Category Archives: news analysis

Unifor Saves Some Canadian Jobs as GM Blinks on Oshawa

This fight has international ramifications stretching beyond next year when the Canadian autoworkers and the UAW contracts expire at the Detroit Three. While not official, this makes the beginning of bargaining table battles that will cast a large shadow on the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Continue reading

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Hispanics and Millennials – Big Changes in 2020 Electorate

Non-whites will account for a third of eligible voters – their largest share ever – driven by long-term increases among certain groups, especially Hispanics. At the same time, one-in-ten eligible voters will be members of Generation Z,  the Americans who will be between the ages 18 and 23 next year. That will occur as Millennials and all other older generations account for a smaller share of eligible voters than they did in 2016. Continue reading

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Ford Motor Q1 Results Improve Somewhat

Overall Ford continues to struggle finding a balance between global operations, product mix, manufacturing efficiency, shareholder returns and changing into an automobility company that can compete with old industry giants and emerging new ones such as Lyft, Google and Uber. Continue reading

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US Economy Showing Some Growth in Q1

Government spending and tax policies – particularly at the state and local level – added three-fourths of a percentage point to growth in inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest reading. Continue reading

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Ford, Autonomic, Amazon Web Services to Collaborate on Advanced Vehicle Connectivity. Future Boon or Debacle?

Ford Motor Company and the creators of the Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC) Autonomic have signed a multi-year, global agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will allegedly expand the availability of cloud connectivity services and connected car application development services for the transportation industry. Continue reading

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Watt? Electric Cars Cause Another Great Generational Divide

While there are still some barriers and mis-perceptions to address – to put it mildly and euphemistically –  there are also findings from the study that “inspire confidence that electric cars are on track to become the norm for drivers of all ages. Both Millennials and Boomers overwhelmingly agree—despite some stark generational differences on electric car knowledge—electric is the future of automobiles.” (Autocrat: show us the money not the hype) Continue reading

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Cayenne Coupé Marks Asian Premiere

Porsche delivered more than 31,000 units of the Cayenne in China in 2018, representing an increase of 19% compared with the previous year in the slowing Chinese market. With more than 80,000 shipped vehicles, China was once again the biggest individual market for Porsche in 2018. Continue reading

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Carlisle on Cadillac Investment Plan Promises

Steve Carlisle, president of Cadillac, said today at the New York International Auto Show discussed its 10-year plan to rebuild the Cadillac brand and recapture a leadership position in the global luxury landscape. “Today, following years of intense and strategic … Continue reading

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Ford Shakes Up Top Management. Again.

Ford Motor Company today announced leadership changes in the ongoing remake of its under-performing business (Ford Motor Company Declares Q2 Dividend of $0.15*). Joe Hinrichs is appointed president, Automotive, effective May 1. In this role, he will lead Ford’s drive to strengthen its Automotive operations and help deliver a sustainable global EBIT margin of at least 8%, about half that of the world’s leading automotive groups. Continue reading

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UK – Majority HORRIFIED by Idea of Driverless Cars

The latest findings might worry policy makers, safety advocates and politicians who are doggedly insisting that driverless cars be introduced onto not only the UK’s roads, but in other western economies. Continue reading

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EU Antitrust Allegations to Hurt BMW Earnings – €1 Billion!

The BMW Group provision will likely exceed €1 billion. The EBIT margin in the BMW Automotive Segment for the current financial year is expected to be 1-1.5 percentage points below the previous target range of 6-8%. Continue reading

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If Trump Closes the Mexican Border, the Entire U.S. Auto Industry Shuts Down in Days

There are few vehicles assembled in the United States that do not rely on Mexico for at least some parts content. Vehicle assembly is the quintessential “complete set” — an assembly plant cannot build a partial vehicle. Even if a few relatively minor parts are missing, automakers do not make a practice of storing the vehicles and then repairing them when the parts are ready. This repair work alone creates the potential for quality issues. Since it is impossible to do a partial build, the assembly plant and many of its associated supplier plants will be idle until the automaker can obtain sufficient stock to relaunch production. Continue reading

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More and/or Less – What Americans Know about Science

There are striking differences in levels of science knowledge by education as well as by racial and ethnic group. Men tend to score higher than women on the science knowledge scale, but gender differences are not consistent across questions in the scale. And political party groups are roughly similar in their overall levels of science knowledge, although conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats tend to score higher on the scale than do their more moderate counterparts. Continue reading

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Brexit Bloody Hell! Now Stock Exchange Issues

Well, it seems that there are risks posed by jurisdictional share trading obligations, which “could increase market fragmentation and impose unnecessary costs on investors,” the SEC said in a whistling past the graveyard observation. Hell, it’s not even clear that the UK can continue to be a key market for funds and fund managers in the United States. Continue reading

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Ghosn Fallout – Nissan Board Changes

Nissan claims that building the best possible corporate governance structure as an urgent task and is working on swift implementation of a new organization. The company is now preparing an internal system to enable transition by the end of June, in expectation of receiving shareholder approval at the scheduled Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Continue reading

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