Car FYI

Bret Kelley/IMS for Chevrolet The 100th edition of the Indianapolis 500 set in little more than a month from now is already taking shape with the announcement of the ceremonial pace car drive. A person well-known for celebrating in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's victory lane is presented with a special duty of starting the 500-mile classic. Set to take the wheel of the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS pace car is IndyCar superstar team owner Roger Penske. Despite never competing at the Brickyard as a driver (what was a relatively short but noteworthy career behind the wheel), Roger Penske's name is attached to some of the most significant records at the speedway. Impressively the winning car owner for 16 of the previous 99 runnings of the Indianapolis 500, the first victory for a Penske-owned car was in 1972 driven by Mark Donohue. The 16 wins for the car owner have come with 11 drivers including Rick Mears, Al Unser and Al Unser Jr as well as Emerson Fittipaldi. Penske is th...

Photo Credit: Acura As part of the human condition, there is always those who quest for the first. The first piece of cake, the first spot in line for the concert that will sell-out in minutes or the first place at the Rolex 24 at Daytona; the position is often sought-after among those craving attention. At this week's Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, the enviable low-ranking number will be incentive to sell three vehicles for 2016. A fourth car set for sale at the 2016 auction will also carry significance as a desirable early example of a potent super sport compact. In every case, these early example vehicles up for auction are putting charities first. 2016 Chevrolet Camaro COPO Photo Credit:Chevrolet  Estimated Auction Time: 5:00 PM Local  (7:00 PM ET) on Friday January 29, 2016 Decades ago, the acronym 'COPO' first generated a reputation of being feared and respected by the performance car community. A name standing for Cent...

Photo Credit: Chevrolet of Canada Canadians have been told the differential in the currency rates would lead to many things becoming more expensive. After several years where the Canadian dollar was valued higher than the United States dollar, there has been a substantial swing in the other direction. This threat of higher Canadian prices is particularly the case with food (although never discount the motivation of plain, simple greed by an opportunistic entity). As expensive items similar in both the United States and Canada, automobile pricing has seen some of the most extreme differences caused through currency conversion. Canadians simply want to know our earnings are being sought by companies that accept the knowledge of how hard we work for our money. With well-priced items serving as a great springboard for attracting our dollar, Chevrolet's newest Spark subcompact could be a satisfying enticement to car buyers flirting under the five-digit price milestone. Showing t...

Photo Credit: General Motors Canada Canadians has long gravitated towards smaller, economical cars. Thankfully, the compact car segment is one where high value is now an expectation. Besides fuel efficiency and reliability, the 2016 model year compacts must also fulfil customers with a sense of pizazz. Chevrolet is pressing forward with the redesigned Cruze will build in a relatively respectable first-generation model. Powered by a turbocharged, direct-injected four-cylinder engine, the modernized appearance of the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze sedan will grace dealership showrooms by the spring of 2016. Pricing for the upgraded 2016 model year Chevrolet compact car ahead of its release has been announced for the main trim levels. The entry-level 2016 Cruze L with a six-speed manual transmission will start at $15,995 plus the vehicle's $1,600 destination freight charge. Priced $180 less than the 2015 Cruze Limited model, the new Chevrolet Cruze L will introduce owners to a larger ...

As the Chevrolet Camaro nears it 50th anniversary since introduction, there is excitement created by an all-new version of the vehicle that restated the bowtie’s sports car performance reputation. In the previous two generations of the Camaro, Canada had a major part in bringing the affordable, rear-wheel drive pony car to life. Canadian pricing for the new generation Chevrolet Camaro clearly expresses the cost of pony car aggression for north of the border performance seekers. MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) for the 2016 Camaro will start at $28,245 in Canada. For those interested to know the difference between the Canadian and United States price, there is a $1,550 separation. The base model of the 2016 Camaro is  $2,575 lower than its 2015 counterpart. The addition of a standard turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is a main contributor to the reduced vehicle price tag. The 275-horsepower powerplant replaces the still-available 335-horsepower 3.6-lit...

A compact car that delivered a big gain for General Motors, the Cruze finally gave the American-based automaker an economy car that would go one-on-one with global leaders such as the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla or the Ford Focus. An intense dedication to solid engineering and safety (including ten standard airbags) has made the car a proud, solid transition that replaced 15 other compact cars in the worldwide General Motors portfolio prior to 2008. As well as attempting to foster a better image of compact cars under Chevrolet in North America, the Cruze has actively been involved in building the global impression for the brand in markets Chevrolet wasn't previously a household name. As of mid-2015, over 3.5 million Cruze compact cars have been sold worldwide On June 24th, the second-generation Chevrolet Cruze is set to make its debut. Promising a larger yet lighter version of the economy car, the 2016 model year Cruze pledges to build on the suc...

