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General Motors – by the numbers

Here we are, barely through the fifth month of the year and as of this week, General Motors (GM) has now recalled some 13.6 million vehicles. No, that’s not a typo. 13.6 million. 

Should consumers be worried? Is there cause for concern? Is the GM vehicle you are driving a danger to you and your family?

Assume you answer the questions affirmatively; there are then unsettling feelings, a cloud of doom lurking over the automotive consuming public. Does GM produce unsafe cars? Do they and other major manufacturers the world over make dumb mistakes?

GM recalled nearly 10,000 of its 2014 cars on May 7, for example, because they might have rear brakes on the front wheels. Seriously?

Some industry analysts would have us believe that the seemingly unending and rapid pace of recalls is even intentional. GM is scouring its records to discover and hopefully purge any lurking safety issues. Will other manufacturers follow suit? 

To be clear, new GM CEO Mary Barra wants everyone who will listen to know that post 2009 (bankruptcy) GM is a better company, focusing on customers and safety instead of the cost-cutting that “drove” the pre-bankruptcy company.

From USA Today, George Hoffer, a transportation economist at the University of Richmond who has studied the auto industry for 40 years, says, “…such a drumbeat of recalls is not likely to matter.” His research shows that (major) recalls have no effect on the sale of a company's new or used cars. Hoffer continues by stating that the (United States) government's emphasis on "airing every recall no matter how inconsequential" will make recalls "so common as to be a non-event."

GM last week was fined the maximum US$35 million for the “delay” on the recall of 2.6 million 2003-11 small cars with a faulty ignition switch which GM links 12 U.S. deaths and one in Canada. 

Furthermore, the recall situation may not be over. GM has already informed regulators about two more recalls – imminent, but yet to be announced.

This is all about numbers. Not all dumb mistakes lead to injury or even death. Is there such a thing as a number of serious, life-changing injuries and deaths where manufacturing “errors” become acceptable? Let’s hope not.

Do you remember the terrible Ford Explorer and Firestone tire debacle?

 

Nissan surprises owner with a brand-new Micra

Nice gestures go a long way and Nissan pulled a classy move on long-time Nissan owner, Karen Ackroyd.  

Karen has been a loyal Nissan customer for over 30 years and has owned her blue 1987 Nissan Micra from the day she purchased it new. It was in immaculate condition and she called it “Baby”, because it’s baby all the time. Recently, she was looking to replace it after news broke that the Micra was being re-introduced to Canada.

She was invited to the Alta Nissan dealership in Woodbridge, Ontario to share her experiences with the Micra. Instead, she got a surprise of a lifetime as the staff at Alta Nissan and Christian Meunier, president of Nissan Canada presented her a brand-new 2015 Nissan Micra free of charge. 

I get the feeling Karen will enjoy her new Micra, even though it will be vastly different from her prior, and she will stay loyal to the brand for another 30 years. 

Cadillac bids adieu with a limited CTS-V Coupe run

With the next-generation launch of the Cadillac CTS sedan, General Motors (GM) will be re-thinking its strategy with its high-performance line. However, before saying goodbye to its outgoing CTS-V Coupe, GM will be making a special batch of 2015 Cadillac CTS-V Coupes.

They will be produced in a limited edition run of 500 at a starting price of $72,195 USD. They will be fitted with the same heart-pounding 556-hp 6.2-litre supercharged V8 engine that produces 551 lb-ft of torque mated to either a six-speed manual or automatic transmission.   

The special edition offerings will be available in only three colours: Crystal White, Phantom Grey, or Black Diamond. All of these colours will go well with its black chrome grille, satin graphite 19-inch wheels and red-painted Brembo brake calipers.

Inside, you will be treated to optional premium touches that Cadillac has put together to truly make this CTS-V Coupe special. The standout features include: black Recaro seats with red stitching, a suede steering wheel and shift knob, premium wood trim, and Cadillac’s Magnetic Ride Control. 

