Category Archives: news analysis

License Plate Recognition is a Valuable not Abusive Tracking Claims Pressure Group. After NSA that’s Tough to Believe

Posted on 7 August 2013 by Ken Zino

License plate recognition technology is a tool that helps law enforcers solve crimes and save lives, according to a new survey of law enforcement professionals. However, license plate readers mounted on police cars or on road signs and bridges, use small, high-speed cameras to photograph thousands of plates per minute as federal and state governments continue their relentless pursuit of spying and abusive data collection, according to critics. The TSA is subsidizing the technology under the Obama Administration through grants to buy the readers. Continue reading →

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Japanese U.S. Auto Industry Exports at Record

Posted on 6 August 2013 by Ken Zino

The news comes as trade tensions are rising between the U.S. and Japan over Japan’s manipulation of the Yen by keeping it artificially low to boost sales of Japanese products while blocking imports into Japan. Continue reading →

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U.S. July Jobs Numbers are Dreadful

Posted on 2 August 2013 by Ken Zino

Even though the latest economic data show that the contraction during the Great Recession was slightly less severe than previously reported, it remains the largest decline since quarterly data became available in 1947. Cumulatively, real GDP fell by 4.3% during the recession. Moreover, the jobs lost then have never been recovered. Continue reading →

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Offshore Brands Move Ahead in July. Toyota outsells Ford

Posted on 2 August 2013 by Ken Zino

GM by slightly outperforming an overall market that was up 14% easily held onto its Number One spot in the U.S. at 234,071 vehicles sold. However, Ford Motor slipped to Number Three as Toyota had a stronger month with sales soaring to 193,394 to Ford’s 190,080. March of 2010 was the last time Toyota topped Ford and with new Corolla compact car and Tundra pickup trucks just entering production, the back half of the year will see a battle royal between the two global automakers. Continue reading →

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DOT Wants to Eliminate Needless Trucking Paperwork

Posted on 2 August 2013 by Ken Zino

In what has been a largely symbolic act, President Obama launched the Administration’s regulatory initiative in January 2011 by issuing Executive Order 13563. That called for a government-wide review of regulations on the books, with the goal of eliminating or modifying out-of-date, ineffective or overly burdensome regulations. Not much of substance came from the bureaucracy. Continue reading →

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Electric Cars and Solar Cells are not so Clean

Posted on 1 August 2013 by Ken Zino

“Stating that an electric car is clean is like saying that a light bulb is clean. Light bulbs do not produce exhaust, but it doesn’t mean we can use them with zero emissions. The same holds true for electric cars,” said Zehner in an NPR interview Monday. Continue reading →

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Ford to Pay Record $17.35 Million NHTSA Fine on Recall

Posted on 1 August 2013 by Ken Zino

This was apparently the second plea bargain by an automaker this year to avoid protracted litigation with NHTSA over a safety defect. Chrysler recently negotiated a deal on Jeep gas tank fires. Neither automaker admitted guilt in the NHTSA deals, an important defense in product liability litigation that always surrounds major recalls. If the document was leaked from the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, then the agency is in clear violation of SEC regulation FD, for full disclosure, which says in essence that material information should be released to all, not selectively. Continue reading →

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Fiat SpA Q2 Profit at $188 Million – all from Chrysler

Posted on 31 July 2013 by Ken Zino

Fiat SpA [F.MI] posted a Q2 profit of €142 million or ~$188 Million largely because of the contribution of Chrysler Group where it owns a 58.5% stake courtesy of a U.S. taxpayer financed bailout of the Detroit Three automaker. The northern Italian company would have lost €247 million without Chrysler Group because its European sales dropped 5% during the period. Q2 revenues increased 4% to €22 billion. Continue reading →

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$507 Million Chrysler Q2 Profit. New Cherokee Sales on Hold!

Posted on 30 July 2013 by Ken Zino

However, the positive trend is threatened in the second half of the year by the admission by Sergio Marchionne – he had to since it’s material to results under SEC regulations – that the new Jeep Cherokee was not shipping as planned starting in June even though it is in production in Ohio due to an unspecified calibration problem on its 9-speed ZF supplied transmission. Continue reading →

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Cuts to 2014 EPA Budget Threatens Auto Emissions Rules

Posted on 26 July 2013 by Ken Zino

Not surprisingly since the chairman is Hal Rogers, a Republican from Kentucky, the legislation reflects significant efforts to cripple the EPA – “an agency that has been rife with governmental overreach, overspending on ineffective and unnecessary programs, and costly and questionable regulations.” The bill funds the EPA at $5.5 billion, a reduction of $2.8 billion – or -34% – below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level. Continue reading →

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Toyota and Ford Trash Truck Hybrid JV

Posted on 24 July 2013 by Ken Zino

In a separate release earlier in the day, which likely caused the Toyota statement and also likely caught the reticent Japanese by surprise, Ford said “We know what it takes to build world-class hybrids, and we now will build and leverage that expertise in-house. Continue reading →

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July U.S. Sales Projected as Hot – up 12%

Posted on 20 July 2013 by Ken Zino

Not all this is good news for automakers in general, and specifically the Detroit Three. Drastic capacity cuts during the Great Recession have caught them out with the market recovery volumes approaching 16 million now running at least a year ahead of earlier forecasts. Mandatory overtime and cancelled vacations are the rule of the day, which ultimately will wear down UAW and workers at Japanese companies and inevitably lead to quality declines. Continue reading →

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2015 Mustang Goes Global with RHD models. Confirmation Coming in August at Jim Farley Australian Press Bash

Posted on 18 July 2013 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor, reeling from the negative backlash on plans to shut down all its manufacturing operations in Australia, will counter with what it hopes will be good news by confirming the next generation Mustang due in 2015 will go global and offer right-hand-drive models. Continue reading →

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Consumer Electronics Association Denies Distracted Driving

Posted on 17 July 2013 by Ken Zino

In a cynical, profit-motivated move, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association today said he would support a campaign to end texting and driving. “I have made a personal commitment not to text and drive, and to use my devices ‘responsibly’ while operating my car,” claimed Gary Shapiro the head of the pressure group for the $209 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. Continue reading →

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Class Action Suit Filed Against MyFord Touch System

Posted on 16 July 2013 by Ken Zino

A well-know, or infamous, national law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Ford Motor Company’s MyFord Touch, MyLincoln Touch and MyMercury Touch touchscreen systems are defective. The firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro claims that the system often freezes, fails to respond to voice and touch commands and will not connect to mobile phones. Continue reading →

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