CHEVY EQUINOX AND GMC TERRAIN TWINS HIT 1M UNITS

By Autoblog - The GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Equinox twins have been hot sellers since they went on sale in 2009, but even with strong sales, it's still somewhat surprising to hear that the millionth crossover underpinned by the latest Theta platform has already rolled off the assembly line.  According to General Motors, a silver 2013 GMC Terrain has just become the milestone model at its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.

Both Chevrolet and GMC models are still selling well.  Through September of this year, each line has seen double-digit percentage increases over 2011, and a new, more powerful V6 added to the lineup should help to sell a few more units each month.  On their current pace, the Equinox is likely to sell just over 200,000 units in 2012 (compared to 149,979 units just two years ago) while the Terrain should have no problem topping 90,000 units for the year (up from 60,519 units in 2010).

Demand has been so high for the platform mates over the last several years that production capacity has been added in Oshawa, Ontario and more recently, Spring Hill, Tennessee.

GM LAWSUIT OVER EINSTEIN IMAGE USE DISMISSED

By Chris Tutor, Autoblog.com - Albert Einstein's image has been used to sell everything from computer software to life insurance.  In 2009, General Motors used the legendary physicist's face in an ad for the 2010 GMC Terrain.  It ran only once in a single issue of People Magazine.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem sued the automaker in 2010, arguing Einstein's will gave the school all rights to the use of his image.  This week, however, a Los Angeles court said those rights expired 55 years after the scientist's death.

"Now, nearly 60 years after his death, that persona should be freely available to those who seek to appropriate it as part of their own expression, even in tastless ads," ruled US District Judge Howard Matz.  "The obviously humorous ad for the 2010 Terrain having been published 55 years or more after Einstein's death, it is unlikely that any viewer of it could reasonably infer that Einstein ... was endorsing the GMC Terrain."