Automotive Industry
News covering the Automotive Industry at large.
503 articles in this category
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 16, 2012 President Obama has a goal of getting a million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. Last year during his State of the Union address, Obama talked about changing the current $7,500 tax credit into a point-of-purchase rebate. That hasn’t happen at the moment, but in the President's proposed budget that was released this week, Obama is trying another way to reach his goal; raising the tax credit to $10,000. To go along wit
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 8, 2012 Almost a year after the state of Nevada approved legislation to allow tests of self-driving vehicles on public roads, the state has issued its first license for a self-driving vehicle. The vehicle in question is Google's autonomous Toyota Prius, which has currently logged 140,000 miles and one accident. The accident was caused when a car driven by a person bumped into the back of Google's autonomous car. Google hopes with these t
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 16, 2012 Fisker is looking to raise another $150 million to help keep the company afloat. "We need money on our balance sheet" to fund operating expenses. "And we need money to fund the development of the next car," said Ray Lane, a Fisker director and a managing partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to Reuters."We're raising some of that money now, and some later." The reason for the extra $150 million? Earlier
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com March 6, 2013 The end is here for Suzuki automobiles in the U.S. On Thursday, a judge from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana approved Suzuki's Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The plan calls for American Suzuki's motorcycle, ATV and marine engine businesses to exit bankruptcy and become part of a new, wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corp, Suzuki Motor of America. Suzuki's automotive branch will
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 17, 2012 Distracted Driving is a topic that’s on everybody's minds, and with good reason. Newer vehicles are packed with more technology; ranging from touchscreen infotainment systems options to voice-controlled applications to smartphone integration. It comes as no surprise that the U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, the man who is leading the Distracted Driving cause has announced a new set of proposed guidelines for automakers to lim
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If you were thinking about purchasing a new Fisker Karma, you might want to hear this. Fisker has announced they will be increasing prices on the Karma Plug-In hybrid sedan by 6%. That means the base Karma EcoStandard model will now have a sticker price of $102,000; an increase of $6,150. The high-end EcoChic model will see a $10,000 increase to $116,000. However, if you have put down a $5,000 deposit on the Karma, you're in luck. Fisker says for those who put a deposit down can purchase the K
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 8, 2012 More bad news for the Fisker Karma. A fire which engulfed a Fisker Karma and caused damage to house in Sugar Land, Texas is now be pointed at as the cause. Chief fire investigator for Fort Bend County, Texas, Robert Baker told Autoweek that he belives the Fisker Karma started the fire. “Yes, the Karma was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don't know at this time,” Barker said. Barker says the owner pulled
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 20, 2012 Over the weekend, Fisker announced a recall of over 2,000 of its Karma plug-in hybrid sedans due to risk of fires. The recall was issued a couple weeks after a fire engulfed the driver's front side of a Karma sitting a parking lot. Fisker called on the help of Pacific Rim Investigative Services Group to figure out the cause of the fire on August 10. The investigation found the ignition source was a low temperature cooling fan, w
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Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on using any personal electronic devices while driving. The recommendation was made to all US states. So what kind of personal electronic devices are we talking about? The NTSB’s director was specific about wanting to ban phone calls, texting, updating your status on facebook, etc. However, the director was less specific on possible provisions that would allow specific driving related uses like GPS. NTSB cited stu
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 3, 2012 Fisker would like to forget 2012 if possible. The year hasn't been good to the company with recalls, production delays, fires, delays on the new Atlantic, U.S. Department of Energy freezing a loan, and their sole supplier of batteries filling for bankruptcy. In a interview with TheDetroitBureau.com, founder and Chairman Henrik Fisker said that his company is "actively engaged in conversations with potential strategic partners."
