Category Archives: news analysis

Ford Reorganizes Again Under Product Line Management Flag

Posted on 28 August 2018 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor is traveling well-worn pothole ridden roads. The move comes as Ford stock continue to languish below $10 a share of common as Wall Street remains skeptical of it future earnings potential. Continue reading →

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Ford Opens Corktown Station to Community as Mustang puts Camaro and GM on Trailer During Woodward Dream Cruise

Posted on 20 August 2018 by Ken Zino

Ford said that a diverse gathering of millennial tech and business talent explored new avenues to grow an inclusive tech and entrepreneur ecosystem in and around the iconic Michigan Central Station, the centerpiece of Ford’s new campus and a cornerstone of the company’s vision to become the world’s most trusted mobility company, whatever that means. Continue reading →

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Ford Releases Self-Driving Vehicle Safety Assessment

Posted on 16 August 2018 by Ken Zino

The 44-page document, titled “A Matter of Trust,” details Ford’s “prioritization of safety” during self-driving vehicle development, as well as how the company is working with industry and government, and how it is applying the technology to solve the challenges our cities face. It’s partly technical but looks to be largely a marketing document design to sell self-driving vehicles to potential buyers. Continue reading →

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Ford to Unveil New Model During Woodward Dream Cruise Tomorrow. Mustang NASCAR Cup Edition Coming?

Posted on 15 August 2018 by Ken Zino

This remains ‘Merican pavement pulverizing territory. The burnt rubber on Woodward avenue in the run up to the Dream Cruise with the prelude of Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge at the MI Concourse just off Woodward in Pontiac are just the latest examples. With American passenger cars now an endangered species, the pony cars thrive. I’ll wager the Mustang is the last passenger car assembled by FMC after the crossover tidal wave finishes washing though the auto industry and it wrestles with connect and self-driving vehicles. Continue reading →

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Can New Ferrari CEO Camilleri Meet Marchionne’s Targets?

Posted on 13 August 2018 by Ken Zino

Ferrari stock year-to-date gained 19.1% compared to the 6.2% the S&P 500 Index. The stocks of other automakers are laughably weak. Fiat Chrysler (FCA) -5.2%, General Motors (GM) -8%, and Ford (F) -18.7% were easily lapped by the Prancing Horse. Continue reading →

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SAE to Administer Autonomous Testing Program

Posted on 13 August 2018 by Ken Zino

The program is long, long overdue with Google and automakers such as Daimler, GM, Ford and FCA – among others – are well underway to turning loose on the untrained public semi-automated and fully automated vehicles. Waymo – the Google driverless car will be in service in Arizona this fall. Apple is expanding its fleet of driverless vehicles in California. Continue reading →

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Global Warming Floods Big Population Coastline Counties

Posted on 7 August 2018 by Ken Zino

“With the exception of 2005 to 2006, a year marked by an intense hurricane season that included three of the costliest hurricanes on record (Katrina, Rita and Wilma), the population in Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties grew every year from 2000 to 2016,” says Darryl T. Cohen is a geographer in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division. Continue reading →

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US DOT and EPA Want to Slash Fuel Economy Standards. Trump Administration Proposal Has Many Critics

Posted on 3 August 2018 by Ken Zino

The Trump Administration claimed that the new national automobile fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards will give the American people greater access to safer, more affordable vehicles that are cleaner for the environment. Continue reading →

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Ongoing Death of the Diesel: Toyota Shows Next Gen Zero Emissions Heavy-Duty Fuel-Cell Truck

Posted on 2 August 2018 by Ken Zino

Toyota put another shovel of dirt on the diesel engine grave by unveiling the second iteration of its hydrogen fuel cell electric Class 8 truck before a crowd of media and industry leaders during the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars in Northern Michigan. Continue reading →

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Death of the Diesel Continues: CARB Probe Prompts Recall of 500,000 Cummins Trucks

Posted on 2 August 2018 by Ken Zino

The recall number includes about 232,000 Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 vehicles with Cummins engines that had the same SCR defect. Recalls for those vehicles were approved in July 2016 and July 2017, respectively, and are already underway. Continue reading →

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Global Warming to Be Twice as Bad as Predicted

Posted on 30 July 2018 by Ken Zino

Yet these significant observed changes are generally underestimated in climate model projections that focus on the near term. Compared to these past observations, climate models appear to underestimate long term warming and the amplification of warmth in Polar Regions. Continue reading →

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Lightweighting Avant-Garde – GM, BMW, Asahi Kasei, Mazda, Sika Automotive

Posted on 30 July 2018 by Ken Zino

The winner in the Full Vehicle category was the behemoth General Motors’ 2019 Chevrolet Silverado, which weighed in at 450 pounds (204.5 kilograms) lighter than its predecessor. GM was caught napping by Ford when it introduced its aluminum intensive F-Series –long the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. Continue reading →

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Auto Workers Oppose Trump Tariffs that Would Destroy Jobs

Posted on 24 July 2018 by Ken Zino

The United States directly benefits from GM’s ability to maintain a competitive edge and maximize the effectiveness of our operations on a global scale. The majority of the profits we earn from our global production and sales come back to the United States to support jobs, investments in our plants, and advanced R&D. Continue reading →

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Recalls from Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mazda and VW

Posted on 23 July 2018 by Ken Zino

When an automaker or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) concludes that a vehicle creates an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards( often because of customer complaints), the manufacturer is required to fix that vehicle at no cost to the owner. Continue reading →

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Toyota Launches Car Sharing in Honolulu

Posted on 12 July 2018 by Ken Zino

Seventy Toyota and Lexus vehicles are available for reservation through the Hui mobile app (for iOS and Android devices) by the hour or day at 25 “easily accessible” locations. Continue reading →

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