GM to Incorporate Daytime LEDs into More Cars

GM will use LED daytime running lights as a way to add visual distinction to its vehicles, according to a conversation Car and Driver’s Steve Siler had with Jim Federico, GM’s vehicle line executive for midsize cars like the Chevy Malibu and Cadillac CTS.

The LEDs appear in the new Buick LaCrosse and give the headlamps an opportunity to distinguish GM products. It’s a design strategy that can be seen on most Audis, and will now be a trend across GM’s four remaining brands.

What do you think of vehicle designs that incorporate LED taillights and headlights? Will it help?

GM Design Future Looking Bright Thanks to LEDs (Car and Driver)

GM Leaves Bankruptcy: Where Do the Brands Stand?

In the tumult of GM’s lightning-quick journey through bankruptcy, you may have lost track of what will happen to all the individual brands. Therefore, here’s a quick and handy guide to where each brand currently stands as the new taxpayer-owned GM emerges from Chapter 11.

Saturn: Purchased by the Penske Automotive Group, which owns NASCAR and IndyCar racing teams, as well as the U.S. distribution arm of the Smart car brand. Saturn’s five models will become the property of Penske but will still be built by GM on a contract basis. According to reports, GM will continue production of the three best-selling Saturn models for the next two years: the Aura, Vue and Outlook. It will discontinue the Sky and Astra. By 2011, GM will stop producing Saturn vehicles, and Penske will have to find a new manufacturer — possibly Renault Samsung Motors of Korea, according to Automotive News.

Saab: Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg led a consortium to purchase the ailing brand from GM. The deal is contingent on $600 million of financing from the European Investment Bank to be guaranteed by Sweden. The deal is supposed to close sometime in the third quarter of this year, but analysts have questioned whether Saab is big enough to survive regardless. It sold only 93,000 cars last year and has been unprofitable for a long time.

Buick LaCrosse to Get 30 MPG Highway

GM announced today that its all-new LaCrosse will get 30 mpg on the highway thanks to the direct-injection four-cylinder from the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain. Via webcast, GMC-Buick vice president Susan Docherty said that makes it the “most efficient premium sedan” in its segment — including cars like the Acura TL, Lexus ES 350, Lincoln MKZ and Toyota Avalon, she later added.

The four-cylinder, which makes 182 hp, will come only on the base LaCrosse CX, with the midlevel CXL and top-dog CXS getting 255-hp or 280-hp V-6s. All three engines have six-speed automatics. GM estimates EPA certification of about 20/30 mpg city/highway for the four-cylinder, chief engineer Chris Meagher said. Once the four-cylinders hit dealership lots, it could be responsible for 25% of all LaCrosse sales, GM says.

Pricing for the four-cylinder model hasn't been announced, but the 2010 LaCrosse CX with the V-6 starts at $27,085; given the $1,500 cost difference between the same two engines on the Chevy Equinox, we’d estimate the four-cylinder will start in the $25,000 range. All three recommend regular unleaded gasoline, vehicle line director Jeanne Merchant said; several would-be competitors sip premium. Here’s how the trims stack up:

Will Consumers Miss the Old GM? Not Likely

There’s been a lot of talk about “good GM” and “bad GM” and what the closure of Pontiac and sale of Saturn, Saab and Hummer will mean to the new company. We thought we’d recap the impact GM’s restructuring will have on car shoppers.

General Motors remains the largest producer and seller of cars and trucks in the United States, already selling 777,785 vehicles this year, through May.

Nearly one of every five cars purchased in the U.S. comes from GM through the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac brands.

Pontiac will be shut down completely by the end of 2010, with Saab, Saturn and Hummer expected to be sold off.

Those four brands combined have 18 nameplates on sale. Together, those models comprised 2.4% of the new-car market in April. That’s a drop of about 1% from the same time last year (3.6%).

GM Extends Incentives Through Wednesday

As GM winds its way through bankruptcy court, current incentives that were set to expire yesterday have been extended through Wednesday. The company announced late Monday that the court has authorized GM to maintain incentive plans while in the bankruptcy process, which could last up to three months.

We expect new incentives to be released Thursday. If GM's bankruptcy-level incentives follow Chrysler's, we won’t see any major increases in the cash-back amounts offered on new models. In Chrysler's case, many models’ cash-back offers were reduced once the manufacturer went under bankruptcy protection. However, that didn’t stop dealers slated to go out of business from adding their own discounts.