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 21, 2012 Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk recently gave an interview with Automobile Magazine talking about the company and what lies ahead. Musk also took the opportunity to rip into Fisker. “It’s a mediocre product at a high price. The car looks very big, and yet it has no trunk space and is very cramped inside, particularly in the rear seats.” Musk also spoke out against Fisker founder, Henrik Fisker. “The fundamental problem with Henrik Fisk
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 15, 2011 Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill that would overhaul the nation's auto safety laws. The bill includes measures to raise the maximum fine for automakers that delay recalls from $17.35 million to $250 milllion. The bill also includes measures that would give states grants for banning texting while driving or the use of cell phones by teen drivers, increase funding for research, improve the vehicle reca
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Analysts believed that August was going to be the month the auto industry would post its first year-over-year increase for 2017. But then Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, leaving a path of destruction and extensive flooding. Sales for the month would drop 1.9 percent to 1.48 million vehicles when compared to the same month a year ago. "Harvey will also depress one of the most critical selling periods of the year, spanning the August sales month close and Labor Day weekend. In 2016, these 11 days
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 11, 2012 According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic deaths are at their lowest levels since 1949. NHTSA's preliminary numbers show an estimated 32,310 people died in traffic accidents last year, a 1.7% drop from 2010 where 32,885 people died. Deaths in traffic accidents has been decreasing by 26% since 2005. New England and the Great Lakes region saw the biggest decrease in car accident deaths in 2011, with
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 11, 2012 Automotive legend Caroll Shelby passed away last night at the age of 89 after a lengthy illness at the Baylor Hospital in Dallas, TX. Shelby's shadow extended nearly across automotive world. In the fifties, Shelby was a highly accomplished racer. He would win three U.S. sports-car championships, the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, and set land speed records at Bonneville. However, a heart condition in 1960 would cause him to stop raci
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 17, 2011 Steven Rattner, the former car czar that oversaw the federal bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, said on Thursday to the Detroit Economic Club that the Obama administration's Auto Task Force should have forced all the stakeholders, including the United Auto Workers, to make more sacrifices. "We asked all the stakeholders to make very significant sacrifices. We should have asked the UAW to do a bit more. We did not ask
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 18, 2011 Carbon Motors, the company behind the purpose-built E7 police vehicle sent a letter to President Obama's cabinet on Friday urging them to approve the company's Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan. Carbon Motors applied for ATVM loan program two years ago, but hasn't seen a cent of it. The letter goes on a point by point basis on why they deserve the loan, ranging from the environmental impac
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 15, 2012 Its been working its way through the halls of congress, but according to Car and Driver, the "black box" mandate for cars could be in the books. The Senate has already voted to adopt a transportation bill that has a provision mandating event data recorders to be equipped into new vehicles starting in 2015. The House of Representatives is considering a version with slightly different language. The current state of the bills are "
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 6, 2012 A month a after American Suzuki Corporation filled for bankruptcy and announced the closure of its automotive branch, 98% of its dealers (213 dealers) have agreed to a settlement offered by the company. The settlement would compensate dealers 50% within ten days of the agreement, with the rest following after the bankruptcy proceeding. The settlements also allow former dealers to operate as a service centers to provide warranty
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 15, 2012 Tesla announced this week they will begin to pay back their loans from the U.S. Government later this year. Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja told Bloomberg this week, "We are delivering on the milestones, what we're committed to...once we are delivering customer cars, that signifies completion of the project". This suggests once Tesla begins delivering the new Model S sedan out to customers, they will begin paying bac
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 29, 2013 Three computer scientists who were going to publish a paper on how to circumvent the security system that verifies the identity of an ignition key have been stopped by the UK High Court. Flavio Garcia, a computer science lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Baris Ege and Roel Verdult, two cryptography experts from Dutch university Stichting Katholieke were going to publish a paper at the Usenix Security Symposium in Washin
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 19, 2011 A new study from the University of Michigan says the proposed CAFE standards could actually make new cars larger, not smaller. The study used simulations of 473 different vehicles to figure how automakers could modify vehicle dimensions, implement fuel-saving technology features and trade off performance and fuel economy. Pricing was also taken into account. Their results showed that automakers would increase the size of ve
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 7, 2012 Today, Aston Martin announced that Italian private equity firm Investindustrial has purchased a 37.5% stake in the company for $241 million. Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar still holds a majority stake in the company. Aston Martin said the deal would allow them to pour $1 billion into new product, funding development through 2018. Investindustrial beat out Indian truck and tractor producer Mahindra and Mahindra. Andrea Bonomi, In
