Deliveries of the Chevy Blazer EV were scheduled to begin this fall, but now they’ve been pushed back to spring of 2024. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ After 47 years in production and sales in 50 countries, the final Ford Fiesta rolled off the line at the Cologne, Germany plant, which will now be converted to EV manufacturing. More at CNBC.
+ European automakers and suppliers are expressing concern that they could get caught in the crossfire of rising trade tensions between the United States and China. More at Reuters.
+ The best-selling passenger car in the United States for the first half of 2023 was the Tesla Model Y, while the best-selling truck and top seller overall was the Ford F-150. More at Car and Driver.
+ Michael Andretti’s Andretti Autosport plans to restructure its four-car IndyCar operation in 2024, with each car fully supported by team sponsorship programs and no funded drivers. More at Racer.
+ Chevrolet will offer a Garage 56 Camaro ZL1 tribute edition with Riptide Blue paint and an aero kit modeled on the NASCAR-Le Mans racer, with production limited to 56 cars. More at Hemmings.
+ The United Auto Workers union is calling on the Biden administration to soften vehicle emissions rules that would require 67 percent of new vehicles to be electric by 2032. More at World Auto Forum.
+ The real-life British Grand Prix at Silverstone this past weekend was used as the backdrop for filming of the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt. More at Vanity Fair.
+ All the Volkswagen brands, including Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, and VW itself, will stop selling internal combusion vehicles in Norway next year and offer only EVs. More at Autoweek.
+ Deliveries of the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV, which were scheduled to begin this fall, have been postponed until spring of next year, with General Motors offering no explanation thus far. More at Autoblog.
+ At Monza. the no. 8 Toyota that currently leads the World Endurance Championship was penalized 50 seconds for exceeding power limits and demoted from fourth to sixth place. More at Motorsport.com.
Photo courtesy of Chevrolet.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from July 7 here.
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GM’s leapfrog strategy towards electrification came home to me when I parked next to a coworker’s Malibu Hybrid a few weeks back. GM stopped making parallel-hybrids for series-hybrid Voltec, stopped making those for full EVs, and now is planning to stop making not only the only EV it’s actually delivering to customers but the biggest-selling non-Tesla EV in the country and a unique value propositon, the Bolt, in favor of yet more electric “lifestyle” pickups and $50,000 electric 2-row crossovers – the most overcrowded segments of the electric market and in the latter case a saturated one.
Meanwhile Toyota’s still humming along selling the Prius and hybrid Corollas and RAV4s as fast as they can build them.