Back in April, we applauded General Motors and its decision to eke some more fuel economy from its high-volume compact car, the Chevrolet Cobalt. Along with the 9-percent increase in fuel mileage, the new model got a shiny new XFE (eXtra Fuel Economy) badge in the process. Pontiac is now offering an XFE version of the G5, which shares most major components with the Cobalt. We're happy to report that next year's Cobalt and G5 XFE manage to gain yet another mile per gallon on the highway, up to thirty-seven, to go along with their unchanged twenty-five city miles per gallon.

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With five hybrid models on the market now and at least four more coming before the end of the year, General Motors' hybrid sales are looking less ugly than they did in the first three months of 2008. GM is still no threat to Toyota or even Ford, but sales have been steady (if slow) for the last couple of months. For the first time in their monthly sales report for June, GM has explicitly said how many hybrids were sold. Amidst truck sales that were down 39 percent compared to June 2007, GM declared that it sold 1,149 hybrids in June for a total of 4,376 during the first half of the year.

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With sales of full size pickup trucks and SUVs shrinking far faster than even the most pessimistic industry projections one year ago, GM has decided to delay the successor to the current GMT900 models. The current generation of large trucks debuted in 2007 and were scheduled to be replaced in 2013. However the combination of a 51 percent drop in SUV sales and 24 percent drop in pickup sales along with still uncertain fuel economy rules has prompted GM to suspend development. Until new fuel economy standards have been finalized and a clearer picture of where economic conditions are headed emerges it would be foolish for GM to continue work on the next-generation models.

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Man, it's been almost five minutes without GM's vice chairman Bob Lutz has given a positive Chevy Volt update. We just heard from him over the weekend about the possibility of a 20-mile-EV-range version someday, for example. Today, speaking in Dearborn, Lutz said that "there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work."

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Chrysler's restructuring plan and new plan for product development named Project Genesis is facing some expected criticism from many dealers. However, others are praising the cost-cutting, model-trimming and dealer-consolidation program that's happening as a result. As Chrysler pressures its traditional dealer network to sell all three brands (Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge) under one roof - without any financial assistance to help those already struggling with slow sales - many dealers are having a difficult time with the expense of investing in larger facilities to meet the Project Genesis requirements.

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In recent weeks, we've seen several spy photos of a new small Chevrolet sedan that we've all been assuming would be the replacement for the Cobalt. It now appears that the Cobalt may stay with us for a while with the newcomer being built alongside it. The car built off the next generation Delta or Global Compact Car platform will apparently not be called the Cobalt. The new car will be built at the Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant with the Cobalt and Pontiac G5. Power for the new Delta car will be provided by GM's new global 1.4L four cylinder turbo.

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Since the inception of the Chevy Volt program in 2006, GM's goal has been to offer the range extended electric vehicle for a sub-$30,000 price point. That level has always been seen as the threshold to get high-volume sales of an electric car. Unfortunately, lithium ion batteries remain far too expensive to be able to sell the car at that price profitably.

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According to Dr. Lyle Dennis, the founder of the GM-Volt.com fan site, over 20,000 people are on the "Chevy Volt Waiting List." For comparison, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV online petition currently has just 1,350 signatures calling on the Japanese company to sell the electric jellybean here in the U.S.

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When it was introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year, the 2009 Corvette ZR1’s power was estimated at 100 horsepower for each of its 6.2 litres of displacement. GM Powertrain has completed SAE certification of the ZR1’s supercharged LS9 V8 and the results exceed the estimate: 647 horsepower (476 kW) and 819 Nm of torque.

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The new 2008 Chevrolet Malibu has been very successful in its first year of production, reason enough for GM to expand its appeal with another premium Chevrolet Malibu LTZ model. The Malibu range already consists of the LS, V6 LT, V6 LTZ and Malibu Hybrid.