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The recovery process of Hurricane Harvey is in full swing and nowhere is this more apparent than the amount of people heading to dealers. Steven Wolf, chairman of the Houston Automotive Dealers Association tells Automotive News that dealers in the Houston area "abnormal" traffic as people come in looking for a replacement. The sudden rise isn't that surprising as the Houston metro area is about the size of New Jersey. Wolf said the first order business for many folks is to get back into a
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 30, 2013 Interested in buying a used car? Then we got some good news for you. According to Associated Press (via The Detroit News), prices of used cars are dropping. Despite hitting an all-time high back in 2011 thanks to fewer used cars in stock, prices since then have been declining. According to to data from auction company Manheim, the average sale price of a vehicle at auction in June was $11,031, down 6 percent when compared to the p
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 28, 2012 Chrysler and General Motors are banning campaign stops for the candidates running for the U.S. President. The banning hopes to sidestep criticism that might stem from the bailout the two automakers got back in 2008. "This fall, Chrysler will not host campaign events inside its facilities. The company is focused on meeting production demands," a Chrysler spokeswoman told Automotive News. “We’re a car company, not a political pla
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 17, 2012 Fisker has a lot of problems: money, delays, and an investigation into a Karma fire are just some of them. And it doesn't look like the problems are going to end soon. Inside EVs got their hands on some leaked documents that were dated "a few weeks ago" dealing with the new Atlantic sedan. First the bad news. Originally, Fisker said that production would begin in late 2012 before hitting the market in early 2013. The leaked docu
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 28, 2012 From the 'oh not this again' file; Spyker and Chinese automaker, Youngman have signed a new agreement for a joint venture to develop new vehicles. The deal has Youngman Automotive investing €10,000,000 (about $12.5 million ) for a 29.9% stake in Spyker. Youngman will also invest €25,000,000 (about $31 million) for the development of an all-new Spyker vehicle, the D8 P2P (Peking to Paris). You might remember this vehicle as the 2
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 10, 2012 NHTSA is expected to finalize a long-awaited proposal to make event data recorders, the 'black box' standard on all new vehicles. Last Thursday, the White House Office of Management Budget completed a review of the proposal which has cleared the way for NHTSA to finish up the final regulation. The proposed regulation would raise the percentage of vehicles required to have a black box from 91.6% today to 100%. The incremental
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 20, 2011 Tesla has released pricing and specifications of their upcoming Model S and it looks pretty good if the company can meet them. The Model S' pricing is broken down by battery capacity and the range, with the 40-kWh battery pack model starting at $57,400, the 60-kWh battery pack model starting at $67,400, and the 85-kWh battery pack model starting at $77,400. There will also be a performance model which will use the 85-kWh ba
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 21, 2012 The annual "Car Wars" report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch states that Ford, General Motors and Toyota will gain back share and that Hyundai and Kia will lose share by 2016. The report is based on the rate at which automakers launch new products. Ford has the highest rate with 26% of the lineup being replaced by 2016. GM follows next with 25% and Toyota is next with 24%. The report says with these replacement rates, Ford sho
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 6, 2013 New data from R.L. Polk released today shows that the average age of a vehicle in the U.S. stands at a record high of 11.4 years. That's 0.2 years higher from last year and and nearly two full years higher than in 2007. Passenger cars currently are the oldest vehicles on the road with an average of 11.4 years. Light trucks are not that far behind with an average age of 11.3 years. Interestingly, the volume of vehicles between 6
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com February 28, 2012 To say Fisker Automotive has been living in interesting times could be an understatement. Their first vehicle, the Karma only starting arriving back in December, when it was actually due out months earlier. Then in February, the company halted work on the Nina family sedan at their Wilmington, Del plant. That was due to them and Department of Energy hashing out new terms of a $529 million loan. Now, Fisker has announced tha
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 22, 2011 When the US Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood thinks the NTSB’s recommendation of banning mobile electronics is a bad idea, you know it’s a bad idea. Speaking with the Detroit News, LaHood states he doesn’t supports the NTSB’s recommendation. "The problem is not hands-free. That is not the big problem in America." LaHood has been banging the drum on distracted driving in the U.S. for awhile, with him prodding states to
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 7, 2013 Yesterday at at the Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars, General Motors' Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem told attendees that the reason young people aren't buying cars because they're not interested. It's more to do with economic reasons. Mohatarem downplayed the reason that young kids are more interested in the internet and what's the latest hot thing in tech, and pushed the rising costs of cars, repa
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 8, 2013 The Chicken Tax, a fifty year-old tariff put in place to tax 25 percent on all imported trucks could be gone in the near future. The U.S. is currently in talks currently in negotiations with the the Trans-Pacific Partnership over free-trade agreements. One of the countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership is Japan, a country that currently imposes strict restrictions on U.S. imports. The U.S. is using the elimination of the Chick
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 27, 2011 Mahindra, the company who promised to bring small diesel powered pickups to the US has been having their share of problems. Fallout between them and their importer, Global Vehicles USA and lawsuits from dealers have delayed the introduction. A couple of weeks ago, Mahindra Planet, "The Unofficial Mahindra U.S. News Source," reported that Mahindra and Navistar, the international truck and bus builder had worked out a deal to
