Monthly Archives: September 2015


General Motors Launching 2nd-Gen “Bring Your Own Media” Infotainment for 2016

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As we roll into the 2016 model year, General Motors is finally about ready to put its 2009 bankruptcy behind it as it completes the launch of a full lineup of post-reorganization vehicles. In addition to all-new vehicles designed and developed in this decade, GM is also rationalizing its in-vehicle infotainment options which had become fragmented over the past four years. For Chevrolet, that means there will basically be two levels of infotainment under the MyLink brand.

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Big news from Mountain View as Google snags John Krafcik to run car program

The hiring of John Krafcik to run Google's autonomous car program suddenly makes it a lot more likely that we will someday see Google/Alphabet-branded autonomous cars on the road. At the very least, it increases the likelihood that Google will now be able to make deals with other OEMs to adopt its software. With his engineering and product planning background at +Ford Motor Company and +Hyundai Worldwide, Krafcik knows the industry and what it takes to succeed. John knows what it will take to make the deals that Google has so far failed to achieve.

Things are suddenly getting very interesting.

Google hires TrueCar’s Krafcik to steer auto project
Google is bringing in John Krafcik, the veteran Ford and Hyundai executive, to head its self-driving car program, presenting the clearest sign yet of Google’s broad commercial aspirations for the project. Krafcik, 53, a manufacturing expert and a fan of disruptive technology, comes to Google from car-shopping service TrueCar.


When Chevrolet revealed the redesigned sixth-generation Camaro last spring, it looks like they significantly sandbagged everyone on the weight reductions including the engineers in Dearborn

When Chevrolet revealed the redesigned sixth-generation Camaro last spring, it looks like they significantly sandbagged everyone on the weight reductions including the engineers in Dearborn. The original press release indicated that “the total curb…

2016 Chevrolet Camaro Performance Shows the Benefit of Going on a Diet
When Chevrolet revealed the redesigned sixth-generation Camaro last spring, it looks like they significantly sandbagged everyone on the weight reductions including the engineers in Dearborn. The or…


2016 Chevrolet Camaro Performance Shows the Benefit of Going on a Diet 1

cq5dam.web.1280.1280When Chevrolet revealed the redesigned sixth-generation Camaro last spring, it looks like they significantly sandbagged everyone on the weight reductions including the engineers in Dearborn. The original press release indicated that “the total curb weight for Camaro has been reduced by more than 200 pounds,” which I took as an indication that it would end up at roughly the same weight as the 2015 Mustang. In fact, Chevy’s sports car undercuts its arch-rival the Mustang by anywhere from 20 to 200 pounds and offers vastly improved weight-to-power ratios, which is directly reflected in the performance numbers.

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As part of my job as an auto industry analyst, I get to evaluate vehicles from a lot of manufacturers

As part of my job as an auto industry analyst, I get to evaluate vehicles from a lot of manufacturers. I write reviews of most of them and post them to a special section of my site which you can find at https://sam.abuelsamid.com/category/reviews/

Car Reviews
Sam’s Car Reviews
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2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk – Polished SUV

2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk - 1 of 27

The Jeep Cherokee brand now has  more than 40 years of history behind it and in many respects was responsible for transforming the SUV from a minor niche of the automotive market to a mainstream juggernaut. Following a decade during which the former DaimlerChrysler inexplicably re-branded the Cherokee as the Liberty in North America while keeping the original badge intact in the rest of the world, an all-new fifth-generation arrived last year with the old-school badge but some of the most radical changes yet to the skin and the platform.

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Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 820 security features could actually be more us…

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 820 security features could actually be more useful in cars than in smartphones

New Qualcomm Mobile Chip Could Aid Automotive Cyber Security
It’s no secret that the future of transportation is going to be highly dependent on connectivity. As we’ve seen repeatedly in recent years with attacks on everyone from retailers to movie studios t…