Putting an end to a long-standing rumor, Buick has confirmed that it will introduce a new convertible at the Detroit Motor Show that will open its doors next week.
A teaser image published on the automaker’s official Facebook page reveals that the convertible will essentially be a re-badged version of the Opel Cascada that has been on sale in Europe for several years. Earlier spy shots taken in Death Valley reveal the droptop will be nearly identical to its Opel-badged counterpart inside and out but it is expected to feature a moderately revised front fascia characterized by Buick’s trademarked waterfall radiator grille.

Additional details about the Opel-turned-Buick remain scarce. The European version of the car is available with a number of four-cylinder engines including a 1.4-liter, a 1.6-liter available with either 170 or 200 horsepower and a pair of 2.0-liter turbodiesels. The 200-horsepower Ecotec seems most likely for the power-hungry U.S. market, though Buick could also shoehorn a V6 in the engine bay.

The Buick Cascada – a name that might not make the jump over the pond – will be fully unveiled online in the next few days. Rumors indicate that Buick will also introduce a new crossover called Envision but the automaker is keeping its lips sealed until the beginning of the Detroit Show.

FCA is under pressure from regulators and safety advocates to expand its efforts to reach owners of Jeep SUVs that are the subject of a fire-related safety recall.
Bloomberg reports that the Center for Automotive Safety has documented multiple incidents relating to gas tank fires since the recall was announced in 2013, potentially including the death of a pregnant Michigan woman in November of last year.

Nearly 1.6 million vehicles are affected by the campaign, however fewer than 120,000 had been brought into service centers as of early November. It is unclear if the lack of interest is partly related to the controversy surrounding the recall, or its drawn-out timeframe, though low response rates are not unusual for older models.

Safety advocates had been pushing for a recall since 2009 or earlier, citing hundreds of deaths from vehicle fires. The fuel tank is located behind the rear axle on the 1993-1998 Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Liberty, leaving little protection if the SUVs are involved in rear-end collisions.

Chrysler fought with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the issue, eventually settling on trailer-hitch installation as a resolution. The company still maintains that the models are perfectly safe.

General Motors reported a 7% bump in fleet/commercial sales in 2014. Boasting a total of 703,582 units moved for the year, GM was the number one supplier of commercial fleet vehicles in the United States last year.
“Each facet of our fleet and commercial business was up in 2014,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president, GM Fleet & Commercial, in a statement. “Our sales performance was strong in every segment of the market – pickups, full size vans, cars and crossovers.”

Breaking the gains down further, GM moved 2.4% more vehicles to rental fleets, 24% more to commercial fleets and 0.3% more to government fleets. In December alone, fleet sales were up 38% vs. the prior year.

GM says the gains were spread across all four of its U.S. brands–Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The Chevrolet Cruze, which saw a fleet sales increase of 51% vs. last year, was also named 2014 Fleet Car of the Year by Automotive Fleet and Business Fleet magazines.

“We are committed to providing our commercial customers with vehicles that are not only great on the road, but great for their bottom line,” Peper said.

More automakers looked to Mexico to bolster their output in 2014, according to the Mexican Auto Industry Association (AMIA).
Production output increased by 9.8 percent compared to 2013, and exports increased by 9.1 percent. In total, 3.22 million vehicles were produced in Mexico in 2014, 2.64 million (nearly 82%) of which were for export. Reuters reports that exports from Mexico to the United States in particular increased by 22% in December alone.

All three domestic manufacturers have facilities in Mexico, and GM recently announced that it plans to double its capacity there within the next few years. Mazda and Volkswagen both expanded production in Mexico last year, with most of the capacity in their new and updated facilities being exported to the U.S. and elsewhere. Mazda celebrated the production of its 100,000th vehicle at its Salamanca plant in December–a Demio (Mazda2) to be exported to Europe.

Other manufacturers currently building or planning to build cars in Mexico include BMW, Daimler, Honda, Nissan and Toyota.

Nissan has inked a five year research and development contract with NASA intended to advance the development of autonomous vehicles.
Per the terms of the agreement, Nissan’s U.S. Silicon Valley Research Center and NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, will work hand-and-hand over the next five years to develop autonomous drive systems, human-machine interface solutions and create network-enabled applications.

The two parties will also test zero-emission autonomous vehicles (read self-driving versions of the Nissan Leaf) at the Ames facility. The test vehicles will be used as transport for materials, goods, payloads and people. The first of those test vehicles is expected to be in use by the end of the year.