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 4, 2012 With Saab officially bankrupt and its assets sold off, owners of Saab vehicles are now wondering where they should go for their next vehicle. Polk recently released a new study which looked at what former Saab owners now own. The study uses the Polk Disposal Loyalty Methodology, which looks what owners are selling whenever a new car is bought. The study found that Saab owners are moving to a wide variety of manufacturers. Hon
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 7, 2013 The Suzuki Kizashi, a model that was loved by many automotive writers and journalists (your's truly included), but never made a mark on consumers, will not get a second chance. According to Drive.com.au, Suzuki is unlikely to develop a replacement model. “That’s my headache. Kizashi was a very unlucky car,” said Suzuki’s Australian managing director Masaaki Kato. “We had so many arguments about the question: how to handle Kiza
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The US government is pulling back on some of their financial support for electric vehicles. Coming this Saturday, a tax credit which allows taxpayers to deduct 30% of the cost an electric vehicle charger (good for up to $30,000 in commercial cases) will be discontinued. If you're thinking the 30% deduction is a bit high, last year the deduction was set at 50%. "The timing of this couldn't be more unfortunate," coming just as more electric cars are on the way." said Genevieve Cullen, vice pres
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 29, 2012 Last fall, the Department of Transportation and eight automakers began a study to assess drivers' acceptance of accident-avoidance technologies. The study, called the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program put people on closed roads in cars that were equipped with the technologies and asked what did they think about it. Out of the 688 participants in the study, 92% wanted the technology in their vehicles and more than 90% believ
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Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com After 30 years, the ever increasing subsidy for ethanol produced from corn has expired. When Congress adjourned for the year last week, they did not renew the ethanol subsidy that has cost taxpayers some $45 billion during its lifetime. Every gallon of ethanol pumped provided corn growers with a 45 cent subsidy. Most of the savings from ending the subsidy to go towards reducing the US's budget deficit. At the same time, a 54 cent per gallon tariff on ethanol i
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 1, 2012 The Fisker Karma sports some sleek lines and daring proportions for an plug-in hybrid vehicle. The one it doesn’t sport is space. One only needs to see the Karma’s trunk to realize how much of a priority the design took over the space. However, at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, Fisker showed off the Surf concept. The Surf takes a regular Karma and extends its roofline with a hatchback/wagon/shooting brake body style to give
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com March 25, 2013 For a time, young buyers that wanted a vehicle ventured towards the Japanese brand since they offered the features and content they were looking for. Now the tide is changing with younger buyers going towards American and Korean brands. Bloomberg gathered data from Edmunds and R.L. Polk which showed American automakers increased their share of retail registrations by 1.9% with 18 to 24 year olds and 1.5% with 25 to 34 year old
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com May 31, 2012 Despite the fullsize car getting a kick in the pants with vehicles like the Chevrolet Impala, Toyota Avalon, and Ford Taurus, the fullsize car is becoming an endangered species. R.L. Polk & Co reports that the fullsize sedan market has seen its relevance halved. Fullsize sedans have seen their market share drop from slightly above 5% of all vehicles sold in 2006 to just 2.3% in the first three months of this year. Also, the
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com March 26, 2013 McLaren is hard at work on their next model that will slot below the MP4-12C as the automaker’s “entry-level” model, McLaren executive chairman Ron Dennis has confirmed to Autocar. Wearing the codename of P13, sources tell Autocarthe model will likely be designed as a Porsche 911 Turbo rival. Power will come a detuned version of McLaren’s twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8. Power is expected to somewhere in the middle of 450 and
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 15, 2013 A new mandate issued by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will make it somewhat easier for owners to access recall information on their vehicle. Announced yesterday, the mandate will require automakers to offer a free online tool that allows an owner to search recall information via a vehicle identification number or VIN. This allows an owner to instantly determine if their vehicle is involved in recall or not. "Sa
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 28, 2011 For the past decade, the best selling luxury brand has been Lexus. However, 2011 has been a fall of grace for Lexus and caused them to relinquish their top selling crowd. Now, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are fighting to see who becomes the top seller. At last tally, BMW holds a slight edge of Mercedes, selling 1,582 more vehicles than Mercedes in November. Now, entering the final month of 2012, both are going all out on incentive
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 11, 2013 With the 2014 Detroit Auto Show just a month away, the finalists for the 2014 North American Car and Truck of Year were announced. General Motors dominated the finalists with two models in the car category (Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Corvette) and one model in the truck/utility category (Chevrolet Silverado). Mazda takes the last spot in the cars with the new 3. In the truck/utility category, the Acura MDX and Jeep Cherokee jo
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 29, 2011 2012 is bring forth some significant changes for automakers that were planning to invest in China. The National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) and the Ministry of Commerce announced that January 30, 2012, the country will stop encouraging foreign investment in the auto industry. The NRDC states the decision was made to help nurture their domestic brands. Jenny Gu, a senior market analyst at LMC Automotive in Shang