There’s no guarantee that the next V-models will field a coupe, so these special edition units could be worth owning. Unfortunately, you will have to go to the United States to get one of the special 500, as none will be available in Canada. 

I apologize for creating a tease to Canadians, but we also found out from GM that the next-generation of V-Series models are currently in development and will be unveiled at some point next year. What will the V-Series consist of? We don’t know, but we do know that there will be more than one variant and they will be available in Canada.

 

The Ford Mustang travels to space, somewhat?!

There’s a lot of excitement about the Ford Mustang’s 50th anniversary. Last month to commemorate the Mustang’s success, Ford re-created a scene from 50 years ago, placing the Ford Mustang on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. It was a nice way to honour its history and it became another successful stunt. 

The staff at Big Valley Ford in Stockton, California must have liked what they saw, as they decided to create their own stunt to honour the stang. 

They mounted a plastic replica of the 2015 Mustang, along with some action cameras onto a rod that was attached to a helium-filled weather balloon, and sent it on its way into space. A GPS transmitter on the camera allowed them to seek out the Mustang, once the weather balloon fell from the sky. 

It was up in the sky for 74 minutes, reaching a maximum height of 110,000 feet (35 km) before crashing back down to Earth. The Mustang was found six hours later by the Big Valley Ford staff thanks to the GPS coordinates.

“We wanted to celebrate 50 years of Mustang and the impending arrival of the all-new 2015 Mustang by doing something really special,” said Michael Sego, Sales Manager at Big Valley Ford. “Mustang has always been about getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road, but we decided to take to the open sky.”

The Nissan Cube, no longer in Canada

Once an anticipated wagon back in 2009, the Nissan Cube has seen its sales fall each year to a measly 183 in 2013. The boxy vehicle war is done with the Kia Soul far surpassing all of its competition, so it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped – the discontinuation of the Nissan Cube. 

That’s exactly what Nissan is doing without any announcement or any press. It just is no longer listed in their lineup, being removed without a peep.

Global sales will continue, but Nissan Canada will survive without it and look to the all-new Micra to better fill-out their lineup and bring about a boost of sales. After all, the Cube was initially built on the Micra platform back in 1998, so it all comes full circle.

 

Volkswagen Golf GTI Promotional Countdown

The new 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI is on its way to Canada. Many Canadians have been waiting for this seventh-generation Golf, so Volkswagen has found a unique promotion for them to get what they want and with a discount. 

From now until June 24th, Volkswagen is allowing customers to set their own prices, through a contest called, “Countdown to a Golf GTI.” It all starts with the MSRP set at $27,995 and that price drops one cent every second, which totals $1,000 of savings each day. The trick is if one person bids on it, that Golf GTI is reserved for them and a new auction begins starting from the original MSRP.

It’s a cool initiative by Volkswagen and a good way to drum up early sales for the GTI.  

Here’s a video to explain more about the contest. For more information or reserve your Golf GTI today, go to:  https://contents.vw.ca/countdown/gti

Look for our review of the 2015 Golf and Golf GTI in three weeks time.

The Ferrari LaFerrari in action on track

We’ve heard about it, talked about it, and now we can see the successor to the Enzo – the Ferrari LaFerrari. A strange name indeed and one that can get your tongue tied, but put this on track and you might physically get tongue tied.

Thanks to Autocar, we have a video that shows the latest and greatest Ferrari supercar on track. The limited LaFerrari has already sold all of its 499 units before it even was even unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. 

Reason? It’s the first hybrid supercar that can produce 789 brake horsepower and 715 lb.-ft. of torque. This all from a V12 that works with a Hy-Kers system that creates an additional 161 horses, for a whopping total of 950. To give you a glimpse of how fast it is – the LaFerrari can go from 0-100 km/h in only 2.9 seconds and reach 300 km/h in 15 seconds. 