Nissan will use the partnership as a springboard to its 2020 goal of having an autonomous vehicle available in retail showrooms. NASA will benefit in the area of vehicular transport applications, meaning future rovers could have Nissan technology under the hood.

“The work of NASA and Nissan – with one directed to space and the other directed to earth, is connected by similar challenges,” said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co. “The partnership will accelerate Nissan’s development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that we will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020.”

Dodge has released a short online documentary showcasing the development and assembly of the 5th-generation Viper hot on the heels of its announcement of a new “1 of 1″ Viper GTC exclusivity program.
The program, which takes advantage of the Viper’s hand-built assembly process, allows buyers to custom-tailor their vehicles in more than 25 million unique combinations, including 8,000 exterior paint colors, 24,000 stripe combinations, 10 wheel packages, 16 interior trims, 6 aerodynamics packages and several à la carte options.

Buyers who order a Viper under this program will receive a 1:18 scale model of their exact build, and each car is personalized with a plaque which includes the customer’s name.

“The Dodge Viper is an iconic, one-of-a-kind, hand-built American Supercar with a 645-horsepower hand-built aluminum V10, a hand-crafted body comprised of hand-laid carbon fiber, aluminum, magnesium and high-strength steel and a racing pedigree,” said Tim Kuniskis, President and CEO, Dodge and SRT, FCA – North America. “Because every Viper is hand crafted with such an extreme level of detail, we have the unique opportunity to make each one even more special by giving buyers the opportunity to customize each vehicle to their exact specifications. Now, Viper owners will be able to say their Viper is truly one of a kind.”

At ~22 minutes, the film is far from comprehensive. Enthusiasts get an inside look at the development of the engine, chassis and interior of the 645hp supercar along with an overview of the assembly process. Built in Michigan at Chrysler’s Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, the Viper has only recently begun to recover some of the volume of its previous generations following a price cut earlier this year. Not long after, FCA (Formerly Chrysler Group) announced the discontinuation of Viper’s factory-backed racing efforts.

“The Dodge Viper is a precision-handcrafted machine expressively built to stimulate all the senses of an enthusiast’s soul,” said Kuniskis, “It’s not widely known what it takes to create this supercar, including the 140 to 160 hours to hand paint each Viper, so we produced the film to show what sets the Viper apart from everything else in its segment.”

Check out the documentary below.

Honda has agreed to pay $70 million in fines for under-reporting warranty claims and more than 1.700 injuries and deaths that could potentially be related to defects in its vehicles.
“Today’s announcement sends a very clear message to the entire industry that manufacturers have responsibility for the complete and timely reporting of this critical safety information,” said NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind in a statement. “The actions we are requiring will push Honda to significantly raise the bar on the effectiveness of its EWR reporting program. Our ongoing oversight will ensure compliance and determine if there is cause for additional actions.”

In addition to the fines, Honda will also be subjected to stricter oversight Going forward, Honda will be required to “develop written procedures for compliance with EWR requirements, train appropriate personnel on at least an annual basis, and complete two third-party audits of the automaker’s compliance with its reporting obligations,” according to NHTSA. Honda will also be required to submit additional information regarding the under-reported cases to the agency so that regulators can evaluate any potential defects to determine their worthiness for potential recall campaigns.

According to Automotive News, Honda’s violations may have hampered the agency’s ability to identify potential safety issues in its vehicles.

A new round of spy shots suggest that the world will finally get a mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette.
It’s been several decades in the making, but Car and Driver finally has some hard evidence that Chevy is moving forward with its oft-rumored mid-engined Corvette. The magazine recently spotted a mule on General Motors’ testing grounds with all the signs of a mid-engined Corvette.

The front of the mule is borrowed for an Australian-market Commodore, with the center section of the car coming courtesy of today’s C7 Stingray. More importantly, that cabin is position very close to the front axles, suggesting there isn’t an engine under hood.

There is, however, plenty of room for a high-performance mill under the mule’s elongated rear section. Side air inlets are further proof that this mule is motivated by an engine located mid-ship.

Wide fender flares and a large rear wing denote this test mule’s high-performance chops.

Exact timing for the launch of Chevy’s mid-engine Corvette remains unknown, but the car will likely be introduced as the C8 ZR1. Recent trademark filings also suggest that Chevy is working on a an all-out performance version of the C8 that will be sold as the Zora.

Power for both models could be provided by a small-displacement V8 with turbocharging technology.

Although just a guess at this point, the Chevrolet Corvette C8 could be ready in time for a late 2016 unveiling as a 2017 model year.