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 3, 2012 With gas prices going up and up, automakers are offering fuel-efficient versions of their compact cars to help stretch a gallon of gas farther. Consumer Reports wanted to see if these fuel-efficient compact models are worth the extra $500 - $800 from their non fuel-efficient models. They picked up a Chevrolet Cruze Eco, Ford Focus SFE, and Honda Civic HF to test the claim. Each of the vehicles were equipped with an automatic tra
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Most new cars and trucks sitting on dealer lots have fuel economy estimates on their window sticker. The only group of vehicles that don't are heavy-duty trucks. This is due to the EPA not requiring automakers to publish estimates on trucks with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. This makes it difficult for folks to compare the heavy-duty trucks with one another or comparing the diesel variants with the light-duty gas versions. Consumer Reports doesn't believe it should be this way a
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 20, 2012 The Detroit Free Press reports electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt aren't garnering the same residual values as gas vehicles. The report cites data from Kelly Blue Book which estimates the 2012 Nissan Leaf will hold around 20% of its value after five years while a 2012 Nissan Sentra will hold around 30%. The 2012 Chevrolet Volt is predicted to hold around 30% while a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze will hold 38%. A
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com December 30, 2011 The UAW isn't giving up on their effort to organize plants in the south, rather they're changing their main focus. Originally, the UAW was going to target Japanese automakers. However, the UAW is now going after the German automakers. Reuters report that the UAW believes given Germany’s history of dealing with its strong IG Metall union, executives at the German automakers would be more to let UAW reps to talk workers. Gi
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 7, 2012 Tesla's sales and financials have been taking a plunge since the company pulled the plug on their only model, the Roadster last year. However, the company has great hopes for improvement when the new Model S is launched. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told shareholders yesterday that he is “highly confident” that the company will achieve sales of 20,000 vehicles in 2013. The Model S, which will start at $57,400 (before a $7,500 federal ta
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 8, 2012 Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced a new proposal that would make alternative-energy cars and trucks more attractive to buyers. Part of his proposal calls on Congress to change the current tax credit for plug-in vehicles into a point-of-sale rebate. Also he is calling for an increase in the maximum credit from $7,500 to $10,000. But plug-ins won't be the only vehicles getting a tax credit. Obama said he would like to
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January 2, 2013 By Drew Dowdell Managing Editor - CheersandGears.com Avis Budget Group and Zipcar, Inc. have announced an agreement where Avis Budget will aquire Zipcar for $12.25 a share or about $500 million total. Zipcar has about 760,000 members (including yours truly) across 20 metro markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe with locations at over 300 university campuses. Car sharing is now a $400 million per year business in the U.S. market alone. Avis Budget expects to gain $50 million t
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 8, 2012 Carbon Motors, the company behind the purpose-built E7 police vehicle will not be getting any of the $310 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program that it applied for almost three years ago. Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li says the company is a victim of politics. “We are outraged by the actions of the DOE and it is clear that this was a political decisio
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 8, 2012 Transportation secretary Ray LaHood has made it his mission to end distracted driving, calling it an “epidemic.” To help end it, LaHood and Department of Transportation has unveiled their Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving. The blueprint calls for: Get the last eleven holdout states to pass laws banning distracted driving. Challenge the auto industry to not provide vehicle content that the government considers distracti
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 26, 2013 The past couple of years has seen the rise of diesel powered vehicles in the U.S. Automakers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Chevrolet have introduced diesel vehicles to acclaim. Other automakers such as Mazda and Audi are readying vehicles to join in the fun. But there are still a number of roadblocks for automakers to bring diesel vehicles into the marketplace. To fight this, The Detroit News reports that Volkswagen is
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If you're looking a vehicle that has the best value in the marketplace, then according to Consumer Reports, you should be looking at the Toyota Prius. The publication announced the results of their annual Best New-Car Value analysis. The analysis looks at the five-year cost for a vehicle to an owner which includes such factors as maintenance, insurance, and depreciation. That cost is factored in with Consumer Reports’ road-test score and reliability rating for each vehicle. This is the second y
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 26, 2013 When Ford announced that it was lowering the fuel economy numbers of the C-Max Hybrid a couple of weeks ago, they said the EPA's fuel economy testing was unrealistic for hybrid vehicles. The EPA has come back this week and gave a clear message: "The problem here is really not how the testing is done." Christopher Grundler, the EPA's top auto industry regulator told Automotive News that the EPA's own engineers weren't sure if the
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com June 11, 2012 Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference keynote is coming to a close as you're reading this, and among the announcements of iOS6 and new laptops, Apple is making their way into the vehicle once again via a button. Called Eyes Free, its a button on the steering wheel that will activate Siri on your iPhone or iPad in the vehicle. Most likely paired with Bluetooth, Eyes Free will let you talk to Siri through the car, giving
