1998 Corvette Convertible Perfect!!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM investing $167m in Spring Hill for new midsize vehicles

General Motors has announced a large investment in its Spring Hill, Tennessee facility. The former home of Saturn production will be getting a $167 million addition to a previously announced $183 million, to cover a pair of new midsize vehicles. The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs at the factory.
That $350 million is being divvied up for a pair of programs at Spring Hill. The first will take the bulk of the money ($223 million) and create 1,000 of the 1,800 jobs, while the other will take the remaining $127 million and generate the leftover 800 positions. But GM says the investment will cover "midsize vehicle programs." So what could they be?
The leading candidate in our minds is a new crossover for Buick, called the Anthem, that will slot between the Encore and Enclave, but will be slightly smaller than the Equinox and Terrain. As we've explained, the new model will likely be the first product to sport GM's new D2UX platform, which will eventually replace both the Delta and Theta platforms. Spring Hill is already building the Equinox, so there could be some credence to this theory.

General Motors shaking up its marketing... again

One of the things that dogs the full comeback of General Motors is the instability of its marketing. That part of the automaker got yet another big shakeup today when GM confirmed what I have been tweeting for a few days - strong rumors that the Chevrolet and Cadillac ad accounts are walking to new ad agencies.
Cadillac, GM's luxury brand, is going into review from Fallon Worldwide, Minneapolis and the indications are that Campbell-Ewald, Chevy's old ad shop, will end up with most or all of it. C-E just announced that it was moving from its long-time home in Warren, MI to a new downtown Detroit office next to Ford Field, just blocks from GM.
The other shoe to drop shortly will be the shift of GM's most important brand, Chevy, from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco to McCann-Erickson of Troy, MI. McCann used to be the agency for Buick and GMC, as well as GM's corporate advertising, and has retained some pieces of business over the last few years. Sources have even told us that it was McCann that did a lot of the creative work on Chevy's new ad platform, Find New Roads. (Not to be confused with a former McCann tagline for Saab, "Find Your Own Road.")

Fewer than 1 in 3 Chevy dealers earn right to initially sell C7 Corvette

Looking to make the launch of the 2014 Corvette Stingray as efficient as possible, Chevrolet will be limiting the numbers of its dealers that can sell the all-new coupe and convertible. According to Automotive News, sales of the C7 Corvette will initially be limited to less than a third of Chevy's total dealership network when the 'Vette goes on sale this summer.
Only 900 dealers out of more than 3,000 locations nationwide will be allowed to sell the new Corvette at first, and the reason for this is so that there are no shortages at dealers that can actually get the cars sold. The article says that the 900 dealerships chosen represented 80 percent of total Corvette sales in 2012.
Some of the requirements dealers had to make to get initial allocation of Stingray sales include having sold at least four Corvettes in 2012 and having a Corvette Stingray specialist who will be required to have gone through a training session costing more than $2,000 per attendee. Once demand for the 2014 Corvette Stingray begins to subside - approximately six to nine months after it goes on sale - then allocation could open up to more dealers, but the report indicates this could happen following the 2014 model year.