Category Archives: auto news

US Department of Transportation Budget for FY 2023 – $142B

Automobility moves America by supporting a total of 10.3 million American jobs, or ~8% of private-sector employment; direct, indirect, and stimulated jobs supported by the auto industry create $650 billion in paychecks for millions of workers; Every job for an auto manufacturer in the United States creates ~11 other positions in industries in the economy. Continue reading

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German Automakers Bearing Brunt of Putin’s War on Ukraine

“The war in Ukraine has led to plant closures across Germany and a likely loss of around 150k units in March alone,” James Norris, Senior Analyst, European Light Vehicle Production at the respected LMC Automotive consultancy said today. By the … Continue reading

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EPA Publishes Plan to Achieve Biden-Harris Priorities

Ruckelshaus was appointed by President Nixon when the agency was created in 1970 and Republicans cared about the environment. Among his many accomplishments was the banning of the deadly pesticide DDT. Ruckelshaus, resigned as deputy attorney general rather than institute President Richard M. Nixon’s illegal order to fire the independent special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox in the constitutional crisis of 1973 dubbed the “Saturday Night Massacre.” Only a small, but significant number of Republicans have had the courage to do so under the ousted-by-legal-voters, treasonous Trump Administration whose still ongoing constitutional crisis’ and corruption scandals have now implicated the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife was calling for the overthrow of  the duly elected government. Continue reading

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GM Canada – Marissa West now President, Scott Bell moves to VP Global Chevrolet in US

West holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University. Marissa has four children with her husband Bob. Continue reading

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First Look – Maserati Grecale SUV

Three versions are now rolling out: GT, powered by a four-cylinder mild hybrid engine capable of delivering 300 hp; Modena, with a four-cylinder 330-hp mild hybrid engine; and the Trofeo, equipped with a high-performance 3.0L 530-hp petrol V6 based on the Nettuno engine of the MC20. Continue reading

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UK Plans to Up EV Chargers to 300K by 2030.

 “Ambitious and innovative chargepoint operators are already committed to installing an additional 15,000 rapid chargepoints across England’s entire road network, a quadrupling of the current offer,  and over 100,000 on-street chargepoints by 2025,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. Continue reading

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Failed Negotiations, Lockout – Rolls-Royce Canada on Strike

“We find it unconscionable that the company in the middle of negotiations opted for a lockout rather than a social dialogue, particularly bearing in mind that the 530 specialized workers at the Côte-de-Liesse factory have been without a collective agreement since March 2020,” said IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie. Continue reading

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Electrify America Redesigns its Charging Stations

Basically, it is adding things such as solar canopies and awnings, customer waiting areas and other customer-focused services at some locations. The company plans to showcase this transition with installation in 2022 and 2023 in select new flagship charging facilities in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego and Beverly Hills, California and in New York within Manhattan and Brooklyn. Currently the company has flagship charging stations located in Baker, California and Santa Clara, California. Continue reading

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Lotus Hethel Factory Tours Restart for £95

“Tours of the Hethel site were part of the Lotus story for many years and hugely popular. We get emails and calls every week with people asking about them but, with all the development work on site, it was not appropriate to have the public here…I’m delighted to announce that the time is right to relaunch the factory tours,” said Simon Lane, Director, Lotus Advanced Performance. Continue reading

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Italian Battery Plant Moves Ahead with Final Deal among Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, TotalEnergies/Saft

Automotive Cells Company was founded by Stellantis and TotalEnergies/Saft in August 2020.This will be ACC’s third production site. The Partners are accelerating ACC development with an objective of at least 120 gigawatt hours of cell capacity by 2030 and to scale up development and production of next-generation high-performance battery cells and modules.  Continue reading

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Renault Group Industrial Activities in Russia Suspended

Renault Group had previously taken  the necessary measures to comply with international sanctions. However, President Biden is known to be pushing for further sanctions, and is visiting the EU in Brussels today, and then going to Poland. Continue reading

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Ford F-150 Lightning Tows 10,000 Pounds in Colorado, Nevada

Ford Motor said today that last month a 2022 F-150 Lightning ran the Ike Gauntlet towing 10,000 pounds*. Ford also said the F-150 Lightning was tested on the extreme grades of Davis Dam. Continue reading

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Stellantis, LG Energy Solution JV for Battery Plant in Canada

The new joint venture company will invest more than $5 billion CAD ($4.1 billion) to establish operations, which will include an all-new battery manufacturing plant located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Plant construction is scheduled to begin later this year. Production is planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024. Stellantis is Windsor’s largest employer and has a long history there. Chrysler began operations in 1925 and has employed generations of Windsor–Essex workers at its facility. Continue reading

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Mercedes EQS Sedan Valet Parks Itself in Los Angeles

“The demonstration… showcases how automated valet parking will operate in a working hotel environment where both automated and non-automated vehicles operate alongside pedestrian traffic,” said Dr. Kay Stepper, senior vice president of automated driving and driver assistance for Bosch in North America. “This allows us to dive into the dynamics of local deployments with the use of a highly-connected EQS from Mercedes-EQ to demonstrate how automated technology continues to move forward,” Stepper said. If all doesn’t go well? That’s the way the Mercedes Bends… Continue reading

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Toyota and ChargePoint to offer Home, Public EV Charging

The Toyota bZ4X is the first of a global series of battery-electric vehicles to be introduced under the “Toyota bZ” brand umbrella. Other partners in the green juggernaut now under full sail include BYD, Daihatsu and Suzuki. Toyota plans to introduce 15 BEV models by 2025, including seven new BEV models of the Toyota bZ series. The Toyota U.S. lineup in total, accounts for more than 40% of all alternative powertrain vehicles sold in the U.S. – including battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Continue reading

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