Only six times in the past 48 years has an American performance icon undergone a massive image and mechanical makeover . It was September 12, 1966 when the press were first introduced to Chevrolet’s production pony car. Developed under the name Panther , the Camaro was born. On a Saturday afternoon at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, the sixth iteration of the Chevrolet Camaro was brought to warm daylight. Despite being a cloudy day, the 2016 Camaro made a radiant debut. The generational shift for the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro exterior design is arguably not as substantial of a leap we have seen in previous reinventions of the Camaro. From the first-generation coupe and convertible, the Chevrolet Camaro’s appearance had evolved into a European-inspired sports car for the 1970s, a wedge-shaped 1980s darling, an aerodynamic space-age 1990s shape before assuming the modern back-in-time interpretation for the fifth-generation model. The 2016 model is focused more on magnifying the...

     First sold in late 1966, the Camaro was introduced as Chevrolet's countermeasure to the popular Ford Mustang in the pony car category. The bowtie's answer to the blue oval brought a long-running rivalry that has competed on the track as well as for the attention of drivers on the road. As the Camaro brand approaches its 50th anniversary, there will always be the stain on its legacy of a poorly-conceived General Motors decision that dropped Chevrolet's pony car. Between 2003 and 2009 model years, Chevrolet was forced to atone for their error. The reinstatement of the Chevrolet Camaro 2010 brought a valuable sense of new life to a brand and company requiring a personality. With the emotion and place of the Camaro now recognized, Chevrolet will debut the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro version of their pony car at the end of this week. Holding back the full vehicle, ...

When an auto company goes racing, they are always quick to draw correlations with the vehicle on the track influencing the product for the street. Sometimes it seems to be purely a reach of reasoning when an stock version of an automobile differs so greatly from the race version. NASCAR is arguably one example of this when a front-wheel drive Ford Fusion powered by four-cylinder or six-cylinder powerplants is represented by a rear-wheel drive, V-8-powered stock car. Audi often touts the technology residing in their prototype sports car as transitioning to the production cars but the R18 e-tron quattro racing in the FIA World Endurance Challenge incorporates far-out mechanics such as a hybrid electric turbocharger . Thankfully for those motorsport purists who want to see race cars resemble their showroom stock counterparts, the GT classes of sports car racing can be trusted in providing a faithful mix of street and track perform...

We have grown accustomed to seeing some of the most anticipated new vehicle releases occurring indoors as part of one of the major auto shows. Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, Geneva and soon New York are just a few places where vehicles like the all-new Ford GT, production-ready Acura NSX or the 2016 Audi R8 has been adored in recent months. While Chevrolet has provided some excitement to indoor automotive events with the new Volt and the production-bound Bolt EV Concept , the auto brand decided to wait for warmer weather to unwrap their most frenzy-inducing vehicle. On Saturday May 16th, Chevrolet will introduce the sixth generation of their Camaro sports car to the world. With few technical details released as of this time, many are eager to find out what the 2016 model year Chevrolet Camaro has in store. Set to take place Detroit, Michigan's Belle Isle Park, the new Chevrolet Camaro will coincide with a range of festivities within the same c...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The future of General Motors production in Canada has been a topic of rumours for the past months. Through this time, we have awaiting some indication from the auto company that Canadian manufacturing would still be a component in their corporate direction. There has been so many negative signs that the subsidiary created by R.S. McLaughlin in the early 20th century could idle their manufacturing intentions in the country after 2016. Production of the Chevrolet Camaro is destined end at Oshawa Car Assembly after this year as assembly shifts to the company's Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan. The Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala and Buick Regal are also produced on Oshawa's flexible assembly line by General Motors of Canada for the interim but there's skepticism on whether the current vehicle capacity will warrant giving the plant open, unless other vehicle is added...

It's finally time to get charged up about the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. Just in time for the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the second-generation version of the first major production plug-in hybrid car has been completely unwrapped for the public. Capable of going as far as 50 miles on a charge, the 2016 Chevrolet Volt promises improved efficiency and better practicality. As for the look of the 2016 Chevrolet Volt, most of us are already familiar with its sleeker profile and more sophisticated exterior style. An auto brand that impressed me with their ability to hold back the seventh-generation Corvette until the day of its debut in 2013, I have say that Chevrolet has lost its mojo when it comes to climatically introducing a vehicle. Perhaps desperate to find something to wow at the 2015 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, General Motors and Chevrolet treated an audience to a 'speak peak" at the 2016 Volt ....