Chevy is offering 0% financing for 72 months on many models to qualified buyers. On the cash-back side, there's $2,500 off the 2009 Chevy Malibu, Chevy Cobalt and Chevy HHR in most regions. If you’re a current GM owner, there are also loyalty offers of up to $1,000 on top of the standard cash-back deals in some regions.

Check GM's consumer sites for Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac and GMC to see detailed offers, or check Cars.com's incentives page for more details. 

Buick Business Small Van Debuts in Shanghai

The doom and gloom surrounding GM in the U.S. feeds on the perception that the company can’t build desirable cars. In China, however, the Buick brand has seen a boom in popularity over the past few years, and it features a number of relatively upscale products.

GM is still developing global products, and at this week’s Shanghai auto show it debuted the Buick Business concept based on its upcoming Chevy Orlando small van, which will be sold in Europe.

The Buick Business is aimed at China’s growing middle class, who are the people moving the dial on the auto market there. A Buick in China costs less than a Mercedes but still holds status it doesn’t quite retain in the U.S.

The Business will likely be a hit in China, but it has little chance of being one of the company’s products in the U.S. There’s word GM is bringing the more affordable Chevy Orlando stateside in 2011 to compete with the Mazda5 and Kia Rondo.

We could be wrong, though. Do you think a small luxury van could sell in the U.S.? Check out more photos below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Recall Alert: 1.5 Million GM Vehicles

GM will issue a recall in May for 1,497,516 vehicles from the late-1990 and early-2000 model years. The recall has to do with models equipped with a 3.8-liter naturally aspirated V-6 engine.

Some of these engines may leak engine oil that could end up on the exhaust manifold during hard braking. If the manifold becomes hot enough, it could spark a small flame that could spread to the spark plug wire channel and lead to the risk of fire in the engine compartment.

Affected models include the 1997-2003 Buick Regal, 2000-03 Chevrolet Impala, 1998-99 Chevrolet Lumina, 1998-2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1998-99 Oldsmobile Intrigue and 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Dealers will remove the spark plug wire retention channel from the front engine bay and install two spark plug wire retainers free of charge.

Owners can contact Chevy at 800-630-2438, Oldsmobile at 800-630-6537 and Pontiac at 800-620-7668. They can also visit www.GMOwnerCenter.com or call the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236.

Buick Announces Pricing for 2010 LaCrosse

Buick announced that the base 2010 LaCrosse luxury sedan will start at $27,085. Other trim levels include the CXL FWD for $29,645, the CXL AWD for $31,820 and the CXS for $33,015. We guessed at a $28,000 starting price when the car debuted in January.

The LaCrosse looks to offer a lot of value at that price. The Acura TSX is one of the few entry-level luxury cars that competes in the price range, starting at $29,160. The new VW CC is another new model that offers similar power and amenities. It starts at $27,100 and is selling well.

The 2010 LaCrosse is scheduled to begin production this summer.

More Buick LaCrosse News

GM Assurance Plan Covering Equity, 9 Months of Payments

Earlier this morning Ford announced its new assurance program covering up to 12 months of payments if a new-car buyer loses his source of income. Minutes ago, GM announced a similar plan. It covers up to nine months of payments of $500 a month, and it will cover any negative equity in your vehicle if you trade it in on a new GM. The program starts Wednesday and runs through April 30.

What does that last part mean? As far as we can decipher from GM’s brief press release, if you buy a new GM car today and after 24 months of ownership you trade it in for a new GM car, GM will pay the difference if you owe more than the car is worth. There is no mention of a cap on this amount, and we will update this post as soon as we learn of one.

This equity protection requires any owner to have paid off half of the term no matter the length. So if you have a six-year deal you must pay through 36 months before trading the new car in to qualify.

GM is launching a website for the program at gmconfidence.com, but the site is not yet live.

What GM, Chrysler Bailouts Mean to Consumers

Later this morning, President Barack Obama will speak about the government’s role in restructuring GM and Chrysler. At midnight last night, the administration released a number of statements about the future of both companies. Here is what we’ve been able to decipher in those statements, and what it means for car buyers and owners.