installment, the Cadillac Eldorado was “all-new” for 1963 as GM repositioned its flailing flagship convertible. While the rest of the lineup existed as a refresh of the 1961-1962 generation, Eldorado was set apart. Not that it looked different to the rest of the model range, as it received the same visual updates. Eldorado was considered new, special, because of its change in construction: It ascended the ranks in 1963 to the Fleetwood assembly line. And there were a few new details under the skin to draw in the consumer.

In 1961 Cadillac lowered the status of the Eldorado for its fifth generation, after the fourth-gen received lackluster sales. Eldorado transitioned from a pair of body styles (coupe and convertible) sitting atop the company’s standard car range to a weird cousin within the DeVille line, offered only as the convertible Biarritz. Customers saw little to no reason to spend 16 percent more for an Eldorado Biarritz than they would for the nearly identical Sixty-Two convertible, and sales remained poor at 1,450 per year in 1961 and 1962. Eldorado needed a change, a clean break.

In our last Eldorado installment, we reviewed the styling revisions that arrived for the fifth generation Eldorado’s second and final year in 1962. Styling was smoothed, fins were made less aggressive, and the look headed toward a more familial and generalized GM appearance as distinguishing Eldorado details went by the wayside. As it turned out, this less-for-more approach did not work particularly well with regard to the appeal of the top-tier Eldorado Biarritz.

Owners of hundreds of thousands of GM vehicles from Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC recently got the go-ahead for a class-action lawsuit against the automaker. The suit alleges that GM knowingly sold the vehicles with faulty transmissions in 26 states.

Affected vehicles include models equipped with 8L45 or 8L90 eight-speed automatic gearboxes between the 2015 and 2019 model years. Owners said their vehicles shuddered and shook in higher gears, and some said there was lurching and hesitation at lower speeds, even after the vehicles had been seen by a technician. The group also said dealers told them the hard shifts and other sensations were normal.

As we’ve learned over the past couple of weeks, the fifth generation Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz really struggled to justify its high price tag. With Chevrolet-adjacent exterior styling and an interior that lacked any upmarket badging whatsoever, the Eldorado had become a shadow of its former glamorous self. Cadillac made some changes to its halo convertible for 1962, the second and final outing of the fifth generation design. To summarize the updates succinctly: Designers removed even more details.

Mondays are almost never fun, but more than 1,000 salaried GM employees are having an especially bad start to the week. This morning, the automaker announced layoffs that will impact around 1.3 percent of its global workforce.

Automakers have come under scrutiny for connected vehicles’ ability to collect a shocking amount of data about their owners. The issue has gained so much steam that the state of Texas is suing General Motors for the practice. State officials allege that GM collected data on more than 14 million vehicles and sold it to insurance companies without owner consent.

There is ample competition in the mainstream compact crossover segment, so any updates by a mass-market brand to its entrant in this field is worth talking about.

Among the myriad of alterations made to the Cadillac lineup for 1961 was a change in approach for the Eldorado. As we learned in our last installment, poor sales successively after 1958 led to a de-emphasized Eldorado model in 1961. GM realized no amount of largesse, pink paint, or fins could save its sales figures. And so for 1961 the model was relegated to a part of the much more popular DeVille line of cars, and was available only in convertible Biarritz format. The model’s toned down 1961 looks were accompanied by modest engineering changes.

General Motors is updating performance evaluations of salaried employees and the way this impacts compensation. The automaker will now offer bonuses of up to 150 percent for the top 5 percent of its staff. However, employees deemed to be under performing will be placed under additional scrutiny to step it up or take a hike.

General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, is hoping to resume public testing that includes offering rides before the end of the year. Reports have also claimed that it also intends on charging fares as part of an autonomous taxi service due sometime in 2025.

General Motors is again shuffling its EV production goals. Late last year, the automaker announced a one-year delay in electric truck production at the Orion Township plant, pushing the date back to late 2025. Now, that date is being pushed back further, with GM CEO Mary Barra saying the company would wait another six months to start production.

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous division has had its ups and downs in recent years, though it has seen more of the downs than anything else. It recently announced the decision to stop the development of the Origin, an autonomous pod-like vehicle the company initially planned to release in the “tens of thousands.”

After a delayed and limited roll-out of the new Northstar engine (in two power configurations) for the 1993 and 1994 model year, Cadillac enjoyed a wave of positive press. With an entirely new product portfolio in place by 1994, the Northstar-filled (except Fleetwood Brougham) Cadillac lineup was ready to roll through the remainder of the Nineties. Cadillac immediately set about tweaking their V8 for 1995, and it was around that time some issues began to poke holes in the Northstar’s trophy collection.