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com January 4, 2013 The Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association lost again in court this week against Tesla. On Monday, Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman dismissed the dealers association's case on the grounds of lacking a standing to bring a case forth. This is the latest blow to the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association efforts to stop Tesla from running a store in Boston. Back in November, the Massachus
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com January 4, 2012 At next week's Detroit Auto Show, Volvo will show of a XC60 Plug-In Hybrid Concept. The XC60 Plug-In Hybrid Concept will sport a brand new 2.0L turbo-four producing 280 HP. The gas engine is mated to a 70 HP electric motor giving a combined power output of 350 HP. 0-60 takes around 5.8 seconds and can get 50 MPG. Drivers can choose from three different modes how much of the available power from the gas and electric motor are
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G.Noble Editor/Reporter CheersandGears.com March 10, 2012 Life hasn’t exactly been easy for the Chevrolet Volt. Although it was just recently named 2012 European Car of the Year in Opel Ampera guise, GM announced previous to the awarding they were suspending production for little over a month because of slow sales and dealers rejecting further allotments. On top of that, the Volt has had some image issues stemming from the NHTSA’s disclosure late last year about how an example they t-boned c
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 16, 2012 File this under the 'what are they thinking' file. According to Automotive News Europe, the Italian Industry Ministry is in continuing discussions with different potential buyers in the assets of De Tomaso. Yes, the same company name who brought you the Pantera back in the seventies. Back in 2011, the revitalized company showed a concept called the SLS, which looked like to be a BMW 5-Series GT with a bit of Italian flair. Pr
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 16, 2012 This year saw the average price of the used car reach an all-time high due to severe shortage of used vehicles. “The supply right now is so low, that is controlling everything in the used-market values. There just aren’t enough vehicles out there relative to used-car demand,” said Eric Lyman, ALG’s vice president of residual value solutions. However the supply is beginning to increase slowly thanks in part turn-around in new
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 16, 2012 If you're in the market for a pickup truck, there is some very good news for you. Truck manufacturers are offering rebates ranging from $1,500 to $4,500. So why the large rebates? Well, part of it is to make room for the 2013 models. The other part is due in part to GM. GM's supply of pickup trucks has been growing and growing due in part to the company making sure they have enough supply when they shut down their plants to r
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 18, 2012 McLaren has just dropped the first official images of its P1 design study that will be shown at the Paris Motor Show next week. Called the company's "next generation ultimate supercar", the P1 appears to take the proportions of the F1 supercar and the design of the current MP4-12C. "Our aim is not necessarily to be the fastest in absolute top speed but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a ci
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 31, 2013 The Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program could be making a comeback. First introduced back in 2008 by then President George Bush, the ATVM program set aside $25 billion to fund advancements in green vehicle technology. However the program was suspended three years after due to two companies who took loans weren't able to pay them back. When the program was suspended, the Energy Department only gave out ab
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Buying and selling vehicles in Cuba is an interesting proposition. If you own or want to buy a vehicle before 1959 (the year when Cuba underwent a revolution and became a communist nation), you don't have to ask the government for permission. If the vehicle built after 1959, then you would have to obtain a special permit from the government which allows you to buy that vehicle. But buying a vehicle in Cuba in the near future will become a much easier affair. The Cuban Government announced last
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 13, 2012 Even after its release, Fisker has been having their share of problems with the new Karma; battery defects, software problems, and Consumer Reports having their Karma die during their testing. A former Fisker employee isn't surprised. The employee told GigaOM that Fisker pushed the Karma before it was production ready to try and meet its milestones from the Department of Energy for its $529 million loan. Unfortunately, the re
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 3, 2013 In not surprising news, California is the place where most electric vehicles are being sold. New data from Polk says that more than more than 35 percent of electric vehicles registrations come from two California cities: San Francisco and Los Angeles. The California New Car Dealers Association says in the first half of this year, 9,700 electric vehicles were registered and represented 1.1 percent of the state’s auto sales. “A
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Kelly Blue Book has listed the ten vehicles that deprecate at alarming rate and top three happen to be electric vehicles. The Nissan Leaf according to KBB is projected to only retain 18 percent of its new-car price after five years. Behind the Leaf is the Fiat 500e which is expected to retain 21 percent and the Smart ForTwo EV which is expected to retain 21.5 percent. Few key items to keep in mind: Fiat 500e is only available to lease in California A number of automakers, like Nissan have
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com January 4, 2012 It's not any news that cars are getting heavier by the moment due to new safety reguations and luxuries like power windows and sound proofing. A new report shows how both have been detrimental to fuel economy gains. Christopher Knittel, a professor of applied economics at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management published a paper in the American Economic Review stating that if weight, horsepower, and torque were held to levels i
