GM Puts Brakes on Facebook Advertising

It’s never a good thing when your steering rack or your steering gear box bites the dust, but try having the country’s third largest advertiser pull out two days prior to your company going public.  That is exactly what happened to Facebook, when General Motors decided to decrease its Facebook advertising budget from $10 million to $0.  Now, I am not that good at math, but I believe $0 means nothing.

GM still plans on being active on Facebook.  They will update their Facebook page, communicate with fans, and upload videos and photos.  However they will not pay for pay per click advertising. GM says that the return on investment has been insufficient.   They also feel that a car is not a type of purchase someone will make with just one click of a mouse.   GM feels the Facebook adverts are more for spontaneous shopping.

GM Dislikes Facebook

GM communicated with their Facebook Fans by posting this message on their wall yesterday

“Just wanted to let our millions of Facebook fans know, we're still here, and we 'like' you back! We may not be advertising on Facebook at the moment but we'll still be talking with you all daily. If anything, we will be providing more content across our many GM Facebook pages - including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac - to keep the dialogue going.”

Some investors are now waiting to see what other big companies will also leave Facebook.  Though GM’s competitor Ford Motor Company says it is going to invest even more in its Facebook advertising.  Time will tell.

Car Company to Close… I’m so Saab :(

Saab appears to have run out of gas. Not even a new fuel pump could save them now. The 74 year old car company filed for bankruptcy this morning.   This news is likely to be followed by the company announcing that it will shut its doors completely.  The only fuel pump that would rescue them would be one that turns gas into gold.

Saabs’ last chance was to acquire $782 million in loans from the Chinese company, Zheijang Youngman Lotus Automotive, but General Motors denied the deal.  GM was a former owner, but still had a say in the deal because they supply parts to Saab.  Speculation was that GM objected to the loan because they worried that some of their technology would end up in Chinese competitors’ hands.  However, GM came out and said that they were against the deal because it was, “not meaningful different,” from previous offers.

GM sold Saab to Swedish Automotive back in 2010.  Swedish Automotive is a Dutch company, which is not at all confusing.  Saab did get some funding back in June from a couple of Chinese companies, but they blew through that cash faster than my girlfriend spends her paycheck on Black Friday.

There is still a slight chance that Saab will still exist.  A new buyer could swoop in and buy the remaining assets.  So, if you and your friends have some extra cash lying around, feel free to group the cash together and go “Dutch” on the car company.

General Motors announced 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car for Korea

Chevrolet one of the division of General Motors the famous car maker has announced new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car for Korea.

The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car is powered with 2.5L Ecotec direct-injected 4-cylinder engine system which produces more than 190-hp and maximum torque of 180 lb-ft. The car is also powered with 2.4L Ecotec direct-injection 4-cylinder engine system. This car is available with GM eAssist system which is connected to 180-hp and 6-speed automatic transmission. The fuel efficiency of the car is 38 mpg on the highway.

The Chevrolet Product Director Russ Clark announced in a statement that Korea as a key sales market for the new Malibu further increases the brands global presence and continues our growth path while increasing our car offerings to consumers in Korea.

The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car will be available for sale with dealers in US in 2012 in LS, LT and LTZ trim-levels. The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu car will be GM first sedan car to be sold worldwide nearly in 100 markets.

Jeff Towns Art Car Lights up and Burns Rubber - Accessorod

Jeff Towns has managed to combine the best of three worlds, Art, Safety and Burnt Rubber. He has turned his 80's Oldsmobile art car in to a glow in the dark burning rubber monster machine. Nice work.

Garden Art Car Goes to Court

This garden art car is headed to The U.S. Supreme Court that will consider an appeal next month from the owner of Planet K stores over his long-running battle with the city of San Marcos about his right to display it. In 2007 Michael Kleinman paid two artists to transform this salvage special in front of his store into a painted cactus planter art car. City officials got themselves hot and bothered, claiming the Oldsmobile 88 was in violation of a city ordinance declaring such displays public nuisances. The car was removed and Kleinman is appealing a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in February that found the car-planter to be “ultimately a junked vehicle.”  Good luck with that!! via Its funny I was going to do a garden art car post a while back and forgotten about it until my dad sent me this article two days ago. As you can see these are just a few of the garden cars I found from around the world. Most are intentional, some natural and the last one is purely accidental. If you like these you might also like the Grass Art Cars also on Art Car Central.

19 Donk Cars Covered in Candy Paint

Some time ago I posted a video about a cars covered in Cheetos and Doritos vinyl graphics, and the other day I found the ultimate Facebook car called a "Donk". I got some grief over it because one of my art car friends did not think it was considered an "art car". For me its a unique form of expression that deserves some face time here on Art Car Central. They also look like a lot of fun to drive around in so I managed to find 19 top corporate brand covered cars with famous cereal, snack and drink names. These "hi-riser" or "sky-scrapers" cars have gigantic rims ranging from 22" to 30"and extremely high ground clearance that resemble urban 4x4's,  are called "Donks". The term "Donk" came from the impala symbol on any Chevy impala from the year 1971 to 1976, because the symbol looked like a "donkey". It became popular in the south to cover these cars with name brands using vinyl car wrap technology. The most popular type of car used are Chevrolet models, namely the Impala, Caprice, Monte Carlo, and Chevelle. Other models that are frequently made into hi-risers include the G-body Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass, El Camino, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Pontiac Bonneville. So for your sweat tooth, cereal and salty snack enjoyment, I present to you 19 tasty Donk car treats.

General Motors next generation Head Up Display technology

General Motors the US car manufacturer come up with new Head Up Display technology in 1988. After that many car manufacturers sell cars with HUD. Currently GM is working by collaborating with many universities on the next generation system.

We're looking to create enhanced vision system. Let's say you're driving in fog, we could use the vehicle's infrared cameras to identify where the edge of the road is and the lasers could ‘paint' the edge of the road onto the windshield so the driver knows where the edge of the road is." said in a statement by Thomas Seder GM R&D group lab manager.

Existing systems rely on a small part of the windshield being HUD active, and in most cases only the driver can see the information on display. GM wants to make the full windshield an HUD hub by finishing it with transparent phosphors which produce visible light when energized by a light rays. To this function the light beam comes from a compact laser.

Shared with a sophisticated night vision system the new HUD would pick up pedestrians and animals within close proximity in extremely dark or misty situation and show the information obviously. It can be assisted with the Insignias symbol sensing technology to aware of the driver about related road signs.

"We have done testing on a number of drivers and their performance is better relative to head down systems that are commonly used in vehicles today. It is a compelling design.” said by Seder.