Citing "rapidly deteriorating market conditions," GM announced major reductions today for its production plans starting in the first quarter of 2009. Plants throughout the US, Canada and Mexico will have shifts and lines "temporary idled" while GM deals with declining sales. All told, about 250,000 units will be removed from production, GM said in a statement. Most, but certainly not all, of the idled plants currently build large vehicles, something GM recently apologized for. You can find a full list of the plants and vehicles after the jump, but the green vehicles on the list include:

• Fairfax Assembly (Kan.) - Chevrolet Malibu/Hybrid, Saturn Aura/Hybrid
• Arlington Assembly (Texas) - Full Size SUVs: Chevy Suburban, Tahoe & Tahoe Hybrid, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL & Yukon Hybrid, Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV & Escalade Hybrid

The statement also says that, "As a result of these assembly plant actions, GM will also continue to assess its powertrain and stamping capacity needs and make adjustments as appropriate." With the failure of the most recent bailout package last night, this might not be the worst news we hear from GM before Christmas.

[Source: GM]

Perhaps the Paris for President stunt is getting to be past its sell-by date, but the latest video from the series has made it out to the interwebs anyway. It seems that the heiress got her wish for a green luxury car. It's not a hybrid HUMMER, as she stated she wanted a while back, but it's the next best thing, we guess. The Cadillac Escalade hybrid is currently the top-of-the-line hybrid vehicle on the roads for young celebs wanting to make an eco-friendly statement. Plus, there is plenty of sheet metal available for the hybrid 'ute to be painted your favorite shade.

We wonder if Paris is still driving the hybrid Ford Escape that the automaker gave her last year, of if that car just wasn't luxurious - or pink - enough. Paris also suggests that we ratify the Kyoto Treaty right away, amongst other things. Would her new BFF be the Vice President? See the full video from CNN after the break.

[Source: CNN]

In the face of rising fuel costs and environmental concerns, GM has realized that China, the world's fastest growing auto market, is in dire need of hybrid vehicles of different shapes and sizes. Hence, amidst the re-announcement of the launch of the Buick Lacrosse (which GM is touting as China's first hybrid since it is built there as opposed to the Prius which is merely assembled in China) in July, GM China's vice president for sales, Joseph Liu, let slip that the company would also introduce the hybrid version of the Cadillac Escalade (pictured above) sometime next year. No price tag was mentioned.

According to the AP story, Liu also said that GM will follow that up with an "all-electric" car as early as 2010. Although it's not exactly "all-electric" since it has a gas engine, we assumes he means the Volt (or maybe Flextreme), which GM is currently developing.



[Source: Associated Press via Mlive.com]

Here is another one of those posts where we extract a single comment from a long interview and obsess over it... you know the type. The interview was conducted by The Detroit News (we nabbed it from Autoblog), and the individual being interviewed is John Howell, from Cadillac. John would know about Cadillac's future plans, as he is the head of products at the GM division. He was quoted as saying, "Pretty much every program I am looking at going forward has got a hybrid as part of it."

That does not mean that we can expect to see a snarling new 7.0 liter V8 CTS-V-H with a two mode hybrid, although it sure would be cool! But, we might see a more pedestrian CTS with a hybrid option. As a rear wheel drive platform, the CTS or the STS could focus on hybrid performance, à la Lexus. If we hear any more details, you can count on us to share 'em.

UPDATE: Our old friend Joel points us to this.

[Source: The Detroit News via Autoblog]

The eagle eyed spys of KGP photography have struck again, this time catching another example of the Two-Mode Hybrid version of the Cadillac Escalade. The Escalade should have the same drivetrain as the Tahoe and Yukon and follow them to market by a few months. Judging from these photos however it looks like big Caddy won't be getting any aerodynamic tweaks like it's bretheren.

[Source: Left Lane News]