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com June 19, 2012 The internet is a wonderful place for things to leak out before their official debut. The latest leak comes from Aston Martin as their new flagship, the Vanquish was revealed before its official debut. From the few pictures that were leaked, the Vanquish appears to be mix of the current DB9 and some new designs. Under the body lies a heavily revised version of Aston Martin’s VH platform. Power will come from a revised 6.0L V12 en
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 14, 2012 Back in 2008, then Presidential candidate Barack Obama made a pledge to have a million electric vehicles on the nation’s roadways by 2015. Obama reiterated that pledge during his 2011 State of Union address. But a new report from the White House called the “One Year Progress Report” of the President’s “Blueprint For A Secure Energy Agenda” shows the goal won't be reached. President Obama stated last year that “with more resea
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 15, 2012 The hopes and dreams of having a small diesel Indian pickup in the U.S. are now put to rest. A British arbitration panel ruled in favor of Mahindra, the pickup truck maker in question in a lawsuit with their U.S. distributor, Global Vehicles. The panel said in their verdict the contract between the two companies had expired and that Mahindra had not violated the terms of the contract or any U.S. laws. This verdict ends a six y
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com June 21, 2012 Despite an early showing yesterday, Aston Martin has officially revealed the new Vanquish. The Vanquish will take the place of the DBS when it goes on sale in 2013. The Vanquish’s exterior design is a blend of the current DBS and Aston’s One-77 super car. Underneath the sleek design, the Vanquish’s body is comprised mostly of carbon fiber. As we reported on Tuesday, the new Vanquish will ride on Aston Martin’s venerable VH plat
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 26, 2012 On the surface, everything seems bright and sunny at Tesla. The company has begun production of the new Model S sedan, introduced a new charging network for Model S drivers that uses solar energy, and is in the process of planning new models. But, Tesla is showing some signs of setbacks of becoming an automaker. In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Tesla has downgraded their full-year revenue forecast from $
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com January 5, 2012 A study done by consulting firm KPMG found out two-thirds of auto execs that combined hybrid and EV sales will account for as little as 6% of the market in the United States and Western Europe as late as 2025. However, the execs say they will still invest in the technology. "They are hedging their bets. They are saying that we don't know yet what the winning vehicle technology will be for the future, and so they are going to
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com June 21, 2012 The EPA gave its ratings for the Tesla Model S are they are very good. The EPA rates the new Model S at 88 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) in the City, 90 MPGe on the Highway, and 89 MPGe combined. Range is estimated to be 265 Miles, a 12% decrease from Tesla’s original estimate. (Note, these EPA ratings are for the the top of the line Model S. We’ll learn what the ratings for the other Model Ss in time.) So where does the M
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com March 16, 2012 This week, Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee criticized the Energy Department on their handling of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing initiative. Created in 2007, the Energy Department has only given out less than half of the funds during the four years of existence. Only four companies have gotten their loans; Ford, Nissan, Fisker Automotive, and Tesla. The Energy Department hasn’t
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com January 13, 2013 We're just a day away from the Detroit Auto Show starting and the leaks have been pouring out. Four automakers: Honda, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen have had their showings prematurely revealed within the past week. We'll start with Honda and their Urban SUV Concept. The concept is based on the Fit and has a sporty and dynamic SUV profile. Next is the Infinti Q50 (Yes, the successor to the G Sedan) which was leak
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 10, 2013 Ford, General Motors, and Ram are continuing their stance on ignoring the SAE testing procedure for towing ratings according to Automotive News. The procedure, named J2807, is designed to reflect how the pickups are really used, and are supposed to be more accurate than the non-SAE numbers, which manufacturers supply. The procedure tests a pickup’s structure, propulsion, handling, braking, and thermal-handling ability, in a se
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 26, 2012 The calm before the storm that is the auto show season. The beginning point is the Paris Motor Show which begins tomorrow. However, some automaker have made the decision to reveal some of their products and concepts a day earlier. The automakers include Jaguar, Bentley, and Porsche. Lets dive in Next: Jaguar Jaguar's showing for Paris was the new F-Type. Rumored for many years, Jaguar has finally brought a small, two-se
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William Maley Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com January 6, 2012 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released their numbers of recalls done by automakers in 2011. The total for 2011 stands at 15.5 million vehicles and 593 recall campaigns. The numbers are less than 2010 totals of 20.1 million vehicles and 648 campaigns. Honda was the top automaker in recalls with 3.9 million vehicles recalled during 2011. Honda initially disputed the number put out by NHTSA, but later
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 1, 2012 Automotive News is reporting that Ford and General Motors have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop next-generation nine and ten-speed automatic transmissions. Sources say that General Motors will take the lead on developing the nine-speed transmission for front-wheel drive and transverse applications. Ford will take on the ten-speed for rear-wheel drive applications. This isn't the first time that Ford and G
