An all-electric Chevy Silverado is in the near future! General Motors recently announced it will build the electric full-size pickup truck at Factory ZERO, its assembly plant in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan – the same place the GMC Hummer EV SUV will be built. Don’t expect the current Silverado to simply be re-tooled as an electric truck – the vehicle will be built from the ground up as an EV. GM has estimated that with its Ultium Platform, the vehicle will offer a range of more than 400 miles on a full charge. “The vehicles coming from Factory ZERO will change the world, and how the world views electric vehicles,” said General Motors President Mark Reuss, in a press release. “The GMC Hummer EV SUV joins its stablemate in the realm of true super trucks, and Chevrolet will take everything Chevy’s loyal truck buyers love about Silverado – and more – and put it into [...]

As part of its goal of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, General Motors has created a safety brand called Periscope. Periscope will focus on three areas of vehicle safety: vehicle technology, research, and advocacy. “Periscope is how we develop safety through a human lens – it’s the intersection of our research, advocacy, and vehicle technologies and an articulation of the work our engineering team is doing to help everyone on the road – including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and more,” said Maryann Combs, GM vice president of Global Vehicle Safety. Based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94% of serious crashes are caused by human error, so GM is committed to developing and implementing new technologies like Buckle to Drive and Teen Driver that can help further reduce driver error. OnStar Guardian, a new mobile app, extends the power of OnStar to smartphones to enable customers to bring key OnStar safety services anywhere [...]

General Motors is “all in” on their electric vehicles initiative, and they want everyone to join them. That was the message from GM during its appearance at the all-virtual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where the company teased its many new upcoming EV models. GM has committed to 30 new global electric vehicles by 2025. GM has also tweaked its logo for a more electrified look, its first substantial logo change since 1964, and launched a new GM.com website. It’s all part of its “Everybody In” campaign as GM pursues a future with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. “There are moments in [...]

Automakers like GM, Ford, and FCA have joined in to help fight the Coronavirus by partnering with other corporations to address shortages of face masks, ventilators, and other medical equipment. GM and Ventec Life Systems, in cooperation with StopTheSpread.org, are collaborating to increase Ventec’s production of respiratory care products, according to this press release. “We are working closely with Ventec to rapidly scale up production of their critically important respiratory products to support our country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mary Barra, GM Chairman and CEO in the press release. “We will continue to explore ways to help in this time of crisis.” Using GM’s logistics, purchasing and manufacturing power will aid Ventec to build more of the respiratory products that are needed across the country during the pandemic. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is manufacturing and donating more than 1 million protective face masks per month. The masks are to be donated to police, [...]

Today’s results from the JD Power and Associates 2013 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) show just how much GM has improved in long-term reliability and durability. The Vehicle Dependability Study focuses on problems customers experienced in the past 12 months with three-year old vehicles. This year’s study was based on feedback from 37,000 owners of 2010 model year vehicles.  J.D. Power measures overall dependability by the level of problems experienced per 100 vehicles. The lower the PPH score, the higher the dependability. Highlights of the 2013 VDS include: Four segment award winners: Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra HD and Buick Lucerne Seven additional GM vehicles scored in the top three in their segments GM had the lowest rate of component replacement (e.g., batteries, switches, etc.) From an owner loyalty perspective, J.D. Power found that 54 percent of customers who experienced no vehicle problems stayed loyal to the brand. This number drops to 41 [...]

Having a Job is a necessary thing (…for most of us, at least), we all need cash to support our lives and the lives of those with us. To some people a job is just a means to get money, others really take in their job and care about bettering the company they work for and believe in that company’s mission. I would hope to think that most workers would care about what their company stands for and what they do beyond making money. Better yet, to have a company that reaches out to communities and helps, not only in monetary ways, but also by physically lending a hand. GM is one of those companies. Since its beginning, GM has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to educational organizations, American charities, and to disaster relief efforts [...]

If you’ve ever wondered how many miles per gallon the Chevy Cruze Eco gets, well then you’re in the right place as we’re attempting to try to answer that question today.  Over the past few years, the EPA has made changes to the way they test the fuel efficiency of vehicles.  They’ve tried to make their testing more accurate by putting the cars and trucks on “real world” road ways instead of the traditional track testing that they used to do.  Here at Runde’s, our sales associates field questions daily from customers who want to know what type of mileage all types of vehicles get … not just the Cruze Eco.   To be completely honest, it always comes down to what type of driving the customer does, where they live, and [...]

Safe Kids USA and General Motors working together for the benefit of kids everywhere   During these hot summer days it’s great to get out and enjoy the weather. Maybe you wanted to go out somewhere but there was no one available to watch over your kids. If you do take your kids with you, wherever you go, please keep their safety at the forefront of your mindset and do NOT leave them in the car by themselves for any reason … not even for a minute.   The ambient temperature inside of a vehicle on a 80 degree day can reach up to 110 degrees in just 20 minutes. On average there are 37 infant deaths resulting from being left in hot cars per year. I’ve heard horror stories on the news about infant death resulting from being stuck inside a car and it is something that needs to be brought up and addressed [...]

Ed Whitacre, the CEO of General Motors, announced that GM has paid back all of the borrowed money in full to the government with interest. This gigantic announcement demonstrates a level of confidence within the company that has surfaced mainly due to a slimmed down product line, a more refined company focus, and exciting new products like the Chevy Equinox, the Chevy Camaro, and the Buick LaCrosse that are selling almost as quickly as they arrive on dealers’ lots. With this move, they are basically saying that they wholeheartedly believe GM is now on the right track to profitability. And here at Runde Auto Group, we know without-a-doubt that GM is back on track and ready for the road ahead. The tank is full, the engine is humming, and the GPS is set … Destination … Success.  It’s full speed ahead for Chevrolet, Buick and GMC.  

Crusing down the road, windows down, music up, you are in the “zone” with this sweet new track playing on the radio. You start trying to sing parts of the chorus, and completely butcher the rest of the song. Full of emotion, you utter slightly slurred words mixed with gibberish to comprise what would surely amount to  a migraine for anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same car with you.   You get to the end of the song and look forward to the radio announcer revealing the name of the song and artist so you can download it on iTunes later.  But what the…the announcer reveals the details of the song you loved so dearly while your friend was yelling at you to get him some aspirin. Dang it all to [...]

According to the title, this blog post is about fuel cell vehicles.  Not sure what they are?  Ok.  Fine, then let’s start with a conversational detour. Ever wish someone would walk up to you and hand you the keys to a new vehicle? The closest I’ve ever come to hearing about something like this, I previously mentioned when I wrote the anecdote about Doug in our Field of Dreams blog post last year. There’s also that scene from Pay it Forward, where some guy hands Jay Mohr the keys to his new Jaguar S-Type car in an effort to … you guessed it … pay it forward. I was looking at GM’s Project Driveway a little today and I checked it out to see if I might qualify to drive a new state-of-the-art Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle. Project Driveway is the first large-scale market test of fuel cell vehicles with real drivers in [...]