Everything was up for discussion except the UAW strike, which was in its second and final day. Ed Peper, Chevrolet's general manager, sat down to dinner with a small group of journalists on the gorgeous outskirts of Plymouth, Mich. Like auto executives everywhere, Peper is a master of changing the subject and occasionally insisting that night is day. Yet a warm candor and genuine enthusiasm for Chevrolet products also come through. General Motors successfully offloaded medical costs in the labor contract it just concluded with the UAW. Now it must prove that it can build products that consumers actually want to buy. Dinner with Peper proved that radical changes aren't in the offing for Chevrolet's product line. After all, sales for last quarter were stunning. Peper acknowledged that sales going forward will be hurt by the housing slump, but they should remain "good." What else did we learn from dinner with Ed?
Check it out after the jump.
*Look for Chevrolet to move aggressively into flex-fuel vehicles, no doubt because the company already has proven technology for ethanol.
*Clean diesels will become more prevalent in Chevy's trucks, but not in its cars.
*Hybrids will continue to be offered across the company's product line, but the technology previewed in the two-stage electric Volt is the key alternative to today's internal-combustion-only powered cars.
*Chevy has no plans for a microcar (e.g., the ForTwo) or even for a minicar (e.g., the Mini) to be sold in the U.S.
*China matters, colossally. But don't expect vehicles designed for China to make it to the U.S.