The electric motor of the supercar (Hy-Kers) not only adds that extra bit of power, but reduces fuel consumption by 40 per cent. 

We can talk all we want about the LaFerrari, but we know that you just want to see it in action, so without further ado, we give you Autocar’s video. It’s simply spectacular! 

 

Springtime showcase from Canadian Tire

May is on the horizon and that can mean only one thing – the spring weather is upon us. Each spring, Canadian Tire likes to show off their latest retail products, so they invited The Driver down to check out their most exciting offerings. 

If you’re a regular spring cleaner – you probably have your favourite supply of products. Whether you favour Autoglym, Meguiar, Mothers or Simoniz, it’s always nice to see what the other has, and you never know, maybe the competitor is worth a try. 

Canadian Tire usually supplies a nice spread of products that touch on all of those companies and this time was no different. The demonstration model was a white Dodge Charger who was sitting pretty waiting for a bath and Simoniz had 17 different products from their platinum division ready to help. 

With simply two buckets, one with soapy water and the other with clear water, Laurie, our Canadian Tire demonstrator showed me how to clean the car with just a Simoniz Platinum wash mitt and extra-large towel. The microfibers in the wash mitt seemed to be super absorbent and got into the hard to reach curves of the vehicle providing a thorough scrub. For your reference, Canadian Tire is offering a Father’s Day seven-piece gift pack from Simoniz’s Platinum collection for only $29.99. 

After the wash, I was shown Meguiar’s Black and White Wax. What makes this product so unique is that there’s a wax offered depending on the colour of your car. Choose the black wax for darker shades that will provide your vehicle a deep shine; while the white wax are for lighter coloured vehicles that will allow that colour to pop. 

The Charger wasn’t finished until the Hankook tires on it got scrubbed and that’s where the Simoniz Platinum collection impressed the most. For this task, Laurie used a Simoniz rim cleaner spray, a tire scrub and a bendable brush. The combination of the three scrubbed everything away with ease. The bendable brush gets into those hard-to-reach places inside of your rims. As a bonus, there’s a scrubber on the other side of the brush as well. 

Once the Charger was washed, it was off to the tech station to see the top items that can enhance your road trip getaway. The first two were GPS items, and I don’t know about you, but these items seem to be enormously improving. There was a Magellan Smart Wi-Fi enabled GPS that could update your map on a daily basis, list various gas prices, provide restaurant recommendations and connect to the data on your mobile. As for the Garmin heads-up display, it didn’t have all of those capabilities, but it can project navigation information onto your windshield for limited distraction while driving. It also comes with traffic and safety alerts and can be paired with a smartphone. Both were simply amazing and top-of-the-line products that can be had for $249. 

A dash camera is not for everybody, but if you’re concerned about documenting traffic incidents or theft, the HP Dashboard Camera has a 2.4-inch colour LCD screen with full 1080 HD video. The best part of this system is that if a collision occurs, the video camera will automatically save and lock the 15 seconds that precede it. 

Lastly, the Logiix Blue Piston Bluetooth Speaker was spotlighted. This could be perfect for anyone driving a car without built-in Bluetooth. It’s a battery-driven, wirelessly connected device that connects to your smartphone and can play music or become a hands-free phone device. It’s so small that it can be placed inside of one of your cup holders and doesn’t shake while the vehicle is in motion. You can find this at your local Canadian Tire store for a reasonable $49.99.

At any Canadian Tire event, there’s always plenty to talk about and only so much you can write. I wanted to highlight the spring cleaning and tech items that are currently available, so you can get started on getting your vehicle prepped for that up-coming May long weekend. Now it’s up to you, to see what best suits your needs for this long-awaited spring.

 

The Honda Accord Hybrid wins the 2014 Canadian Green Car Award

The Honda Accord Hybrid today won the 2014 Canadian Green Car Award.                                              

A panel of top Canadian automotive journalists selected the Accord Hybrid from among five other category winners as the vehicle that best combines environmental benefits and mass-market appeal.

