Chevrolet Sonic : photos

Most blogs seems not giving the pics of GM's expected Sonic. The pics are out at GM canada web site.

You can see them at : http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/sonic/feature-2011-Chevrolet-Sonic



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"Pavement ends, Watch for Hummer ahead"

Was reading GM decided to close Hummer. Finally this was the point i understood there is not even any one left in US with a 150 million to save brand and jobs in US.

My thoughts on what went wrong?

H2 may be good at time of introduction but in my view current H2 is a mistake, they should have refined in way

• H2- Full size Off road 4x4 SUV and SUT (8/9+ people mover with 6.0 ltr engine )
• H3 - Midsize off road 4x4 SUT and SUT ( with 3.7 or 6.0 ltr options )
• H4 - Compact off road 4x4 SUT and UTE ( a scion XB, granite size Hummer with 2.4 or 3.7 ltr engines)

The focus should be off road capability,safety and fuel efficiency.

Wondering we will ever hear "The road ends: Hummer Begins" , In other language "Pavement ends, Watch for Hummer ahead"

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14 mode hybrid ??

Again thoughts on the above rendering

What engine option may be the best

I would love to have 3.7 ltr 5 cylinder direct injection rwd/4x4 hybrid - Only one ?? Yep Only one

When i say hybrid if you ask, - i don't know but i know it should have below modes

1) Electric only
2) 3 Cylinder
3) 3 Cylinder + electric motor
4 3 Cylinder + Generator
5) 3 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
6) 4 Cylinder
7) 4 Cylinder + electric motor
8) 4 Cylinder + Generator
9) 4 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
10) 5 Cylinder
11) 5 Cylinder + electric motor
12) 5 Cylinder + Generator
13) 5 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
14) Regenerative mode ( on all times above modes and breaking etc )

so is it a 14 mode hybrid ?? ( 1+ 4 = 5 and 5 cylinder, so numerology matches ). May its better to put something like an 3 or a 5 (for numerology sake) letter acronym which can be pronounced easier.

One question may be why 5 cylinder : look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-five_engine for more details.


In practical tests may be "'x' Cylinder + electric motor + Generator" mode need to be reconsidered based on the efficiency it can achieve. But its all depends on the control logic which is programmed by a firmware to activate and use the mode. On a transmission design point, all the modes should be possible without further hardware change.

The ICE should be optimized for peak efficiency and fixed rpm range and rest all should be handled with the Electric motor/Generator . The transmission need to designed so that it can have a trans output as a function of ice rpm, Electric motor and Generator. The existing technologies which is used in the 2 mode system (like active fuel management ,variable valve timing,direct injection etc) should make this.


One update is to make more modes with introduction of turbo charging . The modes will be increased to around 23 modes (2 + 3 = 5 again another numerology works) - which should be able to reduce the 3.7 ltr engine to a 2.5 ltr engine ( still 5 cylinder )

If this can be done, i am sure the design can achieve a very high fuel economy without sacrificing any power and will be good in emissions as it runs in optimal way all the time/modes.


How GM can do it ? Optimizing the 2 mode system and use the existing 3.7 ltr engine which goes in H3/Colorado. What is takes its only some time ,experiment spirit and test. Its all existing resources and only what it takes is incremental update of system.


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2011 chevrolet colorado ??

Was looking for a colorado in craigslists. Found some models and them started search for user review comments.

To be true i saw a lot 2006 model comments which has problems. didnt get much comments on 2007 onwards. then i started wondering why. I went to wikipedia and check the below page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Colorado

Looked on the sales numbers ,

Calendar Year	Colorado	Canyon	Total U.S. sales
2004[7]	117,475	27,193	144,668
2005[7]	128,359	34,845	163,204
2006[8]	93,876	23,979	117,855
2007[9]	75,716	20,888	96,604
2008[9]	54,346	14,974	69,320
2009[10]	32,413	10,107	42,520

It clearly showed me,why there impact of the reviews and sales numbers reflected it very well. If somebody from GM looked on this well, i am sure they would have understood what needed to be done and how they should have done incremental updates to it.