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 15, 2013 Back in October, we reported that Ford and General Motors signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop next-generation nine and ten-speed automatic transmissions. Today, both auto manufacturers have gone on the record and confirmed this joint operation. The two automakers aren't saying which specific vehicles will get the nine and ten-speed transmissions, but did say the transmissions are designed for front- and rea
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 16, 2013 With gas prices on the rise, you would think sales of subcompact vehicles would also be rising? No. Wards Auto reports that subcompact sales are off since October, even though the price of a gallon of gas is rising and holding steady at $3.50 to $4.00 across the country. So why the drop off in subcompacts? Wards has a couple ideas to explain this. For one, the reason might lie in the boom/bust cycle that comes as a result of n
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com June 28, 2012 The average age of a vehicle in the U.S. has hit a record high. According to Experian Automotive, the average age of the 245 million vehicles registered in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2012 was 11 years. That's an increase of just over 2 months when compared to last year. Experian Automotive goes onto say that more than 52 million cars and trucks in the U.S. are 16 years or older. Experian Automotive's analysis also found
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com June 29, 2012 Today, BMW and Toyota unveiled more of their plans from their partnership announced last December. The plans include development of a hydrogen fuel-cell system, collaboration on electric powertrains, work on lightweight technologies, and development of a new sports car. "Toyota and the BMW Group share the same strategic vision of sustainable individual future mobility. Together we have a great opportunity to continue leading our i
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By William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com April 22, 2013 AAA recently released their annual ‘Your Driving Costs’ study and finds that average American driver is now paying $9,122 per year to keep their vehicle on the road, an increase of 1.92% when compared to 2012. Assuming a person is driving around 15,000 miles a year, that breaks down 60.8 cents per mile. The study looks at the costs of keeping a vehicle on road such as gas, maintenance, and insurance to name a few. “Many facto
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William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com September 17, 2013 Analysts are predicting that new car sales could reach pre-crash levels possibly next year. Sales in 2014 are projected to rise to 16.1 million vehicles, just shy of the 16.15 million cars sold in 2007. Part of this increase is coming from automakers building better products. Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors are real contenders in the compact and midsize marketplace. Also, Korean automakers are giving everyone in the indust
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Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems today said it has sold its automotive business to Johnson Controls and is filing for bankruptcy protection. The moves are a change in strategy for the ailing Waltham, MA-based company, which in August said it will sell an 80 percent share to the auto parts division of Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang for $450 million. Johnson Controls will acquire a significant set of assets for its $125 million investment, some of which were paid with federal aid. A123 Syst
Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems today said it has sold its automotive business to Johnson Controls and is filing for bankruptcy protection.
The moves are a change in strategy for the ailing Waltham, MA-based company, which in August said it will sell an 80 percent share to the auto parts division of Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang for $450 million.
Johnson Controls will acquire a significant set of assets for its $125 million investment, some of which were paid with federal aid. A123 Systems’ auto business includes its technology, two battery factories in Michigan, a cathode powder manufacturing facility in China, and A123’s stake in two auto parts suppliers in China. Johnson Controls also will put up $72.5 million so A123 can maintain operations during the sale.
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A big complaint you'll hear from journalists covering the Detroit Auto Show is the month that it is held. January is a miserable time in the north with cold temperatures and endless amounts of snow. But there could be some relief coming. The Wall Street Journal has learned from various sources that organizers of the show are considering moving the show from January to October. Crain's Detroit Business adds that show officials have been floating this idea for more than a year with automakers
You mean we can attend the show when it is warm?!
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In a move that was expected to happen soon, the EPA announced that it plans to revise the fuel-efficiency regulations that were approved during the President Obama administration. “The Obama EPA’s determination was wrong. Obama’s EPA cut the midterm evaluation process short with politically charged expediency, made assumptions about the standards that didn’t comport with reality and set the standards too high,” said EPA chief Scott Pruitt in a statement today. The statement goes on t
You can guess who likes and despises this
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Kalashnikov, the Russian company best known for making the AK-47 assault rifle is planning to enter the growing electric-vehicle market. Last week at the Army 2018 International Military Technical Forum in Kubinka, Russia, Kalashnikov unveiled the CV-1 concept. The design is inspired by the Soviet Izh-Kombi hatchback built between 1973 and 1997. There are some modern touches such as LED headlights and a set of lightweight wheels. Technical details are scarce, with Kalashnikov saying the mod
Yes, the maker of the AK-47 built an EV concept
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The Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) has been giving automakers in Europe various headaches. As we reported last week, Volkswagen has pushed back the U.S. launch of the Arteon to help boost inventory in Europe due to a delay in WLTP testing. Other automakers aren't so lucky. According to Automotive News Europe, a number German automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have halted sales of some plug-in hybrids due to WLTP. In the new procedure, the way that
WTLP Strikes Again (cue dramatic music)