David Miller, President and CEO of WWF-Canada, presented the second annual Award trophy to Dave Gardner, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing with Honda Canada Inc., this morning at the Green Living Show, in Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre.

“Thank you to all the voting judges of the Canadian Green Car Award. It is an honour to have our Accord Hybrid recognized by so many of Canada’s most respected journalists,” said Dave Gardner. “Joining the award-winning Accord family and sharing the fun-to-drive performance, sophisticated styling and premium comfort features of the Accord sedan, the Accord Hybrid offers a no-compromise vehicle for the extreme fuel saver."

“One important way we can build an environmentally sustainable society is by making transportation choices that have a lower impact on the planet, and that includes greener cars,” David Miller said. “The Accord Hybrid helps achieve that goal with its impressive efficiency, which is key to lowering greenhouse gases and improving local air quality.

“I am pleased to be part of the Canadian Green Car award as it is a meaningful way to show people what is really possible.”

The Accord had won the Hybrid category, in a tie with Volkswagen’s Jetta Turbo Hybrid, in an earlier selection round, after extensive testing and assessments by the 19 judges.

 

The category winners include:

Battery-Electric/Zero Emission: Nissan LEAF

Plug-in Hybrid: Ford C-MAX Energi

Full Hybrid: (Tie) Honda Accord Hybrid and the  Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Hybri

Efficient Gasoline or Diesel: Mazda3 2.0-litre

Efficient Three-Row Family Vehicle: Mazda5

 

The Accord Hybrid and other category winners will be on display for the duration of the three-day Green Living Show, open until 7 p.m. today and Saturday and to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The Canadian Green Car Award recognizes vehicles, widely available in Canada, that offer both impressive environmental attributes with strong mass-market appeal, since any product can have a significant impact only if it sells in large numbers.

As a result, the assessments combined “objective” criteria, such as fuel economy, emissions and price, with the judges’ evaluations of performance, driving experience, value, features and “green” qualities. Those environmental benefits included not only fuel efficiency and emissions but also the use of sustainable or recyclable materials and measures taken by manufacturers to green their operations.

“Congratulations to Honda, the five other category winners, and to all the manufacturers whose vehicles were nominated for the Canadian Green Car Award,” said Laurie Simmonds, CEO of Green Living Enterprises. “The Green Living Show provides consumers with an opportunity to view all the category winners and to test drive some of the most innovative automotive technology on the market today.”

The competition began with judges submitting five nominees for each category. They could choose any vehicle as long as it met basic “green” criteria based on technology type and fuel economy. The top picks from those lists became the 16 entries — four in the Battery-Electric category; three in each of the others. This open process, in which eligibility doesn’t depend on whether a manufacturer is willing to pay a substantial entry fee, is in line with other global green car awards and makes the program a more meaningful gauge for consumers.

Other nominees includes the Tesla Model S, Ford Focus EV, Kia Soul EV, Cadillac ELR, Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid, Infiniti Q50 Hybrid, Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid and Kia Rondo.

Ford’s Fusion Hybrid won last year’s inaugural Canadian Green Car Award.

Automotive journalists Eric Novak, Michael Bettencourt and Peter Gorrie developed the Award program and are its steering committee.

Land Rover going smaller with the Discovery

Land Rover revealed the Discovery Vision concept at the New York International Auto Show and now the automaker has announced the Discovery Sport will be the first model to wear some of the concept’s styling.

The Sport is the newest model from a line that Land Rover is producing. The automaker says the Discovery Sport will go on sale as a compact SUV in 2015. Land Rover claims that “this will be the most versatile and capable SUV in its segment and is the first expression of the Discovery Vision Concept unveiled here in New York.”

This will be a seven-passenger SUV concept and is meant to show the overall look of the new lineup of vehicles from Land Rover. Check out the video below for a teaser of the new concept!

 

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