Finally i spend a bit time reading IIHS Crash tests and Chevolet colorados performace ( hits bottom ). I believe the new GM should have learned to have quality vehicles than cheap vehicles. So i decided to do a small contribution for a 2011 Chevolet colorado design. Its completely derived from the 2010 Equinox which will really help them to

1) Reduce costs by sharing parts with Equinox
2) Use Existing resources better than spending money for a full redesign ( old GM way was never update any vehicle, design, sell, again redesign sell - finally loose money and market ).
This will be a great incremental update for the Colorado.
3) As they can use the parts of Terrain for the GMC counter part
4) As This is derived they can use parts of existing platforms ( GMT 355 and use exterior and engine from Theta .Both are known ones they can minimize the test time and concentrate on tests than design.
5) It looks really better.

The rendered pic below :-)





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ecomodder + kits idea

Couple of good one men shows before corporates chip in. Corporates still have a problem in thinking out of the box because they can't make money but couple of people don't worry on loosing the money.


The below video requires a bit of appreciation as i see its a good effort.








Lets congratulate them :-)


Boat tails, Wheel skirts and more. I think its a nice idea to have aero kits from the corporate itself and they can make money making designs and offer aero kits so that interested can purchase ( safe game still room for imporvement ).

example its a nice imagination for a 2010 Equinox to come with

1) Optional Front aero kit
2) Optional Aero tail kit
3) Optional wheel skirts

and these kits should be on order production and dealer fitted. They should be configurable on a dealer order or a internet configuration wizard.

This can be a better fit for small cars/crossovers also ( like expected orlando ).



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An HHR replacer ?

A bit paint, base picture of an ev innovations Wave and here we go

A Ute and a 5 passenger hybrid crossover ? .








My wife was saying the first name came to mind after seeing the pics is "AirBus" .Second name she told was "Rino".

Intial comments came : Proportions are not proper, The CUV looks like more a stretched limo. the UTE looks good other need proportions adjustments :-)


Wondering this suites well to replace the HHR than an Orlando :-)

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Return of Aztek

"I was in the audience at the Detroit auto show the day GM unveiled the Pontiac Aztek and I will never forget the gasp that audience made. Holy hell! This car could not have been more instantly hated if it had a Swastika tattoo on its forehead. In later interviews with GM designers — who, for decency's sake, will remain unnamed — it emerged that the Aztek design had been fiddled with, fussed over, cost-shaved and otherwise compromised until the tough, cool-looking concept had been reduced to a bulky, plastic-clad mess. A classic case of losing the plot. The Aztek violates one of the principal rules of car design: We like cars that look like us. With its multiple eyes and supernumerary nostrils, the Aztek looks deformed and scary, something that dogs bark at and cathedrals employ to ring bells (cf., Fiat Multipla). The shame is, under all that ugliness, there was a useful, competent crossover.

The above is from "The 50 Worst Cars of All time". Doest that deserve to be so ?

link:http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658544_1658540,00.html

In my view, This is one reason for bad GM management. I am not talking that its a bad design, In my view it was bad management handling the design.

Why ?

The Aztek design was very easy to be gone through proper wind tunnel tests and would have been getting a lowest Cd value Which may have translated to a better mileage and better aerodynamics.

The management was not able to project/market this as a feature of Aztek. They never tired for a Version 2 of Aztek and get it done with a better aerodynamics, instead they made the people who initiated the project to drive the unsold cars and made fun. Do you think they don't deserve this bankruptcy ?

If the management was good, they should have come up with a V2 and a mild hybrid engine at that time (2002 thatz would not have been a big seller but i am sure if you have a theme , it would have been a hit in 2007 )and in course of time they should have made that design a full hybrid with better aerodynamics. If you look at prius, this is what the story says to us.

Again GM deserve to be back ? again the problem is they look for new ways to make failure. When they killed EV1 program, they never used the chassis again for ICE based car, they killed that also and they showed concepts of serial hybrids but they never worked on it.

link : http://www.autoworld.com/news/GMC/Series_Hybrid.htm

Now lets see Aztek will come back or not. I am sure it is going to come back.Once Gm will introduce a 2 mode Equinox or a 2 mode SUV, It will be Aztek based design because if its aerodynamic tail and curves.

Lets wait for return of Aztek

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