Category Archives: news analysis

Pew – Digital Commerce Platforms Help and Exploit Workers

About 24% of Americans earned money from the digital platform economy in the past year as gig work is blurring the lines between formal and casual labor, “jobs” and hobbies. Continue reading

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Rail Roads Can Save Lives

The OneRail Coalition released a new study today, “Rail Safety in the United States” that highlighted a 31% decline in rail accidents over the past 10 years, making rail transport significantly safer than other transportation. Continue reading

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Hyundai Motor America Shows Ioniq Unlimited EV

The Ioniq Unlimited will be available in California in early 2017 with no down payment in an EV market that is struggling at less than 1% of total U.S. sales of more than 17 million units annually. Continue reading

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Mercedes-Maybach Convertible Debuts at Los Angeles

The Mercedes Maybach S650 Convertible debuted today at the Los Angeles Auto show as a, deserved, limited-edition model – 300 worldwide and 75 units in the U.S. Continue reading

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U.S. Thanksgiving: 48.7 Million Traveling. Most on Wheels

AAA projects that 48.7 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving, an increase of one million travelers compared with last year. Continue reading

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Collision Course – Trump, Mexico, NAFTA

Despite what appears to be Trumps ill-informed trade views – if they are informed at all – CAR using data, not diatribes, observes that the major reason for this rapid growth of the auto industry in Mexico comes from the injection of $13.3 billion in investment to move 3.3 million units of vehicle capacity from Japan, Germany, and South Korea to Mexico Continue reading

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Trump versus Auto Industry – Outcome Could be Ugly

The crucial question – and unknown – is to what extent campaign rhetoric translates into real policy decisions under a Trump administration. In gridlocked Washington, this won’t be known for, well, who knows how long? Continue reading

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Toyota to Export from Turkey the C-HR to Canada and U.S.

The election of the Donald Trump TI model (Tariff Isolationist)* brings an interesting twist to the announcement today that Toyota will export into Canada and the U.S. its new compact C-HR crossover, which debuted last November as a Scion concept in Los Angeles. (Maybe it should have been called the Scion RIP?) Continue reading

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Unifor Autoworkers Ratify Ford Canada Contract

The new agreement achieved the union’s top priority to secure investment, product and jobs at the Windsor operations and it follows the pattern of financial gains achieved with GM and Fiat-Chrysler. Continue reading

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Volkswagen Dumps FIA World Rally Championship

Both FIA sanctioned racing series were ruinously expensive. Now VW is facing seemingly unending expenses in the dieselgate matter. More criminal charges are also under investigation. A proposed new customer racing program and the extension of existing ones will cut costs, and might even make money. Continue reading

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Toyota Mobility Services Via Car Sharing Firm Getaround

Toyota Motor will establish a Mobility Services Platform (MSPF) to collaborate with various car sharing providers, as well as telematics insurance. Continue reading

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ExxonMobil Under Scrutiny for Its Climate Change Propaganda

In a disturbing development with broad First Amendment implications, ExxonMobil is lashing out against the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and others – in the words of UCS, “who feel they are holding them accountable for their decades of deception.” Continue reading

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IBM and GM Debut a “Cognitive Mobility Platform”

Translation: more distracted driving enablers are coming. OnStar has more connected vehicles on the road than any other automaker. By the end of 2016, GM expects to have 12 million OnStar connected vehicles on the road worldwide. Continue reading

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Audi Dumps World Endurance Cup Racing and Le Mans after 18 Years of Success for Boring Formula E?

Unsaid was the Formula E incentives involved – rule changes, appearance money and / or a share of the F1E gate, not that racing organizations ever do such things . Continue reading

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Toyota Poland to Produce Hybrid Transaxles, New Engines

TMIP is currently manufacturing only diesel engines. However, the European market is moving towards an increased share of gasoline, hybrid and electric vehicles. Continue reading

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