The new Malibu LTZ will feature a 2.4 liter four-cylinder Ecotec engine producing 169 hp (126 kW) and will be coupled to a Hydra-Matic 6T40 six speed automatic transmission. The new four-cylinder LTZ will be competing with the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and Hyundai Sonata. The six-speed automatic improves the mileage numbers by 2mpg to 22 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on highways.

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Chevrolet will join the trio of big GM crossovers with a fourth family vehicle, the Traverse.

On display at the Chicago auto show, the Traverse is based on the same mechanicals as the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, and Saturn Outlook. Chevrolet says it's targeting the likes of the Ford Edge, Toyota Highlander, and Honda Pilot with the new seven- or eight-passenger Traverse.

The Traverse, which goes on sale in the fall as a 2009 model, shares some of the styling themes applied to the award-winning 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, GM says in a release. It's a distinct look with more crisp lines than either the Enclave or Outlook; details like the tailgate spoiler and a chromed grille surround give it a personality separate from the other big GM triplets. The Traverse's dual-cockpit design and large gauges tie it with other recent Chevrolet efforts.

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Corvette Z06 supercars will top the all-star cast list of sports racing cars heading to the famous Silverstone race circuit this weekend for the opening round of the 2008 FIA GT Championship.

As the Official Car Supplier to this Silverstone event, Corvette will provide the lead-car for the pre-event ‘London-to-Silverstone Supercar Tour’ on Friday (18 April). The UK’s biggest supercar run will witness 50 sports cars from the world’s most charismatic brands, led by a 505 ps V8 Corvette Z06, driving in convoy from the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall to the circuit to deliver the famous Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy which will be awarded to Sunday’s race winner. Previous winners of this prestigious prize include F1 champions Graham Hill and Denny Hulme and British motorsport heroes Derek Bell and Stirling Moss.

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The idea of a mid-engined Corvette is nothing new. In fact, Chevrolet has released a number of Corvette concepts over the years featuring a mid-engine layout and engineers are even toying with the idea for GM’s next-generation C7 model. Ambitious young designer Ivan Luccion has now created his own design for a possible mid-engine Corvette and uses earth’s fastest land animal, the Cheetah, as inspiration for his latest work.

Corvettes of the past have taken inspiration from water animals like sharks and stingrays but Luccion’s design is based around a land animal. Some unique elements borrowed from nature is the curvature of a Cheetah’s back, which can be seen in the profile of the car, as well as the animal’s fangs, translated into the concept’s front bumper.

Ivan Luccion is a U.S.-based designer and recently graduated from Brigham Young University after completing a degree in Industrial Design.

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Leading value car brand Chevrolet has come up with a model that will save its customers even more money, with a new version of the popular Matiz 0.8S city car. On sale now in the UK, the Matiz with 0.8S manual comes with reduced CO2 emissions of just 119g/km, meaning it falls into the Band B road tax classification. This means a Matiz buyer will pay just £35 a year at current rates to tax their car, compared to £115 for the previous Matiz 0.8S.

What’s more, if you live in or around London, then from October 2008 the Chevy will avoid one levy altogether, by waving ‘bye-bye’ to the London Congestion Charge. Under new proposals, the scheme proposes a 100 per cent discount to all vehicles with CO2 emissions of below 120g/km from having to pay to enter the zone, subject to a £10 registration fee.

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A few years back, General Motors was talking a lot about hydrogen fuel cells. Now, they're back at it with the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell, the company's biggest effort to date. You can't roll down to your Chevy dealer and buy one, though. You have to self-identify, and then GM has to pick you to participate in what it's calling Project Driveway. Chevy has already selected more than 100 customers who visited Chevy's Web site and live near one of the country's handful of hydrogen filling stations. They're given a car, along with fuel, free of charge. But only for three months, when the cars will be passed on. It's a market test, GM says, a way to learn from the public's experience and to demonstrate that hydrogen cars make sense.

We drove a fuel-cell Equinox, and it was smooth like an electric car (which it is) and eerily quiet on the interstate. And it was clean (like an electric car is, in theory, although ultimately this depends on where one gets one's hydrogen; not all sources are totally green).

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