Trade News

General Motors is launching a new advertising campaign that aims to reposition its OnStar service as the digital connection underpinning in-vehicle safety, connectivity and entertainment.

The campaign set to launch Monday gives OnStar a new tagline — "Better Never Stops" — and includes a commercial promoting the brand as the link behind all of GM's vehicle technology, from its Super Cruise hands-free driver-assist technology to real-time navigation.

Previously, OnStar used the tagline "Be Safe Out There," which GM said will continue to be part of safety-related messaging.

GM is transitioning to an all-electric lineup and developing its Ultifi software platform, which will enable software-defined vehicles offering apps and other features through over-the-air updates. The automaker has said it expects software and subscription services to generate revenue in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion by 2030.

Amid that transition, the automaker in re…

The definitive guide for all-new, redesigned, freshened and reengineered vehicles hitting the market in the next five years just got an update.

Our annual Future Product Pipeline series kicks off this week with a new, interactive tool that allows you to filter our vehicle database by brand, segment, powertrain, year and type of update. This puts the entirety of our Future Product intelligence at your fingertips.

The new feature adds to the breadth and depth of coverage from our staff experts.

Our first deep dive covers the new metal coming from General Motors, which is in the early stages of its electrification transformation. After starting its journey with higher-end models, EVs are coming to more mainstream segments. Production has begun or is scheduled to begin this year on electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Equinox and Blazer crossovers.

GM CEO Mary Barra has said getting more affordable EVs in mainstream segments to mark…

Our annual Future Product Pipeline: Redesigned for 2023

The definitive guide for all-new, redesigned, freshened and reengineered vehicles hitting the market in the next five years just got an update.

Our annual Future Product Pipeline series kicks off this week with a new, interactive tool that allows you to filter our vehicle database by brand, segment, powertrain, year and type of update. This puts the entirety of our Future Product intelligence at your fingertips.

The new feature adds to the breadth and depth of coverage from our staff experts.

Our first deep dive covers the new metal coming from General Motors, which is in the early stages of its electrification transformation. After starting its journey with higher-end models, EVs are coming to more mainstream segments. Production has begun or is scheduled to begin this year on electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Equinox and Blazer crossovers.

GM CEO Mary Barra ha…

The vice president of autonomy at Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, breaks down the company’s “measured” approach to using self-driving technology to underpin a revenue-generating business.

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Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.

The definitive guide for all new, redesigned, freshened and re-engineered vehicles hitting the market over the next five years just got an update.

Our annual Future Product Pipeline coverage now includes an interactive tool that allows you to filter our vehicle database by brand, segment, powertrain, year and type of update. The new feature adds to the breadth and depth of coverage from our staff experts, putting the entirety of our future product intelligence at your fingertips.

Our first deep dive of 2023 covers the new metal coming from General Motors, which is in the early stages of its electrification transformation. Check out the future lineup for all GM brands and stay tuned each week through Oct. 2 as we detail the five-year product plans of all automakers and brands.

Sign up for our weekly Cars & Concepts newsletter to keep track of all product news.

The end could be nearing for Cadillac's internal combustion lineup.

As more electric vehicles debut over the next few years, including the Escalade IQ full-size SUV being revealed in August, General Motors' luxury brand also likely will begin to phase out some of its gasoline-powered sedans and crossovers. Cadillac intends to have an all-electric lineup by 2030.

John Roth, who took over as vice president of global Cadillac in June, has said internal combustion vehicles will "coexist" alongside the brand's EVs for several years. Forecasters say the gasoline-powered lineup eventually will be on its way out, though the timing is fluid.

Rory Harvey, Roth's predecessor at Cadillac before being promoted to GM's president of North America, in February said Cadillac was preparing to debut three EVs this year to enter production in 2024. The Escalade IQ was the first new EV announced since.

All future EVs will have names that end in "iq," Cadillac has sai…

General Motors is still in the early days of its electric vehicle transition.

The rollout, which started with higher-end models such as the GMC Hummer EV pickup and the Cadillac Lyriq, is expected to gain speed in the next few years as the automaker introduces more EVs in more mainstream segments — and at lower prices — to appeal to a broader swath of consumers. This year alone, production has begun or is scheduled to begin on electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Equinox and Blazer crossovers.

"These products are so important because they're core and critical to our EV growth strategy through 2025," CEO Mary Barra said at GM's investor day in November. "And the buzz they are creating is already incredible."

That buzz, Barra said, is "building pent-up demand, which is further evidence that our multi-brand, multi-segment, multi-price-point EV strategy is right for the retail market."

GM has said it aim…

Like many of you, I've been struggling of late to wrap my head around this nation's EV market and where it's heading. The latest registration data from Experian hasn't made it any easier to ascertain.

But if I had to guess, I think what we are seeing is an unnatural market, instead of just an immature one.

The Experian data in a nutshell:

Registrations of new electric vehicles — a proxy for sales — are up. Demand is up. The inventory of EVs is up, and now is over 100 days' supply, according to Cox Automotive. Prices are up, except where they're down. Tesla's $18,000 slice off the Model Y starting price fueled a huge sales bump, while Ford cut the sticker price of its Mustang Mach-E by up to 7 percent in May and the F-150 Lightning by as much as $10,000 last week.

EVs as a percentage of light-vehicle registrations are up, now representing 7 percent of the market, compared with 4.6 percent just a year ago. New EV registrations rose…

An alarming number of Gen Z and millennial vehicle buyers are 90 days late on payments. In the first quarter, loan delinquency for buyers ages 18 to 39 was the highest since the 2008 and 2009 Great Recession.

Especially disturbing is that this elevated delinquency arose while the federal government suspended many of these borrowers' student loan payments during the pandemic. It's likely that as the government restarts student loan collections this fall, even more Gen Z and millennials will slip into auto loan delinquency.

Young buyers borrowed more than they should have — a costly personal finance lesson with years of negative impact. Just one late payment affects a credit score, and a 30-day delinquency lingers for seven years.

But the blame doesn't fall on just one side of the deal desk: Automakers, dealers, lenders, salespeople and credit managers all had motivation to write what are turning out to be bad loans, much as home mortgage lenders did in …

Buick has introduced its last new gasoline-powered vehicle.

Following the debut of the Envista subcompact crossover this year, every new model Buick launches will be an electric vehicle.

The brand will begin its transition to an all-EV lineup next year, heading toward the same 2030 target as Cadillac. Upcoming EVs will expand Buick's portfolio from only four nameplates in production now.

All future EVs will use the Electra naming convention, along with an alphanumeric, the brand has said. General Motors President Mark Reuss said at the automaker's investor day in November that "as we electrify Buick, we've got an opportunity to really change the way people think about it and appeal to a whole new group of people."

Buick leaders say that work is underway with its internal combustion lineup, including the Envista, which is the first all-new vehicle to draw design inspiration from the brand's Wildcat EV concept.

"Success of the Envista and th…

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany — Holger Klein, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen, said young automotive brands such as Tesla, Nio, Xpeng and Lucid are pushing the old German supplier in a different way than traditional automakers.

"They have a different expectation on speed," he said. "Speed is king."

The emerging brands want ZF's newest technologies as quickly as possible, even if some bugs haven't been eliminated in development.

"If your latest innovation feature doesn't work as reliably as you would expect from a German premium brand, it's somehow OK," he told Automotive News Europe during a recent roundtable discussion at the supplier's headquarters here. "This happens when the customer wants a particular car and a particular function and is willing to accept some deficiencies."

The privately held ZF is the world's No. 3 auto supplier globally, with estimated 2022 revenues of $42.1 billion, according to Automotive News' Top Suppli…