Photo Credit: General Motors

It seems, the 2013 Cadillac XTS has everything which an average modern driver requires.

The ‘CUE’ user experience system and interface is futuristic and so is the panel, the touch screen reminiscent of the simplicity we have gotten used to on a tablet PC. That should keep the driver in his comfort zone and in sync while driving, sitting on plush leather seats with vibrating alerts. Wow!

The new XTS will roll out in a couple of weeks but wouldn’t it be bad if, after a pit-stop, I get in, to make the lovely touch screen on the front dash dirty after trying to get the music on with soiled hands, a customary gift after opening and shutting the grease laden fuel caps at a self-serve gas station.

The folks at General Motors have thought about that too in the XTS. The luxury sedan doesn’t have a fuel cap. Instead of the all so common fuel door and fuel cap, the XTS uses a capless system that provides a cleaner, no grease attached, gas filling experience.

Here is how it works.

The capless system has two internal doors with rubber seals, which keeps out chances of leaks. During refueling, the outer door is opened and the fuel nozzle can be directly inserted into the two internal doors, which automatically open to accommodate it.

Since two doors are involved the chances of leaks are that much less. Another advantage the Cadillac system has over its competitors is that it doesn’t have an internal drain, which also reduces chances of dripping.

So this new Cadillac offers not just a stylish drive, it can also leave our hands pristine clean for your iPad.

General Motors might not be working on cleaner cars that much, but cleaner drivers they surely are focusing their efforts on!

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The most eye-popping of concepts to come out at the Beijing Motor Show must be the Chery Ant. In fact, eye popping will be an understatement for the concept rolled out by Chinese car manufacturer Chery.

If it becomes a reality, it could usher in Vehicle Platooning on to freeways using the infrastructure proposed by General Motors China in its EN-V concept.

Let’s get to the looks of Chery’s innovation first. Well, they have named it aptly for it looks like an ant. Small, compact, in fact a little too compact for comfort if you are a person of larger proportions.  But it’s rather cute and on congested Asian roads or narrow European ones, this cutie will be practical. Parking problems will be out of the window with the Chery Ant as it literally takes the same space required to park a super bike.

Let’s get to Platooning  Ants can go anywhere on its own but it can also attach to two or more Ants with an automated telematics systems by pairing up one car’s rear wheels with the front wheels of another.

This is possible because Ants can see and communicate, comparing destinations with other Ants via the cloud. And if two Ants are heading in the same direction they can be put together, making the journey energy efficient and faster. How efficient, it’s yet to be known.

There are claims that up to 10 Ants can be tagged together as a train but no official video or photos are available of the Ants in Platooning action.  It will be great if this concept works though.

The post Chery’s New Concept: Are Ants The Future Of Motoring? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Okay, the honeymoon period for the Chevy Volt is wearing on thin, so we’re left asking General Motors what they have done for us lately. As they prepare to enter the Korean market, GM has come forth with the Chevy Mi-Ray concept at the Seoul Motor Show.

Yes, it’s just a concept for now, but the hybrid roadster could add some edge and sportiness to the company’s “green” line of vehicles. Personally, I’m not a big fan of having those chunky lines all over the place, but apparently this design is inspired by a modern jet plane.

Korean for “future”, the Mi-Ray is an open top roadster too, so I don’t really anticipate that it’ll make it to showrooms in quite this form. There aren’t too many mass produced cars without roofs. The rear wheels are driven by the 1.5L four-banger behind the driver, while the front wheels get their grunt from two front-mounted 15kW (20hp) electric motors.

Yes, you get carbon fiber, carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, scissor doors, LED headlights, retractable cameras in place of sideview mirrors, and other niceties, but I’m not sold on the Mi-Ray. I do appreciate how companies are trying to move away from “boring” with their hybrids and EVs though.

[Read]

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Couple the price cut with federal tax incentives and GM’s flagship electric car will cost less than $30,000 — ready to compete with not only the $32,780 Nissan Leaf EV, but conventional mid- and high-end cars too.

“As with any new technology — from plasma TVs to cell phones — the production costs lower with learnings gained with each generation,” said GM spokesman Robert Peterson. “We expect to see similar cost savings, either through the development or improvement of technologies, or reduced production costs.”

GM sold 647 Volts in the first two months of the car’s release, but hopes to triple the rate of sales between 2012 and 2015 to at least 135,000 units per year. This, they say, will cut electric-drive costs by diluting research and development investments in a larger production volume.

Plans so far are to build 25,000 Volts this year, rising to 120,000 in 2012, but the numbers fall short of the 250,000 names GM collected from those interested in the Volt.

By comparison, Nissan sold only 87 Leafs in the U.S. in January, showing GM has garnered a strong interest for the next era of electric vehicles. I think it’s safe to say we can expect more of this good news in the future.

[Edmunds]

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The OnStar system is mostly voice-activated and a great way to get emergency personnel to you in the event of an emergency, but Facebook? That seems to be the next feature coming to OnStar via the MyLink interface from GM, and it will be completely handsfree. Facebook posts can be read out to you while you’re driving, you can even go ahead and update your status with OnStar voice recognition technology. OnStar President Chris Preuss says data shows that “there is no correlation between pushing a single button and vehicle crashes.”

The services will begin appearing on the new Chevy Volt, making Google Android and Apple iPhone apps accessible through MyLink. There’s one hitch with FaceBook, it wont accept audio files. You see, the OnStar system records your voice message to an audio file, then what? MyLink will have to translate that audio file to text before posting to FaceBook. How will OnStar handle this? Their launching a developers’ challenge to entice people to write apps for GM’s vehicles. Of course OnStar will have to be very careful about which apps they approve, “But the reality is that crashing a phone with a bad iPhone app is a little different from crashing a car with a bad iPhone app,” Mr. Preuss said. Until a jailbreak for your GM is released. GM plans to offer this service first in 2011 models, other OnStar-equipped vehicles will follow after that.

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GM Chevy Volt Electric car to be first mass-produced EV

Industry estimates peg the Volt in the $30-$35k range, simply to make it as mainstream as possible. There’s also a $7,500 tax credit going around, so if GM lists the Volt at $34k, the net price to the end consumer is just $26,500. Not too bad for getting off oil. The Chevrolet Volt, although not nearly as extreme and exciting as the early concepts, is indeed to be the first mass-produced Extended Range Electric Vehicle to hit the streets of America. That’s a milestone in itself.

[Crunchgear, Chevy Volt]

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